Crain's Detroit Business, March 1, 2021, issue by Crain's Detroit Business

THE CONVERSATION

REAL ESTATE: Retailers eye Linda Dresner boutique space in Birmingham. PAGE 3

Ford Foundation’s Kevin Ryan on making sure Detroiters have a voice. PAGE 22 CRAINSDETROIT.COM I MARCH 1, 2021

WORKFORCE

THE OFFICE AWAITS

Business groups start push to ease restrictions BY CHAD LIVENGOOD

Michigan’s three-week-old reopening of dining inside a restaurant or bar is hardly noticeable in Detroit’s Renaissance Center. That’s because there’s hardly anybody occupying the skyscrapers above to frequent the restaurants below. The state’s continued ban on working inside office spaces has crimped the relaunch of hospitality businesses that cater to working lunch meetings, happy hours and dinner gatherings that were routine a year ago before a once-in-a-century pandemic upended daily habits. Inside the nearly vacant Renaissance Center, home to 5,000 General Motors Co. employees working from home since last March, fast-food options for office workers such as Zoup!, Panera Bread, Fish City, Gyroland, Starbucks and Rice Bowl Express remain closed. On the 71st and 72nd floors, the Highlands steakhouse is only open for dinner. It’s adjacent Hearth 71 gastropub has not yet reopened. The Fuel bar in the lobby of the Marriott lobby is closed, leaving the hotel’s few guests with the option of getting a bottle of beer out of the cooler of a cafe with so few employees working that a sous chef was manning the register one afternoon last week.

The atrium at the Renaissance Center in Detroit. CHAD LIVENGOOD CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

See OFFICE on Page 18

DEVELOPMENT

ENERGY

LEGACY AND MEMORY

After husband’s death, Tracy Means steps in to finish jobs

Why Texas’ electric grid collapse is wake-up call for Michigan

BY KIRK PINHO

BY JAY GREENE

Eric Means didn’t know he was about to pass away. But he had a pretty good idea his baby daughter was about to live.

It was Aug. 17. The developer had earlier in the day found out 7-month-old Willow had been approved to be listed for a heart transplant when he collapsed in his office in the Buhl Building

NEWSPAPER

downtown while on the phone with others working on a $40 million-plus development in Highland Park and Detroit. Means, 48, tried to add another person to the call. He disconnectTracy Means ed from it briefly. Then permanently. “Within hours of our daughter being listed, he was gone,” Tracy Means, his widow, said. See LEGACY on Page 20

Texas’ electric grid meltdown made big news all over the world for many reasons. In Texas, first the power went out for millions of people, then the water pipes froze and busted. In Michigan, we wondered if it could happen here. Like Michiganians, Texans have always prided themselves on their independence and can-do attitude. But with people cold, freezing, suffering and dying and the economy at a near-standstill, Texans were forced to ask for help from other states and the federal government. The differences between Michigan and Texas are many. First,

Michigan has more backup plans for energy emergencies. Second, the state is part of a larger grid network, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator. MISO serves many functions, the chief being that during emergencies we can share electricity with 15 interconnected member states. Energy, to Texans, is like water to Michiganders. Both seem limitless. This is one reason Texans were lulled into a sense of complacency with their electric grid. Independent-minded Texas saw little need to regulate its energy utilities. There are few oversight rules coming from its public utility See TEXAS on Page 20

NEED TO KNOW

CASH FLOWS

THE WEEK IN REVIEW, WITH AN EYE ON WHAT’S NEXT ` CHATFIELD RESIGNS FROM NEW CEO POSITION THE NEWS: Amid increasing controversy and a departure of multiple institutional partners, former state House Speaker Lee Chatfield announced that he was resigning as CEO of Southwest Michigan First, less than two weeks after being selected to run the economic development nonprofit. “So for the betterment of the community, the companies you represent, the staff at Southwest Michigan First and the sake of my conscience, please accept my letter of resignation as CEO of Southwest Michigan First,” Chatfield wrote in a letter to board members and shared on Twitter. WHY IT MATTERS: Several groups had recently announced that they would sever ties with the organization over Chatfield’s hiring, and specifically, his past opposition as a Republican lawmaker to expanding protections at the state level for LGBTQ people.

` COLLEGE FUNDRAISING TAKES A HIT IN PANDEMIC THE NEWS: Charitable giving to colleges and universities in Michigan slowed substantially during the pandemic, forcing cash-strapped institutions to find new ways of getting dollars through the door. Fundraising at the state’s 23 largest universities and

colleges dropped nearly 10 percent in fiscal year 2020, which for most schools ended June 30, as fundraising nationally remained flat, according to a recent survey by the nonprofit Council for Advancement and Support of Education. The Michigan colleges and universities that were surveyed took in $875.8 million of donations, down $94 million from the year prior.

WHY IT MATTERS: Colleges are besieged financially on several fronts, as dollars from tuition and student housing have broadly declined as well.

` MAGNA PLANS $70M BATTERY PART PLANT IN ST. CLAIR THE NEWS: Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc. plans to invest up to $70.1 million over the next five years to build an electric vehicle battery component plant in St. Clair. The 345,000-square-foot plant at 1811 Range Road is expected to employ 304 and is supported by a $1.5 million grant from the state of Michigan, or

Rocket posts $9B in profit

more than $4,900 per qualified job.

` It was a good year to be a mortgage lender, and an especially good one for the biggest company in the business. Rocket Companies Inc. made so much money last year it’s giving about $2.2 billion of it back to shareholders. The Detroit-based mortgage giant (NYSE: RKT) last week reported “record-breaking” earnings for the fourth quarter of 2020 and the full fiscal year, smashing analyst estimates. The company made more than $9 billion in net income on revenue of $15.7 billion last year. That performance led Rocket to announce a massive one-time dividend to Class A shareholders of $1.11 per share, or about $2.2 billion according to the company’s earnings report. The world at large has only recently been able to see the finances of Dan Gilbert’s company so clearly, since it went public in an IPO last August.

WHY IT MATTERS: The plant is a win for Michigan efforts to become as important to the electric vehicle industry as it has been for the internal combustion engine.

` ANDIAMO DEARBORN SHUTS DOWN THE NEWS: Andiamo Dearborn restaurant, in business for 17 years, was set to close for good Sunday after losing $3 million during the pandemic. Owner Joe Vicari, who runs more than 20 restaurants as a part of the Joe Vicari Restaurant Group, notified employees about the closure on Thursday afternoon. The 60 full- and part-time employees have the option to take employment at another Vicari location, he said. WHY IT MATTERS: The restaurant business, especially higher-end sit-down restaurants, has been hammered by pandemic-related shutdown orders. Vicari said the pandemic-related closures, “pauses” and in-person capacity limits were too much for the location to fight off.

`DETROIT RUNS AMONG HIGHEST IN VACCINE SKEPTICISM THE NEWS: Almost one-quarter of Americans said they don’t plan to get

Rocket Companies went public on Aug. 6. | NICK MANES

vaccinated for COVID-19, according to a Census Bureau survey. Nationwide, 22.7 percent of respondents said they probably or definitely won’t be vaccinated. Among major cities, the figure was highest in Dallas and Detroit at 28.1 percent each, and lowest in Boston at 9.8 percent.

WHY IT MATTERS: Vaccination is seen as a key to reopening the economy, but a long history of racist treatment and experimentation has LE 1 AB 2who 0 ILAmericans, made many Black 2 A , AVmajority make up the 1STof Detroit’s ST population,GU distrustful of medicine. AU

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RETAIL

The Linda Dresner boutique has been in downtown Birmingham for 28 years. | COSTAR GROUP INC.

‘WON’T BE VACANT FOR LONG’

Retailers eyeing Linda Dresner space, other Birmingham properties BY JAY DAVIS AND KIRK PINHO

Linda Dresner opened her namesake shop on West Maple Road 28 years ago. | LIANS JADAN VIA LINDADRESNER.COM

The well-known Linda Dresner boutique in downtown Birmingham is set to close next month, but city leaders and real estate officials don’t expect the property to stay vacant for very long. Dresner, who 28 years ago opened her namesake downtown shop on West Maple Road, announced the closure earlier this week. The shop is

in a desirable spot, called one of the gateways to downtown Birmingham by Southfield-based real estate broker Angela Thomas. Robert Gibbs, managing principal of Birmingham-based Gibbs Planning Group, said he’s aware of a dozen of the “most sought-after fashion, home furnishings, children’s and specialty lifestyle retailers” focusing on opening flagship stores in downtown Birmingham.

ELECTION 2021

Detroit mayoral candidate Anthony Adams has laid out what he believes is a dramatically different approach to economic development from that taken by the city’s current leader, Mike Duggan. In his bid against the incumbent Democrat and other potential challengers — including former City Council member Sharon McPhail — Adams is targeting corporate tax incentives, existing small businesses that need stabilizing and the breaking up of what he calls a topheavy economic development machine. The 65-year-old lawyer and former deputy mayor under Kwame Kilpatrick has a hill to climb when it comes to visibility and corporate community backing. But Adams’ own resume runs deep into the city’s public- and private-sector history, ranging from

square foot per year in downtown Birmingham, compared to $16.23 per square foot across the region. Thomas, with Signature Associates Inc., said soft-goods retailers like clothiers, jewelers or furniture stores would make a good fit for the Linda Dresner space. But its 5,000-square-foot or so footprint may pose a not-insurmountable challenge. See BIRMINGHAM on Page 18

NONPROFITS

Adams touts economic development plan in bid for mayor’s job BY ANNALISE FRANK

“... and I expect the Dresner building to have multiple opportunities to land such a store,” Gibbs said. The downtown Birmingham retail market is performing far better than the region overall. The vacancy rate is just 1.6 percent, compared to 5.7 percent across metro Detroit, according to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service. The average rent is $29.49 per

president of Lakeshore Healthcare Investment Group more recently to Detroit Public Schools board president in 2010-11 and executive assistant Adams to Mayor Coleman Young in the 1980s. “I think Motor City Match will have probably seen its last day with me,” the partner at Marine Adams Law PC said, discussing his economic policy goals with Crain’s. Duggan’s grant-making program for entrepreneurs has drawn criticism over reports finding lack of sufficient oversight and questioning its success in starting new businesses. See ADAMS on Page 17

Adams’ agenda Anthony Adams, who is challenging two-term Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan in the Aug. 3 primary, includes a variety of issues in his campaign platform: Crime: Back away from surveillance; turn more toward early intervention to prevent crime; decriminalize possession of some drugs Seniors: Grants, not loans, for home restoration; make entrepreneurial incubators and accelerators for older residents; target frauds and scams Social issues: Target racism in "insurance redlining" and bank lending; create chief education officer role; look at universal basic income; improve mental health services Business: Grow existing smalland medium-size businesses, especially in recovery from COVID-19 pandemic impacts; "dramatically reduce" tax incentives SOURCES: INTERVIEW WITH ANTHONY ADAMS AND HIS CAMPAIGN WEBSITE

Report: Pandemic’s impact on nonprofits not as bad as projected BY SHERRI WELCH

The toll the pandemic and subsequent economic downturn took on fundraising and overall nonprofit viability in Michigan last year wasn’t as bad as some feared it might be, according to a new study. The majority of 74 Michigan nonprofits that responded to the 2021 Michigan Fundraising Climate Survey said they raised as much or more in 2020, year over year. Outside of assessing fundraising results for responding nonprofits in 2020, the survey asked nonprofits to weigh in on their overall financial viability and other matters, like whether mergers and acquisitions are things their organizations are considering. More than two-thirds or 71 percent said the impact of the pandemic was neutral or positive when asked if their organization is more viable in early 2021 vs. a year ago. The study showed that optimism among nonprofit leaders about fundraising conditions is rebounding: 22 percent said they think fundraising conditions in early 2021 are better now than they were a year ago, before

the pandemic. That compares to 19 percent who said the same a year ago and just 5 percent in spring 2020 when COVID-19 was in full force. Montgomery The results came following national projections for losses in the sector and similar cautions last year from nonprofit leaders in Michigan, especially for organizations that rely on earned revenue. Though the study did document earned revenue losses, it also points to increased giving last year. “I think people had a year of experience in the pandemic, (and) the results were better than they expected,” said the study’s author, Michael Mongtomery, fundraising counsel for the Grosse Pointe War Memorial and an adjunct philanthropy professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Eastern Michigan University. See NONPROFITS on Page 21 MARCH 1, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 3

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Mike Cox • Donald Hutchinson • Melissa Raycraft • Jackie Cook

4 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 1, 2021

Will Kid Rock’s former mansion strike right chord as corporate retreat? Controversial rock star Kid Rock’s former Detroit riverfront estate remains on the market for $2.2 million, but the listing broker is trying a new stratKirk egy. PINHO Tim Cook, managing director of Southfield-based BulkREOnetwork LLC, is now marketing the property for sale as a corporate retreat instead of just as a private residence. “I envisioned for this use due to the layout of the house and property, location on the river, and the boat house which is ideal for entertaining and hosting events,” he said in an email last month. The property, which sits at 9090 Dwight St. just a few doors away from the Manoogian Mansion, home to Detroit’s business-community-backed Mayor Mike Duggan, was listed for sale in September, originally as a private residence. The 7,600-square-foot house was owned by the Macomb County-raised musician until August 2019, when he sold it for $2.2 million. It is currently owned by Detroit Boathouse LLC, which is registered to Kevin Washburn in Grosse Pointe and which granted a $1.83 million mortgage to the Dwight W. Edwards Living Trust in August 2020, according to Wayne County land records. The Detroit News reported in July 2019 that Robert Ritchie, the rock star’s birth name, bought the house in January 2012. Public records list the purchase price at $300,000. It’s not known how much he spent renovating it, however, Cook’s listing says the “previous owner completed several renovations including the impressive boathouse with an outdoor shower, new break wall, attached twocar heated garage, two outdoor TVs (operational year-round) along with a state-of-the-art entertainment system.”

mall world right now, consider this. The Crossroads mall in Portage, next door to Kalamazoo, was appraised at $152 million in late 2013, according to DBRS Morningstar, a division of Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. It’s now valued at just $22.6 million, or barely one-quarter of what it owes on a $100 million CMBS mortgage that it can’t repay. That is a whopping $73 million reduction of a previous valuation. Today, Chicago-based owner Brookfield Property Partners (NASDAQ: BPY) and its lender, Goldman Sachs, “are in discussions about a deed-in-lieu and or cooperative sale agreement,” according to loan commentary reported on by Trepp LLC, a New York City-based firm that tracks commercial mortgage-backed securities data. Trepp says the owner of the South Westnedge Avenue mall hasn’t paid on its loan since May. DBRS Morningstar notes that the mall has 770,000 square feet, but just 349,000 square feet are owned by Brookfield, which acquired the mall in August 2018 as part of the REITs’s $9.25 billion cash purchase of fellow struggling mall REIT GGP Inc. The other square footage consists of a vacant Sears store, plus a Macy’s and J.C. Penney. A Brookfield spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Another Michigan mall on shaky financial ground

Leopold joins Agree Realty; Rakolta Jr. rejoins board

I wrote last week about the abruptly shuttered Onassis Coney Island in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood. The mystery has been solved about what’s going to replace the former restaurant at Michigan Avenue and Trumbull: Citizens Bank, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Fin.

If you need one fact to demonstrate how messy things are for some in the

Bloomfield Hills-based shopping center REIT Agree Realty Corp.

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

The Crossroads mall in Portage. | COSTAR GROUP INC.

(NYSE: ADC) has added a couple of commercial real estate power players to its board of directors. Simon Leopold, the former CFO and executive vice president at Taubman Co. LLC (formerly Taubman Centers Inc.), has joined Agree Realty as its CFO, EVP and secretary effective immediately, Agree Realty announced yesterday. In addition, John Rakolta Jr., most recently former President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, has rejoined the Agree Realty board, which he served on from 2011 until September 2019 when he was appointed to his post overseas. Rakolta is also chairman of Detroit-based construction giant The Walbridge Group. Agree Realty has a portfolio of 22.7 million square feet across more than 1,100 properties in 46 states.

Citizens Bank will replace the Onassis Coney Island

CARING FOR KIDS SPONSORED CONTENT

Advocating for the health and wellness of children and families Host Larry Burns, President and CEO The Children’s Foundation

Advocating for the health & wellness of children and families

About this report: On this monthly radio program, The Children’s Foundation President and CEO Larry Burns talks to community, government and business leaders about issues related to children’s health and wellness. The hour-long show typically airs at 7 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month on WJR 760AM. Here’s a summary of the show that aired February 24th; listen to the entire episode, and archived episodes, at yourchildrensfoundation.org/caring-for-kids.

Nicole McKinney, Executive Director, Friends of the Children–Detroit

Larry Burns: Tell us about Friends of the Children. Nicole McKinney: We are a new nonprofit mentoring organization that launched in January 2020. We’re a part of a national network of 22 chapters. Our goal is to end generational poverty; we do that in a very unique way, using a model that has proven success. We pair mentors one-to-one with vulnerable children. We use paid, professional mentors and they mentor a child from the age of four to six years until they graduate from high school. We have three long-term outcomes in mind: to ensure that our children graduate from high school or obtain a GED, that they stay away from the juvenile justice system, and that we prevent teen pregnancy. Burns: How has the pandemic impacted you and how have you adjusted? McKinney: Typically, our model is in-person mentoring. We had to adapt our model to a virtual environment and it actually created an opportunity for us. We’ve been able to do some group mentoring, bringing families together, that we wouldn’t have done otherwise. Our mentors are able to Zoom into some of the classes with their students, which helps to increase attendance. Burns: How has the grant from The Children’s Foundation helped?

McKinney: We received a $40,000 grant from The Children’s Foundation to provide technology support and help meet basic needs. Our families were struggling with the virtual learning environment, so we were able to provide laptops to the children and boosters for better Wi-Fi access. Burns: Has the importance of resiliency factored into what your mentors do? McKinney: Our caregivers use an app that we’re piloting called MentorHub. It helps them to check in on mental wellness. Our mentors are using reading enrichment activities with the children, trying to help fill any gaps in their learning through the virtual environment. There are five roadmap goals that we track in our efforts-to-outcome database: school success, pro-social development, improved health, making good choices and plans/skills for the future. Burns: What do you see in the future for Friends of the Children–Detroit? McKinney: Each year our plan is to add an additional cohort. We work with cohorts of 32 children. This year we’ll have a total of 64 children. We also support the caregivers of those children. We raised the $1.5 million that was needed to bring a chapter to Detroit; it is up to the community now to sustain it. Burns: You follow the students from grade to grade so you get to know them well. McKinney: Typically, a mentor stays five to seven years, and around middle school is when the transition happens when the child gets a different mentor. Burns: How can people help? McKinney: By going to our page at friendsdetroit.org.

Kevin Roach, CEO, Methodist Children’s Home Society

Larry Burns: Tell us about your organization. Kevin Roach: We started over a hundred years ago because of the Spanish Flu as an orphanage-type setting. Through the years we have evolved and grown to provide more than just residential care; we also provide foster care, adoption and transitional living. We made the pivot a couple of years ago to start to focus on our community-based services, looking at child abuse prevention, citizen re-entry, and the intergenerational gap. We’ve found that many of our children were being cared for by seniors so we added a senior service component. The last piece is embarking on trauma-informed education for our children with a charter school. Burns: Explain the name and is there still an affiliation with the Methodist church? Roach: We are nonsectarian, serving people of all backgrounds, all orientations and all faiths. Two of the founders of Methodist Children’s Home Society were devout Methodist women, Anna Kresge, wife of S.S. Kresge, and Sophie Sprague. The name is a nod to those whose shoulders we stand on. Burns: Tell us about the program that The Children’s Foundation supports. Roach: Our goal was to be able to leverage that

into additional support, to intervene early and offer child abuse prevention services, case management, psychosocial educational empowerment groups and a resource bank, all of which was funded by our partnership with The Children’s Foundation. Burns: We try to connect our partners with each other. You have space at Durfee with our partner, Life Remodeled. Roach: I think that when we are in the company of many other great organizations, even better things can happen. In our child abuse prevention program’s first year we served nearly a thousand families and over 98 percent of them did not have child protective services contact or were not involved in the system. Burns: The Children’s Foundation is much more focused on the family now. Roach: We’ve come to learn that children are defined by two things—who they love and who loves them. In serving a child without his or her family, we’re doing them a great disservice. We need to figure out how we build up that family unit from a holistic—physical, emotional and mental—standpoint, to ensure that family can achieve all the great things that we know families are capable of achieving. Burns: What is on your plate for 2021? Roach: It’s taking on what we believe is a critical crisis facing children in Detroit: their mental health. In the upcoming year, we will continue to grow and serve more children and families and offer some new programs to fill some of the gaps that are in the community.

Cheryl Johnson, CEO, COTS

Larry Burns: Can you give us an overview of COTS? Cheryl Johnson: We will be 40 years old next year and I’ve had the pleasure of being there for 30 of them. We started as an organization focusing on the needs of all homeless people, doing emergency shelter, transitional and affordable housing. Seven years ago we changed direction because we were seeing generations returning with their children and the generations multiplying, meaning more than two generations coming in together. That was something that we couldn’t tolerate. Now we get people housed. Burns: How about mental health as it relates to the family unit? Johnson: We are a traumainformed organization. We lead from that. Understanding that over their lives—not only children, but adults that come through our doors—they have just been exposed to so much trauma. That impacts their ability to think, their executive functioning skills. It impacts their emotions. Now we are in the middle of a pandemic. You see domestic violence on the rise, you see suicide attempts by children. We work with the entire family, to make sure we are responding immediately and have resources not only onsite, but also through referrals to appropriate places for help. That has been an uptick for us and we are seeing the positive

outcomes for our families. Burns: You recently had a virtual special event, Soup City. Johnson: It was a celebratory evening and believe it or not, the party is still going on. This was the first year we did it virtually. We were able to introduce our families to a larger audience and focus on their triumphs, both the things that they have worked through and the wonderful things they’re doing right now. People can come to our website to still have access to that great evening and enjoy it at cotsdetroit.org. Burns: What’s on the horizon for COTS? You’re going to be meeting with some of my colleagues on the grant side soon and I’m hoping that you become a partner of ours. Johnson: We are really excited about the future. We are also excited about Peterboro Arms opening up downtown. This is brand new, affordable housing for our families. We’re looking at expanding that, because one of the things that’s so necessary to stabilize our families is affordable housing. Burns: Tell us more about that. Where is it located? It’s at 26 Peterboro. It used to be the Imperial Hotel back in the 1920s and was our headquarters for a number of years. It has a beautiful, marble floored lobby with a piano that was donated by a wonderful donor, and colorful furniture in all of the apartments, which are two and three bedrooms, fully furnished. Our families are moving into a turnkey apartment with all kinds of amenities for them. They can walk down the street to Campus Martius or walk over to Whole Foods.

SPORTS BUSINESS

Wixom-based Discraft strikes $10M sponsor deal as disc golf soars Manufacturer extends deal with top PDGA player Paul McBeth as fast-growing sport booms BY KURT NAGL

Wixom-based Discraft Inc. has signed a $10 million sponsor deal with the world’s best disc golfer, marking a new chapter for the fast-growing sport and tightening the company’s grip on it. The 10-year deal with top Professional Disc Golf Association player Paul McBeth, announced Wednesday, is the largest in the sport’s history. It’s expected to fuel demand for Discraft discs, which have sold like hot cakes during the pandemic, COO Mike Wagner said. The company cannot pump them out fast enough. It is investing “multiple millions of dollars” to expand its Wixom manufacturing facility and headquarters. In the past two years, the company has doubled in size in terms of sales and employees, and production has more than doubled since the pandemic started — but that’s still not enough. “It’s just so chaotic right now,” Wagner told Crain’s. “The sport’s growing so quickly. At some point you’d think it would level off, but I don’t see it leveling off soon.” What began out of a small garage in Westland in 1979 has grown into the second-largest disc golf supplier in the world. Keeping McBeth under contract is key to Discraft’s long-term growth goals, said Wagner, who hopes to unseat its California-based rival Innova Disc Golf as top manufacturer. McBeth had repped for Innova before defecting to Discraft, whose endorsement spending has ballooned in recent years. The company also sponsors Paige Pierce, the world’s top-rated

Disc golf origins

Discraft’s 10-year extension signing with world’s best Paul McBeth signals the company’s ambitions to dominate the disc golf industry. | DISCRAFT VIA YOUTUBE

female professional disc golfer, and Youtube celebrity Brodie Smith. McBeth, though, is largely credited with helping graduate the game out of relative obscurity. ESPN even televised a tournament last year, launching it further into the mainstream. Once looked at as a “stoner sport” by outsiders, the game is gaining traction, especially among outdoor-oriented millennials. Disc golf is played in about 40 countries by an estimated 4 million to 8 million people per year. Wagner said that equates to anywhere from 20 million to 40 million discs sold annually by just a few companies. Wagner declined to discuss financials or specifics on production capacity. Such details are kept under a tight lid in the small, highly competitive disc golf manufacturing industry, he said. There are just a few big players in the market, including another in Michigan — Marlette-based MVP Disc Sports LLC.

“Everyone’s kind of fighting for their stake,” he said. McBeth has made Discraft a lot of money. Enough money that the company restructured an existing contract signed in 2018 to pay him more. It was a preemptive move to retain the “face of disc golf,” as Wagner referred to him. And it was only fair, added Bob Julio, team manager at Discraft. “We realized the initial agreement we had with him was kind of outdated after the first year,” Julio said. “We went in not knowing his value. After the first year, with the sport growing and his popularity growing, we realized the initial contract wasn’t sustainable.”. For McBeth, the sponsorship has allowed him to take a more hands-on approach and launch a line of discs. “I felt like I have more goals and a bigger vision, and with Discraft, they allowed me to bring that vision to light, and they worked with it,” McBeth said in a video announcing the deal.

Patented in 1966, the Wham-O Frisbee paved the way for ultimate Frisbee and disc golf. The PDGA was established in 1976, though disc golf as an organized sport predates it by a few years. The concept is simple and has not changed: Throw a disc from a tee into a basket with the least amount of throws possible. Much like its club-using counterpart, disc golf is a big deal in Michigan, home to more than 250 courses — among the top five states in the country. Unlike with “stick golf,” as disc golfers often refer to traditional golf, the number of disc golf courses is growing. The primary capital investments for a disc golf course are cement tee pads, chain baskets and maintenance, making it an inexpensive and effective way to activate park land. Disc golf is also far less costly to play, with discs starting around $15. Most courses are free to play or charge no more than a few dollars, though many are part of state, county or Metroparks systems that require annual passes. That’s not to say serious players don’t rack up big bills for their passion. There are a host of different types of discs, categorized similarly to regular golf with drivers, midranges and putters. Each is rated for speed, glide, turn and fade, which dictate how far a disc flies and its natural flight path. A science, to be sure. There are also disc backpacks, carts and other accessories, as well as a growing market for highpriced, collectible discs. Discraft was started in 1979 by husband and wife Jim Kenner and Gail Mc-

Coll, who were among the first to start playing the sport. McColl died in 2017. Kenner owns the company but has stepped back from daily operations. “Since the late 1970s, we’ve been consistently growing by 10 or 15 percent,” Wagner said. “In the last five years, we’ve seen larger increases.” The company designs and produces all of its discs — mostly for disc golf, but also some for ultimate Frisbee — at the 50,000-square-foot Wixom plant, soon to be 80,000 square feet after the expansion set to be done by October. It also sells baskets and accessories, including bags and apparel. It employs more than 70 people, mostly light industrial machine operators, compared to fewer than 50 before the pandemic. It is still hiring for operators but is struggling to find enough people, Wagner said. Discraft sells its products to major retailers such as Dunham’s Sports and Dick’s Sporting Goods, as well as gas stations and shops near courses. An estimated 20 percent of sales are outside of the U.S., mostly in Europe, Wagner said. Disc golf is one of the most popular sports of Finland and Sweden. As spring approaches, Discraft is bracing for another surge in demand. The professionals returned to play this week for the 2021 Las Vegas Challenge presented by Innova, ushering in the new season. The company also has some new discs in the works but catching up on production is the priority. “We kind of owe it to the sport to get caught up and get things back to normal,” Julio said. Contact: knagl@crain.com; (313) 446-0337; @kurt_nagl

LOGISTICS

Andra Rush quietly shutters Rush Trucking amid pandemic woes One of Detroit’s largest woman-owned businesses transfers work to competitors BY DUSTIN WALSH

One of Detroit’s largest woman-owned businesses has quietly shuttered operations. Wayne-based Rush Trucking wound down operations and transitioned business to competitors after more than 35 years of operating, Founder and Chair Andra Rush confirmed to Crain’s via email. Rush did not respond to several more inquiries about the timing of the wind-down, but said the impact of the pandemic and a yearslong truck driver shortage led to the decision. “With COVID19’s impact and the continual Rush driver shortage, it became even clearer that the automotive focused segment of the trucking industry required consolidation,” Rush told Crain’s “I collaborated with (Rush Trucking’s) major customers to ensure a smooth transition of the ... business to new providers occurred while maintaining the quality of service, and ensuring continued employment opportuni6 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 1, 2021

Wayne-based Rush Trucking wound down operations after more than 35 years of operating. | RUSH TRUCKING VIA FACEBOOK

ties existed for our employees.” Rush Trucking was the 11th largest woman-owned business in Michigan based on 2019 revenue, according to Crain’s research. The automotive trucking firm reported revenue of $102 million in 2019 and 107 employees. Rush is also the majority owner of the second-largest woman-owned business in the state, Dakkota Integrated Systems LLC, which is a joint venture with Magna International Inc. Dakkota reported revenue of $565 million in 2019 with 1,250 employees. It's No. 1 on the Crain's Detroit Business list of largest women-owned companies for 2020. Rush Trucking was No. 10 on that list in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic hit certain sectors within the trucking indus-

try harder than others. Logistics providers servicing restaurants and institutional dining, for instance, were among the most impacted. The International Foodservice Distributors Association predicted that sector would be down $24 billion during the fourth quarter of 2020 as restaurants, schools and hotels continued to face pandemic-related closures. U.S. car-hauling also faced immense challenges as automotive production shut down for six weeks in late March, sidelining truck drivers or leaving them to find alternative products to ship. The trucking industry was already tight on drivers, but as consumer spending spiked from government stimulus during the pandemic — consumer spending was up 10.2 percent in January vs. pre-pandemic

spending in January 2020, according to Opportunity Insights tracker — many drivers likely pivoted to transporting other products. And, thanks to social distancing requirements and the threat of the virus, new drivers didn’t backfill those who shifted, according to an August report from Automotive Logistics. “Social distancing and limited hours also continue to inconvenience newly trained truck drivers seeking to obtain a license,” the report said. “As a result, it is estimated that in 2020, the U.S. will produce 40 percent fewer new truckers than normal.” The driver shortage may have been impacting Rush Trucking earlier, however. In February 2020, Rush Trucking hired longtime business consultant Kimberly Rodriguez as CEO, replacing Rush in the top spot. Rush remained chair of the firm. Rodriguez joined Rush from Detroit-based Huron Consulting Group, where she served as a senior consultant specializing in distressed companies and bankruptcy. At Huron, she assisted in the bankruptcies and restructuring of several then-distressed auto suppliers, including Tower Automotive, Dura Automotive, Revstone Industries and Collins & Aikman, among others. So her appointment is

likely to have been a hire to assess the long-term viability of Rush Trucking. Rodriquez left Rush Trucking in September to serve as CEO of Dura Automotive after financier Lynn Tilton put the auto supplier into bankruptcy in 2019 and lost the company in a high-wire deal to another New York private equity fund. Rodriquez left Dura in January. Carl Beckwith, SVP of global manufacturing at Dura, was promoted to CEO. In 2018, Rush sold her stake in Detroit Manufacturing Systems LLC, a joint venture with Auburn Hills-based Faurecia Interior Systems Inc. formed in 2012. It’s unclear whether Rush maintains her logistics firms, Rush Supply Chain Management, or if her holdings company, Rush Group of Cos., is now just one with Dakkota. Rush, a Native American descended from the Mohawk tribe, founded Rush Trucking in 1984, famously borrowing $5,000 from her parents, investing $3,000 of her own savings and using personal credit cards to launch the firm with one van and two pickups. For years, she ran the fledgling company while working as a full-time nurse. Contact: dwalsh@crain.com; (313) 446-6042; @dustinpwalsh

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EDITORIAL

CRAIN’S VOICES

New COVID-19 cases in Michigan, Wisconsin 9,000

Seven-day moving average of new COVID-19 cases by the number of days since 10 average daily cases were first recorded in Michigan and Wisconsin.

8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000

3,000

2,000 1,000 50

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PETER HOWELL VIA ISTOCK

SOURCE: CDC

Shot in the arm: Returning to the office is the best boost to economy

us and get back into the office as s I’m writing this column, it’s quickly as possible. been 346 days since I sat at my As evidenced in the Detroit Redesk in the Crain Communigional Chamber’s State of the Recations building in downtown Degion report last week, Michigan is troit. I’m one of the millions of Amerin the midst of a K-shaped recovery icans lucky enough to work from the — leaving those most impacted by safety of my living room davenport the pandemic behind, economicalthroughout this pandemic. ly, while having little to no impact And the majority of us fortunate Dustin on the rest of us. Roughly 75 persouls want to keep it that way. WALSH cent of those surveyed in DecemRoughly 71 percent of the nearly ber for the chamber’s report said 6,000 people surveyed in a December report by Pew Research Center are cur- the pandemic has had a minor or no effect at rently working from home and 54 percent of all on their finances, compared to 24.2 perthose people want to continue working from cent of respondents who said it’s had a catahome post-pandemic. strophic effect. And the latter figure is rising I miss the camara- — 23.8 percent of those surveyed indicated a STAYING HOME, derie of the news- catastrophic impact in May. WORKING FROM Those most impacted are also facing a room, heckling colTHIS COUCH, IS leagues who sit within growing housing crisis. About 37 percent of earshot like Kirk Pin- metro Detroit’s households surveyed in DeVERY BAD FOR ho and Sherri Welch, cember by the U.S. Census Bureau said they THE ECONOMY. and the adrenaline are behind on their rent or mortgage and that dump of breaking eviction or foreclosure is likely in the next IT’S BAD FOR news in the moment, two months. Yet median sale prices of homes THOSE LEFT in the newsroom. But in metro Detroit rose more than 23 percent to I’d be lying if I said I $236,300 in the third quarter of last year from BEHIND BY THE wanted to be in the the first quarter of 2020. PANDEMIC For the lucky majority is getting richer as office five days a RECESSION. week. That seems those most impacted by the virus — who also senseless now. Con- happen to disproportionately be women, venience, I say. I’m productive at home. It’s Black Americans and the already underprivileged — are getting poorer. For instance, for better for the environment. That’s all true. But staying home, working from this metro Detroiters with only a high school dicouch, is very bad for the economy. It’s bad ploma, the unemployment rate hit 12 perfor those left behind by the pandemic reces- cent in December, compared to just 3.9 persion. The best thing we can do for the econo- cent in March. my, for our neighbors in need, is get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it’s available to See WALSH on Page 17

State COVID response is worthy of debate BY JASE BOLGER

I read with interest Crain’s editorial “It’s time for state to give restaurants guidance.” While I agreed with the overall point, I was alarmed that Crain’s would suggest there was “no dispute” that Gov. Gretchen WhitJase Bolger mer’s extended lockdown was the cause of reduced COVID cases and is saving lives. To say there is “no dispute” ignores the fact that there were other choices that could have, and should have, been considered and made. A rational discussion of the measures used and results experienced, here, and elsewhere, will reflect that other states were more successful in saving lives and livelihoods than Michigan. The debate is worthy because there is still time to make better decisions for better results for all Michigan residents. First, though, some background to be clear: We needed to, and still need to, take the health threats of this virus seriously. Personal responsibility is the defining factor in staying healthy. The real credit for bringing Michigan’s spread of COVID-19 should go to the residents of Michigan. And I have been wearing a mask since March of 2020. My wife, Molly, was making masks before the government suggested we wear them and before they could be found in stores. We made these choices because it made common sense — they’d reduce our breath, cough or droplets from getting to others. So, I neither argue that we should throw away caution, nor that a packed club with maskless elbow-to-elbow people makes sense. I’m supporting common sense and an informed and inspired public, because recent data raises questions about the effectiveness of Michigan’s extended lockdowns of so many livelihoods, including restaurants and more. If we look at the timing of the current

Write us: Crain’s welcomes responses from readers. Letters should be as brief as possible and may be edited for length or clarity. Send letters to Crain’s Detroit Business, 1155 Gratiot Ave, Detroit, MI 48207, or email crainsdetroit@crain.com. Please include your complete name, city from which you are writing and a phone number for fact-checking purposes. 8 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 1, 2021

CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS GRAPHIC

About Crain’s Voices Crain’s Voices is a series of occasional essays from a panel of contributors selected by Crain’s Detroit Business to offer thoughtful, informed commentary that spans the political and industry spectrums. Today’s contributor,Jase Bolger, served as speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives from 2011-14. He is currently president of Tusker Strategies LLC and serves as the policy adviser for the West Michigan Policy Forum.

How Michigan compares As of Feb. 23 at noon, the number of deaths from COVID-19 per 100,000 population in these four states was: MICHIGAN: 163 OHIO: 144 FLORIDA: 139 WISCONSIN: 118 SOURCE: CDC

CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS GRAPHIC

orders that the Crain’s editorial was referencing, there seem to be several reasons to dispute the effectiveness of the orders. The closure of restaurants was effective on Nov. 18. Science says most people with infections develop symptoms four to five days after exposure. So, the impact of these orders would not have been felt until about Nov. 23. But the data shows Michigan’s peak for infections was Nov. 15 and fell rapidly before the orders made an impact. They then continued on that same trajectory after the order. See RESPONSE on Page 9

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

RESPONSE

From Page 8

If we look to other data and compare the trajectory of Michigan’s virus cases to Wisconsin’s we see the same pattern. Michigan and Wisconsin share a border, both have divided government and had Supreme Court rulings that limited gubernatorial power. However, Wisconsin is different in that their governor did not pursue an alternative go-it-alone strategy. As a result, they have very different government restrictions. Yet the data shows they have had the same virus experience during this time. The data therefore demonstrates it may not be the governor’s orders that caused the falling trajectory of the virus spread. But are the governor’s orders saving more lives? If we look again at Wisconsin, but also our neighbors in Ohio and even in Florida we’ll find that their reactions emphasizing personal safety, individual responsibility and economic health have resulted in lower death rates and a healthier economy than in Michigan. Sadly, of these states Michigan has lost the most lives at 163 per 100,000 residents, Ohio 144 people, Florida 139 people and Wisconsin 118 people. The science shows this virus is most dangerous for our older population; and Florida has the country’s oldest average age. If excessive restrictions were effective, you’d think Whitmer’s sacrifice of livelihoods would be saving more lives, but they’re not.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The appalling defense of former Gov. Rick Snyder TO THE EDITOR: As if the poisoning and needless suffering of my dear city of Flint was not horrible enough, former Gov. Rick Snyder is now stating that “neglecting a city is not a crime.” As I rest my head every night I think of the countless children of Flint who needlessly suffered lead poisoning that came out of the same water that I share with them, and knowing the indifference of the criminal actions that came out of the previous gubernatorial administration makes those actions even more appalling. It doesn’t matter if the governor is a Democrat or Republican

FORMER GOV. SNYDER’S LEGAL CLAIM THAT NEGLECTING MY CITY IS NOT A CRIME WOULD BE LAUGHABLE IF HIS ACTIONS WEREN’T SO DESTRUCTIVE. or if our governor is from Marquette or Monroe; the governor has a legal and moral obligation to protect ALL residents of Michigan. As a state legislator, it is my responsibility to

cratic city that didn’t vote for him; unlike his family and community in Ann Arbor, Flint is poor; and unlike most of his friends and administration employees, Flint is heavily African American. I cannot wrap my head around his heartless and hollow belief that he did not have a responsibility to protect the people of Flint. While he was charged with only two misdemeanors, there no question that former Gov. Snyder’s comments, beliefs, and actions are felonious and his legacy is the long-term and irreparable harm of Flint residents. State Rep. Cynthia Neeley D-Flint

assist all of the residents in my district — no matter their income, skin color, or political persuasion. I cannot and do not pick and choose which families I will assist and represent. Former Gov. Snyder’s legal claim that neglecting my city is not a crime would be laughable if his actions weren’t so destructive. Dictators in third-world countries openly state that they are there not to protect the entire nation but to protect their tribe, their ethnic group, and the people of a similar religion or skin color. Former Gov. Snyder’s comments remind me of similar dictatorial actions: Flint is a Demo-

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I AGREE WITH CRAIN’S THAT IT’S PAST TIME TO GIVE RESTAURANTS GUIDANCE. BUT THE SCIENCE AND DATA MAKE CLEAR THAT IT’S UNCLEAR THAT WHITMER’S ORDERS HAVE BEEN EFFECTIVE AT MAKING US SAFER. I work with the West Michigan Policy Forum, and we’ve been calling to Open Michigan Safely — with safety the key. We know that not all venues should be fully open, and we’ve stressed five key strategies from the start: 1) Stay home if you’re sick, 2) Wear a mask and practice social distancing, 3) Wear PPE where recommended, 4) Deploy extra hygiene and cleaning, 5) Protect the vulnerable; and we’ve now added a sixth: Get the vaccine when available. I agree with Crain’s that it’s past time to give restaurants guidance. But the science and data make clear that it’s unclear that Whitmer’s orders have been effective at making us safer. Instead, we should welcome the debate and learn from other states. Michigan’s hardworking residents each deserve credit for their personal sacrifices and responsibility. What seems indisputable is that they deserve a better plan of action, one that will indeed protect both lives and livelihoods.

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MORE ON WJR  Crain’s Executive Editor Kelley Root and Managing Editor Michael Lee talk about the week’s stories every Monday morning at 6:15 a.m. Mondays on WJR 760 AM’s Paul W. Smith Show. MARCH 1, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 9

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JOINING FORCES The how and why of law firm mergers and acquisitions `BY DOUG HENZE | SPECIAL TO CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

As a law firm of only six attorneys, Lusk Albertson was feeling the limitations of its size. Formed in 2010 in Bloomfield Hills before moving the 10-person office to a Jefferson Avenue address in Detroit six years later, the firm specialized in education law, handling legal questions about things such as student discipline for school districts and universities. But when it came to specialty needs — helping a visiting professor from outside the country get immigration papers, for example — Lusk Albertson sometimes had to turn clients away. “I’m probably not going to keep an immigration attorney on staff on the chance we get two immigration questions a year,” said Kevin Sutton, formerly a managing partner with the firm. But he also didn’t like sending business out the door.

10 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 1, 2021

“THE ABILITY TO HAVE SPECIALISTS IN EVERY AREA AVAILABLE TO OUR EDUCATION CLIENTS WAS THE NUMBER ONE DRIVING FACTOR” FOR LUSK ALBERTSON IN THE DEAL. — Kevin Sutton, managing member, Miller Johnson’s Detroit office

Enter Miller Johnson, a Grand Rapids-based firm of slightly more than 100 attorneys, which could provide the expertise Lusk Albertson needed. Miller Johnson acquired the smaller firm Sept. 1, with Sutton becoming managing member of Miller Johnson’s new Detroit office. “The ability to have specialists in every area available to our education clients was the number one driving factor” for Lusk Albertson in the deal, Sutton said. Having the ability to tap a deeper bench is one reason law firms decide to couple up. Other factors propelling mergers and acquisitions include access to new markets — either within Michigan or out of state — or simply the need for more talented bodies to grow the book of business. “We’re starting to get calls from all over the state and that’s a good sign,” Sutton said. “I’m getting calls now

from (school) districts on the west side and Up North that I wasn’t getting before. We had dipped our toe into the water (with a two-person Grand Rapids office), but the alliance with Miller Johnson allowed us to dive in headfirst.” For Miller Johnson, formed in 1959 and previously operating only from Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo offices, the acquisition provided an established Detroit address and enhanced the ability to reel in topnotch team members. The firm practices in areas ranging from education to health care to automotive. “We needed more talent,” said Bob Wolford, managing member of Miller Johnson in Grand Rapids. “There are some limitations to Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo in attracting the best legal talent.” See LAW on Page 11

FOCUS | LAW

LAW

From Page 10

Instead of trying to open a Detroit office cold, Miller Johnson wanted one that was established. “We (had) a cash-flow positive office on day one,” Wolford said. “The physical location was as good as anything we could have found on our own. Entering the market at its core, in Detroit, was something we wanted to do.”

It’s about the client Longtime Detroit law firm Clark Hill PLC — formed by the merger of Clark, Klein and Beaumont with Hill Lewis in 1996 — has grown through several “combinations” in the past decade. The full-service, 650-attorney firm now has 25 offices in 14 states, plus Mexico City and Dublin. In 2013, Clark Hill became a national firm when it acquired Thorp Reed & Armstrong. That firm had offices in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Princeton, N.J., and Wilmington, Del., with 150 attorneys. The 2017 acquisition of Morris Polich & Purdy LLP brought 100 lawyers based in California and Nevada, while Clark Hill added about 200 attorneys in Texas, New York, Washington, D.C., and Mexico City with its 2018 acquisition of Strasburger & Price. Although companies involved in mergers and acquisitions in other business sectors sometimes seek to

Wolford

Hensien

grow profit by adding revenue while eliminating the redundant positions the combinations create, that’s not usually the motivation for law firms, said Clark Hill CEO John Hensien. “Unlike in other industries, it’s not like you’re combining to drive cost out of your company,” Hensien said. “A lot of what we’re trying to achieve when we do these things is client-driven.” In the Morris Polich deal, for example, Clark Hill was seeking to accommodate large clients that had a California presence or that had needs in that market, he said. “We’re able to service clients better if we’re in the place they are,” he said. The Strasburger & Price combination gave the Texas firm a footprint in the Midwest and California, while expanding practice areas for Clark Hill. “There were a certain number of practices they had we were looking for — the energy area, health care — where we were looking to grow our expertise,” Hensien said, adding that tax and retail were others. In terms of future mergers or acquisitions, none are close for Clark

Hill, Hensien said. But the firm always is evaluating desirable markets and talking with potential partners, he said. “We’re interested in the Hammer Southeast — Florida, Atlanta, the Carolinas,” he said. “Denver is an interesting market to us.” Entering a market via a partner is much easier than going it alone, Hensien said, echoing Wolford’s sentiments. “The attorneys are a known quantity in the market,” Hensien said. “They know the market.” The trick is to find a firm with like business practices. “You need to have similar cultures or the deal’s not going to work,” Hensien said. Once in a market, firms may want to leverage the existing brand. For two years, Clark Hill operated as Clark Hill Strasburger in Texas and as Clark Hill Thorp Reed in Pittsburgh before switching to Clark Hill in both markets.

Geographic diversity Dickinson Wright PLLC, another full-service law firm that got its start in Detroit — adopting the current name in 1998 — also has expanded its reach through combinations. The firm now has 19 offices and about 500 attorneys

across the United States and Canada. Having first expanded outside of Michigan to Washington, D.C., in the 1970s, the firm embarked on a series of combinations beginning in 2012 that added offices in Columbus, Saginaw, Phoenix, Lexington, Reno, Fort Lauderdale, Austin, El Paso and Silicon Valley. The latest acquisition, of Stahl Cowen Crowley Addis LLC in Chicago, took effect Jan. 1. That firm wanted to be part of a bigger organization, while Dickinson Wright wanted a Chicago location, said Dickinson Wright CEO Mike Hammer. “It was really an overlap,” said Hammer, adding that attorneys from his firm already were working with Chicago clients. “Chicago had all the practices we have and it’s a big money center.” Past combinations allowed Dickinson Wright to double its revenue during a period of five or six years and to tap into new markets and practice areas, Hammer said. “We wanted to have diversity of regions and diversity of practices,” he said. “Instead of ‘We go only as Michigan goes or D.C. goes,’” the firm now can ride the success of other areas of the country. In general, law firms looking at mergers or acquisitions consider markets with population growth and those that aren’t already brimming with competitors, Hammer said. “There were a number of markets that were underserved,” he said. “Nashville is a good example. We’ve been in Nashville 10 years.”

“YOU NEED TO HAVE SIMILAR CULTURES OR THE DEAL’S NOT GOING TO WORK.” — John Hensien, CEO, Clark Hill

Post-COVID The overall merger and acquisition market went on a bit of a roller coaster ride — along with business, in general — last year, as COVID-19 cast its dark shadow over the nation. Early in the year, Dickinson Wright was among nervous firms that put on a hiring freeze and instituted pay cuts, before reversing those actions later in 2020. “Now, we’re hot and heavy on the recruitment trail,” said Hammer, adding that travel still is suspended. “I would say it’s pretty robust out there. There’s a lot of appetite for expansion among law firms.” COVID caution is continuing in the market among firms looking for combinations, Hensien said. However, as they evaluate their 2020 performance, it’s likely to pick up. “You’ll start to see more activity, I would guess, by the second quarter,” he said. Firms are learning that COVID hasn’t lessened the demand for legal work, Wolford said. “Firms that are trying to grow are going to continue to try to grow,” he said. SPONSORED CONTENT

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GOLDEN PARACHUTES VS. GOLDEN HANDCUFFS: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE AND WHEN SHOULD THEY BE USED? their job, should the merger occur. Providing a golden parachute can help insure the executive works in the best interest of the target company and its shareholders.

Golden Parachute

A golden parachute refers to a contractual provision contained within an employee’s employment contract. It provides significant financial compensation in the event of employment termination following an acquisition of the company. It’s not uncommon for top executives of a target company to be terminated following the closing of an acquisition. To induce executives to stay with the target company through the sale process, and to incentivize them to work towards accomplishing the sale, a target company will sometimes amend the employment contracts of key executives, providing additional compensation, should they be terminated following the acquisition. This is popularly known as a golden parachute. While it can take many forms, it typically comes as a bonus, severance, stock options, or retirement benefits. The primary purpose of a golden parachute is to provide the executive with a soft landing should they be terminated following the acquisition.

Golden Handcuffs

Richard C. Buslepp is a Member of Kerr Russell and co-chair of the firm’s corporate practice. He specializes in M&A and business law.

Such clauses can also provide several benefits to a target company, including: • Attract and retain talented executives - Companies ripe for sale, or industries prone to mergers, can be at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to recruiting and retaining executives. Offering a golden parachute may help attract top-level talent. • Reduce conflict of interest during a merger - Executives are conflicted between working hard to accomplish a merger and concerns over losing

While the purpose of a golden parachute is to provide an executive with a soft landing, the objective of golden handcuffs is to encourage a key employee not to terminate their employment before a set time.

A track record of results. We understand the region. We know what moves Michigan. We are committed to the community.

Golden handcuffs come in a variety of forms, however, the most popular are phantom stock or stock options that only vest after a certain number of years of employment and bonuses which either vest over time or must be repaid if the employee terminates before an agreed upon date. Golden handcuffs are typically used for employees who may have a unique talent or skill, or if the demand for a particular skill set outpaces supply. While golden handcuffs can be expensive, they are used only when the cost to replace an employee exceeds the expense of the benefit provided.

D E T RO I T

T ROY

kerr-russell.com Convergence — Detroit From Above by Brian Day

MARCH 1, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 11

CRAIN'S LIST | LARGEST SE MICHIGAN LAW FIRMS Ranked by number of attorneys in Southeast Michigan as of January 2021 COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE; WEBSITE

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE(S)

TOTAL LOCAL ATTORNEYS JAN. 2021/ 2020

PARTNERS

ASSOCIATES

STAFF ATTORNEYS

SENIOR ATTORNEYS

OTHER FULL-TIME ATTORNEYS

MICHIGAN JAN. 2021

WORLDWIDE JAN. 2021

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS

HONIGMAN LLP

David Foltyn chairman and CEO

233

164

279

324

Agree Realty Corp., City Club Apartments LLC, Center Rock Capital Partners, General Motors LLC, Huron Capital Partners LLC, Kellogg Co.

DICKINSON WRIGHT PLLC

Michael Hammer CEO

170

136

209

482

JAFFE RAITT HEUER & WEISS PC

Jeffrey Weiss CEO

169

101

Sun Communities Inc., Strength Capital Partners, Redico, Feldman Automotive Inc.

BUTZEL LONG PC

Justin Klimko president and CEO

134

149

DYKEMA GOSSETT PLLC

Leonard Wolfe chairman and CEO

125

151

368

USAA, Ford Motor Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co, General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Sales, CIBC Bank USA

BODMAN PLC

Carrie Leahy chair

124

137

Comerica Bank; Lear Corp.; Ford Family members; The Huntington National Bank; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan; Freudenberg North America; Flagstar Bank

MILLER, CANFIELD, PADDOCK AND STONE PLC

Megan Norris 1 CEO

120

156

214

Comerica, Consumers Energy, University of Michigan, city of Detroit, Barton Malow, Siemens, Olympia Development, Wells Fargo Bank NA

CLARK HILL PLC

John Hensien CEO

106

131

588

PLUNKETT COONEY

Thomas Vincent president and CEO

122

135

NOVARA, TESIJA, CATENACCI, MCDONALD AND BAAS PLLC

Michael Novara managing member, CEO

MRCC Fringe Benefit Funds, Operating Engineers, Local 324 Fringe, Benefit Funds Plumbers & Pipefitters, Fringe Benefit Funds, BAC Fringe Benefit Funds

KITCH DRUTCHAS WAGNER VALITUTTI & SHERBROOK PC

Mark Wisniewski chair and CEO

112

Ascension, Beaumont Health, Coverys, HCR Manorcare, Farm Bureau, Henry Ford Health Systems

HOWARD & HOWARD ATTORNEYS PLLC

Mark Davis president and CEO

165

BMO Harris Bank N.A., Konami Gaming Inc., Martinrea International Inc., Stryker Corp., ThyssenKrupp, BorgWarner Inc., Sigma Tron

ZAUSMER PC

Mark Zausmer managing shareholder

State of Michigan, TCF Bank, Piston Automotive, Wayne County, International Transmission Co.

HEWSON & VAN HELLEMONT PC

Michael Jolet, president; James Hewson; founding partner; Robert Steffes, Elaine Sawyer, Gregory Hoelscher, co-managing partners

GARAN LUCOW MILLER PC

C. David Miller chairman of executive committee

GIARMARCO, MULLINS & HORTON PC

Executive committee

BROOKS KUSHMAN PC

Sangeeta Shah, CEO; Frank Angileri, president

Ford Motor Co. Lear Corp., Domino's, Harman International, HoMedics, MASCO, Meritor, Airbus Helicopters

KERR, RUSSELL AND WEBER

Executive committee

COLLINS EINHORN FARRELL PC

Theresa Asoklis, CEO; Daniel Collins, president

SECREST, WARDLE, LYNCH, HAMPTON, TRUEX AND MORLEY PC

Bruce Truex, president, Nathan Edmonds senior partner

HARNESS, DICKEY & PIERCE PLC

Executive committee

WARNER NORCROSS + JUDD LLP

Linda Paullin-Hebden executive partner

216

Amway, Consumers Energy, Dow Chemical, Fifth Third Bank, Mahle Industries, Perrigo, Robert Bosch

VARNUM LLP

Ronald DeWaard, chair, managing partner Eric Nemeth, Matthew Bower, Richard Hewlett, Michael Romaya managing partners

180

15 17

2290 First National Building, 660 Woodward Ave., Detroit 48226-3506 313-465-7000 ; www.honigman.com

500 Woodward Ave., Suite 4000, Detroit 48226 313-223-3500 ; www.dickinsonwright.com 27777 Franklin Road, Suite 2500, Southfield 48034-8214 248-351-3000 ; www.jaffelaw.com 150 W. Jefferson Ave., Suite 100, Detroit 48226 313-225-7000 ; www.butzel.com 400 Renaissance Center, Detroit 48243 313-568-6800 ; www.dykema.com

Sixth Floor at Ford Field, 1901 St. Antoine St., Detroit 48226 313-259-7777 ; www.bodmanlaw.com

150 W. Jefferson, Suite 2500, Detroit 48226 313-963-6420 ; www.millercanfield.com

500 Woodward Ave., Suite 3500, Detroit 48226 313-965-8300 ; www.clarkhill.com 38505 Woodward Ave., Suite 100, Bloomfield Hills 48304 248-901-4000 ; www.plunkettcooney.com

888 W. Big Beaver Road, Suite 600, Troy 48084 248-354-0380 ; www.novaralaw.com

1 Woodward Ave., Suite 2400, Detroit 48226-5485 313-965-7900 ; www.kitch.com 450 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak 48067 248-645-1483 ; www.howardandhoward.com

32255 Northwestern Highway, Suite #225, Farmington Hills 48334 248-851-4111 ; www.zausmer.com 25900 Greenfield Road, Suite 650, Oak Park 48237 248-968-5200 ; www.vanhewpc.com

1155 Brewery Park Blvd., Suite 200, Detroit 48207 313-446-1530 ; www.garanlucow.com 101 W. Big Beaver Road, 10th Floor Columbia Center, Troy 48084-5280 248-457-7000 ; www.gmhlaw.com

1000 Town Center, 22nd Floor 222, Southfield 48075 248-358-4400 ; www.BrooksKushman.com

500 Woodward Ave., Suite 2500, Detroit 48226 313-961-0200 ; www.kerr-russell.com 4000 Town Center, Ninth Floor, Southfield 48075 248-355-4141 ; www.ceflawyers.com

2600 Troy Center Drive, P.O. Box 5025, Troy 48007-5025 248-851-9500 ; www.secrestwardle.com 5445 Corporate Drive, Suite 200, Troy 48098 248-641-1600 ; www.hdp.com 2000 Town Center, Suite 2700, Southfield 48075-1318 248-784-5000 ; www.wnj.com 160 West Fort St., Detroit 48226 313-481-7300 ; www.varnumlaw.com

240

177

112

133

137

125

141

112

Researched by Sonya D. Hill: shill@crain.com | This list is an approximate compilation of the largest law firms in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw and Livingston counties. Total number of attorneys does not include of counsel. It is not a complete listing but the most comprehensive available. Unless otherwise noted, information was provided by the law firms. Firms with headquarters elsewhere are listed with the address and top executive of their main Detroit-area office. NA = not available. NOTES: 1. Succeeds Michael McGee as CEO , effective February 26.

Want the full Excel version of this list — and every list? Become a Data Member: CrainsDetroit.com/data 12 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 1, 2021

CRAIN'S LIST | LARGEST MICHIGAN LAW FIRMS Ranked by number of attorneys in Michigan as of January 2021 COMPANY ADDRESS PHONE; WEBSITE

TOP MICHIGAN EXECUTIVE

MICHIGAN ATTORNEYS JANUARY 2021/2020

WORLDWIDE ATTORNEYS JANUARY 2021/2020

MICHIGAN OFFICE LOCATIONS

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS

HONIGMAN LLP

David Foltyn chairman and CEO

279

324

Ann Arbor, Bloomfield Hills, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing

Agree Realty Corp., City Club Apartments LLC, Center Rock Capital Partners, General Motors LLC, Huron Capital Partners LLC, Kellogg Co., O2 Investment Partners, Rockbridge Growth Equity LLC, Rocket Companies Inc., Taubman Centers Inc.

WARNER NORCROSS + JUDD LLP

Douglas Dozeman managing partner

216

Grand Rapids, Southfield, Midland, Macomb County, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Lansing, Holland

Amway, Consumers Energy, Dow Chemical, Fifth Third Bank, Mahle Industries, Perrigo, Robert Bosch, Spectrum Health, Stryker, Whirlpool

DICKINSON WRIGHT PLLC

Michael Hammer CEO

209

482

Ann Arbor, Troy, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Saginaw

VARNUM LLP

Scott Hill, executive partner; Ronald DeWaard, chair

180

Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Detroit, Novi, Ann Arbor, Birmingham

JAFFE RAITT HEUER & WEISS PC

Jeffrey Weiss CEO

169

101

Southfield, Detroit

Sun Communities Inc., Strength Capital Partners, Redico, Feldman Automotive Inc.

MILLER, CANFIELD, PADDOCK AND STONE PLC

Megan Norris 1 CEO

156

214

Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Troy

Comerica, Consumers Energy, University of Michigan, city of Detroit, Barton Malow, Siemens, Olympia Development, Wells Fargo Bank NA

DYKEMA GOSSETT PLLC

Leonard Wolfe chairman and CEO

151

368

Ann Arbor, Bloomfield Hills, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing

USAA, Ford Motor Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co, General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Sales, CIBC Bank USA

BODMAN PLC

Carrie Leahy chair

137

Ann Arbor, Cheboygan, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Troy

Comerica Bank; Lear Corp.; Ford Family members; The Huntington National Bank; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan; Freudenberg North America; Flagstar Bank

BUTZEL LONG PC

Justin Klimko president and CEO

134

149

Detroit, Bloomfield Hills, Ann Arbor, Lansing (Okemos)

CLARK HILL PLC

John Hensien, CEO; John Hern, chairman

131

588

Birmingham, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing

PLUNKETT COONEY

Thomas Vincent president and CEO

122

135

Bloomfield Hills, Detroit, Lansing, Flint, Grand Rapids, Marquette, Petoskey

MILLER JOHNSON

David Buday Robert Wolford managing members

106

Detroit, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo

Spectrum Health, Bronson Health, Washtenaw County, Meijer, Gordon Food Service, Kellogg Co

FOSTER SWIFT COLLINS & SMITH PC

28411 Northwestern Highway, Suite 500, Southfield 48034 248-539-9900;www.fosterswift.com

Anne Seurynck, president; Julie Fershtman, vice president, Southeast Michigan

Lansing, Southfield, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Holland, St. Joseph

NOVARA, TESIJA, CATENACCI, MCDONALD AND BAAS PLLC

Michael Novara managing member, CEO

Troy, Southfield

MRCC Fringe Benefit Funds, Operating Engineers, Local 324 Fringe, Benefit Funds Plumbers & Pipefitters, Fringe Benefit Funds, BAC Fringe Benefit Funds, Insulators Fringe, Benefit Funds, Auto Owners Insurance, Farm Bureau Insurance

KITCH DRUTCHAS WAGNER VALITUTTI & SHERBROOK PC

Jenna Wright Greenman, Mark Sesi, Patrick Fishman, Executive committees

112

Detroit, Lansing, Mt. Clemens, Marquette

Ascension, Beaumont Health, Coverys, HCR Manorcare, Farm Bureau, Henry Ford Health Systems

HOWARD & HOWARD ATTORNEYS PLLC

Mark Davis president and CEO

165

Royal Oak

BMO Harris Bank N.A., Konami Gaming Inc., Martinrea International Inc., Stryker Corp., ThyssenKrupp, BorgWarner Inc., Sigma Tron

ZAUSMER PC

Mark Zausmer managing shareholder

Farmington Hills

State of Michigan, TCF Bank, Piston Automotive, Wayne County, International Transmission Co., Walmart, Danaher Corp., State Farm, Auto Owners, Philadelphia Insurance Co.

HEWSON & VAN HELLEMONT PC

Michael Jolet, co-managing partner/ president; James Hewson, founding partner/co-managing partner; Robert Steffes, co-managing partner/VP; Elaine Sawyer, co-managing partner/ secretary; Gregory Hoelscher, comanaging partner/treasurer

Oak Park, Mt. Clemens and Grand Rapids

GIARMARCO, MULLINS & HORTON PC

William Heritage president

Troy

GARAN LUCOW MILLER PC

C. David Miller chairman of executive committee

Grand Blanc, Port Huron, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Traverse City, Detroit, Troy

BROOKS KUSHMAN PC

Sangeeta Shah, CEO; Frank Angileri, president

Southfield, MI

Ford Motor Co. Lear Corp., Domino's, Harman International, HoMedics, MASCO, Meritor, Airbus Helicopters

KERR, RUSSELL AND WEBER

Executive committee

Detroit, Troy

SECREST, WARDLE, LYNCH, HAMPTON, TRUEX AND MORLEY PC

Bruce Truex, president, senior partner and co-managing partner; Nathan Edmonds, senior partner and co-managing partner

Troy, Grand Rapids, Lansing

19 21

2290 First National Building, 660 Woodward Ave., Detroit 48226-3506 313-465-7000;www.honigman.com

2000 Town Center, Suite 2700, Southfield 48075-1318 248-784-5000;www.wnj.com 500 Woodward Ave., Suite 4000, Detroit 48226 313-223-3500;www.dickinsonwright.com 160 West Fort St., Detroit 48226 313-481-7300;www.varnumlaw.com 27777 Franklin Road, Suite 2500, Southfield 48034-8214 248-351-3000;www.jaffelaw.com 150 W. Jefferson, Suite 2500, Detroit 48226 313-963-6420;www.millercanfield.com 400 Renaissance Center, Detroit 48243 313-568-6800;www.dykema.com Sixth Floor at Ford Field, 1901 St. Antoine St., Detroit 48226 313-259-7777;www.bodmanlaw.com 150 W. Jefferson Ave., Suite 100, Detroit 48226 313-225-7000;www.butzel.com 500 Woodward Ave., Suite 3500, Detroit 48226 313-965-8300;www.clarkhill.com 38505 Woodward Ave., Suite 100, Bloomfield Hills 48304 248-901-4000;www.plunkettcooney.com 409 East Jefferson Avenue, Fifth Floor, Detroit 48226 248,258.2850;www.millerjohnson.com

888 W. Big Beaver Road, Suite 600, Troy 48084 248-354-0380;www.novaralaw.com

1 Woodward Ave., Suite 2400, Detroit 48226-5485 313-965-7900;www.kitch.com 450 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak 48067 248-645-1483;www.howardandhoward.com

32255 Northwestern Highway, Suite #225, Farmington Hills 48334 248-851-4111;www.zausmer.com 25900 Greenfield Road, Suite 650, Oak Park 48237 248-968-5200;www.vanhewpc.com

101 W. Big Beaver Road, 10th Floor Columbia Center, Troy 48084-5280 248-457-7000;www.gmhlaw.com

1155 Brewery Park Blvd., Suite 200, Detroit 48207 313-446-1530;www.garanlucow.com 1000 Town Center, 22nd Floor 222, Southfield 48075 248-358-4400;www.BrooksKushman.com 500 Woodward Ave., Suite 2500, Detroit 48226 313-961-0200;www.kerr-russell.com

2600 Troy Center Drive, P.O. Box 5025, Troy 48007-5025 248-851-9500;www.secrestwardle.com

288

234

224

174

112

174

159

137

133

140

113

100

Researched by Sonya D. Hill: shill@crain.com | This list is an approximate compilation of the largest law firms in Michigan. Total number of attorneys does not include "of counsel." It is not a complete listing but the most comprehensive

available. Information was provided by the law firms or gathered from their websites. Firms with headquarters elsewhere are listed with the address and top executive of their main Michigan office. NA = not available. NOTES: 1. Succeeds Michael McGee as CEO , effective February 26.

Want the full Excel version of this list — and every list? Become a Data Member: CrainsDetroit.com/data MARCH 1, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 13

MANUFACTURING

Microchip shortage hitting auto sector hard: What to know Spending glut on consumer electronics during the pandemic disrupts supply chain BY DUSTIN WALSH

A microchip shortage that has idled several automaker plants around the globe — General Motors hit pause on production in February at three plants that are expected to remain shuttered until at least midMarch — and shifting auto supplier production is being blamed on a spending glut on consumer electronics like computers and speakers during the pandemic. Personal computer sales were up 4.8 percent to 275 million units in 2020, according to data from market research firm Gartner. Last year was the largest bump in PC sales in a decade. In fact, 2020 was the largest year on record for consumer electronics at $442 billion, according to the Consumer Technology Association, known for its popular annual CES conference in Las Vegas. All computers, wireless earbuds, gaming consoles and wireless speakers require microchips, and increased demand does create a bottleneck. But the root of the issue that’s projected to cost carmakers as much as $61 billion in revenue this year starts earlier and is of the industry’s own creation as it responded to market forces at the start of the pandemic last year. Consumer electronics makers simply filled the void left by automotive companies as they pulled back production, starting in late January as COVID-19 ravaged China, and now the auto industry can’t get back the capacity it gave up a year ago. “When COVID hit last year, all of the auto orders dried up,” said Phil Amsrud, senior principal analyst of automotive semiconductor research at market research firm IHS Markit in San Francisco. “But the consumer electronics industry saw the recovery and read the tea leaves faster than autos, so they began gobbling up capacity. When the market recovered and auto companies re-engaged the supply chains, it was too late and there was no more capacity.” Chip orders from the auto sector now face a lead time of up to 30

A silicon wafer made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. at the company’s headquarters in Taiwan. | MAURICE TSAI/BLOOMBERG

weeks from only 12 weeks to 16 weeks before the pandemic, Amsrud said. The capacity conundrum is likely going to cost the auto industry millions, if not billions, of dollars as they battle for a place in line with an industry that has only a handful of major players — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chipmaker, operates roughly 50 percent of all chipmaking capacity globally. Vanguard International Semiconductor, a subsidiary of TSMC focused on automotive chips, was reportedly moving to increase chip prices by as much as 15 percent, Nikkei Asia reported last month. Automotive chip makers Japan-based Renesas Electronics and Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors previously announced price hikes on the in-demand chips. The price hikes will be enacted across the board by March, Nikkei reported. GM told investors last month the shortage cut earnings in 2021 by $1.5 billion to $2 billion. Ford Motor Co.

said it may lower its earnings forecast by $1 billion to $2.5 billion in 2021 thanks to the shortage. The bottleneck is going to be exponentially felt by the auto supply base. For example, Continental Automotive, the Auburn Hills-based North American subsidiary of Germany’s Continental AG, is “modifying production schedules” across its North American plants — translation: cutting shifts and hours — in response to the chips shortage, the company told Crain’s in an email. Southfield-based Lear Corp. CFO Jason Cardew told investors last week the supplier expects production interruptions related to the chip shortage. It’s no doubt the rising prices of chips will also lead to pricing pressures from automakers on suppliers, which ultimately will impact bottom lines there as well. Meanwhile, TSMC reported a 50 percent spike in net income in 2020 on only a 25 percent rise in sales. Taiwan’s United Microelectronics Corp.’s income for the third quarter

of 2020 tripled, Nikkei reported. “... it’s true that we chipmakers are in a relatively advantageous position based on the supply-demand balance,” UMC CFO Liu Chi-tung told the Nikkei in late January. The question remains when will the supply-demand equation for chips even out. The auto industry finds itself in a quagmire because there’s not a lot of incentive for chipmakers to choose autos over consumer electronics. The annual smartphone market alone is more than 1 billion devices, compared with fewer than 100 million cars. And with lower-margins, auto chips are less profitable than consumer devices. Compounding the problem was the Trump administration’s move to blacklist China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. in December, further constraining supply and forcing auto suppliers to find capacity elsewhere. Chipmakers in the U.S. earlier this month penned an open letter to the Biden administration looking for handouts to fund semiconductor

manufacturing in the U.S. as part of economic response to the pandemic. Industry leaders like Intel, AMD, Nvidia and Qualcomm urged government intervention toward leveling the playing field. “... our share of global semiconductor manufacturing has steadily declined from 37 percent in 1990 to 12 percent today,” the letter said. “This is largely because the governments of our global competitors offer significant incentives and subsidies to attract new semiconductor manufacturing facilities, while the U.S. does not. Others have also increased R&D investment substantially, while the U.S. investment in research has been relatively flat. As a result, the U.S. is uncompetitive in attracting investments in new fab construction and our technology leadership is at risk in the race for preeminence in the technologies of the future, including artificial intelligence, 5G/6G, and quantum computing.” President Joe Biden, in, response ordered last week a 100-day review of critical U.S. supply chains, including microchip. “We need to make sure that supply chains are secure and reliable,” Biden said Wednesday at the White House. “I’m directing senior officials in my administration to work with industrial leaders to identify solutions to this semiconductor shortfall.” But any move by the administration to subsidize building of chip capacity would likely come well too late for the auto sector. With lead times of more than 26 weeks, chipmakers won’t catch up to current automotive demand until the third quarter of this year and likely won’t meet new demand until next year, Amsrud said. “This could be a linger effect into 2022,” Amsrud said. “With chipmakers starting to prioritize automotive orders, that alleviates some of the pressure but with capacity really constrained, this problem isn’t going away any time soon.” Contact: dwalsh@crain.com; (313) 446-6042; @dustinpwalsh

MANUFACTURING

Masco launches $50 million venture fund subsidiary Investments to focus on home improvement, connected home startup businesses BY DUSTIN WALSH

Livonia-based home improvement products manufacturer Masco Corp. is creating a $50 million venture capital fund. Masco Ventures, a subsidiary of the publicly traded Masco (NYSE: MAS), plans to invest in future technologies in its sector, including products and services that improve water management, create a connected home, enhance customer service and find ways to improve customer relationships, the company said in a news release. Several local companies have created venture funds in recent years, including GM Ventures and Lear Ventures, to allow them to fund innovative startups without acquiring and 14 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 1, 2021

Masco Corp. is headquartered in Livonia. | SCHOSTAK BROTHERS & CO.

incorporating them into the fold of the larger organization. Masco Ventures plans to invest $500,000 to $5 million in early- and growth-stage firms that can benefit from Masco’s large distribution channels. “Innovation has been the hallmark of Masco since our founder, Alex Manoogian, introduced the single-handle faucet in 1954,” Masco CEO Keith Allman said in the release. “We believe that this fund will allow us to continue our history of innovation and support our long-term growth strategy. Our investment underscores our commitment to enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.” The venture fund will be managed

by Philadelphia-based Touchdown Ventures, which manages the VC portfolios for corporations including Kellogg Co., Aramark, 20th Century Fox and many others. The COVID-19 pandemic helped boost Masco’s business last year thanks to more people spending more time at home and thus focusing on home improvement projects. The company reported a 7 percent sales increase on the year to $7.2 billion and profits increase of 19 percent to $1.3 billion as the company pared off its commercial construction business in recent years, including the $1 billion sale of its cabinet business in 2019. Contact: dwalsh@crain.com; (313) 446-6042; @dustinpwalsh

LAW

MEDC CEO Burton to co-lead Honigman’s economic development practice Longtime Whitmer adviser had taken MEDC job on interim basis BY CHAD LIVENGOOD

After a year of economic upheaval, Michigan Economic Development Corp. CEO Mark Burton is leaving the quasi-governmental agency to become a partner and co-leader of Honigman LLP’s economic development incentives group. Burton, a longtime adviser and confidant to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, left the governor’s office last March to lead the MEDC on what was initially going to be a seven-month interim assignment while a new leader for the agency could be identified. “But my first week here, the pandemic hit,” Burton told Crain’s. “The second week, everybody went home for remote work. The nature of the crisis obviously dramatically changed what the expectation was.” At the MEDC, Burton oversaw the deployment of multiple economic relief and grant programs that were designed to triage the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and prolonged shutdowns of various sectors of the economy. “Mark has led the MEDC through one of the most difficult chapters in our state’s history, keeping us laser-focused on supporting Michigan businesses throughout the pandemic,” Whitmer said in a statement. “While I’m sad to see him leave state govern-

ment, I wish him the best of luck in his new role, and I look forward to working with the MEDC Executive Committee to announce a new CEO in the coming weeks who Burton will build on the administration’s important work in creating good jobs and strong communities across the state.” The governor’s statement signals that the MEDC Executive Committee is close to hiring a new leader. Burton took the reins at the MEDC last March following the retirement of CEO Jeff Mason, a holdover appointee from the Snyder administration. Korn Ferry, a Los Angeles-based management consulting firm, has been conducting a national search for a new MEDC CEO since late summer. “We are committed to selecting a leader with the right experience and skills to carry out the governor’s vision and the ongoing and exceptional work by the MEDC to build a strong and vibrant economic recovery that helps our state’s businesses grow, retain, and create more good-paying jobs for Michigan’s working families,” Awenate Cobbina, chair of the MEDC Executive Committee, said in a statement.

Burton’s last day at the MEDC will be March 12. Burton joined the MEDC after serving as Whitmer’s chief strategist in the governor’s office for her first 14 months in office. He was Whitmer’s chief of staff when she was Senate minority leader, served as general counsel to the Michigan Senate Democratic Caucus, did a stint as a lobbyist and then ran an outside political organization that helped propel her into the governor’s office. A 2002 graduate of the Michigan State University College of Law (formerly the Detroit College of Law), Burton joins the Detroit-based Honigman law firm at the partner level and will co-lead the economic development incentives group with Honigman partner Richard Barr. Burton will be based in Honigman’s Lansing office and will work in the firm’s government relations and regulatory practice under co-leaders Peter Ruddell and Dennis Muchmore, who lobby the Legislature and administration for clients. Burton is Honigman’s second high-profile hire this month. On Feb. 1, former U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider officially joined the firm as co-leader of its White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice. Contact: clivengood@crain.com; (313) 446-1654; @ChadLivengood

OBITUARY

Longtime Vesco Oil CEO Donald Epstein dies Led Southfield-based company started by his father BY JASON DAVIS

Donald Epstein was the model of consistency. Serving as the CEO of Vesco Oil Corp., the Southfield-based company started by his father, Eugene, in 1947, did not give Epstein a feeling of superiority. “He was the most adored person within the company and it wasn’t because he was the highest-ranking,” said Marjory Epstein, Donald’s wife of 50 years and chair of the Vesco board. “It was because he was the kindest, the most caring, and the most humble. Those were values he demonstrated at home and in the workplace. He was consistent.” Donald Epstein, who from 1995 to 2020 served as Vesco CEO, died Feb. 19 at age 76. Epstein had transitioned into a CEO emeritus role after his daughter, Lilly Epstein Stotland, took over the CEO role in November 2020. Stotland, a Crain’s 40 under 40 honoree in 2015, is the fourth Epstein to serve as Vesco CEO. “My dad was an awesome, awesome man. He really set the bar high,” Stotland said. “My dad was generous. He was amazingly intelligent. He was such a giving team player. He was a magnificent human being and an even better father.” Donald Epstein, a Bloomfield Hills resident, died after battling an undisclosed illness. His passing was not

COVID-19 related, Stotland said. “He really not only cared deeply about his family and friends. He cared about the people at our company,” Marjory Epstein said. Epstein “The people at Vesco were people he developed wonderful friendships with. He cared very much about what was going on in their personal lives. He’d call and wish them happy birthday. He took pride and pleasure in their accomplishments, and he took on their sadness and concerns.” Vesco Oil is a family-owned and -operated business. The company has 227 employees across 10 locations in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The company, which had revenue of $195 million in 2019, has been expanding regionally for close to 10 years, Stotland told Crain’s in November. Vesco Oil distributes branded automotive and industrial lubricants in the U.S., and is considered one of the leading recyclers of used oil and antifreeze. The company also serves as a provider of automotive appearance products, sells a line of metalworking fluids, and is a provider of bulk windshield washer fluid and antifreeze. Donald Epstein took over the fam-

ily business after a career as an attorney with Southfield-based law firm Sommers, Schwartz, Silver and Schwartz. Epstein, who recently celebrated 50 years with the Michigan Bar Association, graduated from Harvard College in 1966 and earned a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1969. “He was my mentor,” said Lena Epstein, Donald’s daughter, a member of Vesco’s board and a Republican congressional candidate in 2018. “He was also a daily source of inspiration. He’s certainly the kindest man I’ve ever known. It was through his clear leadership that he raised me and my sister to be the women we are today.” Epstein is also survived by three grandchildren and a host of other family and friends. “When it comes to being missed, Don Epstein is going to be missed by so many people in the business community and the Jewish community,” Lena Epstein said. “Dad touched lives. His legacy is everlasting.” The family invites those who want to honor Epstein to make contributions to the following organizations: ` Yad Ezra, yadezra.org/donate/ ` Hebrew Free Loan, hfldetroit.org ` Temple Beth El, tbeonline.org/donation-page ` Jewish Hospice & Chaplaincy Network, jewishhospice.org

Brought to you by Amy Elliott Bragg, Special projects editor, Crain’s Detroit Business

The newsletter will include commentary on our biggest and best stories of the week, with context on why it matters, and thoughts from our newsroom on what to watch in the week ahead. Plus, a round-up of our most-read news of the week, striking photos, and no shortage of fun facts.

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it.com o r t e d s n crai

Contact: jason.davis@crain.com (313) 446-1612; @JayDavis_1981 MARCH 1, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 15

FOOD

Kar’s Nuts looks to crack new markets with name change Company to invest in innovation, while Sanders brand shifts focus to online sales BY KURT NAGL

Kar’s Nuts, Second Nature and Sanders products. | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

ners LLC in 2017 for an undisclosed sum, has steadily increased its market share in the highly fragmented $135.7 billion U.S. snack foods industry. While it isn’t close to competing with giants such as PepsiCo and Frito-Lay, or even dominant sellers of nuts such as Planters, the company claims to be the top seller of branded trail mix. Second Nature Brands does not intend to abandon Sanders Chocolates after acquiring the Bumpy Cake maker in 2018, though it has been trimming some fat. Sanders closed four of its stores in metro Detroit in June, resulting in the layoffs of 15 full-time and 20 part-time employees. The closures, which are permanent, leave just two brick-and-mortar locations, in Rochester and Clinton Township, as the company shifts focus to online sales. “I believe it is right-sized,” Mehren said. “There’s just been such a migration from physical brick-and-mortar

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

Advertising Section To place your listing, visit www.crainsdetroit.com/people-on-the-move or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com

CONSULTING

FINANCIAL SERVICES

UHY LLP

UHY Consulting

DFCU Financial

IFF

Don Felmlee, with UHY for 16 years, has been promoted to managing director. Felmlee is a strategic advisor to his clients – improving operations, protecting assets and maximizing profitability. He grew up in Bay City and spends time enjoying Michigan’s great outdoors, boating, fishing, hunting and playing golf. He lives in Oakland Twp. with his wife Michelle, their son Mason, daughter Harper, and COVID puppy Bronson. Felmlee graduated from Northwood University and is a licensed CPA.

Stephanie Rosenbaum is a managing director with UHY’s Resource Solutions Group, providing upper-level and executive accounting and finance support to companies with interim and permanent placement needs, as well as generating new assurance, tax, and consulting clients in the region. She has a passion for studying the impact of food on health and longevity. She currently calls Huntington Woods home with husband Jared and their two children. Rosenbaum is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

DFCU Financial is pleased to announce the recent addition of Tim Hartley as Assistant Vice President, Commercial Loan Officer. With seven years of industry experience, including four years of commercial lending experience at Bank of America and three years of operational finance experience, Tim has a well-rounded skill set that will be beneficial to DFCU’s evolving Commercial Banking initiatives.

IFF is pleased to announce that Beverley Loyd has been hired as Managing Director of Lending for Michigan and Ohio. Ms. Loyd comes to IFF with more than 30 years of experience in community development finance and accounting. She previously worked with Urban Partnership Bank, ShoreBank, and JPMorgan Chase and also served as a CFO, controller, and auditor. She has a master’s of finance from Walsh College and a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Michigan-Flint.

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September 2, 2019 | crainsdetroit.com

40 40

Dandridge Floyd, 37

UNDER

Assistant Superintendent of Human Relations and Labor Relations, Oakland Schools

hroughout Dandridge Floyd’s careers — whether as a social worker, attorney or assistant superintendent of Oakland Schools — making change has always been a center point. When United Way pitched a framework to Oakland Schools for a countywide breakfast program to address poor nutrition as a way to improve academic achievement, Floyd — who experienced food insecurity growing up — knew firsthand the powerful impact it could have. To secure the needed funds, Floyd led a team that earned support from all 28 local districts to finance the program — despite the fact that a majority of them would see no benefit. “The local districts were phenomenal,” Floyd said. “The biggest surprise was how quickly it happened. Education is a democratic system and democracy can be very slow, but this happened in six to seven months. That showed how committed people were to making sure the students of Oakland County have everything they need to be successful.” In a county where over 7,000 children suffer from hunger, and only two in five eligible students access a school breakfast, Floyd said a common misperception is that “Oakland County is rich.” “That makes this program all the more important, because if that is the bias or the thought process people have about Oakland County, then these kids would have never gotten help.” In a groundbreaking public/nonprofit partnership between the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, Oakland Schools and United Way, Oakland County is Better with Breakfast was born. “I’m impacting lives now,” Floyd said. “I know the effect food insecurity had on me and my peers growing up, and this was an opportunity to make a change that I wish an adult could have made for me.” — Laura Cassar

October 30, 2017 | crainsdetroit.com

UBS to open downtown Detroit office By Annalise Frank

October 30, 2017 | crainsdetroit.com

• UBS plans to open wealth management office in Detroit in mid-2018 • Office to include 6,000-squarefoot space30,nonprofits and civic October 2017 | crainsdetroit.com

UBS to open downtown Detroit office By Annalise Frank

groups • UBS plans to open wealthcan use free of charge • Bedrock-owned buildings

office in Detroit “I’m impacting lives now. management I know undergoing renovations in mid-2018 6,000-squarethe effect food insecurity• Office had onto includeUBS plans to open an office in down-

UBS to open downtown Detroit office

foot space nonprofits and civic Detroit in mid-2018, the company Annalise Frank growing groups meByand my peers up, andcan usetown free of charge announced Monday. • Bedrock-ownedUBS buildings Group AG’s U.S. and Canadian UBSan plans to open wealth this•was opportunity toundergoing make a renovations wealth management business, New Jermanagement office in Detroit sey-based Wealth Management change I wish an adult UBScould plans to open an office UBS in downin that mid-2018 Americas, to lease 13,000 square UBS will lease 13,000 feet from Bedrock LLC starting around mid-2018 in two buildings: the Grintown Detroit in mid-2018, theplans company • Office to include 6,000-squarefeet on the connected sixth floors of nell Building (center left) at 1515 Woodward Ave. and the Sanders Building (center right) at 1529 have made for me.” announced Monday. foot space nonprofits and civic buildings at 1515 Wood- Woodward Ave. Group AG’sneighboring U.S. and Canadian groups can use free UBS of charge ward Ave. and Fourteen metro Detroit employees don’t really have adequate resources wealth management business, New 1529 Jer- Woodward Ave. • Bedrock-owned buildings The twoManagement buildings built around 1900 are will move to the downtown office to or adequate office space to host dosey-based UBS Wealth undergoing renovations by Detroit-based will lease LLC 13,000 feet from Bedrock LLC starting around mid-2018 buildings: Grin- meetings or things nor events the or board start, but the office has the capacity toin two Americas, plans toowned lease 13,000 square UBSBedrock nell Building (center at 1515 Woodward andnew the Sanders Buildingalong (centerthose right) at 1529 Bush said. and are undergoing said left) lines,” hold another six toAve. eight staff memon inthe connected sixth floors of renovations, Reprinted with permission from Crain’s Detroit Business. © 2019 Crain Communications Inc. All RightsUBS reserved. plans to open anfeet office downAve. for bers, Bush said. It will act as an extension John Bush, 60, WoodMichiganWoodward market head UBS’s investment in the new ofneighboring buildings at 1515 Further duplication without permission is prohibited. Visit www.crainsdetroit.com. #CD1134 town Detroit in mid-2018, the company UBS Wealth ManagementFourteen Americas.metro of fice will resources be “significant,” he said, as its the other wealth management offices. don’t really have adequate Detroit employees announced Monday. ward Ave. and 1529 Woodward Ave. “The real impetus open atonew The twoCanadian buildings built around 1900 arefor us “uniqueness Bush is based Birmingham office space to hostcomes do- at a price.” He said willto move the downtown office out to ofortheadequate UBS Group AG’s U.S. and office inBedrock Detroit is to support what’s owned by Detroit-based LLC he could or not yet provide an estimate but travels to to the will meetings norothers eventsand or board things start, but the goofficeoffice, has the capacity wealth management business, New Jering renovations, on in the city, ” saidhold Bush, a Detroit and are undergoing said on the be spending in thealong Detroit branch. those lines,” Bush said.cost of the build-out, as some another six to eight new stafftime memsey-based UBS Wealth Management nativemarket who grew City. “We John Bush, 60, Michigan headup forin Garden have yet The location have atheless UBS’s investment in the new of- to be finalized. said. will act asDetroit an extension fromBush Bedrock LLCItstarting around mid-2018 in twowill buildings: Grin- contracts Americas, plans to lease 13,000 square UBS will lease 13,000 feetbers, UBS Wealth Management Americas. really felt like we wantedofto have a physfice will be “significant,” hecompany said, as its the other wealth management offices. The plans to start its buildtraditional, more “urban” feelright) than 1515 Woodward Ave. and the Sanders Building (center atthe 1529 feet on the connected sixth floors of nell Building (center left) at “The real impetus for us to open new ical presence to reinforce “uniqueness comes at saidnext year, depending Bush is based outothers, of the he Birmingham outa price.” processHeearly said. New York-based architecAve. adowntown neighboring buildings office at 1515 Wood- toWoodward in Detroit is our support go-particular vision what’s for this areatravels and toture he will could not yet an estimate office, but the firm others and will Cale on when renovations on the buildings Verderame design the provide ward Ave. and 1529 ing Woodward don’t really have adequate resources Fourteen metro Detroit employees on in theAve. city,”tosaid Bush, a Detroit reinforce our on Barton the cost of the build-out, as some be spending time inspace; the Detroit branch. are complete. Southfield-based Malow The two buildings builtnative around 1900 areup in adequate office space to have host dowill moveCity. to tothe officelocation to or will who grew Garden “Wedowntown commitment contracts finalized. The Detroit have aon less based in Switzerland, employs Co. has signed as general contractor.yet to beUBS, owned by Detroit-based Bedrock nor events or board or things start, thea physoffice has the capacity really felt likeLLC we wanted tobut The company plans to startacross its buildtraditional, moreto“urban” than the outmeetings the city. ” have 60,000 54 countries. About 34 UBS feel plans to rent about half of the and are undergoing renovations, along those lines,” Bush said. early next year, depending hold six to eight new he staff memical presencesaid downtown toWealth reinforce others, said. New office York-based architecUBS another — 6,000 square out feetprocess — at no cost percent of them work in the AmeriJohn Bush, 60, Michiganour market head UBS’s investment the renovations new of- on the buildings bers, said. It will act an extension vision for for thisMparticular oninorganizations, when tureasfirm VerderametoCale will design theother a n aBush g e marea e n tand cas, according to a news release. UBS nonprofits and UBS Wealth Management will beMalow “significant,” he said, as its of the other also wealth management offices. ficeBarton to Americas. reinforce our Americas are be complete. space; Southfield-based Bush said. The space will called UBS Wealth Management Americas em“The real impetus for commitment us to open a new “uniqueness comes at a price.” He said is based thehas Birmingham to has Bush based signed on as Woodward general contractor. metro De- out ofCo. ploys 280employs in Michigan, 225 of whom Gallery. Its UBS, design and in artSwitzerland, office in Detroit is to support what’s go- office, but travels to theUBS heabout couldhalf not an estimate others and the city. ” 60,000 across 54 countries. 34 Detroit. plans towill rent will out of yet the provide troit offices in are basedAbout in metro aim to showcase Detroit’s history ing on in the city,” said Bush, on the cost the build-out, asthem somework in the Amerispending Detroit branch. UBS a Detroit Wealth B be percent office — 6,000 square at noofcost irm i n g h a time m , in the The wealth management business andfeet a— hub-and-spoke layout ofwill renative who grew up in Garden City. “We contracts have yet tocas, be finalized. M a n a g e m e n t Troy, The Detroit locationtowill have a and less other according to a news release. UBS nonprofits organizations, Farmington recorded operating income of $2.13 flect the city’s road system. really felt like we wanted to have a physAmericas also Hills, The plans to startManagement its buildtraditional, more “urban” Wealth Americas em- quarter of 2017 — a Bushfeel said.than The the space will becompany called Plymouth in the third “Some of theUBS organizations that op- billion ical presence downtown reinforce has tometro De- others, he said. New York-based outdesign process early year,280 depending architecploys in Michigan, 225 of whom Woodward Gallery. Its and art next John Bush erate and Dearborn. and provide services in the city 7 percent increase over last year. our vision for this particular area and troit offices in ture firm Verderame Cale when renovations the buildings the onDetroit’s in metro Detroit. willwill aimdesign to showcase history areonbased to reinforce our B i r m i n g h a m , space; Southfield-based complete. Malow arelayout The wealth management business andBarton a hub-and-spoke will reReprinted with permission from Crain’s Detroit Business. © 2019 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights reserved. commitment to Troy, Farmington Co. has signed on as general UBS, based in Switzerland, employs recorded operating income of $2.13 contractor. flectFurther the city’s road system. duplication without permission is prohibited. Visit www.crainsdetroit.com. #CD936 Hills, Plymouth the city.” billion in About the third “Somehalf of the organizations that op60,000 across 54 countries. 34quarter of 2017 — a UBS plans to rent out about of the John Bush and Dearborn. UBS Wealth 7 percent and provide city work percentinofthe them in theincrease Ameri-over last year. office — 6,000 squareerate feet — at no cost services Management to nonprofits and other organizations, cas, according to a news release. UBS Reprinted with permission from Crain’s Crain Communications Inc. All Rights reserved. Americas also Wealth Management Americas emBush said. The space will be Detroit calledBusiness. UBS © 2019 Further duplication without permission is prohibited. Visit www.crainsdetroit.com. #CD936 has metro DeWoodward Gallery. Its design and art ploys 280 in Michigan, 225 of whom troit offices in will aim to showcase Detroit’s history are based in metro Detroit. Birmingham, The wealth management business and a hub-and-spoke layout will reCRAINSDETROIT.COM I MARCH 9, 2020 I Troy, Farmington recorded operating income of $2.13 flect the city’s road system. Hills, Plymouth THE CONVERSATION “Some of the organizations that op- billion in the third quarter of 2017 — a John Bush erate and provide services in the city 7 percent increase over last year. and Dearborn.

Albert Berriz talks workforce housing, Ann Arbor and Cuba

Reprinted with permission from Crain’s Detroit Business. © 2019 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights reserved. | BY KIRK PINHO Further duplication without permission is prohibited. Visit www.crainsdetroit.com. #CD936

MCKINLEY INC.: Ann Arbor-based real estate company McKinley Inc. saw the writing on the wall for its retail portfolio a few years ago and cut bait, turning its focus primarily to its large crop of tens of thousands of workforce housing units across the country. One of the people at the helm of that decision was Albert Berriz, CEO and managing member, who came to America as a young boy fleeing Cuba and now steers a large company with a portfolio valued at more than $4 billion. `Crain’s Detroit Business: Can you talk a little bit about how the McKinley portfolio began and where it’s at today? Berriz: McKinley started in 1968 in Ann Arbor, and it was founded by (former U.S.) Ambassador Ron Weiser. It started in the student housing business and eventually transitioned into more traditional multifamily housing, and in addition to that, office and retail, as well. Today, we’re primarily a workforce housing multifamily operator. We have essentially disposed of our retail and office assets in an effort to really focus on multifamily and also focus on an asset class that I think is more in line with our current goal, which is to have a generational multifamily real estate enterprise and a pool of assets that really are long term in nature. ` Explain workforce housing versus affordable housing. We’re not in luxury housing. Our residents are working. They’re going to wake up tomorrow morning and go to work. Our average rents are, for example, in Washtenaw County, about $1,100 to $1,200 or in Orange County, or Seminole County, Florida, $1,400 or $1,500. So these are affordable rents. And the difference between us and affordable housing is our buildings are not subsidized. They’re all market rate, and they’re all privately owned. The owners are not receiving any form of subsidy, nor are the residents. However, if you wanted to sort of assess residents and low-income housing tax credit deals compared to ours, they’re probably not too dissimilar, the median incomes. The McKinley residents in, let’s say, Washtenaw County, when you look at the numbers are probably not going to be too much different than what you would see in a traditional LIHTC deal. But again, our buildings, the primary differences, our buildings are market rate and they’re not subsidized any way.

`I don’t think it’s overblown to use the word “crisis” for Ann Arbor’s affordable housing situation. Give us your perspective on how the city should go about addressing it. I think it’s a supply issue. The reality is that Ann Arbor has not really welcomed solutions from the private sector and has only sought solutions from the public housing side or the community nonprofit side. And both of those groups, while I think they’re very well intentioned, don’t have the capital and the expertise to resolve the problem at the scale it’s needed. To put it in perspective, you know, the Washtenaw County study that came out had a need of about 3,000 units. And if you look at the cost per unit today, and let’s say $250,000 or $300,000 per unit to build a brand new unit today, you know, it’s an $800 million to a $1 billion problem, so I don’t think that’s a problem that gets resolved on the public side or on the community nonprofit side. You know, they have to go to places to seek capital and there just isn’t enough capital, nor do they have enough resources or expertise to resolve the problems. So the city I think, by and large, has attempted to do this in those ways because they really haven’t welcomed the private side. And there is a lot of expertise and there’s a lot of capital that could do this, from the private side perspective. It just hasn’t been the way that Ann Arbor operates, so you see what has happened in Ann Arbor year over year, decade over decade is there’s a lot of conversations about affordable housing, but there’s no solutions. `You were talking a little bit earlier about how McKinley got out of retail and office. What led to that decision and how has that reflected or shaped your business strategy? It was a risk profile that we were just not comfortable with. We are a generational business and so we look at our assets in

a way that we never expect to sell them. We expect to invest in them so they last for long term, and we just couldn’t see that on retail. We saw a significant degradation of our rent rolls. We had buildings that were, let’s say, 70 percent to 80 percent investment-grade credit tenant composition and then we saw that we saw that quickly degrade. We just didn’t see a place where we could really have an asset class retail that would last for the long run. And then office in many ways, the same way. The way people are shopping and the way people are occupying offices today, the risk profile is very different than it was, let’s say, when we were making those investments 20 and 30 years ago, so for us, it was the right move. It’s paid off because, had we held many of the assets today, they would be significantly compromised. I think they would be worth a lot less. We started those sales about six years ago, and we sold a lot of that early on, so we sold them still at a time they were being valued significantly more than they would be worth today, in our opinion. And we sold some big buildings. I mean, these weren’t small buildings. We sold a 1 millionsquare-foot shopping center, for example, in Norfolk, Va., which is one of the largest power centers in the state of Virginia. So these weren’t small assets. So they were important for us to move them out at the right time, and for people that thought that was there was a good upside for them, so we actually sold them at good prices, and certainly we couldn’t have sold them at those prices today.

trajectory was to where you are today in terms of the head of McKinley. I left (Cuba) compliments of Fidel Castro in early 1959 because of the Cuban Revolution. We had to flee. It was survival to leave the country at the time and my parents relocated to Miami. We were fortunate for that. We’re fortunate to have left alive, fortunate to have resettled in what is without question the greatest country on the planet. I was not born here. I was born in Havana and I emigrated as a Cuban refugee just before I was 4 years old with my parents. `What consumes your day outside of the office? My wife and I walk. We like to boat, so those are the two things. In our summers we live at Saugatuck, and it’s a great place to live. We’d live there year-round, but it’s a little too cold in the winter.

`Can you give thumbnail sketch of coming here and what your

Albert Berriz, CEO and managing member, McKinley Inc.

Laura Picariello

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16 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 1, 2021

Bedrock LLC

ACCOUNTING

Bedrock LLC

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

locations to online. I don’t see retail as a big part of our strategic future.” Mehren said the company has intensified its focus on online, direct-to-consumer sales, which doubled in the past year. He declined to give specifics but said the entire company is “under a $200 million revenue business but won’t be for very long.” Its revenue was $185 million in 2018, Crain’s reported. Second Nature Brands will be rolling out a new line of products in March, too. Consumers can expect new snack “medleys” incorporating the keto diet, antioxidants and super omegas. “Our products sell extremely well with our current customers, posting growth,” Mehren said. “We will build on this momentum by bringing Sanders, Second Nature and Kar’s to retailers that don’t currently carry our products.” A company shifting its business model to win over carb and calorie

Bedrock LLC

neglect the Kar’s name, Mehren said. Kar’s seeds and snacks will be available at even more gas stations and grocery stores throughout the country, with a new line of savory mixes launching in March, including a zesty ranch variety with cashews, corn nuts, sunflower seeds and pretzel sticks. Kar’s products are found at more than 70 grocery and convenience chains throughout the country, as well as in vending machines and entertainment venues. That side of the business has suffered financial losses due to the pandemic, Mehren said, but the company is still growing. “Kar’s is our largest brand, and we can expect continued growth in Kar’s,” Mehren said, adding that sales of the Kar’s-branded snacks account for around 40 percent of the company’s revenue. The company, which sold a majority stake to Palladium Equity Part-

PHOTOGRAPH BY JACOB LEWKOW FOR CRAIN’S

Kar’s Nuts, the nearly 90-year-old metro Detroit snack staple, has changed its corporate name and is investing millions of dollars into an innovation center and infrastructure improvements. The Kar’s umbrella company takes on the name of its healthier snack line, Second Nature Brands, the M a d i s o n He i g h t s - b a s e d company announced last Tuesday. The change aligns with the company’s ambitions to broaden distribution and eat up more of Mehren the growing “health conscious” market as it closes in on $200 million in annual revenue, CEO Victor Mehren told Crain’s. “It’s a great brand but kind of puts us in one specific category,” said Mehren, who was hired in 2019 to replace Nick Nicolay, who remains a board member. “There’s an opportunity to better articulate the company that we’re building.” Rolled out by Kar’s around 10 years ago, Second Nature is a line of gluten-free, non-GMO trail mixes found on grocery store shelves such as Meijer and Kroger, often nearby Kar’s ubiquitous Sweet ‘N Salty mix, which remains its top-selling product. Mehren said he sees big growth potential in Second Nature and the healthy snacks segment. “All of our products use ingredients that come from nature,” he said. “It’s a nod to the types of natural products that we have in our portfolio.” That’s not to say the company will

counters may seem at odds with selling indulgent cakes and chocolates, but keto won’t conflict with Sanders, Mehren said. “Healthy snacking and permissible indulgence. We know there’s growth in both of those spaces,” he said. “We kind of sit in the intersection of those two adjacent categories. We think that’s a really good place to be.” The Sanders brand has also dipped into products targeted at health nuts. It recently launched a dairy-free, vegan version of its flagship sea salt caramels. Caramel “thins” will also be for sale soon. The second major component of the rebrand is the creation of new products. Millions of dollars are being invested into infrastructure upgrades, and an innovation center at the Sanders manufacturing facility in Clinton Township will serve as the research and development base for each of the company’s brands. Construction started last fall and is expected to be complete in the second quarter. It will enable the company to stay on top of consumer tastes by making new products and delivering them quickly to consumers at its attached storefront. Following the store closures in June, the company’s total employee count is 383, most of whom are in metro Detroit. It is aiming to hire an additional 45 people at the Sanders factory. Mehren said remaining in metro Detroit is important for the company’s identity. “We happen to have a couple of Detroit’s very own born and raised brands,” he said. “We’re very proud of being Michigan made.”

ADAMS

From Page 3

Adams, a Cincinnati native, wants to target small businesses suffering amid the coronavirus pandemic. More specifically, looking at how traditional lending models aren’t working for them and what technical support they need — accounting and legal aid, for instance. Duggan’s administration did help create a public-private partnership to give small businesses technical assistance during the pandemic and funneled grants to hundreds of businesses. It remains to be seen how small business support shakes out over the course of the election. “I think we spend a lot of money trying to attract businesses through Motor City Match, create new businesses, and yet we missed the mark ... by my estimate, 35,000 small businesses that have never gotten one dime of any subsidy,” Adams said, calling those businesses a formidable base of employers that needs to succeed to stabilize neighborhoods. Adams alleges the impacts of Duggan’s policies have merely trickled down, not reaching neighborhoods that need the most help, and that community redevelopment needs to be restructured for less focus on a “central bureaucracy in downtown.” “I’m talking about, we’ve got (the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.), Detroit Land Bank Authority, (Housing and Revitalization Department), all those things need to be streamlined,” he said. “You’ve got (community development) organizations that are out here doing the work … I don’t need to manage them and what they do, I need to let them do what they do.” Adams also said he’d look at dismantling the Department of Neighborhoods while empowering City Council district staffs to do similar work. One of the first things Adams said he would do as mayor is undertake a comprehensive review of the impact of the city’s tax abatement policies and tax capture districts. Detroit abated $39.1 million in city taxes in fiscal year 2019-20, according to the city’s comprehensive annual financial report. Detroit abates a higher percentage of taxes than other comparable cities, according to City Council Legislative Policy Division reports. That abatement figure doesn’t include certain tax captures such as, for example, the 1-mill tax on downtown development district properties to fund the Downtown Development Authority or for the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment

WALSH

From Page 8

Nevertheless, Michigan executives are optimistic for the return of economic growth in 2021. Of the executive respondents from 56 Business Leaders for Michigan member companies polled in January, 43 percent expect the Michigan economy to be better in the next six to 12 months, up from 34 percent in October. Their optimism is based around the rollout and improving success of the COVID-19 vaccines. There is a chicken and egg conundrum here. Reaching herd immunity via the vaccine theoretically would allow those businesses hardest hit — restaurants, retail shops and services — to return to a

Page 16

February 22, 2021

March 1, 2021

CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Mayoral candidate Anthony Adams (left) speaks during a campaign launch event Jan. 26 with Frank Hammer, who co-chairs a coalition that opposed the Mayor Mike Duggan-backed redevelopment of the former Michigan State Fairgrounds as an Amazon.com Inc. facility. | KHALIPH YOUNG

Authority. “If you’re getting … subsidies from Detroit, there needs to be a much more robust conversation about what your business practices are,” Adams said. “The tax capture is a major issue because we have so much possible income revenue for the city that’s only being circulated in the downtown development district. These tax captures really need to be addressed.” Adams’ policy planks also include focusing crime efforts on engaging with residents and preventing crimes before they’re committed, protecting senior citizens and increasing homeownership. He’s pitching himself as an empathetic choice with an understanding of communities that don’t feel connected to the powers that be.

Depth of experience The attorney is also pitching his depth of experience. Adams’ resume includes a stint as interim director of the city’s Department of Water and Sewerage and a spot at law firm Dykema Gossett from 1991-93. He joined the Kilpatrick administration in 2005, and later Adams testified before the grand jury that indicted Kilpatrick. He was one of the only members of Kilpatrick’s inner circle to emerge from the federal corruption investigation unscathed and wasn’t named in any indictments, Crain’s previously reported. Kilpatrick was recently released from prison after President Donald Trump commuted his sentence during his final hours in office. Attorney Darwyn Fair, who was partners with Adams in a Detroit law firm in the mid-1990s called Segue, Fair, Adams & Pope PLC, said they’ve been friends since Adams served as a law clerk for Eastern District of Michnormal course of business. But in metropolitans, there’s no guarantee office workers will come back even after the vaccine. Of those surveyed by Business Leaders for Michigan, 84 percent said they anticipate a more normalized return to in-person work by August. Let’s hope they are right. The more we all work from home, the worse and longer the pandemic recession is for the aforementioned impacted. Here are the receipts. In cities where a high percentage of workers are working from home, the number of new job postings is down 13 percent from pre-pandemic levels, according to data from jobs posting website Indeed. A major contributor to this is the number of services tied to you and me going to work at the office. At home, we’re not dirtying up the

igan Judge Anna Diggs Taylor earlier in his career. “I don’t want to oversell him, but the reality of it is he has the knowledge, he’s got the experience, he’s got the wherewithal, he’s got the temperament to be mayor of the city of Detroit,” Fair said. “... He has always been involved with the ... business community, but also in the religious community, the community as a whole.” LaMar Lemmons III, chief of staff for state Sen. Betty Jean Alexander, overlapped with Adams on the Detroit Public Schools board. At that time, in 2010, Adams was part of a lawsuit the board filed and won against a state-appointed emergency financial manager. “In the positives, he was instrumental and supportive of our challenge to the emergency financial manger and his overreaching authority,” Lemmons said. Adams performed his duties, though “we philosophically disagreed on many things,” Lemmons said. He declined to elaborate, adding that he hadn’t decided who to support yet and considered Adams “the lesser of the two evils” when it came to him and Duggan.

‘A massive race’ Adams is starting his run early — and he has a long way to go. The Detroit Regional Chamber’s political action committee in January endorsed Duggan for a third election cycle. And Duggan’s corporate support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, DTE Energy Co., Dan Gilbert’s portfolio of companies and Honigman law firm, for example, ensures he has deep pockets for the race. While still mulling a challenge to Duggan, former state Rep. Sherry lunch room for custodians or grabbing lunch in Mexicantown or getting a haircut at The Social Club Grooming Co. “Ironically, even though it is very fortunate to have a job where you can work from home, some of the people and businesses who have suffered most are those who work in businesses that depend on customers who are now working from home,” Jed Kolko, chief economist at Indeed, told Vox last month. The quickest way to transforming the K-shaped economic recovery into a V-shaped recovery is by getting back to the office. And to do so safely requires the vaccine. Shots in arms equals boosts in service industry jobs and paychecks.

Gay-Dagnogo earlier this year questioned the viability, monetarily, of running against him. Detroit’s unemployment rate has fallen dramatically under Duggan,

from 21 percent in 2013 to 7 percent just before the coronavirus pandemic hit, an indicator Duggan has touted as a big sign of progress in the post-bankruptcy economic turnaround. However, Adams said Duggan’s positives haven’t extended enough beyond downtown and haven’t chipped away enough at poverty. Detroit political consultant Steve Hood said the election will be all about RAINshakes ’S DETROIT BUSINESS how theCfield out after the Aug. 3 primary — who’s against Duggan, and whether Duggan or that challenger will be able to coalesce the right votes. “It’ll C be a massive race. It’ll also be RAIN ’S DETROIT BUSINESS interesting to see how big the anti-Duggan vote is in the primary,” Hood said. “This will be much different than the primary four years ago because ( 2017 opponent Coleman Young II) was never a healer. In Adams you see the potential to be a healer. He’s a much less polarizing figure than Young was.” Contact: afrank@crain.com; (313) 446-0416; @annalise_frank

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Contact: dwalsh@crain.com; (313) 446-6042; @dustinpwalsh MARCH 1, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 17

Fuel Restaurant in Detroit’s Renaissance Center sits empty as offices in the complex remain sparsely populated. | CHAD LIVENGOOD/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

OFFICE

“THE PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE IS ALSO GOING TO PLAY A ROLE IN HOW MANY PEOPLE COME BACK, HOW QUICKLY THEY COME BACK, WHAT DOES THE WORK WEEK LOOK LIKE.”

From Page 1

The Coffee Beanery in the RenCen’s 300 tower has closed for good, but is so far the only restaurant vendor that has opted not to renew its lease, said Natasha Kosivzoff, senior real estate manager for CBRE, which manages the RenCen’s retail and restaurant space for GM. “The traffic is not what it was prior to COVID,” Kosivzoff said. With COVID-19 cases, infection rates and hospitalizations at a four-month low, business groups are starting to lobby Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration to let office worker traffic start trickling back. The “Big Six” business advocacy organizations — the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Manufacturers Association, Small Business Association of Michigan and the regional chambers of commerce in Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing — sent the governor a letter Feb. 19 making their case for easing office restrictions. Office work that can be done from home remains effectively banned under MDHHS epidemic orders in an effort to mitigate potential community spread of the virus. But with spring quickly approaching and COVID vaccination rates rising, talk of returning to the office is now becoming a daily conversation, particularly among Detroit’s larger employers, said Eric Larson, CEO of the Downtown Detroit Partnership. “The reality is, some of it is going to

— Eric Larson, CEO, Downtown Detroit Partnership

be a dependent upon what the continued (COVID) restrictions are,” Larson said. “Do you continue to have restrictions on the number of bodies, for instance, that can be in an elevator at any one time?” The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration has required six feet social distancing between occupants on an elevator, often restricting capacity to two people per car, depending on its square footage. Sean Egan, director of COVID-19 workplace safety for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, the state agency that includes MIOSHA, sees elevator access as a “huge challenge,” particularly in older high-rise buildings in Detroit with smaller waiting areas. “That’s probably the biggest challenge to all of this is how do you get thousands of people up to their place of work when you have an elevator that’s 20 square feet,” Egan said. “If you think of the crunch points in an office space, that’s probably the main one.” Several downtown Detroit employers are contemplating near-term changes in employee schedules to stagger access times at doorways and elevators to reduce the risk of spreading the

BIRMINGHAM

From Page 3

“The size is both too big and too small,” Thomas said. “The sweet spot is that 1,500 to 2,000 square feet. For the larger format, the West Elms of the world need 10,000 square feet.” Still, Thomas said, it likely won’t be vacant for long. “It should be leased up within six months,” she said. Dresner on Wednesday told Crain’s that the time had come for her to close the store. Dresner told 18 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 1, 2021

Gibbs

Thomas

Crain’s the closure is not pandemic-related. Her lease on the space is up and the 83-year-old said she didn’t feel comfortable re-upping “at

we didn’t believe that,” Farner said on a Crain’s Newsmakers webcast. Farner said there’s a segment of Rocket’s workforce that wants the flexibility to work from home to care for children. “(Other) team members are always asking, ‘When can I get downtown? What’s going on?’” Farner said.

Emptied out

virus, even with employees in masks, Larson said. “The physical infrastructure is also going to play a role in how many people come back, how quickly they come back, what does the work week look like,” Larson said. “All of those (factors) is going to play into it.” Rocket Companies, the parent company of Quicken Loans and a portfolio of other Dan Gilbert-owned businesses, has about 2 percent of its nearly 18,000 employees working downtown performing essential functions that can’t be done remotely, spokesman Aaron Emerson said. Jay Farner, CEO and vice chairman of Rocket Companies, said in a recent interview with Crain’s Publisher KC Crain that the mortgage company is restructuring its office space to accommodate a hybrid of in-person and remote work. Inside One Campus Martius, Farner said, conference rooms are being outfitted for video technology that will “allow three people to be in the room and six people outside of the room — or vice versa — and have these seamless meetings because we’ve demonstrated that can be done and it can be done in a really productive fashion.” “Maybe before the pandemic, I think

At the high point of 2019, there were about 80,000 downtown Detroit workers and up to 125,000 working in the greater downtown — Midtown, New Center, Corktown — before the pandemic hit, Larson said. DDP estimates about 25 percent of those workers are coming into the office at least once a week to perform tasks that cannot be done remotely, Larson said. “Most of the larger employers are sort of saying midyear — they’re feeling fairly comfortable that they’re going to start bringing people back in a more consistent and more dense manner, so June-July,” Larson said. “Some are already starting to plan for executive teams and some of the key leadership to start back in the office as early as March.” That’s mostly anecdotal, Larson said, based on conversations he’s had with downtown business executives. GM’s 5,000 employees assigned to the RenCen headquarters will continue to work remotely through June, spokesman David Caldwell said. Lobbying of the Whitmer administration to loosen restrictions on office

my age.” “It’s time. I’m not going to retire,” said Dresner, who previously ran shops at Somerset in Troy and in New York City. “I’m just not going to (run a store) anymore. I still have my eyes. I can still see, and look and dream.” Birmingham Chamber President Joe Bauman is also confident the space will be filled in short order. “Ms. Dresner has had an amazing run in downtown Birmingham and has become a truly international, iconic brand,” Bauman said. “Down-

town Birmingham is losing a true jewel, but nothing lasts forever.” Gibbs said hurdles remain, as Birmingham needs a crafted mix of businesses in its swank downtown core. “The challenge for Birmingham, as well as other small towns, will be to balance their restaurant and retail business mix,” Gibbs said. “Too many restaurants can stress a downtown’s parking and rents to a point where fashion and home retailers are not supportable.” Downtown Birmingham is already home to destination retailers includ-

work comes as the Republican-controlled Legislature remains at odds with the Democratic governor over her strategy to control economic and human activity to try to control the virus. The governor has pointed to COVID-19 data showing the infection curves bending downward after she and her health department have shuttered public-facing businesses, particularly restaurants and bars. The letter from the presidents and CEOs of the six business organizations to Whitmer argued there are “not only productivity, innovation, collaboration and mental health” issues to consider for employees working from home, but that remote work “also has put an incredible strain on our communities.” Detroit is projecting an $85 million loss in city income tax this fiscal year from thousands of nonresident workers doing their jobs from home and legally claiming to be exempt from the 1.2 percent city income tax. Whitmer’s office was noncommittal last week when asked when restrictions on office work may be loosened. “While we always welcome feedback from stakeholders, the health and safety of Michigan residents is our top priority,” Whitmer press secretary Bobby Leddy said in a statement. “Some jobs do not require in-person work, and at present MIOSHA rules require employers in those sectors to allow their employees to work from home to maximize safety, unless it is not feasible to complete work remotely.” Contact: clivengood@crain.com; (313) 446-1654; @ChadLivengood ing Athleta, West Elm, Starbucks Reserve, Roots, Tender and Moosejaw. Birmingham Shopping District board Chair Jeff Hockman said his group is disappointed by the closing. “Linda Dresner has been a dedicated member of the community for 45 years,” Hockman said. “She and her store will be missed, but we wish a well-deserved happy retirement.” Contact: jason.davis@crain.com (313) 446-1612; @JayDavis_1981 Contact: kpinho@crain.com; (313) 446-0412; @kirkpinhoCDB

3:30 p.m. | March 10 Join us as we dive into the nuances of the state’s largest mergers and acquisitions in a year like no other. Hear from Mina Sooch, the veteran biotech entrepreneur who led a reverse merger for her Ocuphire Pharma last year. The deal was one of several involving reverse mergers or SPACs during 2020. Learn from Lineage Logistics CEO Greg Lehmkuhl, who led his company through an aggressive growth strategy that included more than 50 acquisitions over the past five years. Also: M&A advisors Raj Kothari, Managing Director of Cascade Partners LLC and Laura Marcero, Managing Director of Huron Consulting Group, offer an outlook of the activity forecast for this coming year. FEATURING A LIVE Q&A WITH PANELISTS

Dustin Walsh

Senior reporter Crain’s Detroit Business

Greg Lehmkuhl CEO Lineage Logistics

Rajesh U. Kothari, CFA Managing Director Cascade Partners LLC

Laura Marcero

Managing Director, Huron Consulting Group

Mina Sooch

CEO and Founder, Ocuphire Pharma Founder and General Partner, Apjohn Ventures Fund

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SUPPORTING SPONSOR

LEGACY

From Page 1

Now she is shouldering the weight of a young family — Willow, now 1 and recovering from a late October heart transplant, and daughter Arie, now 3 — in addition to helping manage a pair of complex developments in Detroit and Highland Park totaling nearly $100 million. One, the $50 million Cambria Hotel on Lafayette and Third, is nearing completion, set to open in the third quarter. The other, a 450,000-square-foot warehouse/industrial building called Means Logistics Park, has been an uphill climb as the 40-year-old has been unexpectedly thrust into the high-octane, high-stakes world of real estate development. “I had to get involved,” said Tracy, who is vice president of market operations and strategy for Henry Ford Health System, operating in yet another high-octane, high-stakes world. “Even though I don’t work in the development field, I understand strategy, I understand ops. I have the foundation, but you have to be a quick study.”

‘Is this project still going to happen?’ Even under normal circumstances, the development process was challenging. Couple that with its main proponent dying in the middle of it and the project could have easily turned south very quickly. Not long after Means’ death, there were questions about whether the new building would be completed, those close to the project said. “There was this big void,” said Gary Grochowski, the director of agency leasing for the Southfield office of Colliers International Inc. who has been working on Means Logistics Park for the last three years. “In the 72 hours after Eric passed, we said, ‘Is this project still going to happen?

TEXAS

From Page 1

commission. Texas mostly deregulated its electricity and gas markets shortly after 2002 legislation was approved. Supporters said it would create more competition in the sector and lower prices for consumers. There is some evidence that deregulation actually has cost electric customers up to $28 billion since 2004, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal. Then came the Great Winter Storm of 2021, a giant polar vortex of deadly cold wind from the Arctic that plunged temperatures to at least 10 degrees below zero in many parts of the state. Many power plants, a large percentage unprotected by exterior buildings or heaters, along with transmission lines and poles not winterized, caused shutdowns and blackouts of historic proportions from which the state is still struggling to recover. And winter, like the COVID-19 pandemic, is not over. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who often spoke in exaggerated terms about how Texas’ deregulated approach has saved customers big dollars, now has called for investigations and resignations of people and institutions charged with overseeing the energy market. 20 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 1, 2021

What are we going to do here?’” “There were probably six or seven vendors I talked to. Everybody said they knew Eric was gone, but they still wanted to do this deal, even if they didn’t have a contract that’s valid right now. They would still move forward, even in the midst of the unknown,” Grochowski said. Beyond even that, there were — and still are — bureaucratic hurdles to clear. “If you normally solve for two or three of these unique variables in terms of a street vacation or a rezoning, we have five of them in two different cities,” said Kyle Morton, vice president of development for New York City-based industrial and warehouse developer Ashley Capital, which has an office in Canton Township and became involved with the development after Means died. “We had 10 issues and we are now down to two,” he said. “Detroit still needs street vacations and rezoning.” There were about 300 parcels that needed to be assembled across Highland Park and Detroit for the 32 acres at the Davison Freeway (M-8) and the Lodge Freeway (M-10), an area that had been ravaged by a 1997 tornado and years of economic decline. Brian Holdwick, a consultant on the project and former Detroit Economic Growth Corp. executive who is now head of Detroit-based Holdwick Development Group, said eight different government agencies worked on things like titles, rezoning and brownfield incentives. “We are close, but are not there yet,” he said. Vacant houses still dot the site, to be cleared for the new building. “It was either abandoned or people took insurance proceeds and left,” Grochowski said. “Then you had abandoned homes and illegal dumping and squatters in there.” He said there were 35 private properties owners that had to be negotiated with, and about half of them had homes, around 10 of which were owner occupied. He said the homes were bought for $60,000 or $70,000, when they were worth about $20,000. “The State of Texas will continue to investigate ERCOT and uncover the full picture of what went wrong, and we will ensure that the disastrous events of last week are never repeated,” Abbott said. Could it happen again in Texas? It happened before to a smaller degree in 2011, 2014 and 2019, but Texas did little, if anything, to prepare for the big one. Texas’ plight also raised the question for Michiganders: Could it happen here in some not-too-near distant future? To answer these questions, and more, Crain’s collected thoughts from executives at DTE Energy Co.; Consumers Energy Co.’s Tim Sparks, vice president of electric grid integration; and the Michigan Public Service Commission’s Chairman Daniel Scripps. ` Can what happened in Texas with the electric grid collapsing happen here? Quick answer: No, not exactly. We have a grid that is better able to protect against extreme cold and we are interconnected to other partner states, but the MPSC and utilities have acknowledged there are too many electricity outages from storms and the grid must be improved. Michigan has several safeguards in place, including a regulated utility industry, to protect us from many of the problems Texas faced.

In one well-publicized example, Means’ company, The Means Group Inc., let longtime Highland Park resident Doris McCarver, whose house of nearly 30 years was in the building’s footprint, pick out a new home in the city and completely renovated it after the company bought it for her. She moved in November 2019. Much of the heavy lifting also had to be done at the county level, said Khalil Rahal, assistant Wayne County executive in charge of economic development.

“All these properties had title issues, really bad clouded title,” Rahal said. “They had all gone through foreclosure and ended up in the (Wayne County) land bank’s inventory after years and years of falling through the system.” For Morton, it’s a testament to resiliency. “I would be shocked to find another developer or someone willing to take a project of this scale with so many issues with it,” Morton said of Means, a U.S. Navy veteran.

Hitting a hot market

|SYLVI

The ultimate end user for the building has not yet been finalized, although Grochowski said it’s expected to be either a logistics/warehouse user or a Tier One automotive supplier because of its proximity to the General Motors Co. Hamtramck plant and the FCA USA LLC Mack Avenue plant. Regardless, the building should come to the market at a time when industrial and warehouse space is did when polar vortex storms hit?

Turbines at DTE’s Pinnebog wind park located in Huron County. | DTE ENERGY

First, Michigan still has a fairly good balance of generation sources, including coal, nuclear and natural gas. It also has been building up its renewable energy portfolio with a 15 percent of supply generation goal with such sources as wind, solar, hydro and biomass. We have natural gas and diesel-fired “peaker” plants on standby that are ready to kick in during times of peak energy demand like winter storms or hot summer days. Our natural gas system also is designed to handle the extreme cold of Michigan winters, using standards developed

against the coldest weather historically experienced in Michigan for the last 70 years. Many gas pipelines are underground, below freezing levels. Gas is processed to remove moisture and heaters are installed at many regulator stations to prevent above-ground freezing. The MPSC also has mandated, as part of rate approvals and integrated resource planning requirements, that utilities spend billions to upgrade their portion of the grid. ` Could energy prices go up like Texas’

Trac to be

Not nearly as much. Natural gas prices fluctuate for many reasons. Winter storms generally cause the price of gas to go up a few percentage points on the spot price market in Michigan. Michigan felt less impact from Texas than, say, Chicago, which saw gas prices temporarily jump 5-10 percent. However, Michigan’s 10 percent retail energy open choice market, which is mostly unregulated, likely experienced more price bumps. Often, energy prices are cheaper in the choice market, but customers have greater vulnerability with price swings because energy is purchased with wholesale prices, which can vary by up to a 10-fold factor based on market conditions and contract terms. Another factor that adds stability to energy prices is being part of MISO, the 15-state Midcontinent Independent System Operator. MISO is a not-for-profit coalition of utility agencies in 15 states, including Michigan and the Canadian province of Manitoba, that allows members to import or export power depending on supply and demand needs. Still, MISO member state Louisiana, which like Texas had rolling blackouts because there wasn’t enough generation to sustain electricity load demands, also maxed out with power demands and needed to tap into regional supplies. During the storm, utilities purchasing from the MISO market saw electric generation prices rise 10-fold on the spot wholesale market. Prices rose from

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space being built. But every quarter since the fourth quarter 2016, there has been no less than 1.62 million square feet being built. It comes as the warehouse/distribution center market is at a 10-year low for vacancy, sitting at just 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter, according to Newmark. The vacancy rate peaked in the third quarter of 2010, when the market was 28.3 percent empty.

Groups voice concerns

Tracy Means, 40, of Detroit on a site soon to be redeveloped in Highland Park. |SYLVIA JARRUS FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

being built at one of the briskest paces seen in recent memory. According to the Southfield office of New York City-based brokerage firm Newmark, in the fourth quarter there was a 10-year high 5.72 million square feet of warehouse/distribution space under construction. Between the first quarter of 2010 and the third quarter of 2014, there was no warehouse/distribution about $20-$40 per megawatt-hour, depending on the hour of day, to about $200 per megawatt-hour to $350 per megawatt-hour. In situations like these, some Michigan utilities were asked to generate more power for the MISO grid. When they do, utilities can garner additional revenue when they export electricity to needy MISO partners at the somewhat higher temporary prices. Many times, utilities use the additional revenue generated to lower costs for their own customers. Natural gas customers are more protected against winter price hikes as the state’s major power companies purchase massive supplies in advance of winter. Some can store up to 50 percent of it in underground caves until needed during colder months. This strategy insulates customers from price volatility and helps stabilize market prices. ` What is Michigan doing to protect the electric grid? The No. 1 grid protection effort in the state continues to be tree trimming, tree trimming and tree trimming. During the summer, high winds and rain storms blow over tree limbs onto power lines, causing outages. Winter and ice storms also include high winds that disrupt power. Utilities are doing a fair amount of work on tree trimming, but also are “hardening” the grid by installing such technologies as double circuits that can route power around downed distribution lines to get power to people on the other side of an

Some are requesting more of the Means Logistics Park developers. For example, representatives of Soulardarity, a Highland Parkbased 501(c)3 nonprofit focused on solar street lighting in the city, and HOPE Village Revitalization, a Detroit community development corporation, outlined concerns in a letter that the project developers wouldn’t be receptive to neighboring community needs and called for the creation of a Community Advisory Board for the project, referred to in some documents as “Project Greystone.” Quarterly meetings with the developer and the advisory board, and more frequent email communications, were requested, and it would address things like construction noise, traffic, road maintenance, clean air and water and other issues potentially arising from the project. Jobs, renewable energy and community beautification are also among the concerns described by the groups. “The concerns in this letter reflect the concerns raised by community members at various community meetings and hearings and come from people and organizations on both sides of the municipal border, united in our shared vision for a sustainable, just, and equitable future for our communities,” the letter reads. “We believe that Project Greystone has the opportunity to be part of that vision, if you are willing to work with us.” outage. The MPSC also is requiring utilities to meet performance goals when approving new rates that have financial incentives and penalties. During 2020, overall power usage was down about 3 percent or so compared with 2019. Residential usage has been up by at least 7 percent because more people are sheltering at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, recent colder weather has increased power needs. ` What makes Michigan different than Texas or other states hit hard by the recent winter storm? Three main differences. First, Michigan uses a regulatory approach to oversee its utility companies, excluding for the most part a 10 percent energy choice market. Two, since the state often gets below freezing, utilities have winterized their power plants and transmission lines. Three, it is part of a regional energy market that serves several purposes, but the main one is that 15 state members share electricity when one state or area has low resources for whatever reason. Under MPSC’s regulated integrated resource planning process, utilities must guarantee they have sufficient generation to meet customer needs at least 20 years ahead by having IRPs approved. Michigan operates in primarily a regulated market with 10 percent of the so-called “energy choice” market

Eric Means’ legacy For Tracy Means, completing her late husband’s in-development projects is about both legacy and memory. How the eventual ownership and potential disposition shakes out in the end, however, is under deliberation. At this moment, she has no long-term plans to remain in real estate development. “I’m evaluating the portfolio to see that because I know he built them for the legacy as far as his family, so I’m trying to determine what makes sense to retain within The Means Group,” she said. There is a services component to the business — which does things like filling pot holes, for example — that will remain intact, Tracy Means said. Regardless, those who knew Eric Means well said the Highland Park effort will be a project that reflects not only his keen eye as a developer but also his compassion and people skills. “He had an energy to a room and to a deal that could be very positive,” Grochowski said. “He wasn’t a pushy salesman type of guy. He was just hardworking, charismatic and wanted to be able to keep everybody positive and going on the same path.” He had dinner with families in the neighborhoods he was building in. He went to church with them, Tracy Means said. “He was such a passionate person about all things community,” she said. “When I say ‘community,’ I don’t mean ZIP code. A community to him was a ZIP code, but it was the people that call that ZIP code home ... He truly cared about people, in building people up and investing in people, and that is really what drove the work he did.” “Without him falling in love with the community and seeing the opportunity in the area, this project wouldn’t be here today.” Contact: kpinho@crain.com; (313) 446-0412; @kirkpinhoCDB deregulated. While no state is completely deregulated, Texas is closest at 85 percent choice. About 30 states are fully regulated for electricity with about 10 deregulated for gas and about 17 with hybrid approaches. Texas’ deregulated market removed controls on wholesale electricity price, eliminated utility capacity planning and reliability requirements. Deregulation has another significant effect on customer service. It often removes power reliability oversight. For utilities and their customers, winterizing plants, lines and equipment is costly and results in higher prices, which to utilities in deregulated states means lower profits. Regulation also makes Michigan very different than Texas or other states hit hard by the storm when it comes to incentivizing utilities to winterize. For example, Consumers Energy in 2007 purchased a “peaker” power plant in Zeeland and has converted two of the four turbines to year-round use. Because the Zeeland plant was only used during summer to supplement high energy demand, Consumers has winterized it by spending $4 million, funds the Jackson-based company was allowed to recoup in the rate-setting process. Because utilities in deregulated states don’t have a regulatory body where they can submit a cost-recoupment plan to winterize their plants, lines and equipment, few Texas utilities have

NONPROFITS

From Page 3

“Donor responses were better than they expected, and they are just feeling more confident now.” Released last week during a panel presentation hosted by the Greater Detroit Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the War Memorial in Grosse Pointe Farms, the survey includes responses from nonprofits of all sizes and types and every region of the state except the Upper Peninsula and Thumb area, said Montgomery, who has conducted the annual pro bono study since 2012. But at the same time, individuals, corporations and foundations stepped up their giving last year, according to the survey. Just under three quarters of responding nonprofits said they raised as much or more in 2020 when compared to the year before. Of those, 22 percent said they raised more last year. Community foundations and United Way affiliates that raised millions of incremental dollars last year for COVID relief funds and human services agencies on the front lines outperformed other types of nonprofits in fundraising last year, with 53 percent saying they raised more in 2020 than the year before. Among all respondents, 53 percent saw an increased number of donors last year. Other nonprofits outside of frontline organizations also made gains in the amount they raised last year, according to the survey. “Our fundraising is stronger than we thought it would be certainly a year ago,” said Nina Holden, senior vice president and chief development officer for the Detroit Institute of Arts, during the Zoom presentation releasing the survey. In 2020, 64 percent of nonprofits said they met their fundraising goal; a third did not, according to the survey. “We consistently have about a third of respondents reporting they did not make their prior-year goal” each year for the study, Montgomery said. voluntarily spent the money to build their structures for cold weather. In Texas, power plants are built outside without a lot of structure around them. There mostly is no heat to keep the water flowing and sensors operating smoothly. Their oil and gas production wells don’t have a lot of heaters to keep them from freezing. Being part of MISO also allows Michigan’s utilities to tap into an interconnected grid with 15 other states. Texas largely operates on an isolated grid within its state lines with few areas that have interconnections to other grids. When temperatures dropped to extreme lows in Texas, the demand for power far exceeded the available supply. Texas was unable to import large amounts of needed power from other interconnections to meet its increased demand. ` Climatologists say global warming and climate change will result in more polar vortex winds coming down from the Arctic. Are utilities preparing? There is growing evidence that climate change is altering the flow of extremely cold air that surrounds the Poles. Most times this very cold air remains at the Poles, but for reasons not entirely understood this colder air has been dropping southward more often, resulting in dangerous cold snaps. Michigan experienced serious “winter polar vortex” effects in 2013, 2014 and 2019 where temperatures dropped an

Philanthropy has been up for folks in the hunger sector pretty much across country, said Tim Hudson, chief development officer for Oak Parkbased food rescue Forgotten Harvest. “But we know from the last recession ... as soon as the unemployment rate got below 4 or 5 percent ... those gains started to come back off.” The Oak Park-based food rescue picked up some younger donors last year, Hudson said, noting there is discussion about donor retention. “But we are planning, based on past experience, to see those numbers go back down,” he said. Nonprofits that were primarily reliant on fundraising generally did better than those that were reliant on earned revenue, Montgomery said. But even some that rely on earned revenue to some degree were pleasantly surprised with the levels of giving last year. With forced closures last year, 60 percent of nonprofits responding to the recent survey said their organization’s earned revenue dropped last year. Mass attrition in Michigan’s nonprofit sector hasn’t yet surfaced, agreed Jeff Williams, director of the community data and research lab at Grand Valley State University’s Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy. But he cautioned that there could be a lag affect. “In the Great Recession we saw the greatest nonprofit attrition three to four years after the event, so we don’t know whether we escaped by the skin of our teeth or whether we are in the calm before the storm,” he said. While the majority or 76 percent of nonprofits responding to the survey said they don’t see M&A as necessary or relevant to their organization, just under a quarter or 22 percent of nonprofits said discussions of combining with another nonprofit are relevant. Among those, 11 percent or eight nonprofits said they’d be open to M&A, and an equal number said they are in the process of a merger or have already merged. Contact: swelch@crain.com; (313) 446-1694; @SherriWelch average of 20 degrees or more. For example, the December 2013 ice storm knocked out power for nearly 300,000 people in Michigan. Nationwide, 27 people died, 1 million people lost power and $200 million in damages were incurred. Some Michiganders also might remember the Great Ice Storm of 1976, where there were reports of more than 3 inches of ice accumulation. ` Should utilities further upgrade power supplies for more expected frigid weather? For now, utilities aren’t currently planning further winterizing or modifications of their power plants or distribution systems. So far this year, DTE and Consumers have dealt with several localized power outages due to the winter weather, primarily caused by downed trees and power lines. State regulators always balance energy reliability needs, outages and safety factors when considering issuing mandates to utility companies to improve services and the grid. A new MPSC-led MI Power Grid initiative, launched in October 2019, is a program intended to modernize the state’s energy resources with innovative ideas. The goal is to smooth the transition to clean, distributed energy resources for Michigan residents and businesses, said the MPSC in its 2020 status report. Contact: jgreene@crain.com; (313) 446-0325; @jaybgreene MARCH 1, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 21

THE CONVERSATION

Ford Foundation’s Kevin Ryan on making sure Detroiters have a voice FORD FOUNDATION: Kevin Ryan, program officer for Detroit, was born in Detroit and spent much of his childhood there before moving to Southfield in junior high and going on to the University of Michigan and then New York University to pursue a master’s degree in urban planning. He always planned on returning to Detroit “to change the city.” But life intervened, and for the next 23 years he worked in community development and housing preservation and directed philanthropic investments to housing, health care, environmental and other community issues. The Ford Foundation’s decision to reopen a Detroit office in 2017 gave Ryan, 50, the opportunity to return and to leverage everything he’d learned for the good of his hometown. He is leading the allocation of a $13 million, baseline grant budget each year and providing insight for additional funding the foundation is doing in Detroit and Michigan. In that role, he’s striving to ensure Detroiters have a voice. | BY SHERRI WELCH ` How did your upbringing shape the work you are doing in the city today? My dad was an auto worker and the first Black UAW rep for his local back in the 1970s. He would drive up to New Haven six days a week from Detroit. A lot of it was watching my dad and how he was really trying to fight for workers’ fair wages and benefits. That had a big impact on me, watching him work not just full time in a private foundry but also part time at True Value. After he retired from the foundry, he worked another 20 years at Home Depot. My mom was a licensed, practicing nurse for many years. In the late ’70s/early ’80s, she went back to nursing school and became an RN and worked 12-hour shifts. Just seeing how they worked to take care of us had a big impact on how I see the work I do. Part of it is the work ethic, but part of it is the care and concern they showed. My mother worked in the ’80s in a kidney dialysis unit, taking care of people with HIV and AIDS. Just seeing how my mom showed up for work and cared for her patients and how my dad showed up and cared for the auto workers in the local had a big impact. We also spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s house in Highland Park. Right across from the huge Chrysler plant. I remember seeing over the years fewer and fewer people working there and how the neighborhood started to deteriorate because of disinvestment and then the plant closing. Those memories have really stuck with me, seeing the economic decline of Highland Park and Detroit. That was one of the things that encouraged me in whatever work I was going to do. ` Some say you were working in social equity before it became popular. The work I did at New York Foundation for 14 years is actually very similar to the work I do at Ford Foundation.

It’s all about connecting with communities and understanding what their concerns are and then how they want to address those concerns. We support equitable development work by supporting community development organizations in the city and community development financial institutions. We also support the arts and civic engagement around voting rights, census, redistricting, making sure people have a voice and understand what their rights are. In 2020, we supported projects that really helped to increase the capacity of the clerk’s offices in Detroit and across the region so they were prepared for increases in voter turnout and the flood of absentee ballots. I think that support made a huge difference. It created the infrastructure that the city was struggling with to be able to have the staffing and the resources to count the votes, to be able to intake all of the absentee ballots and then for people to be safe to go to the polls and to make sure that every vote was counted. A lot of what we support is in Detroit, but some of it is statewide, supporting both the Michigan Nonprofit Association effort around the census and now the redistricting. Those are short-term efforts, but when you start talking about the impact for community organizations, it is really shifting the thinking about how we support resident-led community development efforts long term. Who knows the communities better than the people who live there?

technology and construction to lower the costs of housing development could be a real game changer. One of our key areas of housing is around equitable housing and land use. That’s right in line Kevin Ryan is Detroit program officer for the Ford Foundation.

with that strategy. ` What do you do to catch a break these days? I watch a lot of Netflix, and I do marathon Zoom sessions with my high school buddies. We just did a five-hour one on a Saturday night. We catch up on how each other are doing, how the families are. We talk about everything from sports to politics and everything under the sun. We try to get together once a month. There are six of us. Trying to coordinate schedules can be challenging, but we’re trying to maintain that conversation. I’m also a huge jazz fan. I have probably 300 albums or CDs on my phone and computer. ` Who’s your favorite? It depends on the era. Of course I love John Coltrane, but Freddie Hubbard is probably my favorite. He played with Miles (Davis) and Herbie Hancock and had probably a 40-year career in jazz. I find him to be just an amazing horn player. ` When you’re able to get out, what’s your favorite Detroit lunch spot? YumVillage on Woodward, a block from Grand Boulevard. It’s like fresh, fast food. I love the food that crosses over the African diaspora: the corn cakes, the peanut stew that has a little heat to it, the lemon pepper chicken. It honestly reminds me of my experience in New York and being a part of the Black diaspora there. It also brings back a lot of memories from childhood, eating my grandmother’s cooking.

` Are you looking at funding anything interesting within the bigger buckets of community development? I am working on a grant to Citizen Robotics, which is interested in using 3D printing to develop affordable housing. Seeing how we can sort of combine

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RUMBLINGS

Ex-MPSC chair resigns from Texas board amid grid failures SALLY TALBERG, FORMER CHAIR of the Michigan Public Service Commission, has resigned from the board of ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, in the wake of a devastating collapse of the electric grid that provided power to more than 26 million customers. Talberg, an unaffiliated director who became chair of the 16-member ERCOT board on Feb. 9 and was one of five out-of-state commissioners who resigned, was unavailable for comment last week. In early February, Talberg posted on Linkedin: “Excited and honored to be elected today as @ERCOT_ ISO board chair! #ERCOT is a 22 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 1, 2021

Talberg

world-class grid operator that embraces innovation and competition.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who supported calls for the resignations, said last Tuesday that he welcomed

them and called the power outages a “total failure by ERCOT.” ERCOT is an independent system operator. It schedules power on an electric grid that connects more than 46,500 miles of transmission lines and more than 680 generation units. Unaffiliated directors are paid $87,000 per year. The chair and vice chair are also paid an additional $12,800 and $7,500. The four unaffiliated directors issued the following statement in a notice to the state’s Public Utility Commission: “To allow state leaders a free hand with future direction and to

eliminate distractions, we are resigning from the board,” Talberg and three other board members wrote in the resignation letter. The board directors wrote that before they resign, they will launch the review of the power crisis. Talberg, who lives in Michigan with her husband and two children, has a long history and experience in energy and environmental regulatory policy, including retail and wholesale market issues, facility siting, ratemaking and enforcement. She was on the MPSC board from 2013 through 2020, serving as an independent member, and was chair for four years.

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NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN

COOL COOL

T LHAAS NCE C

NOMINATION DEADLINE: March 3 We are looking for executives who have championed, developed and/or implemented diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and initiatives within their organization.

MEET THE CLASS OF 2020 | PAGES 8-27

CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS PORTRAITS CREATED FROM CONTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPHS USING THE PRISMA APP

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CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS SAVE THE DATE: Celebrate with the winners — as well as our 2020 Class of 20 in their 20s — during a virtual event the week of Nov. 15; visit CrainsDetroit.com/ Celebrate for details.

COPING WITH COVID-19

NOMINATION DEADLINE: March 5 Is your company a top-notch place to work? Tell us about what makes you stand out! For the ninth year, Crain's will recognize the Cool Places to Work — companies that, according to their employees, go above and beyond in putting a focus on workplace culture. Winners will be featured in a special section of the August 23 issue of Crain’s Detroit Business.

WINNER

, LIFETIME

BY CHAD LIVENGOOD AND DUSTIN WALSH

ACHIEV

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David Co llon, M.D Physician and Form .

BY JAY GRE

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to maintai n oxygen importthe bod y, levels in M.D., asso but until Patrick ogy and ciate professor of Hines, ped phy cine at Way iatric critical care sioltroit, crea ne State Univers mediity testing platted a special labo in Deto assess form, nobody had ratory how hea lthy a pati a way blood cell ent’s red s are. “This is som portant bec ething that’s real ly iminvestment ause there’s bee n cells), but in therapy (of reda lot of ther blood tic tests that e weren’t any diagnoscan tell a physicia a drug dev n about the or researchers eloper, any cells,” said health of one’s red thing blood atric criti Hines, who also is cal dren’s Hos care doctor at DM a pedipita C ChilHines’ idea l of Michigan. was to platform that cou create a testing health of ld measure red bloo the d ing prop erties such cells by evaluatmembran e stability as stickiness or patients . By iden at malities, risk for blood flow tifying doc abnormation to tors could use the infortion for indichoose the best medicavidual pati “We first ents. looking at started using the test developed the drugs that hav and patients. to treat sickle cell e been It’s a big deal in metdisease troit bec ause we highest sick have one ro Dein the U.S. le cell patient pop of the ,” Hines said ulation .

10 | CRAI N’S

DETR OIT

BUSINESS

| JUNE 1,

NOMINATION DEADLINE: May 9 We are looking for executives who have those who are making an impact through professional, civic and philanthropic achievements.

“WE AR OUR ST HAVE M TABLE, P HEALTH HOSPITA PURCHAS EVERYBOD AT THE TAB

— Steven

Grant

Steve

Chairman of Greater De t tro

BY JAY GRE

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teven Gra nt, M.D., the Gre Council, ater Detroit has witn change ove esse internist r 40 years as and al physicia administra n organiza tion Grant co-f cians, one ounded Un of the organiza largest tions in Sou gan with LGBTQ inc trau2,000 doc the liative car presiden tors, a e, sickle cell lusion in have not t from health car gone awa 2000-2010 anealso the y because e among first Many of the Detroit executive d of corona them — these win virus. COVID-19 cian Hos Medical Cent ners are pital Org , adminis also first 2010-2013 anizatio teri part of the responder of the IPA and is current p ir day-to-da ng front-line car Asso e in hospita s to y But we “It was not ciation of Am ls as also want responsibilities. ing medicin always easy” health car to recogn e worker ize that cian orga e and heading up this year, is a hero. serve as nizations, sees pati represent every said Gra We hope ents n ativ these hon life on the es for eve ham Farm at his practice “We’ve bee orees in “WE’VE BE ryo line to sav that a lot. s. “People would safe during work in help n able to do e lives and ne who has put EN I a a lot of their ing determi the pandem jobs betw always had two keep our DO A LOT OF ABLE TO tient gets ful ne wha een my priv communiti wha ic. GDAHC, This is goin t drug at the righ t paes DMC or ate pract HELPING DE WORK IN g t to time Win wer allo UP. . e long. Fort w much bett plication ners were The h of unately, nominated my kids, WHAT PAT TERMINE medications (three new sick er apfor me tions were as by peers le cell) IEN for these in late 199 things started to judged and and patien After two patients.” ram 0s, they WHAT DRUG T GETS selected years of ts. Nomin school.” were into ` Lenora founded by a panel ah Functional research, Hines Hardy-Fo that includ Son Ada 2014 with RIGHT TIM AT THE Fluidics ste ter ; 2019 ed: inson Wri m, an attorney with E.” Health Car r, president and research permission to lice LLC in ght in Det — Patrick Di CE as nse e a O, He star his his Judson Cen ro roit Hines tup com father for Wayne Stat ` Michae pany from the Crain’s , nomina e’s board l Lee, Ma Hero awa Located Hea of rd. naging Edi lth Ca gove on the ` Amy Elli When he fifth floo rnors. tor, Crain’s WSU-affi hea r of the liated incu ott ded De ganizations up troit Busine Detroit troit Busine Bragg, Special , Grant led physician o in Midtow bator TechTown ss plement Projects ss now has efforts n, the com mod Editor, Cra 12 Crain’s Sen health reco ular and full elec to im ing labs. employees and thre pany in’s Dee testsician offic rds in independen troni ecutive Edi ior Health Care Initially, t phy Reporter tor Kelley Functional outspoken es. He also has signed a Jay Gre sion-maki been an Root also advoca rese Fluidics dent phy ng proces contribute ene and ExDiego-based arch contract sicians alonte for indepenwith s. d San improve to our dec It has sinc Mast Therape the health g with efforts to utic iwell-being and eco We also hig pharmaceu e contracted with s Inc. hlight eve munities of individuals andnomic ing Novartistical companies, other cor in ona ryd met com incl ay viru , ro Detroit herois s in our we Grant was Therapeutic Pfizer and Global udinstrumenta. ekly COVID m in response Blood s. ing GDA Earlier this to the l in help HC -19 Heroe year, Fun online mul launch in 2007 s series. ics began ctional HEALTH the first test mance repotipayer provider CARE HER largest sick ing blood at six FluidOES WIN le cell cen of Michigan. rt (MyCareCompaperfortion. NERS ters in the the re) in Lifetime nainsights The report gives The com Ach into pati iev ents qua ement lity of physicia raising $1.5pany now is focu ` David Coll n organiza and outcomes Innovatio sed million on, M.D., “We earl tions. labs, hiri to expand on Page 10 n ng more ` Steven lic reportiny on felt we needed will help technicians the Grant, M.D ` Patrick pubincr Hines, M.D ., Page 11 who report out g of quality met all over the ease testing at ., Page 10 rics Corporat hospitals cou ` Randall tion leve at the physician orga . We e Achievem Benson, M.D Hines and ntry, Hines said l, niza. his team ., Page 14 but people not individual ent Ad ` Gina Bucc ing with are doctors, coll can Wayne Stat ministra aboratalo, M.D., go pare phy cian Phil Page 12 tor/Exec sician orgaonline and comlip Levy on e and ER physiPh said niza ysi ` Gerold the health . tions,” Gra a study to cian Bepler, M.D nt assess of red GDAHC ., Page 14 measure `Latonya ` Kimberl antibodies blood cells and Riddle-Jo signed to has other initiativ y Hurst, P.A., COVID-1 in patients nes, M.D., es de9. Page 14 Page 12 with viders in inform patients ` Andrew Allied He and prosuch area King, M.D ., Page 12 vention, s as diab alth etes ` Nadia Trem ` Tiffany paramed expanding com preonti, M.D Morelli, R.N. icine, add munity ., Page 13 , Page 15 and the ` Jan Stok opioid cris ressing obesity osa, Page use and health care is, reducing ER 15 costs. “We are is we hav a convener. Our stre e many at the table, ngth physi-

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NOMINATION DEADLINE: March 17 This program recognizes metro Detroit’s outstanding human resources executives and teams. Often operating behind the scenes, sometimes boxed into stereotypes about pizza parties and paperwork, HR professionals are actually the nerve centers of their businesses – taking care of its people, controlling costs, keeping the business in compliance and helping achieve its strategic goals.

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Tandem Ciders, Gerber baby food and Materne’s GoGo Squeez apple sauce in a pouch. But with the height of the apple-harvesting season just weeks away, Magana has only been able to find 13 workers this year. And there’s no guarantee all of them will show up.

NOMINATION DEADLINE: March 10 We’re looking for your stories about Health Care Heroes who are working hard to make a difference — whether they're in hospitals or business offices — people who have stepped up in unimaginable circumstances to save lives. We're looking for unexpected stories, unsung heroes, and unlikely triumphs in the face of steep odds.

of the family-owned farm that dates back to the 1870s, has been trying to recruit 28 migrants for fourth-generation farmer David Smeltzer and other nearby fruit farms. The Mexico-born immigrant uses a variety of contacts to get the laborers Smeltzer needs to hand-pick 100,000 bushels of apples that end up in fresh fruit markets, hard cider from

BEAR LAKE — At West Wind Orchards, longtime farm laborer Leo Magana serves as the de facto recruiter of seasonal migrant farm workers to pick apples each fall in orchards along the bucolic M-22 highway in Manistee County. Magana, a year-round employee

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