Crain's Detroit Business March 29, 2021, issue by Crain's Detroit Business

SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

Growth is a good problem to have — but still has to be managed. PAGE 24

OPINION:

Charity Dean on closing the racial wealth gap. PAGE 8

CRAINSDETROIT.COM I MARCH 29, 2021

EDUCATION

THAT EMPTY FEELING

Teachers Dwight and Anne Pierson in Dwight’s classroom at St. Johns High School. Dwight uses a headset when teaching virtual classes. Anne retired from Fowler High School last year. DALE YOUNG FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

‘COVID has tipped the scales’: Teacher retirements in Michigan up 44% since August BY CHAD LIVENGOOD | Dwight Pierson stands in his high

school classroom in the mid-Michigan town of St. John’s wearing a telephone headset each day while teaching logarithms and polynomials. In one ear, he’s got one-third of his class talking to him via Zoom, the videoconferencing platform that has become synonymous with the coronavirus pandemic. In Pierson’s open ear, he’s fielding questions from the rest of students who are masked up in the classroom with him. It’s a daunting way to teach Algebra II to sophomores and juniors, Pierson said. “It’s like you’re talking to a wall sometimes,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a circus every day.”

After 29 years on the job, Pierson, 51, is not sure he wants to return to the “circus” next year, knowing that schools will likely have to continue offering a virtual distance-learning option that forces him to effectively teach two different classes at once. Pierson is one of 18,629 K-12 public school teachers in Michigan who are eligible to retire at any point and collect a full pension, accounting for one in four of the state’s teachers actively working, according to the Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement System.

IN THIS FORUM SPECIAL REPORT | PAGES 26-32 Chalkbeat Detroit: How teacher churn destabilizes schools, costs taxpayers and hurts Michigan’s most vulnerable students. PAGE 26 Solutions: Key strategies to keep teachers. PAGE 28 Viewpoint: Three teachers on what educators need. PAGE 30 Q&A: MSU education policy professor. PAGE 30

See RETIREMENTS on Page 33

DETROIT

Gilberts’ pledge seen as good first step on tackling bigger issues NEWSPAPER

BY KIRK PINHO

Dan and Jennifer Gilbert’s $15 million contribution toward erasing unpaid property tax debt for some of Detroit’s poorest residents is a key first step in helping the city’s neighborhoods. The pledge is part of a commitment of $500 million over 10 years that aims to go beyond small fixes

and make concentrated investments to reverse years of declining property values and structural, systemic issues and dire poverty. Community development leaders and other experts said that will require more than dollars and cents, more than philanthropy and largesse, as structural, systemic changes are needed to address the root causes of economic and financial un-

certainty that are constants in so many Detroiters’ lives. “Yes, immediate attention is needed, but also a long-term strategy for economic development, addressing poverty,” said Lisa Williams, a pharmacist who is also director of the New Beginnings Community Development Corp. on Detroit’s east side. See GILBERTS on Page 35

NEED TO KNOW

SPORTS BUSINESS

THE WEEK IN REVIEW, WITH AN EYE ON WHAT’S NEXT  COVID RISE CONTINUES, BUT NEW RESTRICTIONS UNLIKELY THE NEWS: COVID-19 cases in Michigan continue to surge to levels not seen since early and mid-December. Michigan’s ongoing surge in infections has come with rising hospitalization levels. Shortly before the state announced the case count Thursday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer expressed resistance to new restrictions, and President Joe Biden upped his pledge to get vaccine shots in arms around the country. WHY IT MATTERS: Michigan stands out as one the hardest-hit states currently as an effort to vaccinate people races against the virus.

 TCF, HUNTINGTON HOLDERS APPROVE $22M MERGER THE NEWS: A proposed $22 billion deal to combine Detroit-based TCF Financial Corp. and Huntington Bancshares Inc. out of Columbus, Ohio, has received shareholder approval, moving the bank deal one step closer to completion. The deal gives TCF stockholders 3.0028 shares of Huntington for every share of TCF they own. WHY IT MATTERS: The deal, which still requires further federal regulatory approvals and is expected to close sometime in the second quarter of this year, would create a bank with about $168 billion in assets that would be among the 20 largest in the country.

 ROBERTS RIVERWALK DRAWS HIGH BID OF $15 MILLION THE NEWS: The Roberts Riverwalk Hotel on the east Detroit riverfront has received a high bid of $15 million during an online auction that ended last Wednesday. The high bidder for the 108-room hotel at 1000 River Place Drive, which hit the market last year for $26 million but didn’t sell, was not revealed after the auction ended. The reserve price — the minimum bid needed in order for owner Michael Roberts to consider a sale — appeared to be $14 million. WHY IT MATTERS: Developed nearly 30 years ago as the River Place Inn as part of the $200 million, 25-acre Stroh River Place project, the Roberts Hotel (formerly known as the Omni as well) has gone through many evolutions and names.

 ACRISURE RAISES $3.45B IN PREFERRED SHARE SALE THE NEWS: Grand Rapids-based insurance brokerage firm Acrisure LLC announced Wednesday morning that it closed on $3.45 billion in a two-part capital raise. The raise was led by Chi-

cago-based merchant banking firm BDT Capital Partners, which through affiliated funds led with a $3 billion purchase of Acrisure’s senior stock, according to a news release. Additionally, a consortium of unnamed investors invested $454 million with the purchase of junior stock. WHY IT MATTERS: Acrisure has grown rapidly through a series of acquisitions of independent insurance agencies. Acrisure said that last year it acquired 110 insurance agencies.

 NOLAND TO RETIRE FROM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION THE NEWS: Mariam Noland, founding president of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, will step down at year’s end, capping 36 years at the helm of the foundation. The Community Foundation said it will begin a national search for its second president in the near future. “Mariam Noland’s leadership in this community cannot be overstated,” said James B. Nicholson, chair of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan Board of Trustees.

Detroit City FC to welcome (some) fans back  Detroit City Football Club plans to reopen Keyworth Stadium to a rabid fanbase that’s been locked out since the COVID-19 pandemic began but still helped the soccer club survive the past year. Season tickets starting at $150 will go on sale Monday and single-game tickets starting at $15 will go on sale in late April, the team announced last week during the first official owners’ meeting of the year, conducted over Zoom. DCFC is entering its second season as a professional club in the National Independent Soccer Association. The team starts the season on the road April 13 and returns for a home opener May 1 against the Maryland Bobcats. As it stands, Keyworth will be limited to 20 percent total capacity, which is 1,600 fans — around the same crowd size the team played in front of in the early days at Cass Tech High School in Detroit. Team co-founder and CEO Sean Mann said socially distant seating, hand sanitizer stations and mask requirements will be implemented at Keyworth. Financially speaking, reduced capacity means lopping off 80 percent of the organization’s main revenue stream. Mann has previously told Crain’s that the team makes about $100,000 in revenue per home game at full capacity. Its total annual revenue in 2019 was $1.8 million. Season tickets for Detroit City FC games will go on sale Monday and single game tickets will go on sale at the end of April. | DETROIT

WHY IT MATTERS: Under Noland’s leadership, the foundation has awarded more than $1.2 billion in grants to nonprofit organizations primarily throughout Southeast Michigan. Those grants have helped to shape major initiatives such as the development of greenway trails around the region.

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PHILANTHROPY

MANUFACTURING

COVID-19

BorgWarner looks to electrify business, Wall Street

As need rises, so does call for private foundations to up payouts BY SHERRI WELCH

Rising demand for support for nonprofits and the people they serve and the push for social justice reform over the last year have translated to calls — both from within philanthropy and outside of it — for increased payouts from private foundations. The conversation sparked early on during the pandemic with a long list of national philanthropy groups calling for grant makers to be flexible about grants already made and increase their grants during the crisis. Last week, Aaron Dorfman, president and CEO of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, and Ellen Dorsey, executive director of the Wallace Global Fund, called out the issue again in a column in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Early research suggests philanthropy’s immediate response to the pandemic was unprecedented, with nearly $11 billion flowing to U.S. groups to address the compounding effects of COVID-19 at the community, state and national levels, Dorfman and Dorsey said. However, fewer than a third of foundations pledged to increase the share of assets they distributed to meet COVID needs, and some that gave more did so by diverting money from other causes.

“THIS IS A HEALTHY DEBATE, BUT WE’RE SAYING ... LET’S HAVE IT DATA-INFORMED.” — Kyle Caldwell, president of the Council of Michigan Foundations

The pair voiced yet-to-be-substantiated projections of significant endowment growth for many foundations over the last year and concerns that many foundations would consider returning to the minimum distribution required by law. “... At a time when wealth inequality is greater than it has been at any point over the last 100 years, it is simply unjustifiable to give priority to endowment growth over dealing with the critical needs of the communities that foundations exist to serve,” Dorfman and Dorsey said. Last June, five foundations, including the New York-based Ford Foundation and Battle Creek-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation heeded calls, pledging to increase their annual payouts by a collective $1.7 billion within the next two years. At least two, the Ford and Kellogg foundations, are doing so by issuing social bonds rather than spending down greater percentages of their endowments, as they seek to balance shortterm needs with the ability to support communities long term. See PAYOUTS on Page 36

Tries to shake legacy with new plan BY DUSTIN WALSH

A reputation is a hard thing to shake. Auburn Hills-based BorgWarner Inc. is a powertrain and turbochargers supplier shrouded in Wall Street’s view of slow-moving legacy parts makers overshadowed by the auto industry’s ever-increasing move away from the internal combustion engine. BorgWarner has spent nearly a decade trying to shake its label with the 2016 acquisition of electric motor maker Remy International, its $1.6 billion acquisition last year of powertrain and aftermarket Delphi Technologies and the acquisition of German commercial electric vehicle battery pack maker Akasol AG last month. If its actions couldn’t move perception, maybe its plan will. The supplier unveiled last week an aggressive target to boost revenue from electric vehicle platforms to 45 percent of its overall sales by 2030 from just 3 percent today and shed upward of $4 billion of its internal combustion engine business. “We see a profound shift toward

A SHOT IN THE ARM? Grass Lake Community Pharmacy pharmacist Todd Raehtz administers a second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic at Island Estates Senior Care in February. | GRASS LAKE COMMUNITY PHARMACY VIA FACEBOOK

Community pharmacies see opportunity, challenges with COVID-19 vaccine rollout BY NICK MANES

As the race to inoculate against rising cases of COVID-19 keeps escalating, the phrase “shots in arms” has become something of a cliche. As such, large centralized access points for vaccines, such as Ford Field and TCF Center, both in downtown Detroit, have emerged as locations where thousands of people per day can get shots. On the flip side of that, small community pharmacies in Michigan towns like Saline and Grass Lake are also trying to fulfill that same goal, albeit with far fewer resources and on a much smaller scale. Given the community-minded focus of independent pharmacies, such businesses are ideal for getting the word out about the vaccine and helping instill trust in the patients who rely on them, said Kurt Proctor, vice president of strategic initiatives at the Washington, D.C.-area National Community

— Frédéric Lissalde, president and CEO of BorgWarner

They know who the teachers are in their community.” That holds true in a place like the village of Grass Lake in rural Jackson County, south of Lansing.

electrification; not only from regulatory pressure that has increased over time that has pushed our customers to accelerate into EVs and hybrids but also from customer demand,” Frédéric Lissalde, president and CEO of BorgWarner, told Crain’s. “Those architectures are not optional any more. We see the market accelerating. You don’t want to be too early. It’s expensive to be too early. You don’t want to be too late either. We absolutely think it’s the right moment now, where our readiness converges with the market pull.” The move follows its customers, who have all committed to massive investments toward electrifying their fleets. Ford Motor Co. announced last month it plans to invest $29 billion toward electric and autonomous vehicles through 2025 and sell only EVs in Europe by 2030.

See PHARMACIES on Page 34

See BORGWARNER on Page 35

Ziad Ghamraoui, pharmacist at Saline Pharmacy, poses with patient Catherine W after administering the pharmacy’s first COVID-19 vaccine. | SALINE PHARMACY VIA FACEBOOK

Pharmacists Association trade group. “The key thing is, they know their patients,” Proctor said. “When there were more restrictions (around who could get the vaccine), they know their population.

“-YOU DON’T WANT TO BE TOO EARLY. IT’S EXPENSIVE TO BE TOO EARLY. YOU DON’T WANT TO BE TOO LATE EITHER. WE ABSOLUTELY THINK IT’S THE RIGHT MOMENT NOW ...”

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Why an Amazon Fresh location on Hall Road makes dollars and sense Amazon Fresh, the ubiquitous online retailer’s new grocery chain, appears headed for Hall Road in Shelby Township. A site plan I obKirk tained through a PINHO Freedom of Information Act request to Shelby Township shows a new exterior to former Gander Outdoors store at 13975 Hall Road in Shelby Township that looks almost exactly like exterior photographs I’ve seen of Amazon Fresh locations. The site plan shows the facade of a store that looks practically identical to other Amazon Fresh locations. However, to be clear, the name of the tenant in the 36,500-square-foot space is not identified in the site plan or on building permits, and multiple people involved in the plan — property owner Nikolaos Moschouris, Farmington Hills-based brokerage Landmark Commercial Real Estate, Bingham Farms-based Rogvoy Architects PC and certainly the Seattle-based online retail juggernaut Amazon.com Inc. — have all declined to comment. I have been told, however, by someone briefed on the matter — but not directly involved — that the ultimate end user is, indeed, Amazon Fresh. Water cooler chatter suggests it could be just the first location in metro Detroit. But if you’re going to test the waters with a mass-market-appeal grocery store, Hall Road in Macomb County would be a logical place to dip your toe. First of all, Hall Road is one of the most highly trafficked retail corridors in the region. That alone makes it a key target if the Seattle-based company is going to start building out a network of low-cost grocery stores to rival Walmart, Aldi and Trader Joe’s. But perhaps even more than sheer car traffic, the demographics are appealing. According to data from CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.based real estate information service, the population of 35- to 44-year-olds

Bloomberg reports that Amazon has opened 11 grocery stores and has at least 28 more in the works around the country.

ACCORDING TO DATA FROM COSTAR GROUP INC., A WASHINGTON, D.C.-BASED REAL ESTATE INFORMATION SERVICE, THE POPULATION OF 35- TO 44-YEAR-OLDS WITHIN A FIVE-MILE RADIUS OF THE STORE IS EXPECTED TO MORE THAN DOUBLE BY 2025 FROM 14,979 TO 31,160. within a five-mile radius of the store is expected to more than double by 2025 from 14,979 to 31,160. That’s a key slice of the population with families and spending power. The overall population within five miles is expected to have a modest 0.4 percent growth from 252,852 in 2020 to 257,524, CoStar data shows. In addition, households making $75,000 and up are expected to increase by 2025: ` $75,000 to $100,000: 14,791 in 2020 but increasing to 14,923 by 2025 ` $100,000 to $125,000: 12,065 in 2020, growing to 12,557 by 2025 ` $125,000 to $150,000: 8,352 in 2020 and then increasing to 8,851 ` $150,000 to $200,000: 7,855 increasing to 8,350 ` $200,000 and up: 6,049 increasing to 6,627 Total spending on food for the

household is expected to increase by 2025 as well. While households within a twomile radius of the site at 13975 Hall Road spent $79.2 million in 2020, averaging $3,810 per household and $1,619 per person, that’s expected to increase to a total of $86.6 million by 2025, and $4,174 per household and $1,771 per person. The same type of increase holds true within a five mile radius. In 2020, there was $401.2 million spent, compared to the $447 million expected for 2025. While the average household spent $4,081 in 2020, that’s expected to grow to $4,463 by 2025, while per-capita spending on food for the household is anticipated to grow from $1,587 to $1,736. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) has opened 11 of its grocery stores and has at least 28 more in the works around the country. The report says that the first location opened in Los Angeles last year with the most recent opening a week ago. The Amazon Fresh website says its existing locations are in California and Illinois. Bloomberg described the Amazon Fresh stores as having “the polished concrete floors and industrial vibe of an upscale grocer,” plus “digital price tags and smart ‘Dash’ shopping carts that tally up smaller purchases as customers browse the aisles.” Contact: kpinho@crain.com; (313) 446-0412; @kirkpinhoCDB

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 March 23rd; listen to the entire episode, and archived episodes, at yourchildrensfoundation.org/caring-for-kids.

Mike Sullivan, Founder and CEO, Brand25 Media and Metro Detroit Golfers

Larry Burns: Tell us about Brand25 Media and what the pandemic has done to business. Mike Sullivan: Working in radio at 97.1 The Ticket, I had several clients ask about social media and how to have an online presence. That’s how Brand25 Media started with my partner, Kyle Bogenschutz. We call it Brand25 because the average person spends 25 percent of their day on their phone. Business grew to a point where we left our radio jobs. We now have six employees and over 30 clients we provide with social media management, search engine optimization (SEO), digital ads and digital marketing. We also do media production. During the pandemic, I’ve hated to see all these small businesses struggle. But if there’s one thing that COVID has done, is it’s shown the importance of having an online presence. That’s where we’ve been able to come in and help a lot of small businesses. We love to dive in and help companies grow online. Burns: I have to ask you, as a native Detroiter and big sports fan, what it was like having a call-in show on The Ticket? Sullivan: It’s tough when none of the teams are really good. Callers are either angry or apathetic and neither is good. But even when the teams are struggling there’s

still stuff to talk about. Burns: You’re also the founder of Metro Detroit Golfers, the largest online golf community in Michigan. Tell us about that. Sullivan: Michigan is such a huge golf state. In terms of the number of courses, it is the third biggest golf state in the United States, behind Florida and California. There was a massive appetite to talk golf but there was no online place to gather, so we launched Metro Detroit Golfers last May and quickly got over 40,000 members. It’s a positive space where people can talk golf, meet each other, ask questions and capture the passion of the Michigan golfer. Burns: Tell us about the ways you’re helping The Children’s Foundation partner, First Tee–Greater Detroit? Sullivan: First Tee–Greater Detroit is a great organization that has done so much good with kids while helping to promote the game of golf. A couple things we’ve done is encourage our Metro Detroit Golfers members, if they have some spare time, to become a volunteer coach. We’ve been very fortunate to have a merchandise line so we’ve been able to make some merchandise donations as well. There are activities coming up, including a virtual golf show, where we are going to be able to donate a significant amount of money and increase donations overall. I think it’s so important to help in any way we can to get kids into the game. There are so many lessons that you can learn from the game of golf in terms of integrity, honesty and just class. We’re excited to continue partnering and lending a hand to help however we can.

Suzanne Miller Allen, Senior Director of Community Responsibility and Social Mission, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Larry Burns: As you may know, The Children’s Foundation is committed to the social determinants of health. Is Blue Cross and Blue Shield also getting involved in these environmental and impactful elements of health? Suzanne Miller Allen: We have been working on the social determinants of health for many years. We have a program in its eleventh year called Building Healthy Communities. It’s a schoolbased program helping to fight childhood obesity by teaching about healthy living, active lifestyles, good things to eat. This is the first year we are in all of the Detroit Public Schools. We also have funded work across Michigan through our Strengthening the Safety Net grants, which help free clinics to reach the uninsured and underinsured in vulnerable populations. We are also one of the seven corporate partners with the city of Detroit on the Strategic Neighborhood Initiative. We are expanding our work in the community, and looking for opportunities to help revitalize that area with a $5 million commitment. Our focus is on the East Warren/Cadieux Corridor, helping support local businesses, restore streetscapes and preserve affordable housing. Burns: Tell us about the impact of the pandemic. Miller Allen: We have been

engaged in fighting COVID right from the beginning. Now we’re focused on the COVID vaccine. We have been working in areas that are underserved. We have extended zero-cost options for our customers; we’ve given different payment and rate options to help our members. We have tried to be a source of information through our blog at ahealthiermichigan.org. It’s been more than a full-time job for our entire enterprise and we’re not done yet. Burns: Tell us about Blue Cross Blue Shield’s commitment to mental health, particularly with kids and young adults. Miller Allen: We have seen through an increase in suicide among younger people and overall since the beginning of the pandemic. During Suicide Awareness Month in September we help raise awareness and share options for accessing mental health help. We have also done a lot of work in substance abuse disorder, which sadly has also affected kids. We have partnered with The Children’s Foundation on a grant to help healthcare clinicians and behavioral health specialists implement sustainable, evidence-based practices that address the growing epidemic of suicide in Michigan. The initiative will support projects in up to 12 organizations that identify and implement actions to prevent suicide attempts and reduce suicide deaths. We’re going to continue to look for opportunities to help and assist in this important health area, including by being a presenting sponsor for The Children’s Foundation’s Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Summit on April 13 and 14.

Peter Remington, Founder and CEO, The Remington Group

Larry Burns: How did you get involved in fundraising? Peter Remington: I began work at the United Foundation—now known as the United Way—as a fundraiser in 1972. I was crewing on a ship on the Port Huron to Mackinac Race and one of the other crew members was John Hall, who at that time was United Foundation’s vice president of operations. After three days at sea, he asked me to come work there. What it taught me, and what I teach everyone I work with, is how you deal with volunteers. Burns: Tell us about the evolution of The Remington Group. Remington: We’re a very different kind of firm. We’re small in terms of numbers and large in terms of reach. We’re in the healthcare arena, higher education, human services, civic organizations—a little bit of everything. Burns: What are you seeing in the philanthropic community in regard to the pandemic? Remington: What you see is people rallying and foundations stepping up at great levels. They were dropping their requirements of programmatic and restricted funding, and they were giving direct money for operations to keep a lot of organizations in play. Corporations stepped up. For example, Jerry Norcia,

president and chief executive officer at DTE Energy, led the effort to raise $23 million to get laptops for school kids in Detroit. The number of virtual major gift requests skyrocketed and the success rate has been very high. The virtual world has taken over. Internet fundraising was up 21 percent overall. Virtual events may not make as much money but also you don’t have to spend as much money. People are adjusting to a new paradigm and I don’t think you’re ever going to see everything get back to the old norm. You have to be nimble and agile. You’ve got to move where the reality is. Obviously, there’s a certain standard, but how do we create programs that are going to work for the client and push the envelope? People are going to need to be far more flexible to meet client needs, organization needs, and most importantly, donor needs. Burns: What advice do you have for trustees regarding this new environment? Remington: Trustees are going through a bit of culture shock, trying to figure out what is the right thing. I always advise to just slow down a little bit. First of all, did you look at the different funding opportunities that COVID created? I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t make difficult decisions, whether it’s staff cuts or executive replacements or potential consolidations. What I’m saying is that it has to be conducted in a thoughtful, non-reactive way. Being a trustee can be a thankless job, but it’s a very important job. It can be the difference between a nonprofit that is successful and one that is not.

COMMERCE

Questions linger over Detroit port authority deal Deal seeking to leave concession agreement with Moroun company still needs city approval BY ANNALISE FRANK

The Detroit-Wayne County Port Authority found a way to end a 100year agreement that gave the Moroun-owned Ambassador Port Co. sweeping control, but questions remain about the speed at which the deal gained approval of the public authority’s board, transparency about the deal and what it means for the port going forward. The board on March 19 approved a $5 million agreement under which it would sell a 34-acre site that houses the Detroit Marine Terminal and vacant land to Warren-based Ambassador Port. In turn, it would be released from a controversial 2005 Master Concession Agreement it made to get an emergency loan with the Morouns, the billionaire trucking family, in exchange for port facility control. The new deal effectively allows the port authority the freedom to carry out development projects of its own — though without ownership of its port property. In exchange, Ambassador Port would waive the authority’s $2 million in debt, pay the authority $1 million to use as it sees fit and use the remaining $2 million for blight removal, including half of the $3 million needed for a mandated teardown of the site’s languishing Boblo Island Detroit Dock building. The plan still requires City Council approval, because Detroit would need to waive its reversionary interest in the property. The port authority board voted after members received the digital packet of documents on the deal the night of March 16. Secretary-Treasurer Andrew Doctoroff was the only member to vote “no.” “It’s important to understand that I do not disagree with the goal of the port’s, getting out from underneath the master concession agreement, which many have described as unconscionable,” Doctoroff said early last week. “The question in my mind is, ‘Was this specific deal done at this specific time the best way to achieve that goal?’ I as a board member was not comfortable that my questions had been answered sufficiently well to allow me to vote in favor...” Doctoroff said he’s not necessarily against the plan. He wanted to slow down and get more facts, wary that the parties not enter into a deal to be regretted, like in 2005. The Detroit Free Press in 2015 called the MCA a “lopsided win” for Matty Moroun. Under the original deal, in exchange for paying off more than $2 million in bond debt and reopening the 34-acre facility, the Moroun family got a long-term concession on operating rights of future transportation facilities owned by the port. The contract terms loosely defined projects subject to the Moroun concessions as freight handling, storage, intermodal rail loading and unloading, or comparable transportation facilities in Wayne County and controlled by the port authority. The agreement has also allowed Ambassador Port to collect revenue from the facility and treat private dollars put toward port development as loans to the authority. 6 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, in conjunction with the city of Detroit and Michigan Department of Transportation, opened a 21,000-square-foot public dock and terminal on the riverfront in 2011. | PORTDETROIT.COM

Selling an asset

Chang

Doctoroff

Public vetting Doctoroff said he wants to know more about what Ambassador Port plans to do with the cargo terminal along the Detroit River, just southwest of the Ambassador Bridge. “I think that the premise underlying the deal that it will allow the port to more easily grow and spur economic development is an important one to consider, but I would have liked a discussion of: How realistic is that premise?” he said. “What specific growth strategy is going to be pursued … and is that strategy viable?” He also questioned the port authority’s $5 million property valuation. Crain’s requested a copy of the appraisal. State Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, said she respects where the port authority is coming from, that the organization likely saw this sale as a way out of a bad deal. But she said she also has questions, and is “disturbed and disappointed” at how it occurred. Chang has spoken against the Master Concession Agreement and in January asked Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to weigh in on its legality. However, community members weren’t informed about this substantial land transaction, she said. The MCA release agreement had been in the works with the port authority for more than a year, Ambassador Port President Dan Stamper told Crain’s. However, Chang was concerned it didn’t go through a “public vetting process,” she said. “The public hasn’t known about the deal or had an opportunity to weigh in,” she added. “People should pause and ask, ‘What is the reason for

Stamper

Schrupp

this, kind of, rush?’ and ‘What are the plans for the site?’” While the port authority provided documents to Crain’s upon request, they were not available to the public before the board vote and still aren’t widely publicly available.

Back on tax rolls Ambassador Port Co. would have been fine keeping the MCA, Stamper told Crain’s, but the authority told Ambassador Port it wanted a separation. “... The port authority wanted to do other things, and (the new deal) would give us the chance to expand the port without dealing with all the restrictions we had with the port authority in the agreement,” he said. Stamper didn’t disclose specific expansion plans at the site, but he said Ambassador Port would hire someone to market the land for import-export opportunities outside its current uses, steel and aluminum. They’ve been hit hard by tariffs put in place under President Donald Trump that have kept earnings down at the port, he said. Moving other kinds of cargo would require building out new facilities: storage silos for agricultural products, for example. That’s a major industry the company is looking at. It would require using some of the land Ambassador Port owns nearby — at least 6.5 acres per city records — as well as vacating some city streets. Demolishing the blighted port authority-owned Boblo dock building, which the city has cited for building violations, would leave more room for expansion, Stamper said. Making the property private will put it back onto city property tax rolls, he added.

Gregg Ward, president of Detroit Windsor Truck Ferry and a Detroit River advocate, has also decried the MCA. But he said he’s concerned that in this new deal, the port authority is selling a facility that could generate substantial income. He called it “ridiculous” to offload the authority’s biggest asset. He also expressed concern that it gives Ambassador Port more control of port properties, and that the deal wasn’t made public earlier. “This is Detroit’s one and only cargo terminal and it’s something that should be protected for the public use, as once it’s gone it’s gone,” he said. The port authority would be left with one smaller property: It owns a 1.2-acre parcel downtown that houses its offices and the Waterview Loft event venue run by Troy-based catering company Continental. Ward also questioned why, especially with the Gordie Howe International Bridge being built nearby and likely to attract new logistics companies, the port authority didn’t put out a public request for proposals to redevelop the port site. “If we had leadership at the port that was looking out for the public interest this would have been put out to bid,” he said. The negotiations between Ambassador Port and the authority started with the authority seeking a consensual way out of the MCA, and the property transfer was brought to the table by the Moroun side, said Mark Schrupp, who started March 1 as the new executive director of the port authority. It wasn’t originally intended to be a sale, he added, but property ownership was the leverage the port authority had. Those ownership rights were limited with the authority tied to Ambassador Port, meaning if the site got put out for public bid, either they would need to find another way to end the MCA or that next owner would be subject to the limiting agreement, Schrupp said. At issue is whether there was another way out of the Ambassador

deal. Schrupp said likely not, in any affordable manner, based on his research of efforts over the years to do so. “They should’ve first explored, is there a way to get out of the MCA? And done it in a public, transparent manner,” Ward said. Schrupp said this deal would allow the authority to “do what it’s intended to do,” even without the terminal. It would have more opportunities to seek grant funding, it would help expand port traffic to the region’s operators and it would have more financing opportunities to help other operators develop their port properties. If it made one of those new deals right now, it must involve Ambassador Port, and he said that “is not proven to be a favorable arrangement in the marketplace.” “In 1979 when we were created and until 2005 we didn’t have a port ... A lot of port authorities don’t actually own and operate their own ports,” he said. “(Without the MCA), we will be allowed to negotiate and entertain proposals from multiple owners of river frontage who have a desire to invest their own money...” As for concerns about a lack of public vetting? Schrupp said he expects that to happen now, as the deal goes before Detroit City Council. It was not immediately clear when the issue would go before the body. Now it’s up to the city’s lawmakers to ask the hard questions, Chang said. Council member Raquel Castañeda-López of District 6, which includes the site, did not return a request for comment last week. Another Council member, André Spivey, said in a text message that his office has not yet received information on the deal, and he declined to comment before getting a chance for review. “I very much understand the port authority has been in a tough position … but I want to make sure we’re doing it in the most responsible way, so I have questions and concerns,” Chang said. Contact: afrank@crain.com; (313) 446-0416; @annalise_frank

Working together to create

jobs for our community At Bank of America, we continue to invest in our local communities to help create jobs and fuel economic opportunity. We’re doing this by collaborating with other companies, identifying needs and working with skill-building partners. This effort also includes our recent $25 million investment in 21 higher education institutions including community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions. Our shared focus is on education, reskilling and up-skilling to build a pipeline of talent — and on increased commitment to hiring by major employers across our local area.

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Supporting organizations that are expanding access to skill building programs and resources, including: • Grow Detroit’s Young Talent (GDYT) • Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Michigan • Detroit Means Business

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To learn more, please visit bankofamerica.com/community

COMMENTARY

It takes a village to close the racial wealth gap BY CHARITY DEAN

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

EDITORIAL

Let’s hit pause and let stimulus do its job T

ime for some good news: There are strong signs the economy is recovering. Last Thursday, new unemployment claims fell to a new low since the beginning of the pandemic. The Federal Reserve also issued a bullish outlook for 2021 that predicts unemployment will fall from the current 6.8 percent to 4.5 percent by the end of the year. They’re all signs that the pandemic’s hold is easing, and vaccination is providing a light at the end of the tunnel. Deaths among the elderly have not risen even as Michigan sees another spike in new cases of the disease. Vaccines work. (So do masks, by the way.) If enough people get their shots in the next couple of months, we can bring the virus to heel. All of these positive indicators are happening even before recent $1.9 trillion stimulus fully takes hold. StimLET’S HIT PAUSE ulus checks are just to make their AND SEE HOW THE starting way into the econoCURRENT ROUND my, and the other massive spending in OF STIMULUS the package, including enormous payDOES ITS JOB ments to cities and BEFORE WRITING counties, will take months to have an ANY MORE BIG impact. CHECKS. So do we need more stimulus measures? We doubt it. Some ideas, such as U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s proposal to send everyone $2,000 a month for the balance of the pandemic, are extreme, with zero chance of happening. But President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are now talking about a $4 trillion infrastructure spending package, more than double the size of the stimulus.

It’s true that the U.S. desperately needs to address the decay of our highways, public works and other infrastructure. But a massive increase in infrastructure spending would come at a time when construction materials are in short supply and building costs are high. A sudden, massive influx of demand would cause those prices to skyrocket further. And that’s one big risk of adding more fuel to the economic fire too soon. Some prices have already started to rise visibly. If you’ve bought gasoline lately, you’ve seen it. And that’s happening at a time when people are still driving less than before the pandemic. Inflation hurts those on the bottom rungs of the income ladder the most. Responding to the pandemic has been expensive. It’s also been necessary. But we’re also becoming inured to the word “trillion,” of other people’s money (i.e., tax dollars). We risk making it too easy to think the pot of money is bottomless. It’s not. It’s also borrowed. Our national debt now equals 129 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. That figure eclipses the debt amassed to fight World War II, when it was only 112 percent. This all has to be paid for. The bigger a hole we dig, the higher the tax increases will have to go. If the pandemic recovery stalls out, we can take action. But for now, let’s hit pause and see how the current round of stimulus does its job before writing any more big checks.

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. on WJR 760 AM’s Paul W. Smith Show.

or the first time in my life, last summer, I saw long-standing institutions and corporations make bold statements and stand together to denounce structural and systemic racism. Goldman Sachs recently came Charity Dean is out with a study that president and showed what we all know CEO of the to be true, there continMetro Detroit ues to be a persistent raBlack Business cial wealth gap in our Alliance. country. Additionally, in the Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, White families were reported to have had a median wealth level of eight times that of Black families. Study after study has confirmed this to us, and we know the root cause. Laws and policies that have lasted for centuries have created the racial wealth gap, from slavery to illegal redlining and beyond. These policies in government and practices in corporate institutions were designed intentionally. Today, many of these same institutions have vocalized the desire to close this gap. It will take intentionality to do so. One of the recommendations from the Goldman study for closing the gap was to prioritize Black-owned businesses. And it makes sense. Entrepreneurship is one way Black families can begin to acquire generational wealth. Black entrepreneurship is not a new concept and has been around for centuries. Institutionalized barriers to success for Black entrepreneurs have also been around for centuries. Now is the time for us to identify and remove every barrier that stands in the way for Black businesses to thrive. The Metro Detroit Black Business Alliance

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

All-hands effort will beat COVID TO THE EDITOR: From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I dedicated my work in molecular biology to better understand the spread of the virus across Michigan. Grand Valley State University and the Michigan state government have coordinated and joined forces to rapidly detect how the virus circulates within a community, and I was proud to use my expertise to help these efforts. This kind of coordination between industry experts and the government is the surest way to defeat COVID-19. Using our experience with SARS in 2003 and MERS in 2015, my home country of Taiwan has done well in keeping this pandemic at bay. Taiwanese people trust the government to coordinate with private companies to fight and vaccinate against any viral threat.

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 29, 2021

seeks to do just that. We are committed to diverse programming that connects and secures resources for Black businesses in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb County. We are building a business resource center where our members can access coworking space, a board room and free internet. We are also building a comprehensive Black business directory. We will do a deep dive into policy advocacy. As a membership-based organization, we will advocate at every level of government for policies that will help our member businesses thrive even in a postCOVID economy. Our plans are ambitious, but we know that we cannot do this alone. In order to close the wealth gap that will ultimately result in a revitalized and thriving economy, we need others to also prioritize Black businesses. You can do this by supporting a local Blackowned business. I don’t mean purchasing a candle from that one Black entrepreneur you met last year. I mean review your family and/ or your organization’s budget and identify line items where you can regularly invest in Black businesses. Financial institutions can review their policies to make resources much more accessible. Corporations can set procurement goals that intentionally engage Black vendors. Individuals and organizations can join the MDBBA. We have a membership level for everyone. You can become a part of our village. Our village consists of partners like TCF that have made significant and sustainable commitments to our organization because they recognize how critical the success of Blackowned businesses is to the regional economy. We have a long way to go in order to close that wealth gap. The Metro Detroit Black Business Alliance is here to add urgency to the task, but we need help. I was so proud to see so many local institutions and corporations stand up against institutional racism last summer. Now is the time to bring action to those verbal commitments. Join our village, and let’s close this gap together.

For the United States to get to this level of control over the pandemic, we must have the same coordination between the groups fighting the pandemic and a willingness of Americans to maintain social distancing and mask wearing while waiting to become vaccinated at the earliest opportunity. As scientists, we will continue to do our part to discover more about the virus to help combat it. But to fully prevent deaths and keep people healthy, we need the government and health care supply chain to work together and bring medical supplies and vaccine doses to our communities. And our citizens too must recognize that it is your patriotic duty to become vaccinated and protect your fellow neighbors. Pei-Lan Tsou Associate professor, cell and molecular biology Grand Rapids

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.

OTHER VOICES

Imperiled higher education institutions key to state’s future BY JOHN AUSTIN

The Midwest’s colleges and universities are central to community economic renewal and COVID-19 recovery, a revival put at risk by recent fiscal, demographic and John Austin short-sighted pubdirects the lic policy headMichigan winds. Nowhere is Economic this more true Center and is than in my home nonresident state of Michigan, senior fellow particularly punwith the ished by the panBrookings demic, given our Institution and economic and research fellow with the Upjohn population profile. During the panInstitute. demic, tech and office-focused talent learned they could happily leave the high-cost coastal bastions and work where housing costs are more reasonable, and quality of life richer — thanks to a virtual, videoconferenced world. Given this dynamic, Michigan, blessed with three top-tier research universities, 12 large regional public universities, and dozens of small independent colleges, has a major opportunity to see our university and college towns evolve and grow as tech and office-worker hubs. But only if we step up and invest federal and state funds to build up these innovation, talent attraction and retention engines. Michigan has seen its incomes slump over the last 30 years as many formerly middle-class manufacturing jobs disappear. Communities that used to rely on mills, machine shops, and factories experienced population loss and a deteriorating tax base as manufacturing jobs were automated, or left for cheaper labor markets in other states or nations. Meanwhile, incomes have increased in communities where economies are diversifying and college graduates are gathering — and not just for the graduates. Workers in retail and restaurants, auto mechanics and plumbers tend to be paid more when they work for highly educated folks who have the resources to pay better. That trend has been accelerated by the pandemic. So how do we in Michigan take advantage of the economic changes being created by the pandemic? Recognize that tucked away in many communities we have private and public colleges that can be talent magnets. Today’s mobile talent, including fleeing coastal techies, want what they can see around college and university towns: Fellow graduates. Better schools. High speed internet. Thriving, diverse downtowns with vibrant retail, interesting restaurants, concerts, museums, and other cultural and entertainment opportunities. As my colleagues at Brookings recently wrote we need to invest in our public and nonprofit private colleges that are the linchpins for economic revival in many smaller older industrial communities. Both public institutions and dozens of smaller private colleges are struggling today. We also need to ensure our downtowns have the support they need to create the atmosphere college graduates desire. One reason these institutions, and now our recovery, are at risk is that Michigan has as a state, over time, slashed higher education funding. Ad-

justed for inflation, the state’s support support for higher education and upper full-time public university student skilling for workers with lost jobs and has dropped from $9,760 in 2002 to mismatched skills. The pandemic $5,678 today. We’ve also cut revenue crushed many low-skill jobs. Many of sharing to cities and municipaliTHE COVID-19 RECOVERY MOMENT IS THE ties by billions of dollars since 2000, TIME TO “GO BIG” WITH SUPPORT FOR crimping their ability to main- HIGHER EDUCATION AND UPSKILLING FOR tain, much less WORKERS WITH LOST JOBS AND further develop the infrastructure MISMATCHED SKILLS. and amenities these jobs won’t be coming back. that attract and keep talented people. A federal guarantee of higher educaAs Michelle-Miller Adams of Upjohn and I argue, the COVID-19 recovery tion and upskilling would be a critical moment is the time to “go big” with tool to help those workers adjust. So is

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan Reconnect plan. And a $400 million new state investment in need-based financial aid (as called for in our 2019 Total Talent report) would help more learners and workers get the skills needed for good jobs, and prop up both imperiled public and private colleges. In addition, Michigan and the U.S. must reverse our recent xenophobic trends and again encourage international students to use America’s and Michigan’s higher education institutions. Those students, almost all of whom pay higher tuition than Michigan students, come from families that can afford it. Their presence and dollars are a key contributor to the fiscal stabil-

ity of Michigan higher education institutions, and their presence and local spending, boosts many Michigan small businesses and communities. They should be recruited and most importantly, valued — but we need federal and state leadership for such change. For generations Michigan nurtured its colleges and universities and their communities. In recent years, we have let this vital infrastructure languish. The pandemic has reminded us that we sorely need these engines of innovation, social mobility and community revival. Now is the time to leverage our higher education network to as President Joe Biden exhorts us — “build back better.”

NOMINATIONS

OPEN

We are looking for business leaders who identify as LGBTQ and are making an impact through professional, civic and philanthropic achievements. Winners will be featured in the Sept. 6 issue of Crain’s Detroit Business NOMINATION

DEADLINE:

MAY 19

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT

crainsdetroit.com/nominate

MARCH 29, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 9

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CRAIN’S NOTABLE NONPROFIT BOARD MEMBERS are leaders in business and in service. On nonprofit boards, they lend their professional skills and connections, provide fiscal stewardship, recruit talented executive leadership and champion the nonprofit’s mission in the community. The board members featured in this report were selected by a team of

Crain’s Detroit Business editors based on their career accomplishments, track record of success in the field, contributions to their community and mentorship of others, as outlined in a detailed nomination form. Notable Nonprofit Board Members was managed and written by Leslie D. Green. For questions about this report, contact Special Projects Editor Amy Bragg: abragg@crain.com.

ELIZABETH ALVAREZ

JOHN BAKER

LLOYD BANKS

ERICA BATTLE

Director of Client Service, Slalom Consulting

Physician and Clinical Professor, Wayne State University, School of Medicine

CEO and Principal, Banks & Co.

Principal, George Johnson & Co.

Board Chair, Rhonda Walker Foundation

Treasurer, The Scarab Club

Lloyd Banks became chair of the Rhonda Walker Foundation when the founder stepped down after 15 years. The nonprofit strives to empower teenage girls in Detroit through college prep, personal and career development, health and wellness and more. The foundation’s efforts rely heavily on partnerships with the community and local schools. A collaborator and innovator, Banks worked with his team to restructure the organization for longevity, which included adding a CEO. Under his leadership, it also implemented a more successful and efficient fundraising program, increased giving, diversified the board and increased assets. “Chairman Banks’ guidance allows the foundation to focus on the needs of the young ladies and the community it serves. This focus provided by Mr. Banks is how the foundation will continue to grow and expand in the future,” said Michael Montgomery, former vice president of Global Purchasing for Magna Seating.

Erica Battle manages the nonprofit offerings of George Johnson & Co., a CPA and consulting firm. She is also an ardent volunteer and provides financial guidance and oversight and helps with fundraising and grant writing for eight different boards. As board chair for letterpress studio and arts center Signal-Return, she helped implement a giving/ matching campaign that in 2020 included a virtual event. She is also treasurer for the Scarab Club and the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Friends of Arts and Flowers. She also serves on the advisory boards of the National Association of Women Business Owners and Detroit Regional Dollars for Scholars. “She is always available to consult, problem solve and assist the organization and me in my role as director,” said Signal-Return Artistic Director Lynne Avadenka. “During this difficult time of the pandemic, she helped the organization receive federal financial assistance, one of the many ways her expertise has ... helped Signal-Return to become the successful arts organization it is today.”

Treasurer, United Way for Southeastern Michigan

Elizabeth Alvarez, a 2013 Crain’s 40 Under 40 honoree, is a problem solver. At Slalom, which consults on strategy, technology and business transformation, she helps clients understand their objectives and discover ways to achieve them. As treasurer, chair of the Finance Committee and a member of the Executive Committee, she finds ways to help the United Way for Southeastern Michigan achieve its mission of reducing the number of asset-limited, income-constrained families in the region. “Liz is a superstar who has improved every role she has touched at UWSEM. She was a founding member and leader of the Emerging Philanthropist group that has now grown to over 300 members,” said Mark Petroff, president and CEO of OneMagnify. “Shortly after joining the board, Liz … put in place an organized, thoughtful and well-executed plan for managing board succession and building board diversity.”

Board Trustee, Grant Committee Chair, Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation

Clinician, researcher and educator Jack Baker joined the Children’s Foundation 10 years ago as the nonprofit’s first board chair. Since then, he has helped the nonprofit advance the health and wellness of children while serving in various roles. Baker was a member of the search committee that hired the foundation’s current president and CEO Larry Burns. “Jack Baker continues to have a deep positive impact on the children of Michigan. His experience as a nationally respected pediatric ophthalmologist and as the past chairman of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Board helps inform and guide our Foundation’s grants strategy. That has allowed us to invest more than $6 million per year toward invaluable programs that support the health and wellness of children in Detroit, across our region and across our state,” said Matt Friedman, co-founder of Tanner Friedman Strategic Communications.

MICHAEL BERGER

JIM BERLINE

GERARD BOYLAN

GLORIA BUTLER MILLER

President, Berger Realty Group Inc.

Chairman and Founder, Berline

Partner, Boylan Holdings

Member, Board of Governors, The Jewish Federation and United Jewish Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit

Board Chair, The Blood Cancer Foundation of Michigan

Board Member, Detroit Police Athletic League

Retired Key Account Strategist, Zaner-Bloser Publishing

“Every organization needs a lay leader that is willing to take on any role that is required, both the easy tasks and even moreso the hard tasks and that is Michael (Berger). He always brings his upbeat energy, business acumen, thoughtful views and incredible skill set to all tasks large and small,” said United Jewish Foundation President Dennis Bernard. Berger chairs the Finance Committee and serves on the audit, investment, pension and insurance, and Israel and Overseas committees where he works with board members and staff to manage financial assets and donor-advised funds, support foundations and allocate funds to programs in other countries. Berger is particularly proud of his work on the nonprofit’s Class of a Million program, to obtain support of young members and add more than $1 million yearly to the annual campaign, and on efforts to replace its communitywide insurance program. In 2020, he co-chaired the emergency committee, which allocated more than $7.5 million for community members in need.

The Blood Cancer Foundation launched in 1952 as the Children’s Leukemia Foundation. When an adult father received a leukemia diagnosis and requested assistance while caring for his family, the board, under Jim Berline’s direction, voted to provide services to their first adult patient. Soon, nearly 80 percent of the nonprofit’s patients were adults. In September 2020, the foundation changed its name to reflect its new mission to care for blood cancer patients and families. Despite losing funding as a result of COVID, the foundation provided more holiday packages than ever to diagnosed children, their siblings, and the children of diagnosed adults. “Jim’s talent lies in understanding how to tap both the passions and the skills of board members to provide the requisite board oversight without yielding to the occasional temptation of managing day-to-day operations. And he does it all with a smile on his face,” said fellow board member and Butzel Long Shareholder Claudia Rast. Berline, who is former chair of the Make-AWish Foundation, also chairs Sparky Anderson’s CATCH Charity for Children.

Gerard Boylan’s service makes an impact: He was board chair when the Police Athletic League merged with Think Detroit and co-chaired the Kids at the Corner capital campaign, which raised $20 million to build the Corner Ballpark on the former site of Tiger Stadium. He was also volunteer project coordinator for the ballpark’s Walk of Heroes exhibit. “As the sitting chair of the board at the time, (Gerard) led Think Detroit’s board activities related to the merger, and as the first chairperson of the newly combined organization, his leadership cemented the positive relationship and initial direction of the new organization,” said Daniel Varner, president and CEO of Goodwill Detroit. “His leadership and support of Detroit PAL has literally changed Detroit’s landscape, preserved an historic site for community benefit, and most importantly, positively impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Detroit children.”

Board Trustee, Minerva Education and Development Foundation

Fundraising revenue has steadily increased under Gloria Butler Miller’s direction as chair of the Minerva Foundation’s Fund Development committee. As a result, the nonprofit has been able to add more endowments and scholarship funds. As chair of the Nominations and Elections committees, Miller strives to ensure a variety of generations, professions and backgrounds are represented on the board. Miller is also a trustee for the Carr Center for the Arts, director and treasurer of the National Alliance of Black School Educators Foundation and a member of the University Liggett School strategic planning committee. “Gloria leads not with answers but rather with precise and salient questions that frequently move the board, committee and administration in new and important directions,” said Liggett Head of School Bart Bronk.

MARCH 29, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 11

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KRISTA CAPP

BETH CONLEY

DEREK D’ANGELO

MARK DAVIDOFF

Senior Vice President of Property Management, Beanstalk Real Estate Solutions

Instructional Designer, WorkForce Software LLC

AP Economics Teacher, Utica Community Schools

President & CEO, The Fisher Group

Phar

Board Chair, Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Exec Com Serv

Board President, The Heat and Warmth Fund

Having grown up in an at-risk family, Krista Capp takes THAW’s mission to keep Michigan families healthy, safe, and warm personally. Prior to becoming board president, she served on committees from fund development to strategic planning and continues to drive sustainability efforts. “She was never afraid to challenge the status quo for the betterment of the staff or the organization,” said Stacy Ziarko, former development director for THAW. When financial issues arose because funding from the federal government’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program moved from agency hands to the Department of Health and Human Services, Capp led her team to creative ways to fundraise and lobby for clearly defined processes.

Congrats Tom Pursel! Crain's Notable Nonprofit Board Member

Board Vice President, Old Newsboys’ Goodfellow Fund of Detroit

At work, Beth Conley builds e-learning and instructor-led training materials and supports the WorkForce Learning Management system. In 2020, she led the company’s school supply drive. She also takes on projects that help advance the Detroit Goodfellows’ mission to provide children with toys and necessities for Christmas. As co-chair of the membership committee, she helped establish the nonprofit’s next gen group. Each member pays dues and donates 10 hours of community service. “It was impressive to see her applying her skills as a technical instructional designer, trainer and systems manager to add ‘superpower’ to the Goodfellows’ central mission. She introduced new computer systems, trained the organization on new applications and streamlined distribution processes to help the Goodfellows leap forward with expanded capabilities to achieve their primary mission,” said WorkForce Instructional Designer Lara Marlin. Conley will begin a two-year term as board president next year.

President, Michigan Council on Economic Education; board member, Funding the Future

Funding the Future uses music, videos and inspirational messages to instill in youth the importance of making smart financial decisions. COVID may have slightly altered the nonprofit’s course, but Derek D’Angelo helped keep it going by collaborating with musicians to develop a functioning system to host the nonprofit’s first virtual rock concert, livestreamed into classrooms around the country. “Mr. D’Angelo has been a continuous source of professional financial literacy information that the artists share with the students in a pivotal change from in-person to online concerts,” said Colleen Schon, Funding the Futures board president and managing director and senior vice president of investments for Raymond James. At the Michigan Council on Economic Education, D’Angelo is implementing Invest in Girls, a new afterschool program teaching high school girls more about personal finance and finance careers. He has also spearheaded initiatives such as rewriting the K-12 Michigan State Standards in Economics and establishing the Michigan Personal Finance Challenge for high school students.

Mark Davidoff leads investment and financial management for the family of Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher and the Fisher Foundation. He also oversees all financial activities, risk and strategy for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Under his leadership, the board last year championed the DSO Resilience Fund to help the nonprofit continue providing music in the community, empower youth to use music as a creative outlet, narrow the revenue gap in response to canceled concerts and events, and aid in long-term stability. In the fall, the DSO launched a Detroit strategy, which includes providing an instrument and instruction to any Detroit student who wants to learn, holding conversations in the community and developing partnerships that align with the priorities of Detroit residents. Davidoff is member and past chair of several other boards as well. “Mark Davidoff ’s leadership as the board chairman for the Michigan Israeli Business Accelerator has been instrumental in the success of building bilateral economic partnerships between Michigan and Israel,” said Michigan Israel Business Accelerator CEO Scott Hiipakka.

Und

Who “I on A and was Rash Anta and “Wi Rash visio eng chan

Introducing the 2021 American Cancer Society Michigan Area Board

TOM S. PURSEL

SUSAN VENENBOCK

JESSICA BENSENHAVER, MD, MS

2021 ACS Board Chair Private Wealth Advisor, Merrill Private Wealth Management

2021 ACS Board Vice Chair Owner, SvB Consulting

Surgical Breast Oncologist, Henry Ford Health System

JAY KALISKY

RANDALL MELTON

CHERI MORRISON

CPA/Partner/President, Robinson, Pietras, Kalisky & Company, P.C.

Vice President of Merchandising, Kroger Michigan Division

General Motors (retired)

BENJAMIN BOHANNON

RJ CORNING

Project Manager Field Operations, General Motors

Sr. Director, Global Benefits & Mobility, Whirlpool

DAVID PEABODY Sr. Vice President; General Counsel & Managing Director, McKinley

DAVANG SHAH Global Managing Director, Marketing Google

IAN A. HOGAN Exec. Vice President; Corporate Banking & Treasury, Comerica Bank

JEFFREY SHEEHAN President, Johnstone Supply

To learn more, visit cancer.org. 12 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

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cial

on. l

r ony

he nd fit g mu-

er-

RASHA DEMASHKIEH

ELYSE FOLTYN

RON FOURNIER

NADEEM GEBRAEL

Pharmacist, CVS Health

Board Chair, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit; Member, Cranbrook Board of Governors and Cranbrook Educational Community

President, Truscott Rossman

President and CEO, Gebrael Management LLC

Board Vice Chair, Autism Alliance of Michigan

Board Chair, Whaley Children’s Center; Member, United Way of Genesee County

Executive Board member, Past Board Chair, Arab Community Center for Employment and Social Services

Under Rasha Demashkieh’s leadership, ACCESS has embarked on an ambitious five-year strategic plan that includes engaging young Arab Americans and improving the image of Arab Americans in society. She also started the annual 100 Arab American Women Who Care fundraising event. “In a time of unprecedented hate focused on Arab Americans, ACCESS’ vision of a just and equitable society for all Arab Americans was never under more challenge than during Rasha’s tenure as our board chair,” said Jeff Antaya, ACCESS board member and partner and chief marketing officer at Plante Moran. “With grace and well-honed leadership skills, Rasha led our board with an unwavering vision by individually and collectively engaging us for our common goal. She drove change while building harmony.”

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Called an exceptional leader with strategic vision and thought-provoking insight, Elyse Foltyn last year helped MOCAD through a difficult period of transition after the termination of its then-executive director. This not only entailed hiring a new executive director but re-hiring staff that had been previously terminated or forced out. She has since pushed for structural change and new diversity goals within the organization. In addition to MOCAD, Foltyn is heavily involved with Cranbrook as chair of the educational community’s marketing advisory group, member of the committee on advancement and vice president of the School Mothers Council. “Elyse brought new media to Cranbrook, led the way for the advancement of the Cranbrook brand, and she led the most successful fundraising event in the history of Cranbrook,” said Barbara Yolles, CEO of Ludwig+.

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Ron Fournier, who began serving with the Autism Alliance of Michigan in 2016, has been a member of the board finance committee and executive committee and was lead of the ad hoc marketing committee. “Ron is a go-to guy for anything we need — making a contact, planning for the best way to get our message out there, taking leadership roles,” said Amy Fangboner, AAoM board treasurer and chair of the fund development committee. As a parent of a child on the autism spectrum, the AAoM’s mission is personal to Fournier, which makes it even easier for him to assist staff in creating messages that get to the heart of what AAoM does. Fournier also helps develop strategic legislative plans that advocate for efficient access to care, better special education standards and employment for people on the spectrum. “From serving on several boards to providing great advice and support to organizations — just because he cares — he truly has walked the talk of a community leader,” said Truscott Rossman CEO John Truscott.

Real estate brokerage entrepreneur Nadeem Gebrael cares passionately about his community. As a member of the United Way community impact committee, he conducts site visits and helps analyze nonprofit performance to ensure they are fulfilling their funding requirements. “His willingness to help and be a leader for change in Genesee County is a breath of fresh air,” said Jamie Gaskin, president of United Way of Genesee County. “We are proud of the work (his) committee has done to better our organization and community.” In addition, Gebrael serves as chair of the Whaley Children’s Center, which seeks to provide safe, stable environments for troubled children. He has collaborated with the CEO to establish new committees, including a fundraising committee, and has been identifying a diverse group of community leaders to help grow the center and get them through turbulent times.

Kinetic Leadership Congratulations to Jim Berline for being chosen as one of Crain’s Detroit Business Notable Board Member honorees for his work with the Blood Cancer Foundation of Michigan. His unwavering commitment to leading by example inspires us all.

A D V E R T I S I N G , M A R K E T I N G & D I G I T A L C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

B E R L I N E

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DIANE GREEN

RICHARD HAMPSON

RONALD HODESS

TIM JOY

Retired Counselor and Associate Dean, Henry Ford College

Board Chair, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit

Attorney, Miller Canfield

Retired Financial Director, North-Oakland Residential Services

Pres

Board Member, Governance Committee, Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit

Finance Chair and Treasurer, Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan

During her tenure as chair of the Mosaic board, Diane Green led efforts to increase board membership, strengthen operations, increase revenue streams and develop a strategic plan. She also developed and implemented a transition seminar designed to support young Mosaic artists in their senior year of high school and help them examine their next steps before entering college. She also served on the committee that developed a succession plan for Mosaic founder and president Rick Sperling. “Diane has been the most impactful board member during my tenure. Her consistent efforts have been a vital resource in guiding Mosaic through ebbs and flows,” said Board Chair Cornell Batie. Green also serves with Warrior Women Against Poverty, which mentors and advocates for women and children living in poverty. “When we needed an early childhood program for our young children, Diane implemented one where college students would provide the child care for the children in exchange for a small stipend. It has been very successful,” said WWAP President Carol Goss.

Richard Hampson, former state president and market leader for Citizens Bank, puts his financial acumen to work for the nonprofits he serves. Just as 2020 brought challenges to fundraising and in-person events, Big Brothers Big Sisters’ legacy pension plan was also a burden. Under Hampson’s board leadership and collaboration with the CEO, BBBS negotiated a fair settlement that allowed the nonprofit to survive. “Rick volunteered countless hours helping the organization navigate the recent coronavirus pandemic, providing weekly leadership and guidance during a time of great uncertainty,” said BBBS CEO and President Jeannine Gant. Hampson has also been a key player in helping Gleaners keep up with increased food needs, new credit facilities, capital fundraising and a new building and campus. “Though his board work is focused on the financial health of the organization, Rick’s passion to provide assistance for our hungry neighbors is evident in how he approaches his role as well as in his generous contributions of time and funds,” said Gleaners CEO Gerry Brisson.

CONGRATULATIONS DRMM BOARD CHAIRMAN

RANDY PENTIUK, ESQ. on being recognized as a Notable Nonprofit Board Member by Crain’s Detroit Business.

Board Chair, Friendship Circle of Michigan; Board Member, Autism Alliance of Michigan

In his more than 30 years as an attorney at Miller Canfield, Ron Hodess has worked on more than $14 billion worth of real estate and construction projects. As chair of the Friendship Circle, which provides support, friendship and inclusion to people with special needs, Hodess has set strategic direction, identified opportunities, developed financial targets and more. Steve Morris, managing principal of Axis Advisors, said Hodess makes it look easy even though he has two special needs children of his own. Under Hodess’ direction, the nonprofit grew to serve more adults through the expansion of its Soul Art Studio, where people can create and sell their artwork, and Soul Café, which provides job training and other opportunities. When lockdown orders forced the cafe to close for indoor dining, the nonprofit began preparing 5,000 healthy meals a week for Meals on Wheels, JARC and other nonprofits.

Board Member, Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team

Tim Joy has served with MCREST for more than 12 years, five of those as board treasurer. “Whenever there was an important project or program Tim always was available to lead the effort. Tim has led fundraising efforts, program development, and financial guidance,” said MCREST Board President John Johnson. When the nonprofit purchased a building to serve as a shelter, intake center and office building, Joy advised on the building’s renovation design and helped guide construction. Now he is chairing the $1.6 million funding campaign. When the pandemic struck, Joy helped MCREST pivot from that campaign to raise money to house its 60 guests in a nearby motel. He also developed and implemented the Journey Home program and Learning and Resource Center, which provides job training and placement services.

CONGRATULATIONS DR. ROBERT MARANS ON BEING SELECTED AS A NOTABLE NONPROFIT BOARD MEMBER. Your leadership and service to our organizations, and the region, is unmatched.

Thank you for dedicatedly serving metro Detroit through our Christian nonprofit that has given help to the homeless, hungry, and drug addicted since 1909.

washtenaw.org | detroitriverfront.org | metroparks.com DRMM.ORG

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DEIDRE LAMBERT-BOUNDS

THOMAS LANDRY

TERESA WHALEN LEFEVRE

JOHN MAGEE

President, Ignite Social Media LLC

President, Landry Consulting LLC

Treasurer, The Sphinx Organization

Chair, Community Housing Network

Vice President, Supplier Diversity Manager, Comerica Bank

Professor of Surgery, Transplantation, University of Michigan

Deidre Lambert-Bounds has used her problem-solving skills in every board position she’s held for Sphinx, which seeks to transform lives through diversity in the arts. As chair, she oversaw the transition to a new executive director when founder Aaron Dworkin decided to step down. “Deidre’s commitment to social equity, the arts and her community is underscored by her 12 years of service as board chair and then treasurer of The Sphinx Organization. She is a strategic thinker and terrific partner who brings the empathy and humanity needed to help an organization like Sphinx continue to not just survive but thrive through the most challenging times,” said Sphinx Board Chair Tynnetta McIntosh, managing director of Corporate Communications for JPMorgan Chase.

Thomas Landry was president of Skanska, a $400 million construction company, before founding his consulting firm in 2004. As board chair and chair of Community Housing Network’s executive committee, he has found creative ways to ensure accountability, that people are welcomed and heard and that the right objectives are established. One initiative includes empowering board members to anonymously review the president and then using the information to establish goals. Under Landry’s leadership, the nonprofit became Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities certified and developed a risk evaluation form to use for each project under consideration. Landry also serves on the boards of Disability Rights Michigan and Oakland County Workforce Development.

Board Secretary, Dominican Literacy Center

Board Member, National Kidney Foundation of Michigan

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Teresa Whalen LeFevre has served in a variety of capacities, including president and vice president, since joining the board of the Dominican Literacy Center 20 years ago. As part of the planning and fundraising committee, she helped launch DLC’s Spelling Bee Fundraiser in 2019. Last year, she led the charge and helped transform the Spelling Bee into a virtual event. Her work included reaching out to corporate sponsors, rallying board members to create matching funds and securing a professional storyteller. As a result, the event raised twice as much as in 2019. As a member of the selection committee, LeFevre also helped DLC find an executive director candidate that she says leads with “love, passion and wisdom.” “(Teresa) kept our planning committee on track over many months, circulated meeting summaries within minutes of each gathering, and kept our eyes on the fundraising goal. She also proved quite successful at actual fundraising from high-level donors,” said board member Sandra Mengel, retired chief clerk for the Michigan Court of Appeals.

John Magee, a surgeon who cares for children and adults in need of kidney, pancreas and liver transplantation, understands the need for the Kidney Foundation. “John has an incredibly long record of service and leadership with the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan that is driven by his desire to prevent kidney disease and eliminate the need for kidney transplantation. Over the years he has applied his many diverse strengths to advance the mission of the organization,” said Michael Englesbe, M.D., University of Michigan. A past chair of the organization, Magee has helped launch new programs, including expansion of its estate-giving program and educational efforts that can both prevent kidney disease and generate revenue. Magee also serves on the board of Gift for Life Michigan, where he provides perspectives related to the needs of patients and expertise in transplantation, and is past chair of the Organ Donation and Transplantation Alliance.

Easterseals Michigan congratulates Dr. Lynda Misra for being named as one of Crain’s Detroit Business Notable Board Members. We thank you for your ongoing dedication to our mission. You helped us navigate the pandemic so we could ensure that life-saving services were continued for the people we serve.

Cоgrat ati ! MARCH 29, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 15

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DON MANVEL

ROBERT MARANS

TELVA MCGRUDER

SANDRA MENGEL

Chair and CEO, AVL Americas

Research Professor Emeritus, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, General Motors

Retired Chief Clerk, Michigan Court of Appeals

Pres

Board Member, Dominican Literacy Center

Secr Foun

Development Chair, Michigan Science Center

When Don Manvel isn’t running AVL, which develops, simulates and tests vehicle propulsion systems, he is leading fundraising efforts for the Michigan Science Center. Like most nonprofits, pandemic lockdown orders forced the science center to lock its doors and amp up its virtual programming strategies. Manvel helped raise $2.5 million, which supported 84 percent of the nonprofit’s budget and allowed it to reimagine digital programming for 300,000 children worldwide. Manvel also serves on the boards of Karmanos Cancer Institute, Michigan Opera Theatre and College for Creative Studies. “Don Manvel has made many significant contributions to the College for Creative Studies during his tenure as a trustee and previously as a volunteer supporter,” said CCS President Don Tuski. He said Manvel helped CCS build a relationship that led to Detroit receiving a UNESCO City of Design designation and resulted in projects with other UNESCO Creative Cities.

Robert Marans shows his love for the greenspaces in Southeastern Michigan through service. “For over four decades, our Metroparks have benefited from Bob Marans’ commitment to constructively challenging our planning, engineering, interpretive and administrative staff to continuously enhance the quality of the visitor experience at each of our 13 parks,” said Huron-Clinton Metroparks Commissioner Timothy McCarthy. Marans is chair of the Huron Clinton Metropolitan Authority board of commissioners, where he played a key role in the hiring of the agency’s director and helped establish the Metroparks Foundation. He is also founding board member of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and founding commissioner and immediate past chair of the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission. As the pandemic drove more people outdoors, he was part of the team that guided the nonprofits in their efforts to adapt staffing, budgeting and programming.

Board Chair, Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan

Telva McGruder works toward uniting GM’s workforce and weaving diversity, equity and inclusion into the fabric of everything the automaker does. For the Girl Scouts, she helps leadership develop and implement the council’s strategic mission, which includes conveying the importance of developing girls and young women into leaders through a variety of programming. In the midst of a complicated year in which GSSEM had to move programming online, McGruder led efforts to find and install a new CEO who could elevate the Girl Scout experience. “Telva serves as a role model for girls across our council, bringing her expertise in diversity, organizational leadership and advocacy for girls in STEM to our board,” said GSSEM CEO Monica Woodson.

As chief clerk for the Michigan Court of Appeals, Sandra was lead attorney administrator handling everything from budget to emergency operations security issues. Now she puts her all into volunteerism. In part, she is a patient driver for the American Cancer Society, a hospice visitor for Beaumont Hospital Hospice Department, and co-leader and volunteer for the Grosse Pointe Farms team of Days for Girls, which provides feminine hygiene kits to girls and women in underdeveloped countries. In addition to being a math tutor for the Dominican Literacy Center, she also has served in various board offices. “She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from her working days that helps provide guidance to the organization. Sandy also cares very deeply about DLC’s clients and staff and is the first to step up to any new challenges,” said Teresa LeFevre, DLC board member and vice president, supplier diversity manager, procurement for Comerica Bank.

Congratulations on being honored as a Crain’s Business Notable Nonprofit Board Member

Jacqui Spicer COO of Baker College and the President & Chair of the McLaren Oakland Foundation The McLaren Oakland Foundation is proud to have a leader like Jacqui on our team. Jacqui provides support, encouragement, and leadership within the board, foundation and the community. She has played a critical role in ensuring the foundation at McLaren Oakland Hospital is successful in enhancing patient care, health care research, providing health-related education and purchasing clinical equipment and building our facilities.

www.mclaren.org/oakland-foundation/mclaren-oakland-foundation

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ANNE MERVENNE

LYNDA MISRA

DAVID MORIN

W. HOWARD MORRIS

President and Founder, Mervenne & Co.

Medical Director, COVID Unit, Beaumont Health

President and CIO, The Prairie & Tireman Group

Secretary and Treasurer, Detroit Public Safety Foundation

Immediate Past Chair, Easterseals Michigan

Founder and Managing Member, Care Technology Advisors

Anne Mervenne has actively supported the community since she met Eleanor Josaitis, co-founder of Focus: HOPE when she was in fourth grade. Now, she is a member of the executive committee and chair of the planned giving initiative for the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, serves on the board of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan and holds two board officer positions for the Detroit Public Safety Foundation. Mervenne was instrumental in working with the DPSF executive director to develop its first ethics policy statement and revise the nondiscrimination policy. She also helped strengthen the organization’s financial oversight. “Anne is the kind of servant leader we all aspire to be working tirelessly for our Foundation. Her role is one of importance providing the type of guidance that makes her role one of great value and an asset to any organization,” said DPSF vice chair Sharima Bulchak.

Lynda Misra is a front-line physician who, during the pandemic, has not only had to be a physician but also perform the duties of a nurse and custodian because of short staffing. Her work experience allowed her to take the lessons learned in the COVID ward and apply them to Easterseals. The nonprofit provides services and support to children and adults with disabilities and/or special needs. Just as hospitals invested in iPads for telehealth, Easterseals also increased its telehealth offerings. Misra also created new methods to help increase diagnoses through their “Get a Checkup from the Neck Up” campaign. “Dr. Lynda Misra has been a phenomenal leader by providing her valuable health care knowledge, engagement in strategic funding discussions and unwavering commitment to our mission,” said Regan Goldberg, senior vice president and chief development officer for Easterseals Michigan. She has also worked toward making Easterseals more visible. Her strategy is working: Philanthropist Mackenzie Scott donated $15 million in December 2020.

Vice Chair, Samaritas

David Morin chairs the Samaritas advancement committee, co-chairs the $100 million Giving Hope capital campaign, and uses his experience creating digital health companies to support the health and human services agency. Morin has helped “to create a pioneering and innovative partnership with Google on an exciting new technology project, pitching in to help guide the evaluation of our future IT needs and opportunities, helping to source new executive talent, contributing to best governance practices, and more,” said David Lochner, CFO of the Children’s Foundation and corporate secretary of the Samaritas board. With Morin’s assistance, Samaritas received funding to use Google Glass augmented-reality technology that can deliver training in next gen-capable dementia care. He also has connected the nonprofit to innovators, providers, payers, health systems, universities and others that are now helping implement solutions. Morin, who begins his term as Samaritas board chair this summer, is also on the board of the Michigan Biosciences Industry Association and a member of the MedHealth Steering Committee.

Board Chair, Starfish Family Services

W. Howard Morris shares his financial and business expertise to help the Starfish finance committee, CEO and CFO evaluate and implement investment strategies. In 2018, he guided the nonprofit as it developed a prudent investment policy and moved $2.5 million from short-term cash instruments into a portfolio of mutual funds. The funds have since increased 25 percent. In considering diversity, equity and inclusion, the board helped establish a strategic plan that calls for examining identity and barriers and defining its role in seeking equitable outcomes for children. “Howard Morris … has distinguished himself as a civic and community leader with extensive service on many nonprofit and public institutions. … He has been a great addition to the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation’s finance committee of the board of trustees and made a positive difference in the management of our over $1.2 billion investment portfolio,” said Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation trustee W. Frank Fountain.

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MATTHEW NAHAN

MALKIA NEWMAN

CLARENCE NIXON JR.

JASON PAULATEER

Community Educator, Office of Community Health, Equity, Wellness and Diversity, Henry Ford Health System

Team Supervisor, Peer-Led Anti-Stigma Program, CNS Healthcare

Managing Partner and CIO, CNC Group LLC

Senior Vice President, Market Manager – North Region Community and Economic Development, Fifth Third Bank

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Board Member, Samaritas

Ran to b guid

Board President, Living Arts

Board Member, Oakland Community Health Network

As a community educator for Henry Ford Health System, Matthew Nahan is, in part, responsible for nutrition and physical activity programming and for collaborating with partners to build sustainable healthy change in the community. He uses those relationship-building skills to drive fundraising and grow the board of Living Arts, which “ignites creativity in the lives of Detroit youth through the performing, visual and media arts.” Since joining the board in 2015, he has been one of the organization’s leading promoters and connectors, helping to initiate artist residencies and key sponsorships. “Matt is a thoughtful leader and has brought great energy to Living Arts. He’s displayed the ability to collaborate, partner and fundraise to support the vision and mission of Living Arts,” said Kayana Sessoms, City of Detroit District 3 deputy manager and Living Arts board vice president.

Malkia Newman lends a unique perspective to the OCHN board. In long-term recovery from bipolar disorder, she has received support from the community mental health system. She also works for CNS Healthcare, which provides behavioral and physical services to youth and adults. “Malkia Newman… helps to ensure that we stay focused on fighting the stigmas that face the persons we serve,” said OCHN Board Chair Jonathan Landsman. To get more board members to attend meetings, Newman, who is a former OCHN chair, implemented an initiative to hold meetings at provider facilities and developed team-building sessions and meetings to help members better understand the work the nonprofit does. She also served on a committee that led them to finding a new executive director under the critical eye of the public and the Oakland County Board of Commissioners.

CEO, Founder, Co-Chair, Technology Laboratory and Professional Development Center or t.Lab

Clarence Nixon knows the barriers and disparities that African Americans face when it comes to income, health care and overall quality of life. That’s why he started t.Lab, which seeks to prepare students for careers as entrepreneurs, physicians, scientists and other STEM-related professions. Located in Schoolcraft College, the nonprofit provides students with a variety of technology, including financial trading-floor simulation. Since its founding in 2007, students have received $15.5 million in college scholarships. While t.Lab’s mission is to help African American students, Nixon works to ensure a diverse board of directors and advisory board. “Currently, he and I are both members of the board’s investment committee,” said David Anderson, chair of Advocate Aurora Health’s investment committee. “Clarence has sensitized and educated me a great deal not only about the importance of having diverse board members but the underlying reasons why that is essential for the benefit of serving Advocate’s patients and as an important step in improving company performance.”

Boar

Jason Paulateer is an active community leader and advocate. He serves on the Samaritas development committee and is founding member of its Young Leaders board. “He’s an excellent principle-driven leader who’s provided invaluable insight, direction and contributions to Samaritas’ leadership and board in community service and advancement in addition to driving and expanding our key IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Action) initiatives,” said Samaritas board Chair Dale Gerard. Paulateer is also founding chair of the program committee for Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan, board chair of Communities First and serves on the boards of Henry Ford West Bloomfield, Samaritas, New Life Community Church, Forgotten Harvest, Detroit LISC, Develop Detroit and Luella Hannan Foundation. “Jason brings his experience in community development, banking, philanthropy, and board service to every meeting, readily sharing resources to help the agency thrive,” said Communities First CEO Glenn Wilson.

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RANDALL PENTIUK

ROSHUNDA PRICE

THOMAS PURSEL

ROBERT REAVES

Attorney, Pentiuk, Couvreur & Kobiljak, P.C.

Assistant General Counsel, Corporate Transactions, Meritor Inc.

Managing Director and Private Wealth Advisor, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc.

Director of Accreditation, Wayne State University School of Medicine

Board Chair, Presbyterian Villages of Michigan

Michigan Board Chair, American Cancer Society

As chief legal counsel for Meritor’s mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, real estate and other commercial transactions, Roshunda Price is a valuable addition to the board of Presbyterian Villages. The nonprofit creates and operates senior living facilities throughout Michigan. Before becoming board chair in January, Price participated in several committees and task forces, including the Low Income Housing Tax Credit task force, which resulted in the nonprofit deciding to acquire three LIHTC communities. She also worked to restructure board committees and amend bylaws to improve efficiency. Price also serves on the board of the Great Lakes Women’s Business Council. “From the beginning, Roshunda has rolled up her sleeves and asked, ‘Where can I be of service?’ As an engaged board member, Roshunda has lent her legal and financial skills to provide insights into the organization’s practices and financial position as well as her personal insights on strategic direction,” said Executive Director Michelle Richards.

Thomas Pursel collaborates with the executive director and senior staff to ensure the American Cancer Society meets or exceeds its $5.8 million revenue goal by developing corporate partners and driving awareness. In his effort to find unique fundraising opportunities, he helped develop Merrill Wears Pink in 2018, in which company employees compete to raise money each October. Pursel is past president and former membership committee chair of the Detroit Golf Club and a former board member of First Tee of Michigan, which helps youth develop character, values and education through the game of golf.

Board Chair of Strategic Planning, Ronald McDonald House Charities Detroit

Board Chair, Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries

Randall Pentiuk understands what it means to be a part of a team. As board chair, he guides other DRMM board members in a collective understanding of the organization and its goals and engenders a culture of diversity among them and other volunteers. He is also a sounding board for the nonprofit’s president and CEO. When the Department of Housing and Urban Development changed a policy making transitional housing programs difficult to sustain, Pentiuk and the rest of the board worked with DRMM staff to make tough budgetary decisions, raise necessary funds and ensure clients received the services they need. “Randy is a loyal friend and colleague whose Christian nonprofit leadership, knowledge and experience have proven very valuable to our mission at DRMM,” said DRMM Board Secretary Nina Simone Caudle. In addition to DRMM, Pentiuk also dedicates time as a member of the Community Care Services board and has earned honors for his board service with the Michigan and National associations of housing cooperatives.

In 2018-19, Robert Reaves helped launch a mobile health care clinic that would increase access to quality care to children in the city of Detroit. Then, after temporarily suspending intake of families because of the pandemic, Reaves saw an opportunity to reassess the organization, develop a plan for sustainability, increase reach and broaden partnerships. “Robert Reaves is one of the most dedicated, committed and motivated volunteers I have seen in my 36-year history of nonprofit management,” said RMHCD Executive Director Jennifer Litomisky. “Robert has served on our strategic planning task force as chair and developed a very comprehensive, detailed plan to take the organization successfully into the next five years. The plan, when completed, will keep the House on the cutting edge of program, fundraising, volunteer and staffing achievements.” As chair of the Wayne State University Alumni Association, Reaves has been working to enhance diversity and inclusion on the board and with donor, alumni and other programming. He also works with the executive director to plan key philanthropic initiatives.

In appreciation and celebration of

Rhonda Welburn, Detroit Institute of Arts’ Board of Directors Co-Vice-Chair

MARCH 29, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 19

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SUSAN ROKOSZ

JALEN ROSE

TRICIA RUBY

DAVID RUDOLPH

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Retired Senior Environmental Engineer, Ford Motor Company

Former NBA player, Analyst, ABC/ESPN

President & CEO, Ruby+Associates Inc

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Founder and Board President, Jalen Rose Leadership Academy

Board member, Judson Center

Senior Managing Partner, D. Ericson & Associates Public Relations

President Emerita/Ex-Officio, Automotive Women’s Alliance Foundation

CONGRATULATIONS

Susan Rokosz is a member of the College of Engineering & Science Advisory Board at the University of Detroit Mercy, a member of the industrial advisory board of the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department at Wayne State University and participates as a role model for the Michigan Science Center’s STEMinista Project. As immediate past president of the Automotive Women’s Alliance Foundation, Rokosz worked toward ensuring the scholarship program remained strong, increasing the number of talented young board members to ensure fresh ideas, and building a culture of diversity and inclusion on the board and in the organization. When the foundation pivoted to virtual programming, they were able to offer several professional development programs, including “Clarity in the Midst of a Crisis: How to Find Your New Normal.” “I have the highest respect for Susan Rokosz, a solid individual, a leader with modesty, and her innate abilities to bring out the best in each person to elevate AWA Foundation,” said Jane Bishop, AWA Foundation scholarships co-chair.

Former professional basketball star Jalen Rose founded his namesake leadership academy to help youth gain the necessary skills to graduate from college and succeed in the competitive job market. “He is truly a philanthropist who gives from the heart,” said Operation Graduation CEO Michelle Ruscitti-Miller. “He started a foundation to distribute college scholarships during his NBA days and has since furthered his dedication to his hometown by founding the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy in the ZIP code where he grew up. Despite his busy ESPN schedule, he makes his school staff and scholars a priority and is intimately involved in the day-to-day operations.” As volunteer president, Rose leads fundraising and board meetings, recruits members and helps keep everyone involved on mission. Looking toward the future, JRLA recently launched a $6 million capital campaign that would fund new facilities and has raised nearly half of the money. One hundred percent of JRLA graduates have been accepted to college or technical school.

Tricia Ruby has grown her structural engineering firm Ruby+Associates more than 315 percent and has earned Great Place to Work designations from Forbes five years in a row. When she became Judson Center board chair, she visited each location and attended most of the committee meetings before implementing changes. She collaborated with the CEO to develop a chief strategy officer position and advised on and negotiated the purchase of a new building that helped grow programs. As a member of the governance committee, she helped implement a board recruitment strategy focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. And as chair, she oversaw the creation of a new DEI task force. Ruby also serves on the board governing body of the Construction Association of Michigan. Her term as chair begins in 2023. Tricia Ruby’s “drive, participation and commitment to our organization and our industry sets a high standard. …She is an influencer, and her positive and supportive attitude is contagious,” said CAM President Kevin Koehler.

Board Member, Neighborhood Service Organization

David Rudolph has served on the board of Neighborhood Service Organization, which provides healthy and enriching opportunities to Detroit’s most vulnerable residents, for 14 years. “From founding Handlebars for the Homeless, one of our major fundraisers which consists of a 16-mile bike ride in the city of Detroit, to serving as chair for NSO’s 60th Anniversary, David always works to serve the organization for the benefit of helping the homeless population,” said NSO immediate past chair Rosaline Denning. As chair for the governance committee, he co-founded and implemented Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen for Good. The COVID-era initiative partnered Rudolph’s restaurant clients with nonprofits such as Detroit Rescue Mission, Alternatives for Girls and Coalition on Temporary Shelter to prepare and distribute more than 15,000 meals to NSO’s homeless population. Rudolph also serves on the boards of the Scarab Club and Michigan Association of Public School Academies.

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United Way for Southeastern Michigan congratulates Liz Alvarez for being named a Notable Nonprofit Board Member. Since 2012, Liz has made her mark on our organization. She cofounded our Emerging Philanthropists program in 2013 and has watched it grow from the initial 30 members to more than 200 today. She joined our Board of Directors in 2014, becoming Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee and joining the Executive Committee three years later. Today, she is our Board Treasurer and Chair of our Finance Committee.

LIZ ALVAREZ UNITED WAY FOR SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN TREASURER AND FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAIR SLALOM CONSULTING CLIENT SERVICE DIRECTOR

Her contributions as a United Way for Southeastern Michigan board member have helped our organization navigate the pandemic. Since March 2020, we’ve distributed nearly $36 million through our COVID-19 Community Response Fund. Liz and her team at Slalom helped us spread the word about our success. Pro bono, they created an interactive visualization tool that allows donors, partners and members of the community to see how these funds provide critical support to those who need it most.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP AND THE WORK YOU’VE PUT IN TO EARN THIS WELL-DESERVED HONOR, LIZ!

20 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

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STEVEN RYBICKI

SYLVESTER SANDIHA

DARCEE SCAVONE

NANCY SCHLICHTING

Senior Vice President, Continental Services

Executive, Pinnacle Hospitality

Retired CEO, Henry Ford Health System

Board Chair, Global Ties Detroit

Board Chair, Chaldean Community Foundation and the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce

Vice President, Talent, Culture and Community Engagement, Lineage Logistics

Fifteen years ago, Steven Rybicki was a dishwasher for Continental. Today, he supports strategic partnerships for the corporate dining, refreshments and events company. When he joined the board in 2007, Global Ties Detroit, which hosts international exchange programs on behalf of universities and federal agencies, was facing the possibility of closing its doors. The nonprofit has since changed leadership and grown the number of annual event donors. “The fact that GTD continues to thrive in a global pandemic is in large part due to Steve’s passion and hard work. He leverages his personal energy and builds a solid team to propel the organization forward,” said Jaspreet Singh, director of Supply Chain Management at DTE. Rybicki also volunteers with Courageous Sports Academy, which works toward empowering Wayne County youth through athletic participation. “His ability to engage with any community, fundraise, and strategically plan is nothing short of amazing. I can’t thank him enough for his guidance and advice. …Steven has become a mentor that has taught me how to strategize more effectively,” said Courageous Inc. Managing Director Gerald Williams-Taylor.

Sylvester Sandiha helps run hotel and commercial real estate development and investment company Pinnacle Hospitality with his family. In 2018, he began urging the Chaldean Community Foundation board to begin planning for digital resources. When the pandemic forced staff to work from home, the foundation already had the capability to provide a seamless transition and not lose time helping the community in need. In addition, the number of people served increased 26 percent due to partnerships with municipal governments and churches. Sandiha was instrumental in the development of the Sterling Heights campus and now is working with the board on a strategy that includes establishing an Oakland County campus. “One of our pillars is building community, and Sylvester … has helped us become more active and engaging on a personal level as missionaries in our communities to provide a broad range of services,” said Martin Manna, president of the Chaldean Community Foundation and Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce.

On behalf of the Judson Center Board of Trustees, staff and the community we serve,

Board Member, Forgotten Harvest

Darcee Scavone is a member of Forgotten Harvest’s operating and HR committees and serves as the new campus launch manager for a capital project to improve access and supply of emergency food to those in need. The project includes development of a new food rescue and distribution facility and enhancing volunteer experiences and community engagement opportunities. Scavone is also partnering with the nonprofit’s HR director to design an inclusion and diversity survey. As co-lead of her company’s Share a Lead campaign, she helped develop an innovative approach to raising awareness and funds for the COVID-related food emergency.

Chair, Board of Advisors, Southwest Solutions

Since retiring from Henry Ford Health System nearly four years ago, Nancy Schlichting has devoted herself to serving the community through work with nonprofits, universities and corporations. When the pandemic began, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed her as co-chair of the Michigan Economic Recovery Council, which advises on ways to manage the crisis and promote recovery. The Southwest Solutions CEO was on the verge of retiring when Schlichting began chairing the board of advisors, and the nonprofit was dealing with dire financial challenges. She helped the nonprofit broaden its base of support and strengthen collaboration between the board and executive leadership. “With funding needs as urgent as ever, and despite the year 2020 obstacles, she challenged and led us to meet pre-pandemic fundraising goals. The team delivered, and this accomplishment has greatly stabilized the organization. Her reputation as a longtime champion of this community is richly deserved, indeed,” said Ronald E. Hall, president and CEO of Bridgewater Interiors and a member of Southwest Solutions’ Board of Advisors. Under her direction, the board set ambitious fundraising targets the last three years and reached its goal of raising $500,000 in unrestricted funds.

Congratulations, Telva McGruder!

Congratulations Tricia Ruby

Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan congratulates Telva McGruder on being named a 2021 Notable Nonprofit Board Member. Thank you for all you do for girls and Girl Scouting.

on being named a Crain’s 2021 Notable Nonprofit Board member!

www.judsoncenter.org (866) 5JUDSON

AUTISM BEHAVIORAL CHILD & CONNECTIONS HEALTH SERVICES FAMILY SERVICES

DISABILITY SERVICES

FAMILY HEALTH

CMYK

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JACQUI SPICER

SHIRLEY STANCATO

SCOTT STEWART

RHONDA WALKER DRUMHELLER

COO, Baker College

Principal, SRS Advisory Services LLC

Anchor, WDIV TV-4 News

President and Chair, McLaren Oakland Foundation

Board Member, Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Senior Director of Programs & Development, Pontiac Community Foundation

Pres Serv

Jacqui Spicer “is an inspirational leader, who not only gives time and talent to our organization but understands community need as well. Her business and educational experience augments our mission at McLaren Oakland,” said McLaren Oakland President Margaret Dimond. Upon becoming chair, Spicer collaborated with Dimond to rebuild the foundation, its structures, governance and strategies to support hospital goals. The coronavirus pandemic caused the nonprofit to revamp strategies to make it less reliant on external events and find new ways to maintain programs while also supporting front-line workers. She also serves as a member of the Lighthouse of Oakland County board. “Jacqui Spicer is fully committed to devoting her time, energy, and vision to the mission of Lighthouse of Oakland County. I have found her essential leadership to be inspiring and invaluable to the organization’s success,” said Jackie Buchanan, Lighthouse board secretary and Genisys Credit Union CEO.

Shirley Stancato, former president and CEO of New Detroit, has been part of the fabric of the DSO’s board for nearly 20 years. She provides financial support, promotes the mission and helps build and cultivate strong relationships between the board, staff and musicians. “Shirley is present, that is, she is fully focused on and engaged in the task at hand. She is sensitive to the thoughts and experiences of others, and she is open to listening. It is that commitment to including the thoughts and perspectives of others that makes her an outstanding member of the DSO Board of Directors, and chair of the DEI Committee,” said Glenda Price, DSO board officer at large. Stancato initiated the orchestra’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion task force in 2014. A few years later the group announced a social progress initiative to leverage the power of music to improve quality of life for all people of greater Detroit. In addition to the DSO, Stancato serves on the boards of the Coleman A. Young Foundation, Detroit Zoological Society, Carr Center, Teach for America Detroit and on the Wayne State University Board of Governors.

Board Chair, Avalon Healing Center

Avalon Healing Center provides life-saving services, medical and forensic health care and support to more than 17,000 survivors of sexual trauma. Scott Stewart has guided Avalon in developing committees, creating a thorough board recruitment process that leverages diversity, equity and inclusion approaches, implementing a three-year strategic plan and building a stronger bond between board members and organizational staff. “The culture of our board shifted when Scott took on the role of board chair. We now have an effective, working board that is truly involved in ensuring we meet our mission... Since being in this role, he has led us through a successful strategic plan, a global pandemic, an organizational rebranding, and we are about to embark on our first ever comprehensive campaign,” said Avalon Founder and Executive Director Kimberly Hurst. Stewart is also a member of the boards of Break Away, Project Starlet and New Leaders Council’s Detroit Chapter. “He doesn’t just give me advice; he sends me resources and digs into the work with me,” said Break Away Executive Director Stacey Sharer.

Founder and President, Rhonda Walker Foundation

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Rhonda Walker Drumheller created her namesake foundation in 2003 to empower teen girls in Detroit through career and personal development, college prep, health and wellness, and cultural awareness and community service. The nonprofit has since grown from a $60,000 budget serving 20 teens a year to a $700,000 budget that offers afterschool programs in five Detroit schools. As chair of the fund development committee, she developed the annual empowerment brunch, a health and fitness event and an auto industry golf challenge. “Rhonda’s visionary leadership and demand for perfection to ensure hundreds of urban city girls graduate from high school and go on to college is remarkable and noteworthy,” said foundation Chair Lloyd Banks III, CEO and principal of Banks & Company. Walker Drumheller’s work has garnered local and national attention. She won the Community Change Agent Award from the Congressional Black Caucus Michigan Delegation and the Standing Ovation Award from Fiat Chrysler Auto in 2019 and the Angelo B. Henderson Community Service Award from the National Association of Black Journalists in 2018.

Congratulations Roshunda!

Congratulations Ron Fournier!

Congratulations to Roshunda Price, Presbyterian Villages of Michigan Board Chair, on being recognized as a Notable Nonprofit Board Member. Thanks for your leadership.

Thank you for your dedication and leadership serving on the AAoM Board.

Roshunda L. Price

From your fellow board members: • • • • •

William L. Ball James Colson Kenneth L. Hollowell Johnnie C. Jackson Henry Johnson

Ex-Officio: • James S. Gompers

• • • • •

E. Kern Tomlin Gary Ley George B. Millush, Jr. Martha Nield Ted L. Payne

• Roger L. Myers

• • • •

Brad Townsend Rev. Dr. Louis Prues Charles Tommasulo Duane M. Lewis Esq.

Director Emerita • Natalie E. Brothers

Embrace the possibilities Presbyterian Villages of Michigan (PVM) creates opportunities for seniors of all faiths. Connecting seniors to resources and their community for a vibrant life.

www.pvm.org | (248) 281-2020 22 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

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RHONDA WELBURN

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MARK ZAUSMER

President & CEO, Walker-Miller Energy Services LLC

Retired Member, Dickinson Wright PLLC

Physician, Greenberger, Wu, Dunn and Fields PLLC

Managing Shareholder, Zausmer PC

Board Member, TechTown Detroit

Carla Walker-Miller has developed a reputation as a champion of small business owners and entrepreneurs, who focuses on removing barriers for women and African Americans in Detroit. She continues that work as a member of TechTown’s executive committee and chair of its governance committee. “Carla’s deep knowledge of the ecosystem as a successful business owner and Detroit Means Business chair is invaluable to the work that we do supporting entrepreneurs,” said Ned Staebler, president and CEO of TechTown Detroit. “Recently, Carla played an integral role in developing five-year equity goals for TechTown which brings us closer to our goal of prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion both within our organization and for those we serve.” Walker-Miller also serves on the boards of the Hudson-Webber Foundation, The Henry Ford and the Detroit Regional Chamber, among others.

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Board Co-Vice Chair, Detroit Institute of Arts

After a career as a mathematician working in computer-aided design for General Motors, Rhonda Welburn practiced law for Dickinson Wright. In retirement, Welburn has embarked on a life of service. Since 2009, she has served in a variety of capacities. Now, in addition to her role as co-vice chair of the DIA board, she is co-vice chair of the human resources committee, a member of the collection committee and the board-employee relations liaison. In 2016, as then chair of the governance and nominating committee, she worked toward diversifying the board and collaborated with the DIA director to develop a database and diversity dashboard to keep their efforts on track. “Rhonda also had an important role in establishing our DIA talent and diversity subcommittee, which identifies and builds relationships with prospective board candidates from our very diverse tri-county community. I regularly rely on Rhonda’s legal background, good judgment and thoughtful views on a wide variety of issues in the course of our work together at the DIA,” said DIA board Chair Gene Gargaro. Welburn also serves on the boards of the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation and the DMC Foundation.

Board member, Detroit Symphony Orchestra

David Wu, a partner in private practice with a pulmonary and critical care medical group at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, joined the DSO board five years ago. As chair of the education committee, the nonprofit has increased its scholarships five-fold, created additional schoolbased ensembles and lesson programs, and began providing transportation and other services. The DSO’s Civic Youth Ensemble is comprised of 14 classical and jazz ensembles for third-graders and older. Programming not only includes youth classes and ensembles but also professional development workshops for teachers at Detroit Public Schools. “As with many other Detroit civic organizations, this is a time of tremendous change and challenge. David has led our deliberations and decision making in a genial and thoughtful manner, always committed to advancing the ways in which we can serve our community as we strengthen our programs,” said DSO trustee Lois Miller. Although in-person experiences were put on hold in 2020, the DSO continued offering educational programs through digital partnerships that is training hundreds of students a week. The DSO also launched Detroit Harmony which is to provide music education while also creating jobs.

Board Chair, City Year Board

To help bolster revenue for City Year, which recruits 18- to 25-year-olds to serve in under-resourced Detroit schools, Mark Zausmer connected the nonprofit with potential supporters and helped it secure its first contract with the Detroit Public Schools Community District. City Year has since doubled revenue and increased the number of students it supports. Under his leadership, City Year also identified a need for more women and African American board members and began recruiting to diversify membership. “Under his leadership, the organization has become one of the preeminent nonprofits in the area and an important community partner of the Pistons,” said Arn Tellem, vice chair of the Detroit Pistons and a member of the City Year board. Zausmer also serves on the boards of Math Corps and the Wayne County Jail Outreach Ministry. “Mark has been a highly effective fundraiser for Math Corps and sets a high bar for how someone can use their professional network to get the program the exposure it needs, to continue to grow and effectively serve the children of Detroit,” said Math Corps board chair Michael Acheson.

C O N G R AT U L AT I O N S ! The Stanley L. and Phyllis Berger Family Foundation

S Y LV E S T E R S A N D I H A CHAIRMAN, CHALDEAN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND CHALDEAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

On behalf of the Berger family, we congratulate

Michael Berger

President of Berger Realty Group, Inc. for a job well done and for your tireless efforts to make the community a better place.

Berger Realty Group, Inc.

Where Integrity Meets Excellence CHALDEAN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF

COMMERCE

CHALDEAN COMMUNITY

FOUNDATION

MARCH 29, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 23

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SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

Small businesses find success using variety of options to expand

PLANTING SEEDS TO HARVEST HEALTHY GROWTH

Bloomscape founder and CEO Justin Mast in three years has seen his company grow from a small startup to a company that could change the gardening industry. MOXIE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP

BY JAY DAVIS Businesses approach growth in a variety of ways, but the goal is always the same: Build a stronger, sustainable brand. But how?

In the case of Bloomscape, a Detroit-based online company specializing in the delivery of healthy potted plants, its growth plan was accelerated as the coronavirus pandemic stirred nesting instincts in millions of people stuck at home for months on end. For The Macomb Group, a Sterling Heights-based wholesale distributor of pipe, valves, fittings and other products, expansion has come through aggressive bids, mergers and acquisitions. Once a small business hits the stage where it’s ready to grow, there is much to be considered. What do you do when revenues start to grow? How do you handle staff changes? What’s your pitch to outside investors, and what role do those investors serve? “Bloomscape has been very forGrowing mission GROWING STRONG Bloomscape, launched three years ago with a mission to reinvent the garden center for a new generation of gardener, has relied on outside investors for financial and strategic support. Founder and CEO Justin Mast, 39, used his own money to seed his dream, but has raised at least $24 million over three rounds of fundraising to fuel the company’s substantial growth. Recent reports peg revenue at more than $13 million a year. Bloomscape has received backing from the likes of AOL founder and CEO Steve Case, the founders of e-commerce revolutionaries Warby Parker and Allbirds and local groups including Detroit Venture Partners and Invest Detroit. It closed on a $15 million Series B funding round last year.

tunate to get great investor support,” said Mast, whose company has grown from one to 70 employees in Detroit in three years. It also has at least 50 additional employees at its fulfillment center in Grand Rapids. “We’re always looking to align ourselves with people who support our vision and who are helpful in other ways,” Mast added. “We’re also looking for people who’ve been there and done that — companies like Warby Parker, Harry’s and Eventbrite — and a lot of other successful startups. We have investments from their founders and leadership teams. I can call them up and say, ‘Hey, we’re getting into this type of marketing, our team is growing, management is changing’ and get advice. That’s really helpful for us.” See GROWTH on Page 25

Tips for businesses ready to grow: Seek out investors: It’s not always necessary, but investors can provide capital to start and grow a business, assist with business planning and work to ensure capital is invested in the right way.

The Macomb Group has 18 locations in seven states and more than 400 employees. | THE MACOMB GROUP

“WE SET OURSELVES UP, DETERMINED TO BID ON AND WIN BUSINESS FOR THAT HUGE PROJECT.THAT WAS THE CATAPULT THAT DEFIED THE COMPETITION AND PUT US IN THE BIG LEAGUES.” — Bill McGivern, CEO, The Macomb Group

Prioritize customer service: Customers come to expect a high level of service no matter the size of the company. Maintaining that relationship should remain priority one. Have a well-established web presence: It’s not enough these days for a business to rely on brick and mortar. Consumers, particularly over the last year, have come to rely more on e-commerce for their purchases. Ensuring customers know where to find you online can mean a lot for your bottom line. More tips on Page 25

READ ALL OF CRAIN’S SBS PROFILES AT CRAINSDETROIT.COM/SMALLBUSINESSSPOTLIGHT 24 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

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FOCUS | SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

GROWTH

MORE GROWTH TIPS Vet talent properly: It’s not enough to bring talented people aboard as you grow. Prospective employees, and current staffers, must have a shared vision of the businesses culture and goals.

From Page 24

Broaden your horizons Unlike Bloomscape, Sterling Heights-based The Macomb Group has no outside investors. While in college, Bill McGivern and Keith Schatsko worked at what was then called Macomb Pipe and Supply. They always saw themselves as savvy businessmen, so they and several others bought the company in 1991 and set about winning bids on big projects. “When we stepped in, the company was flailing,” CEO McGivern said. “We bought it because we felt we had the work ethic to turn it around. The company had an 80-year-old owner who was essentially using the company as a hobby. He was looking to retire. We saw what we could do with the place, and we were right.” Early under its new management, the wholesale distributor of pipe, valves, fittings, gauges and specialty products was filling small orders. In 1997, The Macomb Group earned a contract for materials needed to construct the new McNamara Terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. “We set ourselves up, determined to bid on and win business for that huge project,” McGivern said. “That was the catapult that defied the competition and put us in the big leagues.” Executive Vice President Schatko said a series of mergers and acquisitions, plus the integration of business processes, laid the path. When the men bought the company in 1991, it had five employees and was bringing in less than $1 million in revenue annually, McGivern said. Today, The Macomb Group has more than 400 employees at 18 sites in seven states, properties added through a series of acquisitions. The company, which brings in between $250 million and $300 million in revenue annually, has ranked in the top 10 nationally as a distributor of industrial PVF, and serves a diverse mix of end markets, including automotive, food and beverage, general manufacturing, hospitals, schools, power plants and general industry. The Macomb Group was recognized in Crain’s Fast 50 report in 2017 for its growth. McGivern, a 58-year-old Harper Woods native, said the company is always opportunistic when it comes to growth. “We’ve recognized that being a small, little player only allows us to be so much,” he said. “From the beginning, we set our sights on trying to grow and explore options, and if they fit, we’d make a deal. The first thing we wanted to do was diversify from our core business to other avenues that are similar to broaden our (scope).” Mast had a similar mission for Bloomscape. The fifth-generation greenhouse grower built the company in stages, starting small, selling only indoor plants and offering care tips from “Plant Mom” — Mast’s mother, Joyce. In three years, it’s since expanded to offering outdoor plants and “Bloom Kits” as well as pots, tools and accessories. All along, Mast was courting investors. “Our revenue and the investments we’ve taken on have all fueled our business,” Mast said. “We have a big, 10-year vision to reinvent the garden

Widen your footprint: When you feel it’s time, consider branching out. Once you have established a strong brand at your home location, explore the possibility of expanding to other cities, states or regions. SOURCE: HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

Pandemic lessons

A Bloomscape warehouse | BLOOMSCAPE

“WE RELY ON A STRONG NETWORK OF PARTNERS, LIKE THE SBDC AND SMART ZONE NETWORK, THAT HAVE THEIR STAFFS ON HAND WORKING EVERY DAY TO HELP BUILD SMALL BUSINESSES ... ” McGivern

Oldham

center. It’s going to take a lot of energy and partners.” The garden industry, Mast said, is dominated by big box centers such as Home Depot, Lowe’s and Menards. Changing that is a big reason why he started Bloomscape. “There’s a new group of gardener on the scene, millennials and Gen Z, and the old way of shopping isn’t meshing with their values. We set out to give them a new brand experience, a higher-quality product you can be successful with. We’re working to teach people how to garden and have success,” Mast said. “(Our approach) has resonated with a lot of people. Years ago, we started with succulents and indoor plants. Now people are getting into outdoor plants. With COVID, people are home, in their own spaces, and they’re trying to have a contrast from work and Zoom meetings. ... taking care of plants has brought a lot of people a lot of relaxation and brain time. We had a fast growth pace to begin with but things really took off last year.” The gardening business is in Mast’s blood. His parents, both immigrants from the Netherlands, supplied trays of seedlings to greenhouses across the country. Mast’s parents, and Mast himself later, developed an understanding of horticultural supply chain management and plant health during shipping. After earning a degree in business management from Hope College in Holland, Mich., Mast set out to develop a system that would allow him to ship potted plants across the country. In 2006, he was able to successfully ship more than 300 plants. Ten years later, Mast founded Bloomscape. “We’re working to set a standard,” he said. “We look at the big garden centers as who we’re after. We’re working toward being big players with indoor and outdoor plants.

Hundt

— Joshua Hundt, MEDC chief business development officer and executive vice president

We’re taking such a different approach with our sales model and delivery that we’re putting ourselves into our own category.”

Seeking advice The growth doesn’t happen alone. Along with help from investors, businesses seek out individuals and organizations that specialize in assisting businesses with growth. One of those groups is the Michigan Small Business Development Center. Small businesses have several boxes to check as they grow, SBDC Business Growth Consultant Julie Oldman said. Successful growing businesses call for flexible, adaptable owners, committed employees, satisfied customers, an excellent product or service and purpose, sound collaborative networks, and profitability with operational efficiencies and strategic plans, she said. Bloomscape and The Macomb Group have checked off many of these boxes. As they grow, customer service remains top of mind. Both companies at various points look at ways to improve and add products. Each company has strategic plans that set one-, five- and 10-year goals. Mast said strategic planning is a big part of what Bloomscape does. “A big chunk of our time is focused on making sure those plans are running smoothly,” he said. “We take the time to ask how we’re meeting those goals and what we need to adjust.” The Michigan Economic Development Corp. also offers growing companies support that gives them the opportunity to succeed. The MEDC has various capital access tools that help companies gain access to lending, said Joshua Hundt, MEDC chief business development officer and executive vice president. The group, at no cost, also works to help clients make sound investments and grow. “We rely on a strong network of

partners, like the SBDC and Smart Zone Network, that have their staffs on hand working every day to help build small businesses, whether they’re Main Street or tech,” Hundt said. “What we want to do is play a strong role and be side by side with businesses as they grow in Michigan.”

Customer service is key As their companies have grown, Bloomscape and The Macomb Group have made strong customer service a priority. Mast called that a big challenge. As supply chain issues took over early in the pandemic, Bloomscape customers voiced their frustrations over delayed orders. Mast said he and his staff take those comments head on, reaching out to customers to reassure them their orders are on the way or offer refunds. Mast said focusing on the customer experience is top of mind for Bloomscape. “We can add a touch to our products that make them feel special,” he said. “We want to make sure our values carry through to our entire team and make sure everyone is focused on the customer. Any way, any place we can have a conversation with customers is valuable for us. That feedback is important. We get support, suggestions and criticism. There’s an art and science to making sure people feel heard and understood.” To maintain strong customer service as The Macomb Group acquires more properties, the company sends officials to the new offices to make new staffers aware of the business’ corporate culture. “We know that our partners, our customers and vendors, are one of the most important parts of our business,” McGivern said. “The company can’t thrive without those relationships. We make a point to handle all our customers with care.”

Both companies made moves to ensure customer service remained strong during the strain of the pandemic. That includes the Bloomscape staff doubling in size and avoiding layoffs. The plant business has seen a huge surge in demand during the last year, particularly in the early months of the pandemic, Mast said. “That April/May time period was pretty wild. It took a lot of effort to keep our supply chain on track with things being shut down or slowed down, and to keep the gears moving,” he said. “It was a pretty weird year, but our team rolled with the punches.” Growth for Bloomscape includes adding outdoor plants to its mix in late February. “Now people can plan their porches and patio gardens and watch them thrive,” Mast said. “We’re going to continue to add new products and features, but building on the experience and customer service is always the starting point.” The Macomb Group has been able to remain open without any major issues. Although most employees worked remotely for a time, McGivern said that’s not a desirable long-term option. “I think we need the synergy of folks being together,” he said. “You get things done more efficiently that way.” That togetherness also helps maintain the company culture. Mast and McGivern agree culture plays a major role in a company’s success and is crucial to its growth.

Still growing McGivern is proud of what he and his partners at The Macomb Group have built. He doesn’t make deals for the sake of making deals and will continue to seek acquisitions. While the company plans to continue to expand, McGivern wants to keep a family-owned type of atmosphere. “We went from being a big, small company to a small, big company,” he said. “We’re going to continue to grow and do what we’re doing.” Bloomscape has taken off like a magic bean, but Mast said the company still has a long way to go before it reaches its peak. The business got its start online, but isn’t limited to doing business digitally, he said. “We’re so proud of our start, but most of the work is yet to come,” he said. “The retail growth and garden industry is a $50 billion a year machine. There’s no Nike or Patagonia for plants and garden centers right now. That’s what our sites are set on: really building a household name.” Contact: jason.davis@crain.com (313) 446-1612; @JayDavis_1981 MARCH 29, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 25

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EDUCATION

INSIDE: Three teachers on why so many educators feel frustration with their jobs or leave the field. PAGES 30-31  Q&A with Michigan State University education policy professor Katharine Strunk. PAGE 30 ONLINE: UM trains teachers in medical school-like residency. CRAINSDETROIT.COM/CRAINSFORUM

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JUMPING-OFF POINT

FERGS ILLUSTRATION FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

’A sense of abandonment’: How teacher churn destabilizes schools, costs taxpayers and hurts Michigan’s most vulnerable students BY KOBY LEVIN AND GABRIELLE LAMARR LEMEE

Idriss Saleh hasn’t forgotten his freshman year teachers at Universal Academy, but he’s not sure they remember him. By the time his senior year began this fall, he had outlasted all seven of those teachers. Saleh worked hard to maintain a 3.9 GPA and applied to an ambitious list of colleges. But he worries that he isn’t ready for college coursework, thanks in part to an unrelenting drumbeat of teachers leaving his school. “Even though I worked hard to get to where I am, I feel like I’m still at a disadvantage entering college,” he said. Decades of research back up his concern. Frequent turnover at the front of the classroom takes a steep toll on student learning, especially in low-income communities where students most need stable schools.

“EVEN THOUGH I WORKED HARD TO GET TO WHERE I AM, I FEEL LIKE I’M STILL AT A DISADVANTAGE ENTERING COLLEGE.”

The problem is especially profound in Michigan. Amid stagnant school funding and growing disillusionment among teachers, more than one-in-six educators left for another school or left the classroom entirely during the 2018-2019 school year, a higher rate than the national average. This isn’t for lack of well-documented solutions: better training and mentorship, stronger principals, and higher pay are just some of the policies that have been shown to increase teacher retention. A Chalkbeat analysis of more than one million rows of teacher workforce data sheds new light on the extent of the teacher movement in Michigan, how many students are affected, and the toll borne by students of color and students from low-income families. In 2018-19, 71 percent of students in Michigan schools that lost at least 30 percent of their teachers were eco-

— Idriss Saleh, Universal Academy senior 26 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

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FERGS ILLUSTRATION FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

EDUCATION nomically disadvantaged, the analysis found. Black students accounted for 45 percent of enrollment in these schools, more than twice their share of statewide enrollment. Many of those students attend school in Michigan’s cities, where hundreds of schools have high rates of turnover, according to a state database of turnover rates among classroom teachers. Charter schools, which are largely based in cities and enroll mostly students of color, have especially high turnover rates. Universal Academy, which lost more than half of its teachers every year between 2015-16 and 2018-19, is just one example. A spokesman for the school said the turnover rate has since improved. Charter schools made up roughly one-tenth of all schools in Michigan, but half of the Michigan schools with very high teacher turnover during the 2018-19 school year. All told, one in 10 Michigan students attended a school that year with a high rate of turnover. “It’s tragic,” said state Rep. Regina Weiss, D-Oak Park. “It’s not acceptable.” Weiss left her job as a social studies teacher in Detroit after her election last fall. “When I left in December the comments I would hear from the kids were, ‘all the teachers are leaving,’” she said. “That’s their perspective. It’s almost like a sense of abandonment. And it’s detrimental for kids.”

“YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS MORE, AND THERE’S A UNION.”

Why do they leave?

 Detroit has some of the highest rates of teacher turnover and burnout in Michigan, an analysis of state data on the movement of teachers shows.

Teachers chose a public service profession with a reputation for hard work and long hours. They don’t typically leave the classroom on a whim. But teachers typically don’t abandon their classrooms on a whim. Pay dissatisfaction is perhaps the single most common reason teachers leave their jobs. National polls show that teachers feel they’re underpaid, and a strong majority of Americans — more than at any point since 2008 — believe they need a raise. “From our perspective there are a number of things that can be done about teacher turnover, but a core way is to pay teachers what they deserve to be paid,” said David Hecker, president of the American Federation of Teachers Michigan. Michigan teacher pay is slightly above the national average, though it tends to be lower in low-income communities, where many teachers leave for schools with better pay and more resources. A widening pay gap between charter and district-run schools in Detroit has pushed many teachers to leave city charter schools for the local district, where starting teacher salaries are now among the highest in the region. In 2018-19, 6 percent of charter school teachers left for Detroit Public Schools Community District, compared to 1 percent of district teachers who left for charters, the Chalkbeat analysis shows. Lamar Phillips is a band teacher in Detroit with a master’s degree who devotes long hours to his students. He left his last job, at Detroit Merit Charter Academy, because he didn’t feel his pay measured up to the hours he put in. Phillips also was disillusioned, he said, because the school wasn’t providing enough funding for the band

NIC ANTAYA FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

— Band teacher Lamar Phillips, on why he left Detroit Merit Charter Academy for the Detroit Public Schools Community District

Of the 3,029 teachers in Detroit traditional schools in 2018...

12% <1% 1% 2% (352) (7) (23) (70) Were no longer teaching in Michigan

Taught at a nonDetroit charter school

 In charter schools in Detroit, nearly one-in-five teachers who started out in a classroom in the fall of 2018 were no longer teaching in Michigan a year later, the Chalkbeat analysis shows.

Taught at a Detroit area charter school

Taught at a nonDetroit traditional school

11% (343)

Taught at a different Detroit traditional school

74% (2,234) Stayed at the same Detroit traditional school

... in 2019

Of the 1,591 teachers in Detroit charter schools in 2018...

program or giving it a favorable slot on the school schedule. He chose to move to the Detroit school district, which has sharply increased teacher salaries in recent years. “You’re talking about four, five, six, seven thousand dollars more, and there’s a union,” Phillips said. Low pay, however, is far from the only reason teachers leave their classrooms. Hecker pointed out that a lack of school funding affects teachers in ways that aren’t captured in their paychecks. When schools have less money to spend on classroom aides and social workers, teachers get less help. Those issues were central to a national wave of teacher strikes in 2018. Teachers’ working conditions are also crucial to their sense of success, which plays a big role in whether they leave classrooms or leave the profession altogether, studies have shown. Training quality, job security, and the condition of learning materials and school buildings all play key roles. In Detroit charter schools, school closures contribute to instability in the teaching workforce. Of the 538 teachers who left those schools in 2018-19, 60 did so because their schools closed. Support from principals is a particularly important factor in teachers’ decisions to stay or go, numerous studies show. Sean McCauley began his math teaching career at Old Redford Academy middle school, another Detroit charter. He eventually left because he didn’t feel supported by school leaders, who seldom stuck around long enough to build a working relationship. McCauley can recall four principals who cycled through the school during his five years there. Teacher turnover at Old Redford was persistently high, too — of 20 classroom teachers who began the school year in 2015, including McCauley, only two were left by the fall of 2019, according to teacher certification data obtained by Chalkbeat. Few teachers who stayed were experienced enough to mentor an early-career teacher like McCauley. A few years after he started teaching, he was asked to mentor newer teachers. That’s when he began looking for another job. He felt he was too new himself to be a mentor. He now teaches at Berkshire Middle School, a traditional public school in Birmingham, which has a more stable teaching staff. The year after he left, Old Redford received two F’s from the state for student proficiency and growth. The board of directors later hired a new superintendent and staffing company, Midwest School Services, Inc. Superintendent Sabrina Claude McGahee said in an email that Old Redford can only afford to pay teachers 80 percent of the regional average, and that it relies on “a positive climate and culture with support from administration [to] attract and retain highly qualified talent.”

A long-running problem. Will the pandemic make it worse? 18% (284)

Were no longer teaching in Michigan

4% (61)

Taught at a nonDetroit charter school

<1% (9)

Taught at a different Detroit area charter school

5% (79)

Taught at a nonDetroit traditional school

6% (94)

Taught at a Detroit traditional school

67% (1,064) Stayed at the same charter school

When the pandemic shuttered Michigan schools, some education leaders predicted teacher turnover would increase. See TEACHERS on Page 28

... in 2019 MARCH 29, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 27

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EDUCATION

TEACHERS

From Page 27

So far, though, the opposite has occurred. While more teachers retired in recent months than usual, perhaps to avoid a return to in-person instruction, fewer teachers changed schools during the last school year than in previous years, a Chalkbeat analysis found. The decline in turnover should not be surprising. Workers — teachers included — are less likely to leave their jobs during a recession, as research from the Great Recession showed. But that doesn’t mean Michigan teachers won’t leave once the coronavirus recession wanes, especially given that morale plummeted during the pandemic. “COVID … makes you feel like you’re there by yourself,” said Lincoln Stocks, a teacher at Eastpointe Community Schools and a vice president of AFT Michigan. “And if you want to look out for your interests and be safe, then (people say) you don’t give a damn about the kids. And that’s not true, but that’s how it looks. And we’ve got a lot of people who are very concerned for their safety.” The coronavirus has disrupted many teachers’ work lives, forcing them to adopt new roles and methods — such as online instruction — for which they have little training and which bear little resemblance to the job they signed up to do. Many teachers feel that they’re not succeeding in their jobs during the pandemic — a major predictor of whether they’ll leave the profession, according to a paper published last summer. “All of the things that drive teachers out of the profession… are hap-

Lamar Phillips, director of instrumental music at Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School in Detroit, talks with his students over a virtual meeting March 23 in his classroom. Phillips is in his 26th year of teaching. | NIC ANTAYA FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

pening at extremely alarming rates right now,” said Nicole Simon, a co-author of the paper and a researcher affiliated with the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers at Harvard University. “My prediction is that we’ll see a mass exodus from teaching.”

What happens when they leave? When teachers leave, it interrupts classroom routines and severs relationships with students, parents, and colleagues, killing the essential connective tissue that makes schools work.

“That instability, it breaks communities — and community is a huge part of how you support students,” said state Rep. Darrin Camilleri, a Trenton Democrat who previously taught social studies at a Detroit high school with high teacher turnover.

In one study of teacher turnover, researchers followed 850,000 New York City students over eight years and concluded that students in schools where many teachers left tended to score lower on English and math tests. The negative effects were espe-

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SOLUTIONS

How to hang on to teachers? Here’s what’s been found to BY KOBY LEVIN

Too many Michigan teachers want to leave their classrooms. Here’s how that could change. Michigan has a teacher turnover problem that is limiting the educational opportunities of Black students and those from low-income families. But it doesn’t have to be this way: Teachers are more likely to stay when they have better training, principals who are well trained, reasonable pay, and when their schools have enough money to hire enough paraprofessionals, psychologists, and social workers. While major advancements on those fronts would require big changes to Michigan’s taxpayer investment in education, experts point out that some schools manage to buck the teacher turnover trend by making small school-level changes. Significant new investments are suddenly within the realm of possibility, at least in the short term. Despite ongoing gridlock in the state Legislature over school spending, school districts are set to receive billions in federal coronavirus aid, much of which must be spent within several years. Some advocates say that the money could be used, in part, to pay for training and mentorship that make teachers more effective — and more likely to stay.

“We absolutely have the ability now to reduce turnover and create greater retention,” said Adam Zemke, executive director of Launch Michigan, a business consortium that advocates on education issues.

Training, coaching and mentorship Launch surveyed 17,000 Michigan teachers in 2019 and found a widespread sense that they aren’t treated

that many teachers quit early in their careers. “It’s about being treated like a professional in any other industry, where that industry does everything it can to help you grow,” said Zemke, a former state representative from Ann Arbor. Zemke added that there are many good potential uses of the federal aid dollars, and that Launch hasn’t yet made any specific recommendations about how the money will be spent. On-the-job mentorship is key to

“IT’S ABOUT BEING TREATED LIKE A PROFESSIONAL IN ANY OTHER INDUSTRY, WHERE THAT INDUSTRY DOES EVERYTHING IT CAN TO HELP YOU GROW.” — Adam Zemke, executive director of Launch Michigan

like members of other American professions — doctors, lawyers, veterinarians. “They don’t feel empowered, they don’t feel like they’re being treated as professionals, they’re not supported,” Zemke said. Ongoing training, mentorship, and coaching are an essential part of being a professional, Zemke said. Yet surveys show that most teachers find state-mandated training unhelpful, and research points to a lack of support and mentorship as a key reason

helping teachers succeed, especially early in their careers, but few receive it. Several efforts across the state aim to change that. In Detroit, an innovative school models its mentorship program off the “residency” training system used by medical doctors, in which trainees receive support from mentors and from more experienced peers over three years. In Battle Creek, a philanthropic initiative pairs veteran teachers with novices for regular classroom visits and consultations about teaching technique.

Those programs cost money, but districts could jump start their own versions with part of the federal stimulus, Zemke said. Principals need training and support too, and research shows that an effective principal plays a crucial role in retaining teachers. The Detroit Children’s Fund, a nonprofit that is investing tens of millions of dollars in Detroit to improve schools, has already paid for principal training programs across Detroit. But most principals in Michigan don’t get that kind of support, said Nicole Simon, a researcher affiliated with the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, an initiative at Harvard University. “We know that for teachers one of the most important factors in keeping them in their schools is strong leadership. And we have not invested in that kind of leadership. We don’t teach people how to do it, we don’t support them while they’re doing it.”

A systemic problem Experts have been sounding alarms for years about cracks in Michigan’s teacher pipeline, pointing out that fewer people are entering teacher training programs and becoming certified as educators. Headlines periodically warn of a “teacher shortage.”

“Teacher turnover is only part of the teacher supply chain equation,” said Jack Elsey, executive director of the Detroit Children’s Fund, a nonprofit. “The percentage of teachers who are enrolling in teacher prep, the number of people going into teaching — all of those metrics scare the pants off me.” Ask many observers how to reduce teacher turnover, and they will tell you that turnover is merely a symptom of a much larger problem. Simply put, the state isn’t investing enough in schools, said Barbara Schneider, a sociologist at the University of Michigan who has studied turnover. “It’s a resource issue,” she said. Efforts to reduce turnover in Michigan have often centered on simply giving teachers more money for their work. When a nonprofit in Detroit pumped millions of dollars into a handful of higher performing charter schools, some of the money went toward retention bonuses. Just last year, the state set aside $5 million for a similar program: new teachers will receive as much as $1,000 for staying on after their first year, with the possibility of receiving more if they stay on for three years. But these programs are small in the context of Michigan’s $15 billion annual education budget.

28 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

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EDUCATION cially strong in schools with more low-performing students and more Black students — who are most likely to attend schools with high teacher turnover. “It’s just not possible to have a functioning school with” very high levels of turnover, said Ed Fuller, an education professor at Penn State University who helped design a teacher retention policy in Austin, Texas. Turnover doesn’t just pose academic costs. Researchers say finding and training new teachers is expensive, especially in hard-to-staff urban areas such as Detroit. There is no established price tag for teacher turnover in Michigan. But an estimate made by economists in North Carolina, a state with a similar population to Michigan’s, put the cost at $337 million in a single year. That amount of money would go a long way in Michigan: it’s millions more than what Utica Community Schools, the state’s second largest district, spent in total last year. Experts say that reducing teacher turnover statewide would likely require major new investment in schools. While Michigan’s school spending has ticked up slightly in recent years, overall its spending on schools has declined over the last two decades, adjusting for inflation. The state would need to raise an additional $3.6 billion per year for schools in order to hit adequate spending levels recommended by a nonpartisan education panel in 2018. An overhaul of school funding, however, would require a tax increase, which would likely be dead on arrival in the current Republican-controlled Legislature. Rep. Brad Paquette, the Republi-

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David Hecker, president of the American Federation of Teachers Michigan, credited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer with pushing the program through, saying it communicates to teachers that they are valued. But he said the amount of money in the program “isn’t going to change anyone’s life.” By contrast, the amount of money Michigan spends on schools has dropped sharply — it declined 30 percent, adjusting for inflation, between 2002 and 2015 as state revenue for schools was reduced by tax cuts. There has been only one comprehensive effort to estimate the cost of adequately educating Michigan’s roughly 1.5 million students. Experts say the state falls more about $3.6 billion short of that mark. Schneider says increased funding wouldn’t just allow for increased teacher pay, but also for increased funding for schools so that they could pay for improvements that would improve working conditions at schools. More money could pay for decreased class sizes, better teacher training, better learning materials, or for more school staff — paraprofessionals, counselors, and social workers — who give teachers the freedom to focus on teaching.

 Public schools in Detroit, Flint, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor and other urban districts see a higher percentage of teacher turnover each year than more affluent districts such as Grosse Pointe, Bloomfield Hills and St. Joseph. This chart shows the percentage of teachers who started in one school district in the fall of 2018 and were no longer working for that district in the fall of 2019. % moved

% stayed

Detroit

Flint

Battle Creek

Benton Harbor

Bloomfield Hills

Grosse Pointe

St. Joseph

5 19% Statewide average 81%

SOURCE: MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; CHALKBEAT DETROIT RESEARCH

can vice chair of the House Education Committee and a former teacher, is pessimistic about the prospect of any major new funding for schools in Michigan’s current political landscape. “We have a whole bunch of folks on the GOP side who are like, ‘Hey we’d love to give more money if we’re able to see more return on investment and more innovation in schools,’” Paquette said. “On the left it’s like, ‘We want more investment but we don’t want to change in any way.’” Efforts by the Michigan Department of Education to transform the lowest performing schools — known in Michigan as the “partnership pro-

gram” — often run aground due to teachers leaving. Turnover is one of the “driving issues” behind the struggles of partnership schools, said Katharine Strunk, a researcher at Michigan State University who co-authored a report on the schools last year. “You’re trying to turn around your school, maybe buying new curriculum, investing in new training and instructional techniques,” she said. “And you’re kind of wasting your money because teachers are leaving.” Koby Levin is a reporter at Chalkbeat Detroit. Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee is Chalkbeat’s Washington, D.C.-based data editor.

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EDUCATION FUTURE TEACHER

Want to stop the shortage? Stop villainizing educators BY BRITTANY PERREAULT

not the answer — nor is prolonging a program that makes completion a eaching is a calling. Teachers Herculean effort. MSU’s student teaching program can change the world. To be a has remained virtually unchanged teacher is to touch a life forever. These lofty proclamations sound for decades. For many it has begreat with their implied respect for come a program that is not equitable, not accessible, and educators, but as a college not sustainable — and student preparing to beMSU’s program isn’t come a teacher, I’ve disalone in that regard. covered that they actually The financial burden serve to trivialize the proof taking additional fession to martyrdom. coursework and comOne minute teachers pleting a fifth-year unare hailed as front-line paid “student teaching” heroes — the next they internship creates barriare villainized as selfish ers for students who do and lazy. Brittany Perreault not come from middleEarly in the pandemic, of Oak Park is a teachers were portrayed senior in Michigan or upper-class families. The time commitment as intrepid warriors driv- State University’s prevents participants ing to students’ homes to College of from working to earn impart knowledge or cre- Education and money to offset the exating Broadway-quality president of the penses, which often can’t musical numbers to de- Michigan be covered by scholarliver content. Those edu- Education ships and grants as graducators should be com- Association’s mended for amazing Aspiring Educators ate-level education. The university-controlled work, but when those su- of Michigan placement often requires perhuman examples program. participants to pay extra move from the excepfor housing and transportional to the expected, tation. Additional coursework during something has to give. I’ve been fortunate to have many the internship doesn’t always count great teachers. They weren’t ap- toward master’s degrees. All these plauded on “Good Morning Ameri- costs are more than the typical firstca,” but to me, they were on that year salary of most Michigan teachlevel. They were knowledgeable, ers — and are on top of already stagwise and created a nurturing envi- gering student loan debt for many. The result is unbearable stress ronment that helped me succeed. Most people recall similar stories and pressure for participants. MSU about one or more teachers who acknowledges that interns will cry repeatedly during their placement. positively impacted their lives. That is the mythos that the gener- Many students drop out of the proal public wants to believe. But this gram, seek mental health support, is not the complete story. It amazes me when IT AMAZES ME WHEN SOME ARE some are surprised that enrollment in teacher ed- SURPRISED THAT ENROLLMENT IN ucation programs has TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS plummeted and that we are experiencing a real HAS PLUMMETED AND THAT WE and dire teacher shortage. ARE EXPERIENCING A REAL AND As a country we have long blamed public edu- DIRE TEACHER SHORTAGE. cation and educators for the ills of society. No wonder — or leave the profession early. We would not tolerate these cirthey are an easy target. Teachers genuinely care about their students cumstances for PK-12 students, and and continue to do more with less, we should not tolerate them for asshielding their students from harm piring educators either. Despite the many obstacles caused by policymakers’ decisions. Like the slowly boiling frog in the ahead of me, I’m more determined fable, many veteran teachers feel than ever to become an educator. trapped — and their only recourse is However, if we continue to burn out to tell aspiring educators not to pursue aspiring educators even before they begin their career, the teacher a career in education. That is tragic. For those of us who blocked out shortage will only get worse. I’d like to see a country that is the tumult and persevered in our passion for education with the hope committed to uplifting and supof being a teacher, we are met with porting the next generation of educators and leaders. obstacles rather than opportunities. Colleges and universities — along I began my pursuit of a degree in education at Michigan State Univer- with policymakers — can help by sity because it has been consistently eliminating obstacles and barriers ranked as one of the top teaching for those next gen educators. That alone will help us, as future programs in the country. I knew that teaching is part science and part art; teachers, hold on to the hope that I was excited to develop my under- our society will recognize the imstanding and skill in both. Develop- portance of the work we do and valing these skills takes time, and pro- ue our calling to educate future grams that shortcut this learning are generations of Michigan students.

Q&A | MSU’S KATHARINE STRUNK

Teacher retention starts with co `BY CHAD LIVENGOOD | Michigan needs a teacher retention strategy that focuses on boosting compensation in underserved urban and rural areas, places a stronger emphasis on school building leadership and gets the teacher education pipeline closer to the areas most in need of talented educators. Those are some of the conclusions Katharine Strunk has drawn from years of researching the teacher labor market in Michigan. Strunk is an education policy professor at Michigan State University and runs the university’s solutionsoriented research center, the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative. She talked to Crain’s Detroit Business about how schools in the Michigan Department of Education’s Partnership Districts have struggled to turn around because of high rates of teacher turnover — and what can be done to rectify the problem. This partial transcript has been edited for clarity. ` We’re looking deep at the issue of teacher turnover this month in Crain’s Forum, really focused on what’s happening in the industry and the job profession of teaching, where teachers are going and how fast they’re turning over, particularly in urban areas like Detroit and rural areas of the state as well. You’ve done some research and tracked this. Tell us what’s broadly going on from your perspective. There are teacher shortages across the country right now — this is before the pandemic, especially in areas of high need. STEM teachers, secondary teachers in ... rural areas as well as urban areas. These are the districts we call “harder to staff” because teachers often don’t want to be there for some reason or another — or are not able to be there. In a rural district, there may not be a teacher prep program nearby. ... There may not be teachers who stay in a rural area because there’s not other jobs available for their family. And so those districts have a very hard time attracting teachers. In Michigan, there are shortages in rural areas, urban areas, as well as districts that are very lowperforming or have high portions of minority students. ` This isn’t a new issue. But is it being exacerbated by the pandemic or by the conditions in schools? What’s going on currently on the ground? That’s a great question and we don’t really have a lot of evidence about the way the pandemic may or may not have exacerbated the problem at this point. Stay tuned. We are starting a study to look at that. But anecdotally, we do know that teachers have felt very burnt out this year. ... This is not how teachers were trained to teach, this is not what they love to do, teaching remotely and teaching in the middle of a pandemic. ... There’s been some reports that there’s going to be a greater amount of turnover at the end of this year.

` You did some research on the partnership schools in Michigan that were at one point slated for closure during the Snyder administration and then they worked out this big deal to give them one more shot to try to make a turnaround in these schools. Tell us what you found, what’s going on in these schools as it relates to the staff and retaining staff right now. It’s an interesting turnaround reform in Michigan. They looked at the lowest performing schools and they’ve also said, ‘Well, schools don’t perform like this themselves. They’re in districts that have systemic problems.” So we’re trying to treat both the school level and the district level in Michigan. ... What we find is staff turnover is particularly high in partnership schools. They’re also high in the district schools that are not designated as partnership schools — much higher than the average rates across the state or higher than other high-performing districts and schools across the state. ... So you think about these districts and they’re trying to reform their curriculum, they’re trying to do a lot of professional development in their schools so that the kids can perform (academically) better. And they’re not able to do that if they’ve put a lot of money into professional development and the next year they have to train 20 percent new teachers on that same PD. So it’s not particularly effective or efficient when you do that kind of thing. Another piece of data that we found that we thought was really interesting and really upsetting is when these districts are trying to put in place high quality curricula and these are the things we would like our kids to learn... But when you see teachers cycling through to the extent they have been in the partnership schools, you can’t really put into place that kind of teacher-driven curriculum because you have to have a new teacher in several times a year. So they say, well, we need to

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MICHIGAN’S 2019-20 TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Fewer mandates, false narratives and pa BY CARA LOUGHEED

I was named Michigan’s 2019-20 Teacher of the Year for my work teaching English and history at Rochester’s he first day of school this year was the most Stoney Creek High School. I was honored to travel the nerve-wracking I’ve experienced in my 22 years as a state meeting with educators and students, sharing the amazing work happening in our public schools. Last teacher. March, I had just come from meeting the other Rather than the pandemic, my nerves had State Teachers of the Year and was looking foreverything to do with starting the school year ward to seeing them again on upcoming trips. teaching to a computer screen. Then, the pandemic struck. Suddenly, edMy anxiety didn’t lie in mastering the techucators had no access to classrooms or the nology; rather, it was that I wouldn’t be able tools we rely on to help students succeed. to do my best work in this environment. With nearly zero direction, educators were For the first time in a long time, I found forced to adapt to conditions outside our myself doubting my ability to meet the control with the same expectations to preunique needs of my students. Since then, alpare students for college and careers. most every day I either think I’m not doing No one who works in education wants to enough or overcompensating and over- Cara Lougheed be separated from students. Yet, some conwhelming my students. I constantly ask my- teaches English stantly opine that educators have used the self: “What am I not doing?” “What am I and history at pandemic as an excuse to kick back and do missing?” Stoney Creek High I’m far from unique in this regard. I can tell School in Rochester nothing for the past 12 months. To say I take great offense to that false narrayou without hesitation teachers working re- and was the tive is a gross understatement — we haven’t motely or in hybrid situations experience the 2019-20 Michigan same doubts every day. No one enters our Teacher of the Year. stopped working since day one of the pandemic. That’s not who we are as a profession. profession with dreams of teaching to a camAdding insult to injury, educators hear a era from their makeshift home office. For me, this was a jarring juxtaposition to the prior constant rallying cry to get kids back in the classroom, health and safety be damned. school year.

30 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

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put in place a scripted curriculum, which we don’t really want for our kids or our teachers. ` There’s a whole host of issues there. What are some areas you think that from a public policy standpoint, we as a state could address in these most high-risk highneed districts? I don’t think I can overstate the importance of teacher stability in these districts — and keeping the same teachers. The thing we need to think about is what is causing these teachers to leave. Why don’t they stay? And that will help us understand what policies to put in place to keep them. A big one is compensation. We had teachers telling us, ‘Look, I can get paid $10,000, $15,000 more at a district 20 minutes away. So I can’t justify staying here when I need to feed my family. I’m going to go to that district.’ We have principals telling us, ‘I try to put in a compensation bonus, try to give them a retention bonus, but it’s just a one-shot deal.’ It’s only a couple thousand dollars — it just doesn’t make enough of a difference. Even though these districts are really trying, they don’t have enough money to pay their teachers sufficiently to

compete with surrounding districts. A second really important piece was principal leadership. A lot of (the partnership school) teachers told us, ‘You know, I really love the principal and even though I’m getting paid a little less, this principal really is trying to reform this school. This principal’s really got my best interests at heart, so I’m going to stay and give this principal a try.’ So bringing in really effective and good leaders is important — and that has some of the same problems as bringing in a really good and effective teacher. A third piece that I think is critically important that we don’t think about enough is the teacher preparation pipeline. We know from the literature that teachers tend to stay close to home — where they grew up — or where they trained to be a teacher. In rural areas, and in some of the urban centers, we don’t have enough of a teacher prep pipeline to bring teachers in to stay in those districts. And so trying to think through the pipeline process elements of this — how can we get more teacher interns into these districts, help them understand what it looks like to teach here, get them committed to the district and the school and then help them to stay — that’s all a pipeline issue that I know districts in the state are working on. But that needs to be sort of beefed up. ` On the compensation side, this always comes down to money and how we fund our schools in Michigan. Is there an area you can point to legislators and say, ‘Hey, this is a way you can go about doing this?’ or freeing up more money for their compensation? I know everyone is tired of the refrain that we need more money, but any way you look at it, Michigan underfunds its schools — and underfunds its most traditionally underserved districts the most. There’s not a question in my mind that if we were able to provide increased compensation to teachers in Michigan it would really help. And if we could target the increased compensation especially to those districts like the partnership schools — Benton Harbor, Detroit, Flint — that they would be able to use that and keep teachers and recruit them and retain them.

nd partisan fights over education, please

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That mentality — promoted by those who have never stepped foot in a classroom to teach, let alone during a pandemic — sidelined any concern for the well-being of teachers, support staff and other public school employees, in addition to that of our students, families and communities. We have a moral and ethical obligation to make stopping the spread of COVID-19 our top priority. Every day, our schools and the people who work in them are charged with nurturing and protecting our future. As an educator, I’m trained in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs — put simply, human beings can’t learn if their basic needs for mental and physical safety aren’t met first. Therefore, following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations to stop the coronavirus isn’t something we can choose to ignore due to inconvenience or budget constraints — it is an educational imperative. From there, the academic challenges are real for our students. However, we must remember that the world largely stopped for the past year, and this pandemic isn’t over. Over time, our students will recover from the interruption to their learning and educators need the support, respect and tools to get that job done.

However, what we seem to get is far from that helpful: more mandates, more standardized tests, more paperwork, and more partisan bickering over distributing the funding needed to do the job at hand. Dealing with this noise day in and day out is ex-

OVER TIME, OUR STUDENTS WILL RECOVER FROM THE INTERRUPTION TO THEIR LEARNING AND EDUCATORS NEED THE SUPPORT, RESPECT AND TOOLS TO GET THAT JOB DONE. hausting. Our mission as educators is to help our students succeed in school and beyond. We never signed up to be political pawns with our health and safety as an afterthought. Despite these challenges, I’ve never been prouder to be a teacher. I’ve seen my colleagues repeatedly overcome every obstacle, roll with every (gut) punch, and readjust plans again and again to meet the needs of our students. As always, Michigan’s educators remain committed to our students, and we will continue to put them first, pandemic or not.

Give teachers the time, tools to address student trauma BY TAVIA REDMOND

supports they need — from counselors to social workers to nurses ince being inspired by my first- and beyond. Teachers can’t address grade teacher, I have always all the social-emotional needs of wanted to follow in her footsteps. students alone. Parents need more tools as well It’s one reason I became a teacher to help be engaged partners in their 28 years ago. child’s education. Since then, I’ve During remote learnworked hard with stuing in the fall, I noticed dents to overcome tough a silver lining — some situations, first in Kaparents benefited from lamazoo and then my seeing firsthand their hometown of Romulus. child’s reading strugThis year’s challenges gles. I was able to see are unlike any other, but growth in some stuall of us in education are dents whose parents pushing through bestarted working with cause of our commit- Tavia Redmond is them once they realment to our students. a 28-year veteran But we can’t do it third grade teacher ized, “Whoa, my daughter can’t read like I alone. Young people toin Romulus. thought she could.” day are dealing with a But it’s a mistake to ashost of issues, especially those who have special needs or sume every parent is well equipped who come from home environ- to provide that help — just ask any ments facing poverty and inequity. parent who’s struggled to help with This pandemic has made many of math homework during the pandemic. those issues even worse. Finally, we must remember that Educators often feel like we’re on an island, addressing not only educators are people too. Especialthe academic but the social and ly right now, we’re burnt out and emotional needs of students. The tired after a year of reinventing how whole child matters, which is why we educate kids. With in-person third-graders, it’s we need greater support for educators to address the needs of stu- incredibly hard to have them in a dents beyond the academics, espe- school setting where they can’t do cially when it comes to dealing many of the things that we all take for granted — group work, sharing with trauma. This past year has been trau- materials, cooperative learning. My kids understand that they matic for students, parents and educators alike. Loved ones suc- have to wear a mask, but they still cumbing to COVID-19. Jobs and want to do what they’ve always homes lost. Expanding poverty done in school. I have to say, “No, you can’t do and hunger. Whether students are in-person or remote learning, that that. You can’t share your markers. trauma has an impact on their ability to FROM FOOD AND HOUSING learn. Within the school INSECURITY, TO HEALTH ISSUES, TO setting, teachers need EXPERIENCING VIOLENCE IN THEIR more and better training for how to address COMMUNITY OR HOME, STUDENTS these issues. While CARRY THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH simply listening and caring go a long way, THEM INTO THE CLASSROOM — there are best practices for how to deal with AND EDUCATORS MUST FIND WAYS adverse childhood ex- TO MEET STUDENTS’ BASIC HUMAN periences that educaNEEDS BEFORE WE CAN HELP THEM tors can learn. From food and FIND ACADEMIC SUCCESS. housing insecurity, to health issues, to experiencing vio- No, you can’t sit together and color.” It impacts my ability to help deal lence in their community or home, students carry their experiences with student emotional needs as with them into the classroom — well. Recently, when a young girl and educators must find ways to shared a sad story about her puppy, meet students’ basic human needs my immediate human and educabefore we can help them find aca- tor instinct was to put my arm around the child, but I had to catch demic success. A few years ago, I had a student myself and remember I can’t. I who witnessed his brother attempt can’t hug. It breaks my heart. Every trausuicide multiple times. In order to teach him reading and math, I had matic event my students experito understand his trauma and how ence does. With the pandemic, I it could stand in the way of his stud- walk and pray and write to help ies. I had to meet him and his family process that grief. But teachers and where they were — which was not a other dedicated educators need focus on school but often about more tools, more training and more time to process our emotions, so we survival and safety. We need to surround these stu- can better help our students do the dents and their families with the same.

MARCH 29, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 31

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SOLUTIONS

From Page 28

“Apart from really systematic investment in schools, it’s going to be hard to improve working conditions meaningfully,” said Lucy Sorensen, a professor at the State University of New York Albany who has studied teacher turnover. “To the extent that urban schools are less funded, higher stress work environments serving students with greater needs, that’s more likely to cause teachers to depart.”

Small fixes Sorensen emphasizes the need for systemic investment to truly improve teacher working conditions — and thus reduce turnover. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing schools can do now, she said, pointing out that turnover varies widely even among schools that re-

ceive similar funding and serve similar students. Detroit, for instance, is home to dozens of schools with high turnover rates of 30 percent or more. But the city is also home to to 36 schools that had turnover rates below 15 percent — and below the national average — during the 2018-19 school year. What sets those schools apart? Often it’s communication, Sorensen said. “People in the education field have not done enough of the simple task of asking teachers what they need and what the difficulties are in their everyday jobs,” she added. This can be as simple as simply asking teachers to stay, said Punita Thurman, vice president of program and strategy for the Skillman Foundation, which funded several charter high schools in Detroit. A principal at one of those schools experimented with periodically telling teachers that their presence at

the school was valuable, and that she hoped they would stay. “It was a small gesture, but she was blown away at how much of a difference it made,” Thurman recalled. Simply asking teachers for input is the not-so-secret recipe behind Upbeat, a New York-based company that consults with school districts about reducing teacher turnover. The company is premised on the idea that teachers and school leaders often aren’t on the same page. Upbeat surveys teachers anonymously to identify their frustrations, then shares the results with administrators. “If teachers are involved in shaping the rules and procedures that govern their work days, they’re more likely to buy in,” Upbeat CEO Henry Wellington said. “If their performance evaluations are considered fair, they feel more successful. And we know that when teachers feel more successful they’re more likely to stay.”

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

DEALS&DETAILS  CONTRACTS  Douglas Marketing Group LLC, Troy, an advertising agency, has a partnership with Agence Rinaldi – Maestro Communications, Quebec, Canada, a marketing and communications firm. Websites: experiencedmg.com, agencerinaldi.com/en, maestrocom.com  Sunvera Group, Bingham Farms, a management services organization providing services to ophthalmology practices, added Kellis Eye & Laser Center, Chardon, Ohio, an ophthalmology practice, to its platform. Websites: SunveraGroup.com, kelliseyeandlasercenter.com

 EXPANSIONS  TCF National Bank, a subsidiary of

TCF Financial Corp., Detroit, opened a banking center at 55 W. Seven Mile Road, Detroit. Phone: (313) 2712283. The new banking center is inside the Arab American and Chaldean Council Community Center on the city’s west side. Website: tcfbank. com

 NEW SERVICES  NSF International Strategic Registrations, Ann Arbor, a management systems certification organization, has been authorized by the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Accreditation Body to offer a new cybersecurity assessment to companies from the aerospace and defense, technology and software provider industries within the Department of Defense supply base. Website: nsf. org

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

ACCOUNTING

ARCHITECTURE

HEALTHCARE INSURANCE / SERVICES

INSURANCE / FINANCIAL SERVICES

NONPROFIT

FMD

Quinn Evans

Health Alliance Plan (HAP)

Oswald Companies

Urban Alliance

Mr. Alan Rudzewicz retired from practicing law at the end of 2020 and joined FMD in 2021 as the Director of Trust, Estate, and Gift Planning to support the firm’s clients with estate planning in collaboration with the client’s legal advisor. Mr. Rudzewicz has more than 40 years of experience in the practice of law. Throughout those years, Mr. Rudzewicz regularly advised businesses and executives on business formation, legal compliance, family and succession planning, and sales and acquisitions.

Saundra Little, FAIA, LEED AP, NOMA, principal and director of diversity and inclusion with Quinn Evans, has been elevated to the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows. Little is an awardwinning architect and advocate for the revitalization of the urban realm, with a focus on creating equitable communities. She has played a leading role in promoting design as a critical component in Detroit’s rebirth. Little is also known for her work in mentoring young minority students.

Health Alliance Plan has named Richard Trembowicz vice president of provider network management, responsible for growing and engaging HAP’s network of health care providers. These provider partnerships are key as HAP fulfills its commitment to provide affordable, quality care to its members. Tremobwicz was previously an associate principal at ECG Management Consultants in Boston. He holds a J.D from Boston University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard.

Joe Curtis has joined Oswald Companies as VP, Director of Group Benefits, Michigan. With over 20 years’ experience in creating and consulting on Employee Benefits programs of all sizes, Curtis brings expertise in assisting companies through rapid growth transitions, including mergers and acquisitions. His areas of specialization include self-funded programs and prescription benefit consulting. Curtis earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration, Finance from the University of Dayton.

Elizabeth Lindsey was appointed CEO of Urban Alliance, where she will steward the youth workforce development nonprofit’s mission to build a more equitable next-generation workforce. Urban Alliance provides paid internships, skills training, and mentoring to youth in Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, and greater DC with traditionally reduced access to these building blocks of economic mobility. Lindsey is the outgoing CEO of inclusive tech training nonprofit Byte Back.

ARCHITECTURE / ENGINEERING

NONPROFIT

Kapnick Insurance Group Jason McLelland recently joined Kapnick Insurance as Senior Vice President and leader of Kapnick’s well-established construction practice. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University, is a Certified Professional Insurance Agent and Certified Authority on Workers Compensation, and has 17 years’ professional insurance and surety bond experience. Jason is based in Kapnick’s Troy office.

Jaye Lopez Van Soest joined Fair Food Network as its first senior director of development. Van Soest brings more than 20 years of leadership in development to the Michiganbased national nonprofit. She will lead work engaging and inspiring a diverse network of change makers to advance Fair Food Network’s mission to growing community and wealth through food. This includes working across its main program areas including national leadership in healthy food incentives and impact investing.

PROMOTE. Why not?

Celebrate your Success with Reprints & Recognition Products!

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

UBS to open downtown Detroit office

6,000-squarethe effect food insecurity• Office had onto includeUBS plans to open an office in downfoot 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 a less 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: the 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 downtown to reinforce “uniqueness comes at saidnext year, depending Bush is based outothers, of the he Birmingham outa price.” processHeearly said. New York-based architecAve. a 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 he could not yet provide an estimate others and will the city. ” 60,000 across 54 countries. About 34 Detroit. plans to rent will out about half of the Detroit’s history are based in metro troit offices in aim to showcase 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 contracts have yet tocas, be finalized. M a n a gCity. e m“We 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. 7 percent increase over last year. and provide services in the city 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, basedis prohibited. in Switzerland, employs income recorded operating contractor. flectFurther the city’s road without system. duplication permission Visit www.crainsdetroit.com. #CD936of $2.13 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. THE CONVERSATION Hills, Plymouth “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.

Bedrock LLC

John Jourden, AIA returns home to Michigan, joining the team at Gensler Detroit. He will continue his role as architectural design director following three years with the firm’s Shanghai office. His 21 years of experience across Chicago, New York, and abroad designing complex projects of varying typologies and scales has been instrumental in the creation of transformative, experiencedriven buildings and spaces. John is an alumnus of University of Michigan and Yale University.

INSURANCE AGENCY / BROKERAGE

Bedrock LLC

Gensler

Fair Food Network

Bedrock LLC

ARCHITECTURE

HED is pleased to welcome Jeff Gaines, AIA, AICP, WELL & LEED AP BD+C, to the firm as Associate Principal, Senior Vice President of Architecture in the Detroit, MI, office. Jeff brings over 30 years of experience leading integrated design teams in the execution of sophisticated commercial and institutional projects in a range of markets. In this role, Jeff will direct HED’s Detroit architectural design and planning disciplines and oversee complex multidiscipline design efforts. Jeff’s command of client-focused leadership will be integral to HED’s effectiveness toward our mission: Advancing Your World, through the Positive Impact of design, our teams create exceptional solutions for clients, the community, and the world.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JACOB LEWKOW FOR CRAIN’S

HED

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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32 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

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EDUCATION

RETIREMENTS

From Page 1

also would let a school district rehire a retired teacher without having to make additional payments to the pension fund on their behalf to cover unfunded liabilities. The legislation could effectively encourage double-dipping, but Hornberger said it may be necessary “until there are more people who want to go into the profession.” “At this point, I’m open to anything,” Hornberger said. “I would rather have a retired teacher come in and sub than someone’s aunt who is looking for a job and they think they’re babysitting.” Administrators have retired in the past and come back to work for the same school district as contractors while collecting pensions. “It was a gravy train for them, so you can’t blame them,” Hornberger said. “[But] we’re going to have to do something.” MASA has joined other education lobby groups seeking greater flexibility for school districts to hire retired teachers who are actively collecting pension checks. “A teacher should be able to come back if they cannot find a qualified person to fill the position in question,” Kerr said. In the coming months, veteran teachers will have to begin informing their principals if they plan to retire before August, when the new school year begins. Because of the way teacher salaries are paid, about three-infive teachers begin their retirements in July each year, state data show. In St. John’s, Pierson faces an April 1 deadline to decide whether he wants to be back in front of the whiteboard next fall teaching logarithms and polynomials — likely talking to two different classes at once. The temptation to retire comfortably in his mid-50s is growing. His wife, Anne, retired last June after teaching English and language arts in rural Fowler for nearly 27 years. Pierson said it’s “a tough decision” whether to leave his classroom in June or stick it out for another year. “I still like teaching. I still like being in school,” he said. “But it does wear on you. You’re just not sure if you go one more year if you’ll still like it.”

According to MPSERS data, an additional 11,975 teachers have 20 to 25 years of service and are close to being eligible to retire early, depending on whether they have bought up to five years of service credit used to calculate lifetime pensions. The stress and chaos of teaching during a once-in-a-century pandemic has Pierson and others weighing a departure from public education, stirring fears of a mass exodus that could hobble public schools in Michigan without an influx of new teachers in a talent pipeline that was diminishing well before the pandemic. “The pandemic is a game-chang— Dwight Pierson er,” Pierson said. “I think there’s going to be record retirements. That would be my prediction.” K-12 schools in Michigan are already experiencing critical shortages of teachers across all subjects, particularly math, science and special education. “It didn’t pop up overnight during COVID,” said Tina Kerr, executive director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators. “This is certainly a problem that’s been very alarming to us in the past.” But the pandemic may have exacerbated an emerging crisis. From August through February, there was a 44 percent increase in CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS midyear retirements compared to March 22, 2021 the same period in 2019-2020 as St. Johns High School teacher Dwight Pierson uses a headset when teaching virtual classes. | DALE YOUNG FOR CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS 749 teachers left public school While midyear retirements have classrooms in the middle of the Meyers had many reasons why Back in the classroom risen considerably, some superin- he decided to retire in his mid-50s school year, state data show. “Not only do we have a lot of re- tendents expect this summer's re- instead of working until he’s 60. To fill teaching jobs in Michigan, tirements in the last year, but we’re tirements and resignations to level Chief among them were mount- some lawmakers in both parties with going to have a lot more,” said state off or decline because of earli- ing mandates on the teaching pro- backgrounds in education are proRep. Pamela Hornberger, chair of er-than-planned departures. fession while his overall compensa- posing a radical idea: Let retired “We’ve probably had more teach- tion diminished. Meyers said his teachers come back to teach full time the House Education Committee who spent 22 years 2013 compensation while collecting their pension checks. teaching in the East ended up being his A bill pending in the House EducaChina School Dishighest annual sal- tion Committee would let a retired trict. ary used to deter- teacher return to the classroom to fill Active and remine his pension a position on a critical teacher shorttired educators are seven years later. age list or substitute teach without warning of a new Meyers said having their pension or retiree health wave of retirements Contact: clivengood@crain.com; mounting job ex- care reduced. coming this sumpectations took a The legislation, House Bill 4375, (313) 446-1654; @ChadLivengood mer after teachers toll on him. get through this — Amy Moening, retired from Roseville Community “I would dread current school year, Schools after 28 years of teaching first grade. opening emails evAdvertising Section which, for some ery day because it districts, has been marked by mul- ers resign/retire, more staff mem- felt like every day you could expect tiple starts and stops for in-person bers resign/retire in the middle of an email saying, ‘Oh, now you need instruction because of COVID-19 the year than we’ve ever had be- to do this, we’re not going to pay fore,” said Gary Niehaus, superin- you more, we’re not going to do outbreaks and mass quarantines. To place your listing, contact Suzanne Janik at “COVID has tipped the scales,” tendent of Grosse Pointe Public anything to make your life better, 313-446-0455 / sjanik@crain.com said Amy Moening, who retired Schools. we’re just going to give you more Grosse Pointe schools' union work and you’ve got to do it if you from Roseville Community Schools or, for more information, visit our website at: last June after 28 years of teaching contract required teachers to de- want to keep your job,’” Meyers www.crainsdetroit.com/classifieds first grade. “What teachers are be- clare their intent to retire by March said. “And that kind of thing really 1, Niehaus said. frustrated me.” ing asked to do is superhuman.” "Honestly, we had probably the The retirement trend isn’t con“Most teachers say they’re doing twice as much work they were do- fewest retirements we've had in a fined to teachers. ing pre-COVID with even less plan- really long time just simply because From August through February, we've been doing it all year long," there was a 33 percent increase in ning time,” she added. Moening, who turns 55 in No- said Niehaus, who himself is retir- retirements compared to the same vember, had announced her plans ing at the end of this school year. period in 2019-2020 among school to retire before the pandemic hit. personnel who are not teachers — POSITIONS AVAILABLE OFFICE BUILDING She said her departure from full- ‘It’s only getting worse’ superintendents, principals, countime teaching came after years of selors, paraprofessionals and other U.S. District Court, mounting mandates from lawmakTeacher shortages in Michigan school support staff. Eastern District of Michigan ers and by-the-book administrators have been a building for years, eduAt the Michigan Association of Chief Deputy of Operations Vacancy that eroded her classroom autono- cators say, as baby boomer teachers School Administrators’ midwinter www.crainsdetroit.com/ Announcement at http://www.mied. my. retire and the state’s teaching col- conference in January, 36 superinclassifieds “The lack of trust in my profes- leges see fewer and fewer students tendents were recognized for their uscourts.gov. Located in Detroit, a sionalism was just killer,” said Moe- pursuing a degree in education. retirement from the profession. senior-level, professional, managerining, who is now a K-5 reading tu“That was just in January,” Kerr Marc Meyers, 55, retired in Aual position that oversees the day-totor for an online school. “It’s just gust after 32 years as an elementary said. “Since then, there have been day operation and administration of very frustrating for a teacher when music school teacher in Walled more. ... It’s not a new problem, but the Court Operations Unit. EOE you know what’s best for kids.” I think that it’s only getting worse.” Lake Consolidated Schools.

“THE PANDEMIC IS A GAME-CHANGER. I THINK THERE’S GOING TO BE RECORD RETIREMENTS. THAT WOULD BE MY PREDICTION.”

“COVID HAS TIPPED THE SCALES.WHAT TEACHERS ARE BEING ASKED TO DO IS SUPERHUMAN.”

CLASSIFIEDS

JOB FRONT

REAL ESTATE VISIT OUR WEBSITE:

MARCH 29, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 33

PHARMACIES

From Page 3

Grass Lake Community Pharmacy was on pace to complete about 2,500 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of last week, said Chris Brettfeld, director of clinical services for Indispensable Health LLC, the Grass Lakebased health care company that owns the retail pharmacy. “We were extremely fortunate to partner with the Jackson County Health Department early on when the COVID-19 vaccine was just starting to become available,” Brettfeld said last week. “We made the commitment that we would try to provide regular vaccine clinics if there was an allotment (of vaccine) available to us. That’s what we’ve done.” With the considerably smaller scale, it remains to be seen whether a small, independent pharmacy like the one in Grass Lake can actually turn a profit administering the vaccine, said Brettfeld, who noted a host of regulatory and administrative activities that accompany the relatively simple act of putting a shot in an arm. “There’s a lot of moving pieces,” she said. “A lot of it is regulatory. We can’t just choose not to do it.”

Doses to go around Within the United States, there are a little fewer than 22,000 independent pharmacies, according to a report last year by industry group PBA Health. That’s roughly equal to the approximately 21,500 locations combined for Rite-Aid, Walgreens and CVS, according to store location fig-

Volunteers prepare patients for their second doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in the parking lot of Grass Lake Community Pharmacy in February. | GRASS LAKE COMMUNITY PHARMACY VIA FACEBOOK

ures from each company. While Brettfeld and others in the community pharmacy space see serving their communities as a core mission of their business, there’s a feeling of being somewhat shortchanged when compared to their demand versus their allotted supply — especially looking at the much larger number of doses going to chain pharmacies, which generally have benefits of scale to get the shots into the arms of those needing vaccines. As Crain’s reported earlier this month, vaccination appointments began becoming far more readily available at those stores, which were largely operating outside the state’s specific requirements for who was eligible to receive a shot at the time. Saline Pharmacy in Washtenaw County, southwest of Ann Arbor, has 300 people on a waiting list for vaccinations, but as of last week had received only 10 doses, said Ziad Ghamraoui, Saline Pharmacy’s pharmacist.

As a community pharmacy located near predominately residential neighborhoods, customers there have a certain level of trust and would prefer to get their shots from Ghamraoui’s store as opposed to a chain pharmacy, he said. But to meet that demand, he needs more doses, something he’s struggling with, he said. “My question is, and it’s very rhetorical, why are you giving it down to the chains,” Ghamraoui said. “Whether it’s on the federal level or the state level, why would you prioritize a chain? Give the chains 1,000 (doses), but turn around and give the little pharmacy around the corner 100 (doses).” Brettfeld, with the pharmacy in Grass Lake, also noted some frustration with broader distribution, saying that getting vaccine doses beyond the county level has amounted to a “futile effort.” At the same, she said she understands the distribution challenges. “It’s no one’s fault,” Brettfeld said.

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34 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

“It’s just a supply-and-demand thing. If someone can do it bigger, better and faster than I can, that’s probably the best thing for the community.” Large chain pharmacies such as Walgreens and Rite-Aid, as well as other vaccine locations including Kroger grocery stores and Walmart locations, have been getting most of their doses from the federal supply. Data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shows that as of the middle of last week, pharmacies had been shipped 3,300 doses from the state’s supply. Pharmacies in Michigan have received more than 850,000 vaccine doses from the federal government, according to state data. Susan Ringler-Cerniglia, a spokesperson for the Washtenaw County Health Department, acknowledged the frustration added by those working in the independent pharmacy space, saying the county hopes for added vaccine doses that can get to such locations. “In general, we have not had enough vaccine to redistribute to local pharmacies or other providers willing to vaccinate,” Ringler-Cerniglia wrote in an email to Crain’s. “We did recently pilot test working with small, local pharmacies this way. Pharmacies were included if they responded to the invitation and agreed to use the doses in the allotted time, give them to eligible individuals, and follow proper handled/data entry. Importantly, we wanted to initiate this process in the hope that we’ll have increased vaccine supplies to redistribute more supplies in the coming weeks or months.”

Keeping it small To what extent the tens of thousands

of independent pharmacies play a large role in hopefully getting the country on the path toward herd immunity against the coronavirus remains unclear. The virus, and the tumult it has caused over the last year, will be meaningful for the stores going forward, said Proctor with the community pharmacists trade group. As stores have come to rely on the need to schedule appointments for vaccines and testing for the coronavirus, the opportunity to implement more of that will likely be appealing. “There’s always the urgent care, the acute care,” Proctor said. “But there’s a good chunk of the practice that can be more appointment-based, and I think pharmacies are appreciating that.” Technology will likely help drive that side of the business, and the PBA Health report from last year noted that more than three-quarters of independent pharmacies now rely on mobile applications to reach patients. On a more micro level, pharmacists like Bridget Stoyk, who just earlier this month began working at the pharmacy in Grass Lake, said the work is mostly about keeping it local. The opportunities are there, she said. “It’s great anytime you can go out and do an outreach and provide a service that’s much needed in a community,” Stoyk said. “Especially a small, close-knit community like Grass Lake. And really being able to provide a lot of those services that are so needed in this community that some people think they have to go to the bigger city to go get.” Contact: nmanes@crain.com; (313) 446-1626; @nickrmanes

GILBERTS

How the Gilbert pledge will work

From Page 1

“Having a strategy in place gives hope as we work through some of the symptoms of the true problems. When you see only symptoms being treated or addressed, it leads one to believe there are not good plans to handle the deeper issues at hand.” Last week, the Gilberts announced the pledge aimed at improving life in Detroit’s neighborhoods outside of downtown, where his Rocket Companies Inc. (NYSE: RKT) is headquartered and where he has spent billions investing in commercial real estate like historic office buildings and constructing new skyscrapers just now starting to come out of the ground. Of the pledge, $350 million is coming from the Gilbert Family Foundation, a nonprofit, and the remaining $150 million is coming from the Rocket Community Fund LLC. On Thursday, Gilbert, whose fortune is north of $45 billion, said he knew that a more precise than scattershot approach was needed, and that the $15 million is a small fraction of what’s coming and required. “One of the things we learned early on in charitable giving is that you can’t put Kool-Aid in the ocean and expect it to change color,” Gilbert said Thursday. “In other words, if you spread yourself too thin among too many things, you’re not going to have any impact on anything.” In addition to property tax debt payments, other efforts that could be targeted with the $500 million include digital equity, home repairs, employment, housing, public life and other areas. The philanthropic strategy is geared at creating economic stability by “breaking down generational barriers and jump-starting opportunities for economic stability and wealth creation,” the Gilbert Family Foundation and Rocket Community Fund said. The $15 million will create the Detroit Tax Relief Program, administered by the Detroit-based nonprofit Wayne Metro Community Action Agency. Once the agency determines that an applicant is eligible for the city’s Homeowners Property Tax Assistance Program, which grants full or partial property tax exemptions based on household income, and en-

`$500 million philanthropic donation over 10 years, $350 million from the Gilbert Family Foundation and $150 million from the Rocket Community Fund. ` First $15 million will create the Detroit Tax Relief Fund, which would pay back property taxes for about 20,000 low-income Detroit households.

Dan and Jennifer Gilbert discuss their plans for investment in Detroit neighborhoods during an announcement Thursday morning. | SCREENSHOT

“ONE OF THE THINGS WE LEARNED EARLY ON IN CHARITABLE GIVING IS THAT YOU CAN’T PUT KOOL-AID IN THE OCEAN AND EXPECT IT TO CHANGE COLOR.” — Dan Gilbert

rolling in Wayne County’s Pay as You Stay, or PAYS, program, which reduces back taxes owed by those in the HPTAP, the Detroit Tax Relief Fund pays the remaining balance. For example, for a family of four to receive a full property tax exemption through HPTAP, they could earn no more than $27,248. For a 50 percent exemption, the household income limit is $29,868 and for a 25 percent exemption it’s $32,488. Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree said there were 3,001 owner-occupied residential properties in Detroit facing property tax foreclosure as of March 23 with a redemption amount of $14.42 million.

Marathon, not a sprint The donation is a first step in a long, grueling race. As Gilbert has described his recovery from a May 2019 stroke, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Ditto the effort to improve Detroit’s neighborhoods. “The big theme here is that we are not stopping the clock on property taxes,” said Jeff Horner, senior lecturer in the Wayne State Urban Planning and Studies Department. “They are

going to continue to run.” Community leaders and others argued that the contributions should be a stepping stone toward more structural reforms. Anika Goss, CEO of Detroit Future City, also said the funding should serve as a springboard toward a broader examination of “the systemic issues and change the policies that are contributing to tax foreclosure.” “This includes considering hardship policies, instituting stopgaps that avoid over-assessment, and ensuring that valuations are equitable and based on current and reasonable information,” Goss said. “These efforts are essential in avoiding another 20,000 houses being in the same predicament a year from now.” Donna Givens Davidson, president and CEO of the Eastside Community Network, also wants the effort to go beyond philanthropy into public policy, where Gilbert’s team has advocated for changes in things like auto insurance as well as new tax incentives for large-scale developments (which his company received). “What I hope is that they will work with CDCs (community development corporations) like mine to figure out what are the priorities that residents have identified, in addition to the taxes,” Givens Davidson said. “Work with us on policy fixes that will take this beyond philanthropy, which is always wonderful, to policy, which is more sustainable over time.”

Deep roots Crain’s reported in January that the city’s assessed property values grew by 8 percent last year, a slowdown

BORGWARNER

From Page 3

General Motors General Motors committed to spend $27 billion to launch 30 EVs globally by the end of 2025 with hopes of selling only EVs by 2035. The automakers were largely lauded for their commitments. GM, for instance, has seen its stock rise nearly 11 percent since its late January announcement to $56.51 a share on Wednesday. BorgWarner, however, hasn’t convinced the naysayers. Shares have dropped 2 percent since the announcement and nearly 11 percent over the past five days. Lissalde is undeterred and believes the market will quell any cynicism. BorgWarner projects the EV market will rise to 15 percent of the auto market by 2025, from 4 percent today, and double to 30 percent of the market by 2030. “We have the appetite and the product portfolio, scale and the organization to be overweight above that 30 percent market,” Lissalde said. “Some people are less bullish than we are but

BorgWarner’s Auburn Hills headquarters. | BORGWARNER

we have a very robust plan between now and 2025 to get to our goal by 2030.” Michael Robinet, executive director of automotive advisory services for automotive research firm IHS Markit, said the supply base is running out of time to shift priorities to EV technologies as automakers push full force in that direction. Robinet said the industry is only two cycles — new platform launches that typically last five years — away from GM’s goal. “The industry has two cycles left for the most part with ICE (internal combustion engine) structures, whether

that’s an regular ICE engine or a plug-in hybrid or mild hybrid,” Robinet said. “Automakers are putting all their significant resources into BEVs (battery-electric vehicles). They are looking at ICE as just a place holder, but all the real capital spend is going to new BEV or battery construction technology ... That’s where they are going to spend their attention, people and their dollars.” Any supplier still on the sideline will be left behind, and soon, Robinet said. “For powertrain components, those components are not going to be replaced in the transition,” Robinet said. “Their market ends or substantially de-

` Homeowners would have to qualify for the Homeowners Property Tax Assistance Program through the city of Detroit, which offers partial or full property tax exemptions based on household income levels. ` Once deemed eligible for HPTAP, homeowners would have to enroll in Wayne County’s Pay as You Stay program, which reduces back taxes owed by those enrolled in HPTAP. ` The Detroit Tax Relief Fund, administered by Detroit nonprofit Wayne Metro Community Action Agency, would pay the remaining delinquent taxes. ` The remaining $485 million of the $500 million in philanthropic giving has not yet been determined, although it could go to things like digital equity, home repairs, employment, housing, public life and other areas.

from 2019’s 20 percent increase. Detroit’s residential properties’ values grew by a total of $400 million when assessed for 2019 rates, $775 million for 2020 rates and $368 million for this year. Thus, this year’s growth is lower than in 2019 and 2020. The average residential property value in Detroit, including vacant properties, is $14,000. The city’s housing stock still suffers from blight and disinvestment due to a range of issues from systemic racism and foreclosure to population exodus. The city’s total value plummeted amid the 2008 national foreclosure crisis from $8.8 billion in assessed value that year to $2.8 billion in 2017. In addition, Seattle-based online housing marketplace Zillow Group Inc. found in a recent study that Black homeowners in metro Detroit face the greatest disparity in the nation when comparing the value of their homes versus other homeowners in the region. Metro Detroit is among the most disparate in its home value gap for Hispanic homeowners, as well. The gap between the region’s average clines at the end of production. And automakers are absolutely reevaluating their supply chains for those that can reach economies of scale in BEV technologies.” BorgWarner will reach its goal in a three-part strategy, Lissalde said. The first is to expand its product portfolio for light vehicle electrification. The second is penetrating the commercial electric vehicle market. Its February acquisition of Akasol is a foot in the door, Lissalde said. The roughly $900 million acquisition puts BorgWarner in contact with “blue chip” commercial customers. Akasol already supplies battery packs to Daimler Trucks & Buses and Volvo Trucks. The first prongs of its plan will be supplemented by continuing merger and acquisition activity, Lissalde said. “In order to grow profitability, you also need scale,” Lissalde said. “We have a pretty full pipeline of targets. We carry on focusing on technologies but also on tech that can enhance efficiency in our system as well as verticals in the electrification field.” While funding its electrification efforts through the strength of its combustion engine technologies, BorgWar-

home values and Black-owned home values is nearly triple the national rate and more than double the national rate for the Hispanic community, according to data from the Seattle-based online real estate company. Zillow found that the average Black home value is $106,413, compared with $195,270 across the entire multiple-listing service area, which includes Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Livingston and St. Clair counties, a 45.5 percent difference. The majority of the region’s Black population lives in Detroit. In January 2020, The Detroit News reported that city residents had been overtaxed by $600 million between 2010 and 2016. There were about 63,000 homeowners delinquent on their property taxes during that time and “more than 90 percent were overtaxed — by an average of at least $3,700,” the newspaper reported.

‘Stop the bleeding’ Erasing that back-due debt is a step toward stabilizing neighborhoods. It will put those families in a better position, in addition to increase surrounding property values and stave off the blight sure to come had those properties been emptied and faced the shark-invested waters of the cou nty tax-foreclosure auction. Williams, the New Beginnings director, said studies have shown that delinquent taxes on one property can have an impact on surrounding property values. Removing the delinquency removes the blight threat, as well. “Blight can be associated with these properties depending on the severity of the delinquency — also suggesting a bigger issue,” Williams said. “Being able to recover, if you will, those homes removes immediate blight and improves property values overall.” Givens Davidson, the head of the Eastside Community Network, praised the donation, as well. “Anything to stop the bleeding is necessary because we have been bleeding in the neighborhoods so long,” she said. “... I don’t say this often, but I do want to commend Rock Financial (a precursor to Rocket) in taking a strong position in favor of neighborhoods. It’s a preventable crisis.” Contact: kpinho@crain.com; (313) 446-0412; @kirkpinhoCDB ner’s third arm of attack is to ditch 30 percent of that business. Lissalde indicates the shedding is to make room for new business, not that its combustion engine business will dry up. “Our combustion business is still growing for the foreseeable future,” he said. “Any good hybrid propulsion architecture has a combustion engine attached to it. Plus a turbocharger. Those businesses are still growing. They are not bad businesses. But business better owned by somebody else so we can focus on the long-term growth strategy like EVs.” While investors have given BorgWarner a cold shoulder, analysts are starting to warm up to its positioning. “Investors believe BWA is still playing ‘catch-up,’” Chris McNally, an analyst at Evercore ISI with an in-line rating on the stock, wrote in a research note published Wednesday. Ryan Brinkman, an analyst at JPMorgan with an overweight rating, predicted in a note that investors eventually will warm to BorgWarner’s strategy. Contact: dwalsh@crain.com; (313) 446-6042; @dustinpwalsh MARCH 29, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 35

COVID-19

Small-business owners offer incentives to employees to get COVID vaccinations Impact on small businesses

BY JAY DAVIS

Liz Blondy, owner of Canine to Five locations in Ferndale and Detroit, is enticing her more than 60 employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine the old-fashioned way: with money. Blondy wants to see her company — a provider of dog boarding, day care, grooming and training services — at 100 percent vaccinated by June 1. So she recently instituted a program in which she will pay each employee $50 when they are fully vaccinated. Those vaccinated employees will receive an additional $100 once everyone in the company is vaccinated. Employees also get a paid day off following their second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine to recover from any side effects. “I’ve gotten both (Moderna) shots,” Blondy said. “I did not feel well after that second shot. That was a big part of me offering my employees a day off following their second shot. I know I wouldn’t have been a great worker that day. I’m trying to eliminate as many obstacles as possible. I don’t want to be short staffed. That’s a constant worry.” Blondy, 46, believes having her employees vaccinated helps on several levels. It would help Canine to Five remain fully staffed. It’s down about 40 percent of its employees from prior to the pandemic, including a group who are hesitant to return because of pandemic issues, and Blondy is actively hiring. Blondy also believes vaccination would help her staff be more confident about going to work and clients would have less apprehension. Blondy, whose revenues fell by 30 percent in 2020 despite an increase in pet ownership and her business being deemed essential, said about

Bobcat Bonnie’s owner Matt Buskard said he cannot afford to pay employees who get sick with COVID-19 for two weeks to recover or quarantine, so he’s urging his staff to get vaccinated. | MATT BUSKARD

a third of her employees are hesitant to get the vaccine. The decline in staff and revenues comes after Canine to Five completed a major expansion to its Detroit facility in 2019.

Can employers mandate vaccination? No one will lose their job if they refuse to be vaccinated, Blondy said. Employees who opt out would still be subject to weekly COVID-19 testing and daily health screenings. “I want to make sure everyone knows the vaccines are readily available and that the appointments are out there,” said Blondy, who sees 100 dogs each day at her Detroit location, down from 150-175 prior to the pandemic, while her Ferndale location has held steady. “This has to happen. I want to make sure that, as a small

PAYOUTS

From Page 3

Others, like the Troy-based Kresge Foundation, say they are already paying out more than the 5 percent annual requirement as part of a long-term view and need to shepherd strategically to ensure ongoing support for communities and responsiveness to future crises. The idea of increasing payouts has been a conversation among the members of the Washington, D.C.-based Council of Foundations, and it’s a conversation locally as well, said Kyle Caldwell, president of the Council of Michigan Foundations. “This is a healthy debate, but we’re saying ... let’s have it data-informed,” he said. CMF commissioned a newly released study, “An Evaluation of Private Foundation Model Portfolios, Investment Returns, & Payout Rates.” The Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University completed the study with Plante Moran Financial Partners. The study builds on 20 years of research on payout rates commissioned by the Council of Michigan Foundations through earlier, limited-scope studies. The new report is the most 36 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

Robinson

Thompson Payton

comprehensive snapshot of foundation payout data available to date, Caldwell said. It’s the first of three payout studies the Johnson Center is conducting for the CMF, with the public release of similar looks at the payouts of community foundations and, separately, the donor-advised funds they administer, expected this spring. “In the pandemic, there is a clear increase in need and increased pressures on philanthropy to do more,” Caldwell said. Many funders want to focus on an area, and a great way to do it is by increasing payouts, he said. But given historical market returns that are typically below the current payout levels for many foundations, the study finds increased payouts are not sustainable for those set up to operate in perpetuity. The study provides scenarios of

business owner, I’m doing everything in accordance with the CDC, MIOSHA and the EEOC. For a small business owner, it’s a lot of research. I thought that if everyone were vaccinated, I could drop the mask mandate, but I found out that’s not true.” According to a National Law Review report, employers can require staffers to be vaccinated for COVID-19. However, employers must consider an employee’s religious beliefs or disability. The Americans with Disabilities Act states that an employee may be entitled to an exemption if the employee has a disability that prevents him or her from safely taking the vaccine. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that an employee may be entitled to an exemption if they have a sincerely held religious belief or practice that prevents them from taking the vaccine. how long it would take foundations to recover from increased payouts even over the short term as a way to aid them in balancing grantmaking priorities with long-term Williams strategies. “If your goal is … to preserve endowed resources for the long run to be impactful over many decades, you have to look at investment and payout and (strike) a balance,” Caldwell said. “No other study before has gone before and said, ‘What are the consequences for increasing payout?’ This gives them the tool to have that conversation.”

‘Tradition of charity’ To arrive at the annual payout rates of foundations and compare them with investment returns, Johnson Center analyzed numbers for private foundations that file electronic 990PF annual forms with the Internal Revenue Service. The study encompassed about 80 percent or 1,450 private foundations in Michigan, and 84 percent or 50,000 private foundations across the U.S. It analyzed five years

Several large retailers, such as Aldi, Kroger and McDonald’s, also have offered incentives for their employees to get vaccinated. It’s much easier for a business like Kroger to fill a shift left vacant by an infected employee than it might be for a small business owner. That’s why Bobcat Bonnie’s owner Matt Buskard is following Blondy’s lead. Buskard, 36, has about 200 employees at five locations. He’s working to encourage them to get vaccinated, too. About 20 percent of that group has received at least one dose of a vaccine, Buskard said. Buskard, who saw 2020 revenues at his Detroit, Ypsilanti and Partridge Creek locations fall about 40 percent-50 percent while his other restaurants remained pretty steady, said he saw what Blondy offered her staff and decided to mimic her approach. “Myself and our director of operations have gotten (vaccinated). We’re good. We just want to inform the staff of what’s going on,” Buskard said. “I have to be careful, though, to not impose my views on anyone. While I feel a specific way about (the vaccine), I have to understand there are specific reasons why certain people are not comfortable with it.” The Bobcat Bonnie’s owner said he’s ramped up his efforts as the vaccines become more available to various demographics. He’s had three employees contract COVID-19 during the most recent surge. Buskard, who avoided the level of layoffs some other restaurants faced by offering employees the option to perform duties outside of their established jobs, said the economics don’t work to offer a staffer two weeks paid leave while they recover. worth of filings, from 2014-18. Working with Plante Moran, the Johnson Center calculated the payout rates and investment returns for both groups. It found that in terms of annual percentage payouts, as a group, Michigan’s private foundations are almost identical to private foundations across the U.S., said Jeff Williams, director of the community data and research lab at the Johnson Center, who shared the findings with legislators and other foundation leaders during annual “Foundation on the Hill” events in Washington, D.C., recently. “A general complaint against private foundations is that most pay out 5 percent and not a penny more,” he said. “But the study when we looked at tens of thousands of foundations, most pay out well over 5 percent, and in fact, half pay out 6 percent or more. That’s the national finding and also the same in Michigan.” According to the study, 69 percent of Michigan foundations paid out 5 percent or more in 2018, and 49 percent paid out 6 percent or more. More than a third or 35 percent paid out 9 percent or more of their assets that year. Nationally, a quarter of U.S. foundation paid out 15 percent or more of

“I don’t want to be short staffed. That’s a constant worry,” Canine to Five owner Liz Blondy said. | ROBAR PR

their corpus every year between 20132018, according to the study, one of the first to show that most foundations pay well over the required minimum, Williams said. Nationally, the median payout was 5.9 percent in 2018. In Michigan, it was 6.25 percent. “There is a tradition of charity in Southeast Michigan; I can see it in the data,” Williams said. “We are blessed in Southeast Michigan with a number of large and historical foundations.” The study pegged the median endowment for private foundations in the U.S. at $645,000 and found that only a quarter of foundations have $2.2 million in assets. The Michigan numbers are very close, he said. “For every Kellogg, Kresge or Skillman ... there are a hundred smaller, private foundations we’ve never heard of that are very community-focused.” If critics of foundations are worried about the 5 percent requirement being viewed as a cap, “proponents of it are saying we really can’t go further,” Williams said.

Sustainability A second important finding in the study is that investment returns signal the 5 percent payout require-

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Canine to Five owner Liz Blondy is encouraging all of her employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine with cash incentives and a paid day off following the final dose. | ROBAR PR

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ment for foundations is probably correct, he said. “Raising the payout rate above 5 percent is not sustainable in the long run, because of the historical investment performance,” Williams said. From 2014 to 2018, the median investment return was less than the payout rate, meaning many foundations were eroding principal with their payouts those years, he said. The recent study and earlier reports commissioned by CMF show that a mandated payout rate above 5 percent would be difficult to sustain on an inflation adjusted basis. “Foundations often make multiyear commitments, and then the stock market does what it wants to do,” Williams said. “Multiyear commitments have an element of risk, and foundations shoulder that risk.” For foundations that may be considering increased payouts in the short term, the study provides data-informed scenarios for the length of time it would take to bring assets back to current levels, based on historic investment returns. Will that decision impact a foundation for two years or 100 years? The answer is somewhere between, or roughly 20 years for a foundation doubling its annual payment for just three years for assets to return to their starting point,

“THE FUNDS ARE BEING USED TO DOUBLE-DOWN ON OUR PRIORITIES IN EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC EQUITY AND HEALTH EQUITY, ALL CRUCIAL GAPS IN OUR COMMUNITIES FURTHER EXPOSED BY THE PANDEMIC.” — Carla Thompson Payton, vice president of program strategy, Kellogg Foundation

even if investment returns remain above post-World War II averages, Williams said. Those scenarios and the study as a whole are giving Michigan foundations an “aha moment” about how to think about increasing payout and setting some goals, Caldwell said. “Wouldn’t it be interesting if they could say with certainty, ‘Here’s our commitment for x number of years, after which we’ll have to do a reset or recalibration?’” The Kellogg Foundation was among the first nationally to pledge an increased payout, with a commitment to increase its grants over the next two

“There’s not really much we can do as an employer. We can’t offer paid two weeks off,” he said. “It’s a really challenging time. If you have a COVID-positive employee, you have to look at your schedule and the job the person was working and shift things around, and that can get difficult. With customers, too, you want to be transparent, but you can’t give too much information.” Blondy believes the reward is more likely to push employees to act. As her business has slipped over the last year, the Canine to Five owner said she’s increased hourly wages, with starting pay now at $10.60 and the average hourly wage at $13.10. The company this year began offering profit sharing in addition to an IRA and paid time off. “The risk of employees being out to quarantine is messing with my, and a

lot of other people’s, business,” Blondy said. “This is important to me and my business, and to the recovery of the metro Detroit economy. I want to see people get vaccinated as quickly as possible.”

years. To avoid impact on its assets, it issued $300 million in social bonds in October. Kellogg reported $8.23 billion in assets for fiscal 2020 ended August 31, up 5.51 percent from 2019 assets of $7.8 billion. The increase came following a 9.3 decrease from 2018 assets of $8.6 billion. Historically, the foundation’s payout has averaged 5 percent each year, said Carla Thompson Payton, vice president of program strategy, in an email. “Our intent is to increase payout by 50 percent per year for this fiscal year (ended Aug. 31) and next fiscal year with proceeds from the social bond.” For fiscal 2021 and 2022, “we expect our payout percent to be closer to 7-7.5 percent,” she said, with estimated grants of $435 million in fiscal 2021, up from about $301 million in fiscal 2020. The social bond issue “was a onetime issue to increase our responsiveness given the scale of strain placed on nonprofits and people in our communities,” Thompson Payton said. “The funds are being used to double-down on our priorities in education, employment and economic equity and health equity, all crucial gaps in our communities further exposed by the pandemic.” As with everything the foundation

funds, racial equity and healing, community engagement and leadership are embedded in its work, she said. “Given the effect of the past year and the need for an equitable recovery and rebuilding, these features of our work are even more important.” The Troy-based Kresge Foundation is taking a long-term view and choosing to live within the spending plans it develops every five years, said Amy Robinson, vice president, CFO and chief administration officer. Those spending plans give it flexibility to shift spending as needed, while also helping maintain its assets so it can continue to support the community long term, she said. For the current five-year plan, which runs through 2021, the foundation increased its average payout from about 5.1 or 5.2 percent of its assets each year, or $163 million-$186 million, to a 5.5-percent payout or about $195 million each year, she said. The move came in response to concerns in 2017 of decreasing endowment returns and the potential for decreased investment in areas like human services, education and climate under the Trump administration. The grants are in addition to other support provided by the foundation, including technical assistance and program-related investments like

Government support Blondy received a Paycheck Protection Program loan last spring. She declined to disclose the amount, but said that if she receives a second round of PPP funding, that money would go to cover the estimated $15,000 it would cost to reward her employees for getting vaccinated. Bobcat Bonnie’s received about $150,000 in PPP funds in the first round last year. Buskard said he “sat on” some of the money as a precautionary measure in case revenues continued to come in slowly.

Both small business owners are hopeful their employees take them up on their offers. Like many, Blondy and Buskard believe vaccination is the quickest way to get “back to normal.” “Things feel more positive now,” Buskard said. Vaccination appointments for anyone age 16 and up will open starting April 5. “I think, as a business owner, it’s smarter to be cautious. We’re not winning the war, we’re slowly chipping away at it. These businesses, these restaurants, are keeping their heads above water. Hopefully in the next couple of months things loosen up, and you’ll see businesses start roaring back.” Contact: jason.davis@crain.com (313) 446-1612; @JayDavis_1981 loans and loan guarantees, Robinson said. To meet rising need over the past year, Kresge shifted spending within its grant priority areas to direct $19 million to COVID relief and $30 million to racial justice efforts, while staying within the approved spending plan, Robinson said. If Kresge had drawn down further on its endowment in a previous crisis, like the Great Recession in 2008, that drawdown would have resulted in a lower endowment and related earnings, reducing its ability it would not have been able to be responsive to crises over the past year, she said. Kresge’s assets totaled a projected $3.9 billion at the end of 2020, Robinson said, up 4 percent from $3.84 billion in 2019, and up from $3.73 billion in 2018. Other foundations have different approaches that meet their strategies, Robinson said. “We have taken the position we want to be here long term to support our grantees and community, so we feel we have to steward the foundation’s resources over time to preserve that ability to be there for the future and other crises.” Contact: swelch@crain.com; (313) 446-1694; @SherriWelch MARCH 29, 2021 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | 37

THE CONVERSATION

Amid COVID, Bosch shifts culture from ‘presence’ to ‘performance' BOSCH NORTH AMERICA: Before the pandemic, Bosch North America Senior Vice President of Human Resources Charlie Ackerman's team was busy building a ground-up apprenticeship program to grow talent within the industrial automation and automotive mobility tech supplier's ranks. For the past year, Ackerman's work has shifted toward a new reality: The majority of the company's 3,000 employees in Farmington Hills and Plymouth don't want to come back to the office five days a week after a year of working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. That's caused Ackerman to devote his attention to a culture shift within Bosch where employee supervision is less about physically seeing them working and more about seeing results. | BY CHAD LIVENGOOD ` The last time we talked, you were starting to develop an apprenticeship to deal with your talent shortfalls, particularly in the information technology space. How is that going? How has it progressed during the pandemic? We’re excited to have the first cohort developed and running at this point in time. Like most things that occurred last year in 2020 when COVID hit, we had to scale that down from having 16 apprentices, we scaled that down to five. We have those (apprentices) on board right now. They’re doing extremely well. ... We’ve been able to overcome a lot of the challenges of onboarding them. Going through interview processes. But we managed those. They’re on board since the fall of 2020 and they’re halfway through and we’re looking to graduate them in the third quarter of this year. ` How many of Bosch’s 3,000 employees at the Farmington Hills and Plymouth campus have remained on the worksite during the pandemic? That’s pretty limited to our labs and associated engineers around those labs that’s really required. Roughly 500 employees have the need to actually go in. But other than that, the remaining associates find themselves working virtually. ` And how has that gone? Actually, better than expected. Last year, we found very early on that we saw that we were not going to be coming back. We didn’t know how long. And this is the elusive question that keeps coming up: When are we going to be coming back? About the third quarter of last year, we did a survey of the Farmington Hills-Plymouth associates, leadership. ... Even at that point early on, we were beginning to learn how much associates appreciated working in a virtual situation. Seventy-five percent of our associates believe that working virtually

We’re going through those discussions right now, and it’s still yet to be determined. But it’s on our radar screen. We know very clearly that there’s a certain dynamic in any business — it’s not just Bosch — that requires a certain level of watercooler talk and collaboration. ‘Hey, I’ve got this idea. Have you thought about this?’ It happens in the cafeteria. It happens in the hallways. It happens in very informal times. One thing we have to do is make sure as leaders in the organization that we’re acknowledging that, that we’re aware of it and continuing to create this kind of environment, even in a virtual way.

Charlie Ackerman, senior vice president of human resources for Bosch North America

is the type of working relationship we need to have going forward. We may moderate that a little bit more, a little bit less, giving more of a hybrid approach. But that’s still yet to be determined. But we’re finding the situation has been very, very good for us. Not our associates, but our leaders, have a tendency to believe that our productivity went up. ... The biggest takeaway for us right now, knowing directionally going forward, we’re trying to reinforce this new culture ... of moving from a culture of presence to a culture of performance. Because in the past, people would say, ‘Well, if I don’t see them, maybe they’re not working.’ Well, that’s not true. As a matter of fact, we know through example after example that we are actually working at becoming more productive. `Do your team leaders find there’s still innovation going on, that people don’t necessarily need to be in the same room to think up the new great idea?

That’s one thing we know we need to preserve — this internal collaboration. But I would also say we’ve been fortunate years ago when we started looking at advancing a lot of our technology platforms, those platforms are already there. If we happen to be in Microsoft Teams, there’s a whiteboard system that’s out there. Either through whiteboard or Mural or other applications, the associates may not have seen the use for it before, but they see the need to use it now. ... The infrastructure was already in place — we’re just utilizing it more. ` It sounds like you’re moving to some kind of hybrid working environment, but there could be some flexibility if you have an employee who wanted to be remote. What’s the distance anymore with working in Farmington Hills? Do you have to still live in metro Detroit? Or can you live in Denver? Or Chicago?

` Do you think as you’re embracing remote work that the market for labor is changing and you’re going to just have to embrace it because talent will come along and you’ll want to get them to come work for Bosch and they’ll say, “Well, look, I can work from home working for your competitor.” I would say it like this: We’re going to have to understand the delta between what we would call commutable distance to the office versus literally just working from anywhere. And I would say right now in a very conservative way, we’re really trying to make sure that people feel into more of the physical site and making sure that people on an exceptional basis, they may have individual personal needs — real needs — that pull them away. But we hope that they’re going to stay with us in our local physical facilities. ` Any plans to downsize any of those facilities at this point? Nothing at this point. We know that our footprint is our footprint. But it gives us an advantage that if we want to continue to grow we may not necessarily need as much of that footprint.

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Eisenbergs donate $30 million to UM for depression center THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN has approved the renaming of its depression center in recognition of the Eisenberg family, which has donated $30 million to fund research on the disease. The UM Depression Center will be known as the Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg and Family Depression Center after the UM board of regents approved the name change during a regular meeting Thursday. The Eisenberg family, which made its wealth through the ownership of Dearborn-based Kenwal Steel Corp., donated $10.75 million to the center in 2016. The other $19.75 million gift to the center was

Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg

made earlier this month, according to the university. “Thanks to the Eisenbergs’ extraordinary commitment to moving depression and bipolar illnesses out of the shadows and into the sunlight of advanced scientific research, dis-

38 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

covery and evidence-based care, our university will be able to accelerate the pace of prevention, detection, treatment and support,” UM President Mark Schlissel said in a news release. “It’s hard for me to imagine a more important and timely investment in medical research than what is being made by the Eisenberg family.” Some of the Eisenbergs’ donation will be focused on researching depression related to the pandemic. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last June noted the rise of mental health issues, substance use and suicidal ideation during the pandemic. In a

representative panel survey, more than 40 percent of adults reported “at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition” due to the global public health emergency, the report said. “With the pandemic, we are finally talking about how central mental health is to our everyday lives,” Kenneth Eisenberg said in the release. “There is a growing awareness about how pervasive conditions like depression are across the nation. There’s promise in that awareness. Depression, in all of its forms, has robbed millions of people of joy, purpose, relationships, and even lives.”

Chairman Keith E. Crain Vice Chairman Mary Kay Crain CEO KC Crain Senior Executive Vice President Chris Crain Secretary Lexie Crain Armstrong Chief Financial Officer Robert Recchia G.D. Crain Jr. Founder (1885-1973) Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. Chairman (1911-1996) Editorial & Business Offices 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit MI 48207-2732; (313) 446-6000 Cable address: TWX 248-221-5122 AUTNEW DET CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS ISSN # 0882-1992 is published weekly, except no issues on 1/4/21 nor 12/27/21, combined issues on 5/24/21 and 5/31/21, 8/30/21 and 9/6/21, 11/15/21 and 11/22/21, by Crain Communications Inc. at 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit MI 48207-2732. Periodicals postage paid at Detroit, MI and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS, Circulation Department, P.O. Box 07925, Detroit, MI 48207-9732. GST # 136760444. Printed in U.S.A. Contents copyright 2021 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial content in any manner without permission is prohibited.

MAKE EVERY DAY

BETTER

JOIN

TRY THE Y FREE FOR ONE WEEK

We are safely welcoming members back. Over 1000 metro Detroiters joined the YMCA in the first quarter. Since January our members have visited us 6000 times. Over 1000 members are active older adults who are participating in Silver Sneakers, Pure Fit, and Silver and Fit insurance provider benefits. YMCA members enjoy: hundreds of live and virtual group exercise classes, child-watch services, pool time, indoor track, fullcourt gymnasium, wellness centers, children’s programs, discounts on family camp and so much more. ymcadetroit.org/join

GIVE

GIVE A CHILD THE BEST SUMMER EVER

Our children have lived through a year of social distancing, mask wearing and sometimes significant isolation. Children need to play, to socialize and learn with their peers in a safe, caring, welcoming, fun learning environment, that is exactly what the YMCA provides through our summer camps. We offer summer day camps and overnight resident camps. In the midst of a pandemic help us help kids be kids. Every $250 gives a child an amazing week at a YMCA camp. Or enroll a child today - mention Crains and receive $10 off for each week of camp or and we will also waive the $25 registration fee. ymcadetroit.org/give

HELP SAVE LIVES

SERVE

You can help save lives by becoming an Eliis certified YMCA lifeguard. Ages 16 and older are welcome. If you know how to swim we will train you. YMCA staff perks: Free Y Individual Membership, Discounted Family Membership, Flexible Schedules. This is a great opportunity for retirees, college students, or those just looking for a way to give back. Help keep our pools open and safe for the community to enjoy. ymcadetroit.org/careers

most unique part of the YMCA experience is our impact. When you join the YMCA you IMPACT The are not just joining a gym, you join a community-benefit organization. Last year while we

Why the Y?

closed for 6 months—we distributed over 200,000 meals, and provided essential childcare and educational services to over 11,000 children. And, we are poised to do it again this year—only better.

Learn about our 2020 Community Impact online at bit.ly/c19impact

YMCA OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT

ymcadetroit.org

Serving you and your family at locations throughout Metro Detroit! BIRMINGHAM FAMILY YMCA 400 E. Lincoln St, Birmingham (248) 644-9036

CARLS FAMILY YMCA 300 Family Drive, Milford (248) 685-3020

FARMINGTON FAMILY YMCA 28100 Farmington Rd, Farm. Hls (248) 553-4020

PLYMOUTH FAMILY YMCA 650 Church St, Plymouth (734) 453-2904

BOLL FAMILY YMCA 1401 Broadway, Detroit (313) 309-9622

DOWNRIVER FAMILY YMCA 16777 Northline Rd, Southgate (734) 282-9622

MACOMB FAMILY YMCA 10 North River Rd, Mt Clemens (586) 468-1411

SOUTH OAKLAND FAMILY YMCA 1016 W. 11 Mile Road, Royal Oak (248) 547-0030

CAMPING SERVICES » ymcadetroit.org/camp COMMUNITY INITIATIVES Detroit Swims, Girls on the Run, Healthy Living, Metro Youth YMCA, Y Arts, Y Positive Play Initiative » bit.ly/3lPmsup

Your business is always on. Your internet should be too.

S:13.5"

With AT&T Internet for Business, you get fast, highly reliable internet that’s made for business. It features Internet Backup, so even if the power goes out, our wireless network automatically keeps you connected. Go to att.com/BizInternet or call 855-432-1500 to learn more.

Ranked #1 Highest in Customer Satisfaction by J.D. Power among Small/Medium Business Wireline Service For J.D. Power 2020 award information, visit jdpower.com/awards 40 | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS | MARCH 29, 2021

Crain's Detroit Business March 29, 2021, issue

Articles inside

to keep teachers

vulnerable students