Crain's Detroit Business, August 31, 2015 issue by Crain's Detroit Business

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CRAIN’S Readers first for 30 Years

DETROIT BUSINESS AUGUST 31-SEPTEMBER 6, 2015

China’s market crash sends U.S. stocks tumbling. See the toll on area companies,

Startup TV series covers metro Detroit startup scene, PAGE 17

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UAW health co-op idea earns support Experts: Bargaining power could cut benefits costs By Jay Greene

Dennis Williams: UAW president wants to form a health care cooperative.

jgreene@crain.com

UAW President Dennis Williams’ concept to form a health care cooperative that would collectively negotiate provider and health insurance company contracts for about 300,000 hourly and

salaried workers at the Detroit 3 automakers makes a lot of sense, say experts interviewed by Crain’s. While top Detroit 3 executives and the UAW declined interviews, officials close to the talks say both sides have a lot to gain by forming a cooperative that could

lower health care costs through enhanced contract leverage with providers because of its massive size. Experts said such a health care cooperative — using the model of the 775,000-member UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust — would help the bottom line for both sides because it would combine the co-op’s negotiating power while

Dig it! Arena excavation complete

helping OEMs stem an uptick in employer health care costs. How? Over the next several years, the Detroit 3 face average annual health care cost increases of 8 percent or more. That’s primarily because they have been prevented by labor contracts from taking SEE UAW CO-OP, PAGE 16

Face time Colleges and universities are fully plugged in to digital education. See what steps they are taking to improve the experience for students, Page 9

ERIC EDWARDS/LUNATECH 3D

An aerial look at the arena site from the corner of Cass and Temple.The lower bowl sits 40 feet below grade.The completed arena will be eight stories tall.

Olympia: $115M in contracts have gone to Detroit-based firms; ice time to arrive in 2017 By Bill Shea bshea@crain.com

he excavation is complete for the massive hole that will become the lower bowl and ice rink for the Detroit Red Wings’ new arena, and the steel and concrete skeleton of the facility is now beginning to take shape. Work on the $532 million arena and events center is on schedule and will continue through the winter to ensure the building opens by September 2017, according to Olympia Development of Michigan.

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Olympia is the real estate arm of Red Wings owner Mike and Marian Ilitch’s $3.3 billion business holdings that include the Red Wings, Detroit Tigers and the Little Caesars pizza chain. An estimated 488,000 cubic yards of soil was excavated in recent months for the below-grade bowl, and hundreds of deep pier foundations are being drilled and filled with concrete through September, Olympia said. The concrete walls for elevator shafts also are being erected, and installation of the foundation walls of the bowl perimeter will begin within days. The steel frame of the arena will begin to go up in late fall, Olympia said. So far, $200 million in contracts have been awarded for the project, according to the Detroit Downtown Development Authority, which will own the building. Of those, $98.5 million have been publicly announced this year. Olympia said $115 million in arena contracts have been awarded to Detroit-based or -headquartered companies. The most recent contracts, approved by the DDA on Aug. 26, totaled $13.5 million. The biggest contract was to Gary, Ind.-based Crown Corr Inc. for an arena bowl cladding system for $11.8 million. SEE ARENA, PAGE 18

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MICHIGAN

BRIEFS W.Mich.beer companies take sober views of name use Those of us more concerned about the taste of our brews than how they’re labeled or marketed may not care, but two West Michigan beer companies have been embroiled in recent disputes over the use of names. The Muskegon-based Pigeon Hill Brewing Co. said last week it will not change the name of its popular LMFAO Stout craft beer despite being sent a cease-and-desist letter by attorneys representing musical duo LMFAO, the Muskegon Chronicle reported. On its Facebook page, the company said it had hired the Grand Rapids law firm Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge. That dispute hasn’t been resolved, but to the east, a few weeks after the owners of Kalamazoo Beer Exchange filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit against Charlotte, N.C.-based tech firm Bexio LLC, the two companies settled their differences out of court. Beer Exchange LLC had said the use of the Instagram handle “thebeerexchange” to promote Bexio’s Beer Exchange mobile application was

an infringement on its trademarked name, MiBiz reported. In the agreement, Bexio agreed to transfer the Instagram handle to Kalamazoo Beer Exchange. Bexio broke the news on its website and social media accounts, where it tagged the posts with the appropriate hashtag #BrewDontSue.

‘Dark store’ theory benefits Meijer, other big retailers Why pay more? Why, indeed, for Meijer Inc. (which used to boast that

advertising slogan) and other large retailers regarding property taxes in Mason County? In the past five years, the Walker-based chain has lowered its property tax bills in the county’s Amber Township, near Ludington, by appealing its assessment using what’s known as the “dark store” theory, MiBiz reported. Mega hardware retailers Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Companies Inc. have also used the theory to appeal their property tax obligations in Amber Township. Rather than their properties’ taxes being tied to the cost of construction, the retailers argue assessments should be based on those of comparable stores —

the often-vacated empty properties rendered functionally obsolete when big stores open. The Michigan Tax Tribunal has largely ruled in favor of the chains. “We don’t believe that the dark store philosophy is a fair way of valuing stores, but the Tax Tribunal makes the decision,” said Mason County Administrator Fabian Knizacky said. Retailers’ use of the “dark store” theory cost state communities roughly $74.3 million from 2013 through June of this year, said data from the Michigan Association of County Treasurers.

MICH-CELLANEOUS 䡲 The downtown Grand Rapids property commonly known as both Lofts @ 5 Lyon and the Commerce Building has a new owner, the Grand Rapids Business Journal reported. The nine-story building, with 65 apartments and 172 beds at 5 Lyon St. NW, was sold by Rockford Property Management to the New York-based Embassy Group, for $12,475,000. 䡲 Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids grossed nearly $8 million in the first half of this year, second-highest in the U.S. (and No. 9 worldwide) for venues with a capacity of 10,001 to 15,000, according to music biz publication Billboard, MLive.com reported. The venue has hosted concerts, Grand Rapids Griffins hockey games and other events. 䡲 Bruce and Dan Israel, who own Asphalt Specialists Inc. in Pontiac, purchased the Muskegon Lumber -

jacks in a cash deal. The Lumberjacks are in the United States Hockey League, a tier-one junior league. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed, but Dan Israel told the Grand Rapids Business Journal that the team, bought from a group that acquired it in 2013, is “hopefully worth more than I paid for it.” 䡲 Lansing’s Neogen Corp., which develops and markets products dedicated to food and animal safety, acquired United Kingdom-based Lab M Holdings , the Lansing State Journal reported. Lab M develops, manufactures and supplies microbial organisms and diagnostic systems for food, water, industrial and clinical testing markets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 䡲 Attorney General Bill Schuette filed a civil lawsuit alleging that Florida-based Division of Corporate Services Inc. scammed small businesses across Michigan by taking money through a false mailing designed to look like one sent out by the state, MLive.com reported. Businesses and nonprofits received a form instructing them that they would need to provide the state with meeting minutes containing information on shareholders and board members, and that DCS would provide those for a $150 fee. 䡲 Coolhouse Labs, a business accelerator focusing on nurturing startup companies in technologyrelated fields, recently moved operations across Little Traverse Bay from Harbor Springs, settling in a former art gallery space in Petoskey,

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE BANKRUPTCIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 BUSINESS DIARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 CALENDAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 CAPITOL BRIEFINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 CLASSIFIED ADS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 OTHER VOICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 PEOPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 RUMBLINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 WEEK ON THE WEB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

COMPANY INDEX: SEE PAGE 17 the Petoskey News reported. 䡲 Trident Labs, a new toxicology company that runs drug screening tests and confirmation tests for businesses, law enforcement and physicians, began moving into lab space at the Michigan State University bioeconomy building in Holland Township, the Holland Sentinel reported. 䡲 The New York Times did its bit for state tourism with a recent account of a tour around Lake Michigan by reporter Rich Cohen. His journey, described at nytimes.com as revealing “striking topography, time-worn communities and the reassuring permanence of an unchanging lake,” began and ended in Chicago, with stops in Ludington, Traverse City, Mackinac Island and other Michigan locales. For any Michiganian or Lake Michigan lover, taking the tour is like going on a virtual vacation.

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China market plunge: ‘It’s only paper’ Even as area public companies took hit, investors told to keep eye on big picture

inancial shockwaves from the world’s second-largest economy continue to ripple through global mar-

kets. China’s slowing economic growth and financial missteps from its government have derailed its decades-long boom and, subsequently, created a drag on international businesses. The Shanghai Stock Exchange lost more than 37 percent of its value since June. China’s sickness became contagious this month, verified by tremendous share price drops in Japan, Australia and the U.S. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 1,000 points last week before recovering significantly. What does all this mean to Southeast Michigan? Public companies in the region lost more than $18.7 billion in market value — paper losses — between Aug. 10 and Aug. 27. For instance, BorgWarner Inc. alone saw trade volume nearly double with more than 4.5 million shares traded on Aug. 24, its highest trade volume of the year. Between close of trading on Aug. 21 and close on Aug. 24, Lear Corp. lost more than $248 million in market value. The list goes on. Luckily, the sec-

DUSTIN WALSH Reporter’s Notebook dwalsh@crain.com TWITTER: @dustinpwalsh

ond-quarter GDP growth of 3.7 percent in the U.S. rallied the markets here in the latter part of last week, partially offsetting the China effect on local companies with global operations. What’s the real impact of a changed trajectory for China? Even as markets in developed countries stabilized late last week, the market freefall raised questions about many international companies’ bigpicture growth plans, the private investment pipeline — and even political strategies. All of that is alarming. But it’s important — nay, critical — for investors, executives and stock watchers to be wary of decisionmaking in a vacuum. SEE CHINA, PAGE 14

MUST READS OF THE WEEK DIA compensation Were past and current DIA executives, including former director Graham Beal, compensated on par with peer institutions? Page 15

Going into battle Thirty years since its production began in metro Detroit, the Abrams main battle tank has become a proven asset to defense. But the fleet faces an uncertain future tied to upcoming decisions on federal funding, Page 4

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LOOKING BACK: On Sept. 2, 1985, Crain’s reported on the delivery of the first units of an upgraded Abrams tank series.Thirty years later, spending on upgrades of the Abrams is in limbo. More at crainsdetroit.com/30

Abrams tank proves itself in war, but faces a fight for its future By Chad Halcom chalcom@crain.com

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When the Abrams main battle tank entered a new era of production in 1985, it was still untested by enemy fire and had weathered some doubts in Washington about its effectiveness as a Cold War weapon. Thirty years, nearly 10,000 tanks and more than $20 billion later, Abrams is a proven asset in several wars and an economic engine for Southeast Michigan’s defense contracting community — but another battle for its future lies ahead. The former Chrysler Defense Inc. XM1 Tank Program delivered its first two production vehicles to the U.S. Army in 1980. Virginia-based General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE:GD) acquired the automaker’s tankmaking division in 1982 for $348.5 million and renamed it General Dynamics Land Systems. The Sterling Heights defense contractor wrapped original M1 tank production in early 1985 and, 30 years ago this month, announced it had delivered the first units of an upgraded M1A1 Abrams tank series. To date, the company has produced about 8,000 of the Abrams in various models for the Army, and more than 400 for the U.S. Marine Corps . More than 1,200 tanks combined have also been produced or ordered over the years for armed forces in Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco and Australia. But future U.S. spending on equipment upgrades for the Abrams is still in limbo. Congress is supposed to finalize a new National Defense Authorization Act, which calls for about $400 million in spending on Abrams fleet improvements in the coming fiscal year, when it returns from recess next month. That funding could sustain the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center , formerly the Lima Army Tank Plant that General Dynamics Land Systems operates in Ohio until production begins on a new hightechnology variant of the Abrams, the M1A3, in fiscal 2017. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been procuring and upgrading the Abrams as U.S. allies since at least the early 1990s, but the tank had not seen combat anywhere until Operation Desert Storm in 1991. There, it widely outperformed Soviet and Chinese tanks in the Iraqi military under Saddam Hussein, and it went on to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan in the War on Terror. The former Detroit Arsenal Tank

COURTESY OF U.S. ARMY

The Abrams main battle tank (pictured in 2009) has been a proven asset in several wars, but its future depends on federal spending, currently uncertain, on equipment upgrades. Plant in Warren, which had pro- March lifted a freeze on military duced the M1 Abrams since its equipment for Egypt including up early days, discontinued new tank to 125 component kits for the assembly in late 1991 and closed Abrams, even though the country down completely in late 1996. had not instituted some reforms Since then, General Dynamics Washington had been seeking Land Systems has housed all since a violent military coup in Abrams production and equip- 2013. ment upgrades for the Abrams at Also, extremists within the Isthe government-owned Lima lamic State or ISIS have reportedArmy Tank Plant. ly captured or destroyed dozens That plant, which was refur- of the 140 Abrams tanks the U.S. bishing about 2 1/2 tanks per day has delivered to Iraqi national in early 2009, is handling a small forces under the federal Foreign fraction of that volume today. At Military Sales program since issue at least since sequestration 2010. began affecting defense budgets But Thompson said ISIS gets in 2012 is whether the Lima plant little more than propaganda value can remain operafrom its images of tional on a mix of co-opted tanks, “You can foreign military sales since it cannot exand some limited pect to use them in mothball production orders combat against equipment until M1A3 producU.S.-backed forces. but not tion begins in two “It’s one thing for years. ISIS to get a hold of people.” “The Army’s noHumvees, which are Loren Thompson, tion was they could basically cars. But Lexington Institute mothball the plant it’s another thing to and reopen in three commandeer an years, but as GDLS can attest, you Abrams tank, which is a very can mothball equipment but not skilled operator equipment,” people,” said Loren Thompson, a Thompson said. defense industry analyst and COO “It’s designed optimally to colof the Arlington, Va.-based Lexing - laborate with air support, and it ton Institute. takes a level of training and team“They need to make a living, work that ISIS is not known for,” and, having lost their jobs once, he said. they’d actually be pretty dumb to The U.S. State Department last come back when you reopen. In- December approved a proposed stead either those skilled workers sale of M1A1 tanks to Iraq along retire, or find an entirely new ca- with associated equipment, parts reer. Even if they did return, their and logistical support for up to skills would have become rusty, $2.4 billion over the next five and that adds to your startup time years. The sale is not expected to have a negative impact on U.S. deand cost.” But the Abrams has occasional- fense forces, according to the De ly been a point of political contro- fense Security Cooperation Agency. 䡲 Chad Halcom: (313) 446-6796 versy, for reasons outside of costs. Twitter: @chadhalcom The Obama administration in

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CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

OPINION UAW should tell its story on health care T

he United Auto Workers Retiree Medical Benefits Trust is a potentially transformative health care story that’s been evolving in Michigan since 2010, but too few people really know much about it because the UAW tells it too infrequently. It’s a big story that other industries could learn from. The trust is a success: It’s the largest non-government purchaser of retiree health care in the U.S., and it has saved automakers millions of dollars. Telling the story matters because UAW President Dennis Williams has floated the idea of creating a similar entity for the Detroit 3’s existing workers. (See story, Page 1.) A quick recap of the history: The trust was created as part of the 2007 collective bargaining agreement to manage retiree health care costs and remove them from the books of the Detroit 3. It was funded with cash and automaker stock. It appears the trust has successfully held down costs and has expanded services. But its ability to pay its bills long term depends on investment performance. For example, the trust’s 140 million-plus shares of GM stock took a $250 million hit on Aug. 24 when the market plummeted. Given the public role in the rescue of two Detroit automakers, more public information should be forthcoming. But the UAW appears to limit media access. An interview with Executive Director Fran Parker by Bloomberg Businessweek was published Aug. 27, but that’s the first in some time. Crain’s last had access in 2012 and has made half a dozen requests since then. Other media outlets have had a similar lack of success. But we feel certain that Parker — who also sits on several other VEBA boards — could have a lot to say about what has worked, lessons learned and plans for the future. We would encourage the UAW to allow this story to be told in a frank and useful way — and more often. There’s been a lot accomplished, so why not?

Ignore unfounded warnings and change no-fault now high cost of auto insurance Thein Michigan has led to an epidemic of drivers simply ignoring the law and not purchasing insurance. In some areas like Detroit, more than 50 percent of the population is uninsured. But there is now a plan in front of the Michigan Legislature that would reduce the cost of auto OTHER VOICES: insurance enough to bring these Eric Poe drivers back into compliance with Eric Poe is COO of Cure Auto Insurance. the law. Senate Bill 288, which includes changed. In arguing against lowerD-Insurance, would give individu- ing the mandated unlimited perals in those high-noncompliance sonal injury coverage, areas the option of buying less than Christensen offers the same the currently required unlimited shop-worn arguments and warns of coverage, in exchange for a more af- the same dire consequences that fordable policy. trial lawyers around the country In a country where have used every time every adult is now re- “It’s time to states initiate cost-savquired to maintain rewrite the ing reforms to their nohealth insurance, it fault system. Yet seems outrageous for antiquated around the country, a state to also require no-fault laws positive reforms have that their drivers purcome to pass, and chase unlimited no- so that every there have been no fault personal injury person can signs of the dire conseauto insurance coverquences. afford age. For example, look As of now, Michi- coverage.” to New Jersey. Over gan is the only state the years, New Jersey’s in the country that reforms have reduced does, making it no surprise that, ac- the state’s no-fault personal injury cording to recent data published by coverage from unlimited (1972 InsuranceQuotes.com, the average through 1990), to $250,000, to as annual cost for an auto insurance little as $15,000 (in 1998). At each policy in Michigan is 136 percent step, New Jerseyans heard the above the national average. And yet same arguments and warnings the June 22 Other Voices by person- from trial attorneys: Insured drival injury attorney David Chris- ers will not be able to get the treattensen, “Duggan’s ‘D-Insurance’ ment they need, more expenses would hurt more than help,” insists will fall on them and medical that not only does Michigan need to providers will leave the state. But maintain this antiquated system, none of this materialized. but that Michigan’s health care inIn fact, as stated by the New Jerdustry would be economically sey Superior Court: harmed if the no-fault system is “We note that after virtually every

major amendment to (no-fault reform), (people) have warned of dire consequences for accident victims, whom they allege would be stripped of access to medical treatment by virtue of regulatory restrictions. Yet, the reported opinions do not reflect that they have documented the occurrence of those consequences.” Forty-nine other states have less than the unlimited no-fault coverage required in Michigan, but none of these states is suffering the consequences warned of in the Other Voices. In fact, look for a single state in which insured drivers — or the medical providers — are demanding that their state require higher or unlimited no-fault personal injury coverage. You won’t find it. As for the author’s concerns regarding rates: The legislation that we support would require that the insurance companies reduce their no-fault rates. So the law would require that savings be passed on to the consumer. The author’s related concern that “everyone will need to buy much higher collision coverage” could not be further from the truth. Collision coverage insures you against damage to your car, and it has absolutely no relationship to the personal injury coverage that is the subject of the current legislation. Despite the unsupported warnings, it’s time to make auto insurance affordable to everyone in Michigan. When 50 percent of drivers break the law by refusing to purchase coverage, it’s time to rewrite the antiquated no-fault laws so that every person can afford coverage and so that no one is required to purchase more coverage than what they need.

LETTERS

Employers must link skills to job success Too much talk about DIA pay Can we please calm down about DIA salaries? Yes, county authorities in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties have approval authority over raises paid from taxpayer dollars. Yes, the Detroit Institute of Arts has had a tin ear for how the raises would play in the bankruptcy environment. It clearly needs to do a better job of communicating. But the latest flap is focusing on the private dollars being donated for the specific purpose of augmenting the salaries of top executives to be competitive and for the retention package given to now-retired museum Director Graham Beal. The museum is searching for Beal’s successor, and the right candidate won’t come cheaply. Salaries and bonuses for the top executives of peer museums in 2013 ranged from $448,000 in Seattle to $1.03 million in Dallas. Beal made $450,000 in his final year before retention bonuses. The DIA became a far better institution under Beal’s leadership. The museum needs to be able to leverage private dollars to find the candidate who can build on his successes.

Editor: I applaud Congress’ passage and implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, described by Andra Rush in her Aug. 24 Other Voices column (“New law’s increased funds for training can help close skills gap”). The law that went into effect July 1 promises to set the stage for better collaboration between the private and public sectors and greater emphasis on closing the skills gap. All of this is very positive and potentially a significant contribution to the economic vitality of Michigan. However, I wish to sound a cautionary note regarding skills training. Whether delivered by community colleges, community-based nonprofits or employers, if it’s onetime training and then the employ-

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ee is expected to effectively apply those technical skills on the job, the program, like past jobs programs, will fail for most employees. That’s not how people learn, and that’s not how people become successful on the job. Employers will have to show employees how their skills are linked to job success, make a commitment to set clear expectations for job performance, reinforce those skills over time and measure

the impact of learning on the organization — not every four years as the law requires but every day in conversations between employee and supervisor. People don’t learn job skills (or anything, for that matter) from a single training event. They learn from practice, reinforcement and feedback, and they learn because people they respect have high expectations for their performance. The collaboration among sectors under the WIOA is good, but closing the skills gap in Michigan will depend on employers stepping up and taking responsibility for reinforcing learning and making the link to performance improvement.

Stephen Gill Co-owner, Learning to be Great LLC Trustee, Washtenaw Community College

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Is Courser-Gamrat issue detouring action on roads? LANSING — Becans say they can, and crime to swear in front of women or McCann, spokeswoman for Senate fore the state House do, juggle multiple pri- children or embellish the singing of Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof. The recessed last week, challenge now is working out the deorities at once. the national anthem. lawmakers repealed tails. “I don’t know that Debate over new revenue dozens of antiquatThe latest proposed compromise it’s taking away from Many of the lawmakers involved would generate $600 million from ed laws and resolved anything,” said to create a commitGideon D’Assandro, a in roads funding negotiations say existing funds and $600 million in tee to investigate spokesman for House the willingness exists to reach a deal new revenue, possibly from higher LINDSAY whether two of their Speaker Kevin Cotter, and talks are productive. More fuel taxes or vehicle registration fees, colleagues are quali- VANHULLE of Courser and Gam- meetings between House and Sen- But Snyder and Democrats aren’t fied to keep their Capitol Briefings rat. “I’ve seen first- ate leaders and Snyder are expected sold on the idea of using that much jobs after an extra- lvanhulle@crain.com hand that work con- during the remainder of the sum- in current spending, and House Remarital affair and TWITTER: @LindsayVanHulle publicans so far have been unable to tinued on other mer recess. There seems to be agreement muster enough votes to pass a plan cover-up. priorities.” Legislators met behind closed That includes last week’s repeal- that some new revenue will be part on their own. doors, too — in caucus rooms and ing of outdated laws that made it a of a final compromise, said Amber Snyder opposes taking that much privately with Senate leaders and Gov. Rick Snyder — in an effort to break a stalemate that has blocked a road-funding deal for months. Yet they emerged without a deal and seemingly still far apart on the fundamental piece of any successful plan — how much money’s involved, and who would pay. The Legislature is not expected back in session until after Labor Day. Legislators and Snyder all say they want to craft a long-term fix for Michigan’s failing roads and bridges. Lawmakers are under pressure to come up with an at least $1.2 billion road-funding plan in the wake of a failed ballot proposal in May, in part because this year’s construction season is winding down and governments want to start planning next year’s projects. Some business groups, including the Detroit Regional Chamber , support taking time to come up with a permanent solution, provided lawmakers don’t drag their feet. But the House — which last week voted to send some Senate-amend(excluding MBA) ed bills to a conference committee — also has been dealing this month with the fallout of a sex scandal involving freshman Tea Party Republican Reps. Todd Courser of Lapeer and Cindy Gamrat of Plainwell. The House Business Office this week said it has preliminary findings that the two misused taxpayer resources, based on a Detroit News report that disclosed audio recordings showing Courser asking a staffer to send an email accusing himself of having sex with a male prostitute to divert attention from his relationship with Gamrat. Is the scandal a distraction? Maybe, though a bigger reason for the impasse appears to be philosophical differences on how much existing spending should be diverted to roads and how much should be charged to drivers in higher fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees. Said Katie Carey, spokeswoman for House Democratic Leader Tim Key Wealth Management Considerations for Women Business Owners: Greimel, of Courser and Gamrat: • Family Issues • Major Life Transitions “How could it not be a significant • Managing Risks • Family Business Continuity issue for the House Republicans?” • Business Succession Planning For the better part of a month, the two Republican lawmakers It is critical that women know how to save, invest and plan for their future. have been the talk of Lansing. The Whether you are a woman of wealth, a woman business owner or an advisor House resolution to create its own to women, we encourage you to join Comerica’s Business Owner Advisory. investigative committee could lead to expulsion proceedings for both Presented by: Comerica Wealth Management Business Owner Advisory representatives, which would consume more time. House Republi-

money away from other state departments, instead preferring a solution that raises some new revenue. “That’s the accountant in me coming out,” Snyder told Crain’s from China, where he is on a trade mission, calling $600 million in general funds a “very challenging number.” “When you talk about cutting spending in the general fund in particular, it’s like: ‘OK, what’s the tradeoff there? What’s going to get cut and why?’ “That needs to be a very thoughtful discussion.”䡲

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SPECIAL REPORT: ONLINE

EDUCATION JEFFREY SEGUIN/MSU COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Off- and on-campus students in the Educational Psychology and Educational Technology Ph.D. program this spring at Michigan State University interacted through iPads affixed to robots that allowed them to swivel or move about the room.

Plugged in Colleges embrace the question ‘How can we do that online?’ By Amy Lane Special to Crain’s Detroit Business

tor of eLearning Services. “We knew no other institution was offering at that time as complete an online master’s as we planned to deliver.” As schools like LTU look to appeal to students interested in accessing education from anywhere, anytime, they are working to be more interactive and innovative — think robots, even — to improve the experience and usefulness of online learning. From fasterpaced coursework and new teaching formats and technologies, to faculty training and classes that orient online students, schools are plugging in to enhance student achievement.

n the graduate study of architecture, producing drawings, models, full-scale constructions and documents to be critiqued by an instructor is all part of a student’s path to a degree. It’s hands-on interaction that brings together students and instructor in “design studios.” While traditionally held on campus, at Lawrence Technological University, the design studios are also online. The studios occur virtually, via video chat, with a small group of students and instructors joining at prescribed Keeping pace times to present and discuss work, “The challenge is keeping up with viewing it on computer screens, postthe pace of advances, and technology, ing documents, drawing concepts, using models exchanged by email, and Ahmad Ezzeddine: and try not to follow the fads, and just stick to what is good for our students, “The challenge is registering thoughts through texting, keeping up with the and their success ultimately,” said typing and speaking. pace of advances.” Ahmad Ezzeddine, associate vice presiIt’s an approach that Lawrence Tech dent for educational outreach and insaw as signature in launching its online ternational programs at Wayne State University. master’s of architecture degree in 2009. One approach to improved online learning “If we were going to offer an online master’s is to present course information in smaller program, it needed to be online … including SEE ONLINE LEARNING, PAGE 10 the studios,” said Richard Bush, executive direc-

Robots tighten gap in distance learning their fellow students. “I was especially The business comwanting to improve munity and business the quality of the schools might learn a whole-group class thing or two from discussion. I wanted Christine Greenhow. that to get better,” she The assistant prosaid. fessor of counseling, After the course educational psycholo- “Online was over, the result gy and special educawas a group of online tion at Michigan State and onstudents from across University ’s College of campus the country who felt Education is bringing closer to the in-class students the concept of goings-on in East telecommuting to the recorded Lansing. academy using robotic “Both online and that when on-campus technology. students During a spring their recorded that when course in the Educa- colleagues their colleagues were tional Psychology and in robot form, each Educational Technolo- were in group felt more physigy Ph.D. program, 13 of robot cally there,” she said. 15 students participatA similar class aped using iPads affixed form, each proach will be offered on top of either a sta- group felt again this spring, she tionary robot that said, adding that the swivels to interact with more next step is to deteranother student or a physically mine the best ratio of robot that moves “robot” students to there.” around the classroom physically present stuChristine Greenhow, to do the same. dents. Greenhow, who Michigan State It is projected that used the robot techthe proliferation of nology that was developed by the technological advances will only College of Educational Psychology increase the number of American and Special Education/College of workers who telecommute either Education Design Studio, said she from home or another location. saw the need for a virtual classAccording to the U.S. Census Buroom after Ph.D. students taking reau , the number of Americans most of their classes online “felt a who worked from home at least sense of distance” between themSEE ROBOTS, PAGE 10 selves and the teacher, as well as By Kirk Pinho Crain’s Detroit Business

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SPECIAL REPORT: ONLINE EDUCATION

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you would do in that room,” she “The goal is to provide options for said. our learners.” Schools also use simulation techA blended model nology that creates interactive, realMany schools offer courses that world environments as a means to FROM PAGE 9 provide a relevant and en- are completely online or a blend of segments, Ezzeddine said. gaging online learning ex- online and on campus. Walsh College “When someone is online, perience. At Eastern Michigan began the latter approach about two University’s College of Busi- years ago, delivering bachelor’s and the attention span is a lot shorter. You need to mainness, for example, business master’s business degrees in a hybrid tain the interest of stustrategy students can “go in format that combines live, on-camdents, so having them and operate a company in pus class time two hours a week with watch a three-hour lecture cyberspace … make every other online content and required is not going to be effective,” decision that a business coursework. Michael Tidwell: would have to make, in an he said. “We were thinking about how we Students want “more ac- Students can oper- online environment,” as- can provide all the essential experition-oriented learning, in ate a company in sessing benefits and draw- ences of a degree program … and smaller doses,” and clear cyberspace. backs of actions and seeing were concerned that online — as relevance, said Ed Borbely, their impact, said Michael good as it can possibly be” — can’t director of the University of Michi - Tidwell, the college’s dean. duplicate the interaction and feeling gan ’s Integrative Systems and Deof affinity that students gain by Quicker completion sign graduate degree-granting divimeeting face-to-face, said David Some schools are compressing Shields, executive vice president and sion housed in the College of Engineering. “There’s less tolerance courses for faster completion and to chief academic officer at Walsh. for ‘Just sit back, someday you appeal to students interested in foStudent feedback has been posicusing on just one course at a time. tive, he said, and the blended formight use this.’ ” He said the division in the past Lawrence Tech, for example, is mat makes a difference in students four years has added instructional starting to change some 16-week staying with their coursework to the designers who work with faculty to courses to eight-week formats to re- finish. enhance online delivery and help spond to online students’ desire for “I would say that retention of stuthem “think about how they could a rapid pace toward finishing a dents who spend at least some time more creatively deliver the course course and results, said Bush. live is probably several times higher Another example is at Schoolcraft than retention of students who sign content” — like “chunking their courses in smaller bites,” using ani- College , where a new program up for an online class,” Shields said. mation and interactive models, and launching this fall takes some tradiPrepare for completion employing “flipped classrooms.” tional 15-week courses and conCompletion is a common issue That’s a model, used by many denses them into five-week blocs. schools try to schools, in which students prior to “You’re meeting all the address. Some class go through content — like competencies of the It’s a shift in online students the short video lectures posted online course; thinking struggle if — leaving the scheduled class time course content from “That may they don’t anticto discuss and apply material indi- hasn’t can’t be ipate time needchanged,” said vidually or in small groups. ed for courseSuch approaches are designed to Stacy Whiddone work or lack be more engaging and aid learning, don, associate online” to discipline for a Borbely said. And “while intended dean of disprimarily to enhance the course for tance learning. “How can learning environment that, Another new remote learners, they are also benewe do that among other fiting students who are on campus Schoolcraft direction is things, requires and taking the same course content an online biology online?” self-motivation course complete with in the same semester.” and time-man“wet lab” experiments StacyWhiddon, Boosting interactivity agement skills. that can be done at Schoolcraft College Another step has been to inte- home, not on campus. “It’s not ungrate student response systems into Students buy a lab kit that con- usual for a student to think an online courses online and on campus. tains materials necessary to com- course is easy, and it’s not,” said “It’s a way to gauge the student’s plete required experiments, assisted Ronda Edwards, executive director of understanding of what’s being by demonstrational videos created Michigan Colleges Online, an initiataught, and also solicit input, in real by the biology faculty member who tive of the Michigan Community College time, regardless of where the stu- developed the course. Experiment Association. The collaborative aggredent is located,” said Diane Land- reports and pictures are submitted to gates and helps students access onsiedel, the UM division’s associate an instructor via computer. A similar line courses from community coldirector. While on-campus students online chemistry lab course is ex- leges around the state. One step schools take is to orient can use physical devices such as pected to launch in January. clickers, software deployed over It’s a shift in thinking from “That students to what they can expect smartphones enables “students can’t be done online” to “How can and need to think about, prior to anywhere in the world, who are we do that online?” as online eduSEE NEXT PAGE running the app, to do exactly what cation advances, Whiddon said.

ONLINE LEARNING

ROBOTS FROM PAGE 9

*Population: full-time workers, 25 and older Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 American Community Survey

one day per week rose from 9.5 million (7 percent of all workers) in 1999 to 13.4 million (9.5 percent of all workers) in 2010. Nicole Winkler, associate director for instructional design at the Wayne State University School of Business Administration, said practical uses of such technology could also be found at the management levels. “If you have a physical office

space but you need to work from home for the day, you still want to be sure that things are operating smoothly and not be that nagging person,” she said. “If that technology is in place, it’s kind of like you’re doing a walkthrough. It allows people to kind of work flex, but not be so physically connected and have to rely on somebody else.” That and other uses are part of the wave of the future where business schools need to get in on the ground level.

“There is a real opportunity, especially for business schools, to really get out there in front of this on how the business environments in the future might operate,” Greenhow said. “If we know that increasingly people are not physically present in their offices and yet collaboration is increasingly more important, what technologies allow them (employees) to feel like they are present in the conversation and that their voices are heard?” 䡲 Kirk Pinho: (313) 446-0412 Twitter: @kirkpinhoCDB

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SPECIAL REPORT: ONLINE EDUCATION FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

starting an online course. Macomb Community College, for example, has a variety of materials on its website highlighting the considerations, skills and traits students need to succeed in online learning. “Our role is to inform them, before they even enroll in the class” and “let them know that this is not something (that) … just because you can do it in your pajamas you can do it in your sleep,” said Carl Weckerle, director of instructional technology and online learning at Macomb. Once they are registered, new students must take a Macomb online tutorial that focuses on online learning aspects and management techniques and acquaints them with features of the system used by the college to electronically deliver courses. Sometimes, students need basics. Mott Community College in Flint found that some students weren’t prepared with necessary computer skills and launched a prep class that covers “what every student needed to know at a minimum to be successful in an online course,” said Cheryl Shelton, Mott’s chief technology officer. The class, which is mandatory, includes areas like Web searching, using email and the college’s e-learning system, online resources and time management strategies. Shelton said that after Mott implemented the prep class in 2008, faculty began seeing students more prepared to address course material instead of first needing to work on basic computer and online skills. The prep course also contributed to an uptick in online students’ passage of courses.

Faculty training Faculty training is another area schools address. The nonprofit Educational Technology Organization of Michigan offers beginning and ad-

vanced training courses, which some schools augment with their own workshops. Others, like Oakland University , have tailored training specifically to their schools’ electronic learning system. Oakland’s four-week fully online course, begun about a year and a half ago and available to new and existing online faculty, covers areas that include how to design a good online course and interactive activities. In addition to improving quality, the course has given faculty a new understanding of students’ experience, said Shaun Moore, director of e-learning. “Probably the biggest comment we get from faculty is that they didn’t realize what it’s like to be an online student,” he said. Oakland is also looking at technology that will easily enable teachers to adapt courses to each student’s aptitude — an automated system that, for example, would allow one student to skip ahead in coursework to the next segment, and place another student with a recap. “Adaptive learning platforms

send students on different paths, based on how quickly they’re learning. Each student is logging in, what’s visible to them is what’s going to be on their path … they might see a video that another student doesn’t see, might be given a quiz,” Moore said. “It’s very difficult for teachers to give one static course for everyone. “The real appeal to this in the learning is that it gives the student that independent study, one-onone feel.” Online and on-campus teaching can feed off each other, to the student’s and instructor’s benefit, educators say. “Online teaching has actually improved my face-to-face teaching,” said Judy Davis, professor of marketing and integrated marketing communications at Eastern Michigan. She said that designing an online class requires instructors to think through class structure and content carefully and set up all elements of the course prior to its start. She said course websites can also be companions to traditional classes, containing syllabi, instructions and assignments and “handouts” like articles, links to resources and materials, and virtual libraries.

Looking to the future Evolving technology bells and whistles are bringing new elements to a student’s experience. For example, an e-learning system Macomb is piloting will make it easier for students to set up their own Web conferencing and video conferencing to work with each other. It has mobile applications that “will put the courses basically in the students’ pocket so students will be able to go through the text, video, conferencing, through their phone or their tablet if they choose,” said the college’s Weckerle. Electronic “badges” that students can earn and display online for completing course elements are another technique some schools have tried. The digital badges can serve as an award for learning something or completing an activity, but they also contain information and data, viewable by others, on skills or competencies gained to earn that credential, said Brendan Guenther, director of academic technology at Michigan State University. “The idea would be it’s both engaging to the learner, and it makes it much more clear to the party that comes along later, like the employer (asking,) ‘What did you learn in that course?’ ” he said. Also being explored in MSU’s education department: Robotic devices that give online students greater in-class interaction. The “telepresence robots” — stands mounted with tablets that display the online student and can swivel and tilt as heads would in a conversation, and taller wheeled versions — are technology that Oakland University’s Moore would also like to try. “It’s an interesting mix of both online and face to face. It’s like you’re there, in the robot’s form.” 䡲

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SPECIAL REPORT: ONLINE EDUCATION

Massive online courses grow; whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in it for universities? By Kirk Pinho kpinho@crain.com

More than 3.25 million people took massive open online courses through the University of Michigan during the last three years â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a figure equivalent to 76 percent of the metro Detroit population of 4.29 million. And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just through one university. By any measure, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an enormous figure and commitment to offer such massive open online courses, better known as MOOCs. They generally offer free instruction, peer interaction and testing in certain college courses (but not class credits) on an online platform that can serve thousands or tens of thousands of students each. With classes ranging from introduction to finance to a crash course in poetry, from computer programming basics to a brief history of the Internet, universities across the state have embraced the open courses. So whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in it for the universities â&#x20AC;&#x201D; such as UM, Michigan State University and Wayne State University , among others â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that offer them? Depending on whom you ask, universities benefit in a few different ways. For some, the upside is that the courses may sow seeds for the MOOC students to eventually enroll at the university, generating revenue. For others, there are educational benefits in that they give professors a sort of educational sandbox in which they can experiment with new and emerging methods of delivering content and course themes. And some argue that the benefit is largely social in nature by offering high-level educational opportunities to a group of students that may otherwise be unable to afford them. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They provide the general popu-

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The scoop on MOOCs What is a MOOC? Generally, an online course available to whoever signs up free of charge. How does one participate? Through providers like Coursera, Udacity and others that partner with large universities like the University of Michigan. Are they for college credit? No, although some offer certificates to prove participation that can be purchased ranging from $49 to $99. Who teaches them? Typically, college professors and other subject-area experts.

lace with an opportunity to have lifelong learning experiences and exposure to new content,â&#x20AC;? said Geralyn Stephens, associate professor, clinical, in teacher education in Wayne State Geralyn Stephens: Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ColMOOCs offer lege of Education. lifelong learning. Steven Krause, a professor in the Eastern Michigan University Department of English, Language and Literature who co-edited the 2014 book Invasion of the MOOCs: The Promises and Perils of Massive Open Online Courses, said that in many ways MOOCs are good public relations for universities. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It represents, for UM or Ohio State University or MSU a little less so, PR. And itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a huge cost to them. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more about trying to attract a student to apply to UM rather than take a MOOC online. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s essentially advertising,â&#x20AC;? he said. But the landscape for massive open online courses â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the first uses

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of which trace back only to 2008 and which began to take mainstream hold in education in 2012 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is generally seen locally among academics as highly evolving. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The breadth and depth of scope will continue to increase,â&#x20AC;? Stephens said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t lost their luster.â&#x20AC;? Stephens, who has taught online courses since 1998 and MOOCs since 2012, said the next generation of massive online courses will be taught at the community college level and geared toward specialized local content. For example, a community college in a highly urbanized and industrial area may offer free online instruction on the history of manufacturing. More rural schools may offer gratis courses on certain aspects of agriculture or farming. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I can offer that to the entire general population in my area, and that may be intriguing to them,â&#x20AC;? she said. For James DeVaney, associate vice president of digital education and innovation in the Office of the Provost at UM in Ann Arbor, the key change must be better determining what defines â&#x20AC;&#x153;successâ&#x20AC;? for the open courses. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of attention has been focused on completion rate,â&#x20AC;? he said. But that is problematic because of the sheer number of students participating. For example, a completion rate of 10 percent among students taking MOOCs through UM means that 325,000 have successfully completed a course â&#x20AC;&#x201D; more than threequarters of the total number of degree-seeking students enrolled in Michigan universities and community colleges in the 2013-14 academic year. There were 400 students enrolled in the massive open online courses offered by MSU in 2012, while there were about 4,500 in 2013 and 5,000 last year, according to Gerald Rhead, interim director of MSU Global, the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s innovation and strategy unit in the Office of the Provost. And all told, there have been between 16 million and 18 million people enrolled in MOOCs, about 2,500 of which had started or were scheduled to start as of July 2015, according to EdSurge Inc. , an independent Burlingame, Calif.-based education technology information provider. A typical MOOC enrollment level is around 25,000 students, according to research by Katy Jordan, a Ph.D. candidate focusing on technology-enhanced learning at The Open University in the United Kingdom. So the size of some MOOCs causes some problems, Stephens said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They can be so large that there is no real opportunity to engage,â&#x20AC;? she said. äĄ˛ Kirk Pinho: (313) 446-0412 Twitter: @kirkpinhoCDB

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PEOPLE

ON THE MOVE SPOTLIGHT MICHELLE SHERMAN, CFO, Gleaners Michelle Sherman has been named CFO of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan.

Prior to joining Gleaners, Sherman, 49, worked for Barden Companies Inc. in

a variety of positions, Sherman most recently as CFO and special trustee and as the acting CEO/COO since 2011. She graduated from Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, earned a master’s degree in international finance from Walsh College and is a CPA in the state of Michigan. Sherman, who replaces Jack Bourget, will work closely with the president, board of directors and senior leadership to develop and implement successful financial strategies across the organization while adapting Gleaners’ practices to a continually evolving environment. She was recognized by Crain’s Detroit Business as a “40 under 40” recipient in 2004.

DeAngelis

Dyze

dent and chief administrative officer, from executive vice president and CFO; Tom Dyze to executive vice president and chief risk officer, Rakolta from executive vice president and chief legal counsel; and John Rakolta III to group vice president and CFO, from assistant vice president, new business development and corporate strategy.

INSURANCE Jamie Spriet to business development director, health and benefits practice,

CONSTRUCTION Detroit. He continues as president of the industrial division. Also, Vince DeAngelis to executive vice presi-

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS Anesthesia Staffing Consultants Inc., Bingham Farms, an anesthesia

management company, has been acquired by NorthStar Anesthesia P.A., Irving, Texas. Websites: northstaranesthesia.com, asconsultants.com.

CONTRACTS American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc., Detroit, was selected by General Motors Co., Detroit, as target sup-

plier to provide axles and driveshafts for GM’s next generation full-size truck program under GM’s Strategic Sourcing Process. Website: aam.com. iSelect Custom Benefit Store, Troy, a multi-carrier private insurance exchange, has added Delta Dental of Michigan Inc., Okemos, to its network of carrier plans. Websites: iselectcbs.com, deltadentalmi.com. Paradigm Diagnostics Inc., Ann

Arbor, which specializes in provid-

Beginning Sept. 14, Crain’s is putting all coverage relating to newly appointed executives in one place: our website. The appointments and promotions that normally appear in this space will move to www.crainsdetroit.com/peopleonthemove. Companies that wish to announce executive appointments in the print editions, and online, may pay a $350 fee to do so. Each paid item will include a photograph and about 50 words. The online list will be searchable and archived by name or industry. Abbreviated online-only listings will be free and can be submitted by visiting the same link. These must be management-level positions and are subject to editors’ discretion. No photos are included in free listings. Also in September, we’ll introduce a new weekly digital feature — a People on the Move newsletter that combines the free online announcements, news stories about new executives and the paid display People items. To sign up for that, visit crainsdetroit.com/peoplenews.

NONPROFITS Cassandra Harvey to director of

employment and talent management, Neighborhood Service Organization, De-

troit, from training and developHarvey ment manager, Level One Bank, Farmington Hills.

Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, Troy.

She continues as president and Spriet CEO, Spriet Consulting LLC, Grosse Pointe Woods.

MARKETING Mike Haller to president, Walbridge Group, Walbridge Aldinger Co.,

Coming next month: ‘People’ changes

Tiffany Jones to senior director and Detroit office head, Lambert, Edwards & Associates, Detroit, from director. Also, Renee Ketels to director, investor relations practice group, from senior associate.

Martin

Collar

Ashley Martin to executive director, Chelsea Retirement Community, United Methodist Retirement Communities Inc., Chelsea, from associate executive director. Also, Anathea Collar to assisted living administrator, Towsley Village and Glazier Commons, from vice presi-

DEALS & DETAILS ing cancer testing, signed an agreement with health insurer Three Rivers Provider Network Inc., Chula Vista, Calif., which makes Paradigm’s cancer diagnostic test available to members of the Three Rivers network. Websites: paradigmdx.org, threeriversprovidernetwork.org.

EXPANSIONS

cation, Spectrum Wireless (USA) Inc., 27041 Gloede Drive, Warren. The new location is the region’s authorized dealer for Kenwood two-way radio sales and service, as well as short or long-term rental, technical service support, EF Johnson equipment, telephone answering services and state contract pricing. Website: spectrum-communications.ca.

Domino’s Pizza Inc., Ann Arbor,

opened a store in Oklahoma City, Okla. Franchise owners are Steve Dolan and Jay Feavel. Website: dominos.com. MOD Pizza LLC, Bellevue, Wash.,

opened a restaurant at 18821 Traditions Drive, Northville. Telephone: (248) 277-3620. Website: modpizza.com. Spectrum Communications Ltd., Lon-

don, Ontario, opened its first U.S. lo-

McKeen & Associates PC, is expanding its law offices in the Penobscot Building, Detroit. The additional 3,291 square feet on the 43rd floor will increase the firm’s footprint in the building to more than 14,000 square feet. McKeen already occupies the entire 42nd floor and more than 3,000 square feet on the 41st floor. Website: mckeenassociates.com. BorgWarner Inc., Auburn Hills,

opened a new manufacturing facility

dent of employee relations and executive director, Residence of Arbor Hospice, Ann Arbor.

CALENDAR WEDNESDAY SEPT. 2

Business Development Series — Sales Coaching. 7:30-9 a.m. Southfield

Area Chamber of Commerce. An interactive workshop with the latest business news and information that can affect day-to-day business operations. Southfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Southfield. $10. Contact: Tanya MarkosVannoe, (248)557-6661; email: info@southfieldchamber.com Selling Smart Workshop — 30 Second Openers that Get the Attention of Prospects. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Ann Arbor

Spark. Most people brag about their product or service, and then wonder why the prospect doesn’t “get it.” This session help you to state your business in a brief, targeted way. Spark, Ann Arbor. Free. Registration ends 24 hours before the event. Contact email: alissa@annarborusa.org.

SERVICES Meredith Krupic to senior vice president-Michigan, Lee Hecht Harrison LLC, Southfield, from executive

vice president, Right Management, Southfield. Katherine Miller to director of studio operations, FLEXcity Fitness LLC, Bloomfield Hills, from manager, FLEXcity Fitness LLC studio, Grand Rapids.

People on the Move announcements are limited to management positions. Email cdbdepartments@crain.com. Include person’s name, new title, company, city in which the person will work, former title, former company (if not promoted from within) and former city in which the person worked. Photos are welcome, but we cannot guarantee they will be used.

Changes to Crain’s People feature begin Sept. 14. (See note above.)

in Oroszlany, Hungary, to make transfer cases, feeder pumps, valves and all-wheel-drive couplings for global automakers. Website: borgwarner.com.

NEW PRODUCTS iDashboards, Troy, a supplier of

business intelligence dashboards, has launched a new academic edition that will be available to graduate-level students through universities’ graduate program professors. The academic edition offers professors that teach analytics, marketing, technology, business and engineering free dashboard software for their students. Website: idashboards.com. Deals & Details guidelines. Email cdbdepartments@crain.com. Use any Deals & Details item as a model for your release, and look for the appropriate category. Without complete information, your item will not run. Photos are welcome, but we cannot guarantee they will be used.

UPCOMING EVENTS Build IT Together Detroit Technology Summit. 8 a.m.-noon. Sept. 10.

Build IT Together. Southeast Michigan technology summit for IT and business professionals to collaborate, network and share information. Security Research Engineer Chris Czub will be the keynote speaker. Bamboo Detroit. Free. Website: buildittogether.co/register-now. What Drives CustomerChoices? 5:308:30 p.m. Sept.10. TiEDetroit. Speakers: GaryGigot and Joe Urbany. Topics include: How are you different from competitors in ways important to customers? Circle process — the basis for more than 1,000 growth strategy projects with executives at the UniversityofNotre Dame; in a case study, Gigot will share his experience in growth strategy. Lawrence Technological University, Southfield. Free; space is limited. Contact: Sarah Myrand, (248) 254-4043; email: sarahm@kyyba.com. Roadblocks as Accelerants. 5-8 p.m. Sept.15. Marketing and Sales Executives of Detroit. Joseph Anderson, chairman and CEO of TAG Holdings LLC, military hero and

subject of an Oscar-winning documentary and last year’s MSED Lifetime Achievement Award winner, will share his insights on overcoming career and life obstacles. Management Education Center, Troy. $45 MSED members, $60 nonmembers. Telephone: (248) 643-6590; website: msedetroit.org.

Calendar guidelines. Visit crainsdetroit.com and click “Events” near the top of the home page. Then, click “Submit Your Events” from the drop-down menu that will appear. Fill out the submission form, then click “Submit event” at the bottom of the page. More Calendar items can be found at crainsdetroit.com/events.

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Lutheran Social Services program to keep seniors at home By Jay Greene jgreene@crain.com

Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, a Detroit-based company that operates five comprehensive senior living centers in the state, is developing a new strategic plan for care management for patients who are discharged from a hospital or nursing home and need home care, company officials told Crain’s. Each year, private insurance payers and the Medicare program spend billions of dollars unnecessarily for patients who are discharged from hospitals and go back for the same medical condition within 30 to 60 days. Vickie Thompson-Sandy, president of Lutheran Social Services, said the nonprofit health company wants to test its care management program to demonstrate to payers that it can save money and improve patient outcomes. “It’s our desire to get a rate — capitated or per member per month — but we haven’t gotten

there yet,” Thompson-Sandy said. Under capitation, providers are paid a set amount for a set of clinical or social services over a period of time, usually a month. Lutheran piloted the program on eight patients who were discharged from Luther Manor in Saginaw. The project then was expanded July 1 to The Lakeview in Cadillac. Every day, 10,000 people turn 65 in the U.S. and begin receiving Medicare. There are approximately 55 million seniors on Medicare, 16 percent of the national population. Michigan’s Medicare population represents 18 percent of the state’s 10 million residents compared with Florida’s 19 percent, which is tied for second highest in the nation behind Maine’s 21 percent. By the end of 2016, Lutheran plans to expand its program to all five of its senior centers in Michigan, where it cares for 1,169 residents. Every two months, Luther-

“We identify patients we believe could trigger a readmission, and they have chosen to go home. We have received a very positive reaction” Leigh McLeod, Lutheran Social Services ofMichigan

an expects to add eight residents to the program, said Leigh McLeod, vice president of senior living. “We identify patients we believe could trigger a readmission, and they have chosen to go home,” McLeod said. “We have received a very positive reaction from patients. They love only having to talk with one person. That person becomes a part of their life.” Some patients also have home health services and private duty nurses. “There is some overlap, but we

have a navigator who goes in and coordinates the care and can connect with the home health company,” she said. Besides testing the program to garner health plan contracts, McLeod said, Lutheran is “doing this because it is the right thing to do.” She also pointed to changes in Medicare and private reimbursement that are rewarding providers to take care of patients on a health care continuum — at home and in outpatient, inpatient and post-acute care settings that include rehabilitation and nurs-

ing homes. “We want to prevent people from going back to the hospitals,” McLeod said. “We believe if a patient is going home, we need to bring services to them so they can get their medications and access the health care system.” Lutheran has set aside an unspecified amount of funding to hire one nurse for Saginaw and one social work navigator for Cadillac to monitor patients at home and provide care management oversight. Officials said they will add staff as they expand the program. “The goal is to keep the patient in their home,” she said. Lutheran also is collaborating in Saginaw with Covenant Health care and St. Mary’s of Michigan Med ical Center and several other local physician groups to prevent hospital readmissions. In Cadillac, Lutheran is working with Munson Home Care. 䡲 Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325 Twitter: @jaybgreene

WIN report: Region’s employment up in first half of year Request for Information For the Retirement Systems of the City of Detroit The Retirement Systems of the City of Detroit are issuing this request for information (RFI) for professional accounting services which includes managing the financial activities and maintenance of the financial records of the Retirement Systems. Interested firms are invited to submit a response. The RFI will be posted on the Retirement System of the City of Detroit website at www.rscd.org. All correspondence and inquiries concerning this RFI should be directed solely to Ms. Cynthia A. Thomas, Executive Director, at c athomas@rscd.org . We are requesting 1 copy of your response in an electronic (pdf) format, emailed to cathomas@rscd.org. Responses are due on September 10 2015 at 2:00 P.M. EST.

Southeast Michigan employment levels were on the upswing during the first two quarters of this year, and the forecast for the third quarter is even rosier, said Colby Spencer Cesaro, director of research for the Detroit-based Workforce Intelligence Network for Southeast Michigan. More than 20,000 jobs were added to the region’s payrolls in this year’s second quarter. Since the second quarter of last year, there have been about 30,000 more jobs, states the WIN second-quarter market report. Postings rose by 7 percent throughout the nine-

county WIN region, the report states. The report showed top in-demand jobs were software developers, with 5,649 postings; registered nurses, with 4,519 postings; and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, with 4,097 posts. Sales reps and retail salespersons also ranked high as in-demand professions. WIN is a collaborative effort between nine community colleges and seven Michigan Works agencies to create a workforce development system in Southeast Michigan.

CHINA

the one we’re currently experiencing, Sowerby said. The market suffered a 15 percent correction in 2010. Then, a near 20 percent correction in 2011 and two 10 percent drops in 2012, Sowerby said. It’s easy to see billions in market value evaporate overnight and panic. The financial media play into the hype. Selling begets selling. Selling begets falling share prices. But, to quote the late Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, after the 1987 stock market crash that became known as Black Monday: “It’s only paper.” 䡲

FROM PAGE 3

Does the market look bleak in a one-day, or even one-month, window? Yes. However, the market in the U.S. remains near peak performance. Extrapolate stock movements from two weeks to two years, and a much rosier picture emerges.

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Between July 2013 and July 2015, the Dow was up more than 20 percent, peaking well above 18,000 on several occasions. Even with the recent slide, it remains up more than 7 percent since that time. As David Sowerby, vice president and portfolio manager at the Bloomfield Hills office of Loomis, Sayles & Co. LP, said in a note last week, the market is in correction mode and evidence suggests it is still strong. “The U.S. economy is not close to recession conditions … ,” Sowerby wrote. “Long-believed skepticism on Chinese economic growth, Europe’s lingering weakness, the debate over low oil implications, corporate profit margins peaking, and eventual Fed rate hikes are, in part, factors contributing to the normal, yet unpleasant, downturn.” Over the past six years, the market has produced a better than 13 percent compound return, even in the face of several corrections like

Marti Benedetti

BANKRUPTCIES The following businesses filed for protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit Aug. 21-27. Under Chapter 11, a company files for reorganization. Chapter 7 involves total liquidation. 䡲 Camera Mart Inc., 11 S. Telegraph Road, Pontiac, voluntary Chapter 11. Assets and liabilities not available. 䡲 Automotive Supply-Roseville Inc., 25333 Gratiot Ave., Roseville, voluntary Chapter 7. Assets: $563,185; liabilities: $494,138. 䡲 The Plant Station LLC, 720 S. Adams, Birmingham, voluntary Chapter 7. Assets: $69; liabilities: $132,971.60. Natalie Broda

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Crain’s review: Top DIA execs are paid comparably to peers By Sherri Welch swelch@crain.com

Each time the topic of compensation for the Detroit Institute of Arts’ top executives comes up, it spurs controversy, to say the least. But are the salaries paid to the museum’s top officials comparable to their peers? To find out, Crain’s reviewed the 2013 compensation figures for the director/CEO, COO and CFO or top financial officer reported on the tax forms of peer institutions. And here’s what that analysis found after evaluating 10 museums: The pay levels for the DIA’s top three executives were, in all but one instance — the COO’s compensation — at or below the median pay of their peers. The DIA is sharing the compensation proposed, over $620,000 total in salary increases and bonuses, with the art institute authorities in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties as a condition of receiving about $23 million annually in millage revenue from voters in the counties. Of the total the DIA said it planned to pay the three executives, only $49,000 would come from the museum’s operating budget under the museum’s proposal. The rest is coming from a private fund seeded by undisclosed donors expressly for the purpose of supporting the performance-driven bonuses to the museum’s directors, DIA Chairman Eugene Gargaro said last week. Last week, one or more members of the Oakland County Art Institute Authority questioned the salary increases, performance bonuses and severance pay the museum plans to pay its top three executives retroactively for 2014 and 2015. “In order to attract and retain the very best people ... you’ve got to be competitive (and) pay comparable compensation to what other institutions are experiencing,” Gargaro said. New York City-based Phillips Op penheim, which is assisting with the DIA’s search for a new director, provided the compensation bench-

mark data for the director or CEO position at the 10 museums. Crain’s reviewed that information and the 990 forms for those organizations to compare the COO and CFO compensation levels at the DIA’s peer institutions, as well. The data reported on nonprofit tax forms reflects compensation data for the calendar year ending with or within its fiscal year. In the case of the museums reviewed, the reported compensation was paid in calendar 2012. Here’s what the Crain’s review found: Former DIA Director Graham Beal earned less than the median base pay among 11 peer institutions, including the DIA, for fiscal 2013, with base pay of $410,000. The median base pay was $427,000. His total compensation that year, $513,868, with benefits and any performance bonuses paid that year, was also below the median total compensation of $564,000 for his counterparts at peer institutions. DIA COO Anne Marie Erickson’s $275,000 base pay was the median among the group Crain’s reviewed. Her total compensation, $369,366, was 11 percent higher than the median of $331,609. The $175,000 base pay that year for Robert Bowen, DIA vice president, CFO and treasurer, was below the $218,302 median. His total compensation of $190,903, was also below the median for total pay, $236,217. The compensation committee of the DIA’s board looks at metrics and comparables from other institutions around the country and spends “a fair amount of time in that analysis,” Gargaro said. It also uses performance criteria in determining performance bonuses, he said. In the director’s case, for example, it reviews six or seven criteria, including the exhibition calendar, attendance at the museum, fundraising results, and attraction and retention of top staff members, Gargaro said. The salaries to the C-suite executives at the museum were based on

performance during the periods involved because of what the DIA was going through at the time, particularly the financial crisis in Detroit and the bankruptcy, he said. “The actual work that was performed was way outside of the skill set of the three people involved, given the demands of that (bankruptcy) experience.” So what is driving the compensation packages museum directors command at institutions across the country? The job of the museum director is one of the hardest jobs to do, said Naree Viner, principal in the nonprofit practice at Los Angeles-based executive research firm Korn Ferry. In the past, many museum directors were scholar directors, “very good at knowing the content, with substance and gravitas in that realm,” she said. But today’s museum directors also need to be really good managers of people, hiring and motivating a strong team, Viner said. Plus, they have to be good stewards of an institution, providing strong strategic direction and forging good relationships with donors. While less experienced executives typically command lower pay when they start out, the finite pool of candidates is likely to continue to spur competitive salaries into the future, she said. Though its budget is a fraction of the size, some would say the DIA competes for talent with larger institutions like the Art Institute of Chicago and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The Chicago museum paid its president base pay of $482,682 and $707,352 in total compensation for 2013. The Los Angeles museum, which operated on a $105.2 million budget that year compared to the DIA’s $35 million, paid its CEO $791,822 in base pay and $1.03 million in total compensation. For expanded data on museum executive pay rates at top museums, see crainsdetroit.com/museum pay. Sherri Welch: (313) 446-1694 Twitter: @SherriWelch

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UAWCO-OP FROM PAGE 1

measures that other employers have taken that have lowered their costs to under 5 percent per year. By 2018, the Detroit 3 also faces millions of dollars in penalties from the so-called “Cadillac tax” mandated under the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Employers will be taxed on health coverage that costs more than $10,200 for individuals or $27,500 for a family. Meanwhile, hourly autoworkers haven’t had a raise in at least eight years. Experts said during interviews with Crain’s last week that savings generated by a UAW health care coop could be used to pay autoworkers to cover an expected increase in health care cost sharing, but also to give them pay raises. The Detroit 3 could also reduce their health care costs and possibly hire more employees to expand U.S. operations. Suppliers, then, often take contractsetting queues from the Detroit 3 negotiations.

Fruitful talks? Joel Clark, president of Southfield-based J.S. Clark Agency Inc., said he is optimistic the UAW and Detroit 3 can reach a solution to rising health care costs and stagnant wages. “When a group takes ownership of a problem, you will get better outcomes,” Clark said. “So having the UAW taking ownership of the plan in conjunction with the Big 3 will have positive outcomes.” Clark said the UAW trust has made small benefit changes in retired automaker benefit plans — reinstating vision and dental — that have extended greatly the financial life of the trust with little impact to the retirees. (See related story, this page.) “I am quite certain the same will happen with active UAW members,” Clark said. The UAW labor contract expires Sept. 14. General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said in separate statements that the automakers support talks that lead to cost savings, including a potential health care co-op. Ford Motor Co. didn’t respond to Crain’s. In a statement, Fiat Chrysler said the company welcomes any offers the UAW makes to reduce health care costs, which have been rising 8 percent annually. “FCA is open to discussing with the UAW options that will reduce cost while both the improving the quality of care and the health of our employees,” said Jodi Tinson, a Fiat Chrysler spokesman, in a statement. Katie McBride, a GM spokesman, said creative solutions are needed to fight back rising health care costs. “GM is committed to working with our UAW partners to explore ways we can continue delivering benefits employees value while improving the long-term competitiveness of the company,” she said in a statement. The Detroit 3 each manage

Well-run UAW trust a model for proposed health care co-op By Jay Greene jgreene@crain.com

Over the past five years, the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust under Executive Director Fran Parker has been fairly successful in managing the health care needs of 775,000 retired autoworkers and their dependents, both inside Michigan and in other states. It has been called a model for a proposed UAW health care co-operative for active workers by UAW President Dennis Williams. The UAW is in labor contract negotiations with the Detroit 3 automakers. Their current four-year contract expires Sept. 14. In 2013, the UAW trust increased net assets to $61.1 billion, up from $56.5 billion in 2012, said audit reports from the U.S. Department of Labor. Total benefit obligations declined in 2013 to $65.7 billion from $74.1 billion the prior year. As a result, projected benefit shortfalls amounted to $4.9 billion in 2013, far less than the 2012 projected shortfall that totaled $20.2 billion, said the audit reports. Data for 2014 for the UAW trust was not available.

Fiat Chrysler health costs up 77% since 2011 Since 2011, health care costs have increased 77 percent for hourly workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, from $347 million per year to $615 million this year, FCA said. For tier-one legacy employees, their average health care plan is valued at more than $18,000 per year. It is projected to double in nine years. Health costs amount to $9 per hour of the average $47-per-hour wage. Newly hired workers, considered tiertwo employees who start out at $15.78 per hour, would have health care costs exceed the value of $16 per hour within 10 years. Jay Greene

health care benefit programs for their salaried workers, and hourly workers based on the UAW contract. This year, the Detroit 3 projects to spend $2 billion on health care costs. Since 2011, health care costs have increased 77 percent for hourly workers at Fiat Chrysler from $347 million per year to $615 million this year, FCA said. Ford’s costs have risen 45 percent during the same period to about $800 million from $550 million. GM spent $665 million, but did not disclose current numbers. Total U.S. automaker employment for hourly workers stands about 140,000, including about 70,000 in Michigan, or 3.5 percent of state workforce, said the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research. Add in another 150,000 salaried employees and 775,000 UAW retiree trust lives, and the total number in the co-op and retiree trust could amount to nearly 1 million. “That’s a pretty good number,” said Williams in a transcript of a June roundtable discussion the UAW made available to Crain’s. “I’d go to the bargaining table with that number. In fact I am.”

While Parker declined to speak with Crain’s for this story, previous interviews with UAW trust executives have indicated projected shortfalls go up and down depending on the strength of the stock market and expenses. They say the trust is well managed and has increased retiree benefits. For example, expanded coverage has included vision, dental care, case management services, standard immunizations, shingles vaccine, diabetes education and cardiac rehabilitation programs. The UAW trust is known as a VEBA, or voluntary employee beneficiary association. It came together in 2007 as part of a collective bargaining agreement between the UAW and the Detroit 3 automakers — General Motors Co. , Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC , which is now called Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. As a plan manager, it is designed to pay health care costs of the retired autoworkers and their dependents, which include 600,000 who live in Michigan. The trust manages health care costs as a single fund that combines all the automaker contributions, although it has separate accounts for

GM, Ford and Chrysler to pay the medical benefits for each company’s retirees. Annual health care costs totaled about $4.2 billion in 2013 with about $970 million paid to hospitals, doctors and for prescriptions. Average annual cost increases have been about 5 percent the last several years. To deliver benefits to retirees in Michigan, the trust contracts with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan on a self-funded basis and four health plans. The four health plans in Michigan are Health Alliance Plan of Michigan , HealthPlus of Michigan , Blue Care Network and Priority Health. Officials for HAP and Blue Cross declined comment. In comments made by Williams in June, the UAW believes pooling active employees for contracting purposes can be just as successful as for the retirees. “Since we’ve had the VEBA as you know for our retirees, we’ve learned a lot about health care,” Williams said in a transcript made available to Crain’s by the UAW. 䡲

Kristin Dziczek, the auto re- union workers only pay about search center’s director of the labor 6 percent out of pocket, although and industry group, said the UAW that varies by automaker and workco-op could be a formula for suc- er employment status, he said. By contrast, average private cess, but the Detroit 3 probably would not want to include salaried manufacturing workers pay 30 peremployees in a co-op with their cent out of pocket for health care, Dziczek said. hourly workers. “It would be a major change in “It is really possible for the hourly workers,” said Dziczek, adding that benefits,” Dziczek said. “(The coif approved, the co-op formation op) might say to Ford or GM: Give me ‘X’ amount of dollars and we might be delayed past 2016. “It would be the same kind of de- will take care of (health care) in this layed start like the UAW trust. co-op. If there is any leftover, we will share it with you. Maybe 2018, This could protect which coinciden- “Aside from cost increases and tally would wages, maximize the benbe the same health efits.” year as the Mark Lezotte, a Cadillac tax care is the partner with Butzel goes into efnumber Long PC in Detroit, fect. This said a UAW co-op structure can one cost could be difficult more fluidly for to create because manage the of its sheer size. health care benefit automakers. But he said the package,” she said. trend of compaOne of the They need nies forming larger problems the De- flexibility to pools of “covered troit 3 face with make changes lives” to generate their employee efficiencies is nohealth care bene- that can lower ticeable. fits is that the fourtheir costs. A “We are hearing year UAW labor contracts prohibit cooperative can employers pooling into private exthem from updat- do that.” changes, and ing benefit coverchambers doing age year to year, Kristin Dziczek, small-business exlike most non- CenterforAutomotive Research changes to use union companies, bulk purchasing power to get better Dziczek said. “Aside from wages, health care is rates,” he said. “The idea of forming the number one cost for (automak- a co-op is just another vehicle.” ers),” she said. “They need flexibility Co-op management to make changes that can lower options their costs. A cooperative can do In previous statements, the that.” UAW’s Williams has called for a new Cost-sharing deals independent health care cooperaBut Dziczek said the biggest bar- tive to be formed to jointly negotirier will be negotiating cost-sharing ate health care services contracts provisions. with the UAW trust. Retirees in the UAW trust now The resulting clout of up to 1 milpay on average about 11 percent lion retired and current autoworkout of pocket for their health care ers, and hundreds of thousands of costs, said Williams in June. UAW their dependents, could reduce or

Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325 Twitter: @jaybgreene

slow health care costs for all, Williams said. “Health care is very important to corporations as well as to our members,” Williams said. “The healthier the employee is, the more productive the employee is. The more productive the employee is, the more the process works better and they get out the vehicles better.” Under Williams’ plan, the new UAW co-op would be managed separately with different boards than the UAW trust. However, he said the two partners could pool their purchasing power to lower health care prices. Experts contend, however, that creating an independently governed health care co-op would be difficult to pull off because of the pre-funding requirements of the independent entity. The UAW trust, when it was first formed, benefited from the Detroit 3 contributing about $57 billion to fund health care costs for at least 80 years. If the co-op is formed, Dziczek said she expected each automaker to contribute a pre-determined amount of funds into separate accounts to be managed by the co-op and the UAW trust.

Direct contracts with providers? Most of the major health care systems in Southeast Michigan have been forming a variety of provider-based contracting organizations to strike deals with Medicare, employers, business associations and other entities, including the UAW trust. These provider-based entities have a variety of names — physician-hospital organizations, accountable-care organizations and clinically integrated networks — but the main idea is to manage populations of health. Last year, one of the biggest such provider organizations formed SEE NEXT PAGE

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when

Warren-based Ascension Health Michigan and Livonia-based Trinity Health Michigan , subsidiaries of the nation’s two largest Catholic health care systems, formed Together Health Network LLC. The clinically integrated network includes 27 hospitals and more than 5,000 physicians. Some 75 percent of the population in Michigan will be 20 minutes from a network hospital or physician office, officials said. In the roundtable discussion, Williams hinted he is more interested in directly contracting with physicians, hospitals and other providers. “HMOs were created on a nonprofit basis. ... We’re not inScott Eathorne: terested in that “Very interested” in kind of thing” for alliance with UAW. the co-op, he said, adding to check back with him after the labor contracts are signed. Scott Eathorne, M.D., Together Health’s CEO, said the network was formed to offer employers and insured patients increased access to care, lower costs and better outcomes. He said the UAW co-op makes sense and would fit in well as a partner with Together Health’s strategic direction. Eathorne said Together Health would be “very interested in (contracting)” with the proposed UAW co-op. Lezotte said provider networks are developing to position themselves to coordinate care, improve quality in a changing payer environment that is offering shared savings, pay for performance or pay for quality. Dziczek believes the proposed UAW co-op would be highly desired by health insurers and providers.“This will be the largest private pool of insureds in the country,” she said. “I have been pushing direct contracting” with provider networks, Dziczek said. “Since they are self-insured, GM, Ford, Fiat Chrysler pay Blue Cross to negotiate prices and manage claims. (Providers) can contract directly with the co-op and still have insurers to manage their claims. “This is how health care will be funded in the future.” Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325 Twitter: @jaybgreene

Startup biz enters third season of TV show featuring startups By Chad Halcom chalcom@crain.com

A startup business that produces media content on startup businesses might seem geared to niche audiences — but that hasn’t stopped Gary Bredow and Jenny Feterovich. The pair’s joint venture company, Start Up Television Project LLC , has been averaging more than 1.2 million viewers lately per episode of “Start Up,” a TV series profiling entrepreneurs and their new businesses. The program returns for a third season in October on most PBS stations, the World Channel and the American Public Television-owned Create network. Last week, Feterovich’s own Par liament Studios Inc . relocated from Clawson to Corktown, to share an expanded office space on Brooklyn Street with Bredow’s production company, Big Bang Detroit LLC. Both companies produce separate media content, including commercials, documentaries and automotive corporate media. But the two agree “Start Up” has become a “flagship” product for both of them, and can take up as much as four months per year in location shoots, post-production and editing. The season premiere, which airs Oct. 4 at 1 p.m. on Detroit Public Television WTVS-TV 56 , will feature two startup companies, including Detroit-based salon business Social Club Grooming Co. owned by Sebastian Jackson. Future season-three episodes, also airing Sundays, will feature Drought Detroit, the Plymouth-based juice company founded by five sisters in 2011; cleaning service Detroit Maid LLC, founded by Danielle Smith in 2013; Home Store LLC, owned by Bradley Cohen in Ferndale; and Fowling Warehouse LLC, owned by Chris Hutt in Hamtramck. Each season is 13 half-hour episodes profiling two businesses apiece, or 26 companies nationwide, although the first two seasons also had a strong contingent of Michigan startup companies. Bredow, creator and host of Start Up, said he approached Fetterovich about collaborating on the show in 2012, and they pitched it as a local program at first, until Jeff Forster, Detroit Public Television executive

INDEX TO COMPANIES These companies have significant mention in this week’s Crain’s Detroit Business: Big Bang Detroit ......................................................117 Butzel Long ..............................................................116 Center for Automotive Research ......................116 Detroit Institute of Arts ......................................115 Detroit Red Wings ..............................................11, 18 Eastern Michigan University ..........................110, 12 Fiat Chrysler ............................................................116 4 General Dynamics Land Systems ........................4 General Motors ......................................................116 J.S. Clark Agency ....................................................116 9 Lawrence Technological University ....................9 Loomis Sayles..........................................................114 Lutheran Social Services of Michigan ..............114 Macomb Community College ..............................111

Michigan Community College Initiative ..........110 9, 11, 12 Michigan State University ..........................9 Mott Community College ......................................111 Oakland University ................................................111 Olympia Development of Michigan ................11, 18 Parliament Studios ................................................117 Schoolcraft College ..............................................110 Start Up Television Project ..................................117 Together Health ......................................................117 UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust ..............11, 16 University of Michigan ....................................110, 12 Walsh College ........................................................110 9, 10, 12 Wayne State University ..............................9 Workforce Intelligence Network ........................114

CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS www.crainsdetroit.com Editor-in-Chief Keith E. Crain Group Publisher and Editor Mary Kramer, (313) 446-0399 or mkramer@crain.com Associate Publisher Marla Wise, (313) 446-6032 or mwise@crain.com Executive Editor Cindy Goodaker, (313) 446-0460 or cgoodaker@crain.com Managing Editor Jennette Smith, (313) 446-1622 or jhsmith@crain.com Director, Digital Strategy Nancy Hanus, (313) 4461621 or nhanus@crain.com Managing Editor/Custom and Special Projects Daniel Duggan, (313) 446-0414 or dduggan@crain.com Assistant Managing Editor Kristin Bull, (313) 446-1608 or kbull@crain.com Senior Editor/Design Bob Allen, (313) 446-0344 or ballen@crain.com Senior Editor Gary Piatek, (313) 446-0357 or gpiatek@crain.com Research and Data Editor Sonya Hill,(313) 446-0402 orshill@crain.com Web Producer Norman Witte III, (313) 446-6059 or nwitte@crain.com Editorial Support (313) 446-0419; YahNica Crawford, (313) 446-0329 Newsroom (313) 446-0329, FAX (313) 446-1687 , TIP LINE (313) 446-6766

REPORTERS

GLENN TRIEST

JennyFeterovich and GaryBredow’s joint venture company, Start Up Television Project LLC, has averaged more than 1.2 million viewers per episode of “Start Up.” vice president of productions, convinced them to repackage it as a national one. Season one premiered in 2013. Sponsors for the upcoming season include Fiat Chrysler Automobiles , North American Bancard LLC in Troy, and the Pure Michigan state tourism campaign. Companies featured are generally less than five years old, although Bredow said the show explores the struggles of businesses in various phases of development. “We’ve done everything from companies in their third round of investment that have raised millions to grow, down to people working out of their garages,” Bredow said. Feterovich, co-producer and casting coordinator for “Start Up,” said story leads have come from a mix of website submissions, blogs and business media in cities the crew will visit — even the U.S. Small Business Administration, for referrals on businesses that have benefited from its assistance. “We have to turn down some really deserving people, with great ideas, but we try to focus on the best stories out there,” she said. Each year, the pair raises enough through sponsorship and distribution deals to cover a $500,000-perseason production budget. But the show’s success has helped spur new business opportunities elsewhere. Last year, another joint venture company, Legacy Production and Post LLC, launched “A Craftsman’s Legacy” which they co-own with show host Eric Gorges. The series, in which Gorges visits artisans and explores their trades, debuted on PBS last October and returns for a second season this fall. Feterovich and Bredow also coown Corktown gym Detroit Tough LLC with head trainer Roger Dyjak, which celebrated an opening in the Brooklyn Street building in early 2014, along with Corktown Creative, a multimedia production company that offers HD video and other

services from the Corktown building. This year, the pair looks to clear $1.2 million in revenue across all the businesses they co-own, and Bredow is also separately opening Fern and Dale’s Salon in Ferndale with his wife, Rebecca. “Start Up” is distributed nationally to more than 350 PBS member stations in 96 percent of U.S. markets through the National Educational Telecommunications Association, and to World Channel and lifestyle network Create as well as some international markets via American Public Television, the Boston-based syndicator of public TV programming. Partha Nandi, a gastroenterologist and internal medicine practitioner at Troy Gastroenterology PC , said finding distribution and being a Southeast Michigan producer of national media content can be challenging. Nandi is also host of “Ask Dr. Nandi,” an hourlong medical lifestyle talk show that airs on more than half a dozen networks including the Impact Network via Comcast and DISH Network. Nandi said local content producers can be at a disadvantage with other programs based in televisionrich markets where connections are easier to make — but it is still possible to find distributors and productions crews for good programs. A fourth season of the “Start Up” show, now in production, will likely begin airing in late fall or early winter. Fetterovich, a nightclub DJ since the late 1990s, said she first met Bredow when the latter was filming “High Tech Soul,” a documentary on the roots of the techno music scene in Detroit released in 2006. She still does some work in the music scene, but considers herself a lifelong entrepreneur and was eager to take on “Start Up” when Bredow approached her three years ago. Chad Halcom: (313) 446-6796 Twitter: @chadhalcom

Jay Greene, senior reporter Covers health care, insurance, energy, utilities and the environment. (313) 446-0325 or jgreene@crain.com Chad Halcom Covers litigation and the defense industry. (313) 446-6796 or chalcom@crain.com Tom Henderson Covers banking, finance, technology and biotechnology. (313) 446-0337 or thenderson@crain.com Kirk Pinho Covers real estate, higher education, Oakland and Macomb counties. (313) 446-0412 or kpinho@crain.com Bill Shea, enterprise editor Covers media, advertising and marketing, the business of sports, and transportation. (313) 446-1626 or bshea@crain.com Lindsay VanHulle, Lansing reporter. (517) 6572204 or lvanhulle@crain.com Dustin Walsh Covers the business of law, auto suppliers, manufacturing and steel. (313) 446-6042 or dwalsh@crain.com Sherri Welch, senior reporter Covers nonprofits, services, retail and hospitality. (313) 446-1694 or swelch@crain.com

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$450M state bond sales back Red Wings arena project By Bill Shea bshea@crain.com

The money to build the $532 million Detroit Red Wings arena and events center was raised, as planned, with the sale of $450 million of state bonds late last year. The Michigan Strategic Fund divided the sale into a $250 million in Series A offering that is backed by property taxes already captured by Detroit’s Downtown Development Au thority. The $200 million in Series B bonds are backed by the $11.5 million Olympia Development of Michigan has agreed to pay the DDA for bond retirement. New York City-based Merrill Lynch, a division of Bank of America, bought all the publicly backed Series A bonds in the December sale. It will

ARENA FROM PAGE 1

The company is a subcontractor that specializes in metal panel, glass and aluminum curtain wall building enclosure systems. Crown Corr will subcontract $3.9 million of the work to four Detroitbased businesses, whose names were not disclosed, the DDA said in a statement. The other two contracts were for Detroit-based Midwest Steel Inc. to do structural precast concrete for $7.7 million and for British highstrength architectural plastic maker Vector Foiltec LLC to do a structure roof system for $5.8 million. The DDA said Vector Foiltec will subcontract $1.8 million of the work to four Detroit-based businesses, the names of which were not disclosed. In April, the DDA approved nearly $55 million in construction contracts for the project, the largest of which was $50.7 million with Midwest Steel for structural steel work. Also getting contracts were New Hudson-based Rohrscheib Sons Caissons Inc. for drilled shafts ($2.7 million) and Livonia-based Ram Con struction Services of Michigan Inc. for below-grade waterproofing ($2.2 million). In March, $30 million in bid packages were awarded for abatement and demolition; mass excavation/earthwork; temporary shoring/earth retention systems; and site utilities/underground utility penetrations through concrete foundations. Among the Detroit-based firms getting that work were Blaze-Iafrate Joint Venture LLC; Brooks Lumber; De troit Dismantling Corp. ; DMC Consul tants Inc.; McCoig Concrete Co.; Motor City Electric Co. ; Superior Materials ; Testing Engineers & Consultants; and Waterfront Petroleum Terminal Co.

Olympia has a stated goal of 30 percent Detroit business participation and 51 percent Detroit resident employment in construction of the arena. The DDA approves the contracts, on recommendation of ODM and the general contractor, that are

then sell the bonds to the public in mid-2018 (after the arena is open and revenue is being generated), according to the bond authorization approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund in September 2014. The interest rate on the Series A bonds is 4.125 percent, according to online records of the sale. The Series A bonds are tax-exempt because they will be repaid from a special incremental finance property tax capture (mostly from large corporations) in a portion of the DDA’s taxing district that was expanded to included the arena project footprint. The state Legislature in 2013 approved the arena project’s public financing arrangement, with limited opposition.

The Series B bonds, bought entirely by Dallas-based Comerica Bank Inc. , will be repaid by an $11.5 million annual payment from Olympia Development, the real estate arm of Red Wings owners Mike and Marian Ilitch’s business holdings. Ilitch has guaranteed the annual payment, known as a concession fee under the deal inked with the DDA to operate the venue, and the bond authorization document shows that he’ll pay $330 million in aggregate over the term of the bonds. Those bonds are not tax exempt. The bank, formerly based in Detroit, has the naming rights to Comerica Park, where the Ilitch-owned Detroit Tigers play. Comerica intends to keep the

bonds on its books rather then sell them, per the bond authorization deal approved by the state. There is no offering document available publicly for the Series B bonds because they were directly placed with Comerica Bank, MEDC spokesman Michael Shore said. The initial interest rate on the Series B bonds was 2.09 percent, Shore said, and a LIBOR rate applies for the next three years. The DDA is planning an interest rate swap on the Series B bonds, and will use New York City-based Mohanty Gargiulo LLC as a swap adviser as required under Dodd-Frank, the 2010 Wall Street reform act. Both series of bonds mature on July 1, 2045. As part of the bond deal, the DDA

paid off $11.8 million in bond debt already on its books that was unrelated to the arena project, according to the bond authorization document. The Michigan Strategic Fund, an autonomous board within the quasi-public Michigan Economic De velopment Corp., was created in 1984 to promote economic development. It has financed projects via bonds and owns others. The fund has the authority to sell a limited amount of tax-exempt private activity bonds, which typically have lower interest rates than other bonds, on behalf of private companies building projects for public benefit. 䡲 Bill Shea: (313) 446-1626 Twitter: @Bill_Shea19

Arena cost breakdown The most recent cost estimate for the new Detroit Red Wings arena now under construction: Land: $39.3 million Pre-development soft costs: $8.4 million Soft costs: $79.9 million Hard costs: $340 million Furniture, fixtures and equipment: $32 million Finance: $36.8 million Total: $532.5 million Source: Olympia Development of Michigan

more than $500,000. Southfield-based Barton Malow Co. , Detroit-based White Construc tion and Indianapolis-based Hunt Construction Group are jointly managing construction of the arena. Detroit-based civil engineering firm Giffels Webster is the design consultant, and the Detroit office of Parsons Brinckerhoff is the traffic engineer. Ann Arbor-based SmithGroup JJR is handling the landscape design. White Plains, N.Y.-based StreetWorks leads the urban planning and design for the project. It specializes in mixed-use and commercial development, planning and financing. Also working on the project is Heritage Development Services LLC , a unit of Detroit-based economic development consultant The Diggs Group Inc.

The original designer of the arena was Kansas City-based 360 Architecture , which last year was acquired by architectural and engineering giant HOK. The same design team continues to work on the arena within St. Louis-based HOK. That company also designed Comerica Park. The eight-story arena, financed with a mix of public and private money, will have a lower bowl that sits 40 feet below grade. Planned next to the new arena are a public piazza, residential units and a parking garage. The arena is a “deconstructed” design that pulls the glass-roofed concourse, offices and other ele-

DENNIS ALLAIN RENDERINGS

The completed arena will be eight stories tall, capped by a roof to be lit with LED lights that change colors or display images. Outside the arena bowl will be restaurants and retail available when the venue isn’t being used for events.Also planned: A public piazza, residential units and a parking garage. ments into separate buildings connected — but outside the arena bowl — to make its restaurants and retail available when the venue isn’t being used for hockey or events. The roof will be LED-lit and can change colors or display images. The current design shows 20,189 seats, an increase over Joe Louis Arena’s 20,066 seats (second largest in the NHL). It will have 74 suites.

Arena financials Olympia retains the right to sell the arena name. No decision has been announced about when or if that will occur. Olympia will operate the arena under a 35-year concession management agreement that allows for 12 subsequent renewal options of five years each. Additionally, Olympia keeps all revenue from the arena, a provision that has fueled some public grum-

bling that the city receives no direct financial benefit from the venue as it did from the team’s current home, city-built and owned Joe Louis Arena. The Ilitches, using a study from a University of Michigan economist, have predicted $1.8 billion in economic impact and thousands of new jobs because of the arena district and its construction. These kind of economic impact estimates are often criticized by academics for including overly optimistic multiplier estimates. However, the scale of the overall project is massive; the arena is the centerpiece of a 45-block mixedused urban revitalization plan called “The District Detroit” that includes $200 million in additional new housing, offices, retail and bar/restaurant space. The effort to create five neighborhoods around the arena will happen concurrently

with construction of the arena, Olympia has said, and is privately funded. The company has said it continues to seek investors for the ancillary development. None have been announced. All together, the entire project stretches from Charlotte Street south to Grand Circus Park, east to the existing stadiums and to a northwest boundary abutting MotorCity Casino Hotel , owned by Marian Ilitch. Additionally, the Ilitches since 2011 spent $10 million on 15 land purchases outside of the District Detroit footprint near MotorCity Hotel Casino, The Detroit News reported on Aug. 26. Olympia hasn’t commented on its intentions for those properties, which are about six blocks from the arena site. 䡲 Bill Shea: (313) 446-1626 Twitter: @Bill_Shea19

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WEEK Gilbert buys Book Tower, Book Building

an Gilbert purchased an-

other 517,000 square feet of space in downtown Detroit with the historic Book Tower and Book Building, as well as a nearby two-story community center. His Bedrock Real Estate Services LLC announced Friday that the Washington Boulevard buildings will be turned into “a gamechanging” mixed-use development. The Book structures were owned by Milan, Italy-based Akno Enterprises; the sale price was not disclosed.

ON THE MOVE 䡲 Jim Connelly, president and CEO of Health Alliance Plan of Michigan, an-

Jim Connelly: Will retire from HAP at year’s end.

nounced he will retire in December. Connelly, 69, became HAP’s CEO in early 2014. He had been CFO of the parent company, De-

troit-based Henry Ford Health System, since 2000. 䡲 Gerald Provencal, longtime president and CEO of Clinton Township-based human service agency Macomb-Oakland Regional Center, plans to retire in March. The agency board has begun a search for a successor to Provencal, 75. 䡲 Andrew Blauvelt, who has spent the past 17 years at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, will return to metro Detroit as director of Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills. Blauvelt, 51, and a 1988 graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art’s design department, is Walker’s senior curator, design, research and publishing. Gregory Wittkopp, who has been director of the Cranbrook museum and the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research since 2011, is leaving the

museum next month to focus on the center.

䡲 Cooper-Standard Automotive

Holdings Inc. named Jonathan Banas as vice president, corporate controller and chief accounting officer, effective Sept. 14. Banas, 45, has been director of financial reporting for ZF TRW Automotive Inc. in Livonia. He replaces Helen Yantz, who is retiring from the Novibased supplier. 䡲 Detroit-based mental health and substance use disorder nonprofit Adult Well-Being Services named Dawn Rucker, 50, as president and CEO. Rucker was director of the agency. Longtime CEO Karen Schrock retired in March.

ON THE WEB AUG. 22-28

Detroit Digits A numbers-focused look at the week’s headlines:

The estimated number of Detroit Land Bank Authority-owned homes in Detroit to be renovated under a program supported by $5 million in low-interest lending from Quicken Loans Inc. Quicken Chairman Dan Gilbert announced the funds, which will go toward rehabbing homes in the Bagley, Crary/St. Mary’s, Evergreen-Outer Drive and College Park neighborhoods.

126

The years it took for Dearbornbased Carhartt Inc. to open a stand-alone store in Detroit. The apparel maker opened the 4,000square-foot store, located at 5800 Cass Ave., on Thursday. It signed a multiyear lease for the entire building and plans to make it the permanent flagship store for the company.

183

The paid membership families left at Forest Lake Country Club in Bloomfield Hills. The golf course, which can accommodate 325 equity golf members, is considering combining operations with Plum Hollow Country Club in Southfield to cut costs amid declining membership.

䡲 Henry Ford College named Patricia Chatman as director of workforce and professional development for its Michigan Technical Education Center in Dearborn. She is a former director of Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit. 䡲 A year after leaving to work as a church pastor, former weatherman Chuck Gaidica is returning to Detroit NBC affiliate WDIV-Channel 4. He will co-host the entertainment and lifestyle morning show “Live in the D” beginning Sept. 28.

COMPANY NEWS 䡲 Ascension Health Michigan in Novi remade its governance structure by dissolving its hospital and regional system boards into a single nine-member statewide board with new regional subboards, officials announced. 䡲 Faith-based economic development and employment training nonprofit Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corp. will invest $10.2 million to redevelop the donated Casamira Apartments building in Detroit’s

New Center area with leased apartments at market rates and affordable housing. 䡲 DTE Energy installed seven

solar-powered trash compactors and recycling units in downtown Detroit. The devices collect and compact trash on site and receive aluminum and plastic containers for recycling. 䡲 Because the Detroit Pistons aren’t slated for any national network telecasts, Southfield-based Fox Sports Detroit will air all of the team’s 82 regular-season games for the first time, the regional network said. 䡲 Friends School in Detroit, Michigan’s only Quaker school, will close for the upcoming school year because of financial difficulties. School officials hope to reorganize and reopen the 50-yearold school the following year. 䡲 Offices in Livonia and near Flat Rock will be closed as Fifth Third Bancorp plans to shutter five of its 248 branch locations in Michigan this fall as part of a companywide plan to close or sell more than 100 of its 1,303 branch offices, MLive.com reported.

OTHER NEWS 䡲 A development with 180 luxury condominiums along the east Detroit riverfront is planned now that the Detroit Police and Fire Retirement System has sold vacant land on East Jefferson Avenue for $2.3 million. Shelby Township-based Shamrock Acquisition LLC purchased the land, about 2.75 acres. 䡲 An unidentified local buyer has the Hotel St. Regis in Detroit under contract for at least $10 million in a deal that might be completed before the year is out, real estate sources told Crain’s. The hotel is owned by Shirley Wilson of Southfield, according to real estate information service CoStar Group Inc.

䡲 Detroit commuters lose an average of 52 hours a year, and an extra $1,183 in fuel and lost time, to rush-hour slowdowns, ranking 12th among major national urban areas, according to a study from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and Kirkland, Wash.-based INRIX Inc., which analyzes traffic data. Commuters in Washington, D.C., suffer the most, losing 82 hours and $1,834, the study said. 䡲 On his fifth trade mission to China, Gov. Rick Snyder signed an agreement with Chinese commerce ministers to promote trade and investment between Michigan and five industrial regions in China. 䡲 Seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates increased slightly from June to July in 13 of Michigan’s 17 major labor market areas, with the biggest hikes in the Flint, Monroe and Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro areas, AP reported. However, the state Bureau

RUMBLINGS Something new for ‘to-Doob’ list at Comerica: A 3-D figurine of you hanks to advances in technology, Detroit Tigers fans visiting Comerica Park can now have small 3-D figurines created of themselves in any pose — and even with team mascot Paws. Brooklyn-based Doob has a temporary booth — called a “Doob-licator” — set up on the concourse near the ballpark’s busy Gate B, and company President Michael Anderson said the location has been averaging about 10 figures per game. The photo-realistic color figurines, called Doobs, are available in five heights and range from $95 for a 4-inch model called the “Buddy” up to a 14-inch version known as “The Diva” for $695. The process begins with the customer stepping into an octagonal chamber in which 54 high-definition Canon EOS digital cameras are mounted, instantly capturing every angle of the person. The 54 digital photos are blended in a process called photogrammetry that creates a 3-D image. The program at Comerica, where Doob leases space from the Tigers, is a pilot for all of Major League Baseball. “It made a lot of sense to put a scanner in Detroit and go through this initial phase in one city,” he said. “It has amazing attendance. There tends to be a bit of a focus on the innovation we can bring; the Tigers were excited about that.”

Crain’s reporter flies high Crain’s real estate reporter Kirk Pinho does not like to fly. So, of course, we sent him on a propertyscouting mission with Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service CoStar Group Inc. over Oakland County in a Cessna. CoStar used the flight to track construction projects, pairing the project down from three months to three days with the use of a plane. From a quarter-mile in the air, Pinho was able to get a bird’s-eye view of some the region’s largest properties, including the Pontiac Silverdome, and tackle his fear. We asked for his source list before takeoff, obviously. But he returned safely. “I am a terrible flier. Always have been, likely always will be, because I

am marvelously terrified of heights …,” Pinho wrote in a blog posted on crainsdetroit.com. “To my surprise, I didn’t hate it. Actually, it was really fun. I kind of felt like a little kid on the bumper cars at a county fair, asking his parents if he could do it again.”

New nursing school in Troy Chamberlain College of Nursing has arrived in metro Detroit in time to help address the state’s 18,000 nurse shortage, according to officials. As part of Downers Grove, Ill.based DeVry Education Group, Chamberlain opened its first nursing campus in Troy on Aug. 21. DeVry (NYSE: DV) has 17 other campuses in other states. Present at the grand opening ceremony was state Sen. Marty Knollenberg, R-Troy; Jaime Sinutko, a nurse and dean of Chamberlain’s Troy campus; Daniel Hamburger, CEO of DeVry Education, who grew up in Oak Park; and U.S. Rep. David Trott, R-Birmingham. The campus is at 200 Kirts Blvd., off I-75 and Big Beaver Road. Chamberlain officials said rising demand for nurses has tapped out Michigan schools, leading to more than 2,100 applicants to seek placements in other states. DeVry, one of the nation’s largest investor-owned educational groups, acquired Chamberlain in 2005 from the Deaconess School of Nursing, St. Louis. DeVry also owns American University of the Caribbean College of Medicine and Ross University School of Medicine, two offshore medical

schools that have arrangements with metro Detroit teaching hospitals. The college offers a bachelor’s degree in nursing through a program that can be completed in three years with year-round study.

BITS & PIECES 䡲 Donna Murray-Brown, president and CEO of the Michigan Nonprofit Association, was elected to serve on the board of the National Council of Nonprofits. Murray-Brown has been the MNA’s top executive since 2013. Previously, she was the director of the organization’s metro Detroit partnership office and senior director of capacity building.

of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives said unem-

ployment rates dropped in all 17 major regions from July 2014.

KIRK PINHO/CDB

Our intrepid KirkPi nho captured this view of the Pontiac Silverdome filled with debris.

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