Crain's Detroit Business, June 5, 2017 issue by Crain's Detroit Business

JUNE 5 - 11, 2017 | SPECIAL MACKINAC POLICY CONFERENCE ISSUE

MICHIGAN CHANGE MAKERS

CREATING THE FUTURE IN AN AGE OF DISRUPTION

PAGES 10-27

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More in this special report

Where does businesses’ clout in Lansing stand? Page 1

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROBERT CARTER FOR CRAIN’S

Survey: business bullish on economy, less so on politics. Page 1

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JUNE 5 - 11, 2017

Ford Foundation to open Detroit office.

See who tops this year’s Crain’s Private 200 Area’s largest privately held companies. Page 28

Page 3

Crain’s survey

Biz leaders show political worries, economic optimism

Government

Is business clout shrinking in Lansing?

By Dustin Walsh dwalsh@crain.com

getting harder for business leaders. With Snyder’s final term winding down, corporate groups are aligning with the governor on several unfilled policy goals, including education reform, college affordability, creating pathways to the skilled trades and fixing the state’s roads and infrastructure — daunting investments that would cost billions more a year than the state currently spends.

Michigan’s top political leaders have the favor of the business community. But the business community is losing faith in President Donald Trump and other institutions, according to a Crain’s/Honigman survey of Crain’s subscribers. The survey shows business leaders worried about national politics but still excited about the economy. (See story, Page 61.) The survey responses from 300 business owners and managers, surveyed between May 8-11 by Lansing-based Epic-MRA, overwhelmingly say Gov. Rick Snyder is performing ‘excellent’ or ‘pretty good’ as the state’s top politician, with 60 percent viewing his job favorably to 38 percent indicating a negative performance. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan received even higher marks, with 86 percent of respondents saying he deserves to be re-elected in November. Duggan’s seat, however, will be contested by 13 other candidates, including former state Sen. Coleman Young II, son of the late Mayor Coleman Young. But 85 percent of the survey’s respondents believe Duggan will be re-elected. The strong support of Michigan’s leaders, however, is tempered by a negative view of the Michigan Legislature, with 40 percent of respondents indicating the state’s elected officials are merely doing a “fair” job. Michigan’s strong economy and near-historic low unemployment rate are a major reason business leaders view the state’s politics more positively, said John Cavanaugh, founding principal of Epic-MRA. “The economy is doing relatively well in Michigan, and it’s showing in peoples’ opinions.” Cavanaugh said. Despite Republicans outnumbering Democrats in the survey by a 47 percent to 34 percent margin, roughly 56 percent of business leaders participating in a survey conducted by Lansing-based polling firm Epic-MRA are negative on Trump’s performance since taking office in January.

SEE CLOUT, PAGE 63

SEE SURVEY, PAGE 61

ILLUSTRATION BY ERHUI1979 VIA ISTOCK

Splits in the capital are leaving businesses’ top priorities by the wayside By Lindsay VanHulle

Crain's Detroit Business/Bridge Magazine

LANSING — In the beginning, the wins came quickly. In May 2011, just months into his first term, Gov. Rick Snyder stood with fellow Lansing Republicans to celebrate the repeal of Michigan’s reviled business tax. As the leaders smiled for the cameras that spring day, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce was almost giddy, hailing the “bold and de-

cisive leadership at the helm of our state” that landed the first major policy victory of the Snyder era. With Republicans running the capital, the ambitions that yoked the state’s business establishment and political leadership seemed boundless. And for awhile, they were. There was the lightning passage of Michigan’s right-to-work law in 2012. There was reform of the state’s personal property tax, followed by Snyder’s

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Inside

Follow the money: Business PACs and the cash they raise. Page 63 Big players: A guide to Michigan’s business groups. Page 65

election to a second term in 2014. Business groups believed Lansing would continue to share their vision for reviving Michigan’s economy. But now it’s 2017, and the wins are

Fournier: Superintendent Vitti brings energy. Page 8

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MICHIGAN BRIEFS Tax credits for charitable donations mulled Some Republicans in the Michigan Senate are hoping to restore tax credits eliminated six years ago that benefited taxpayers who made charitable donations to food banks, homeless shelters and certain nonprofits, The Associated Press reported. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and the GOP-led Legislature ended the tax credits in 2011 to help balance the state’s budget. But Senate Republicans have introduced bills seeking to restore the tax credits for donations to nonprofits that include community foundations, food banks and shelters, community colleges, museums, as well as expenses associated with adoptions. Republican state Sen. Goeff Hansen of Hart said he believes it’s time to restore the tax credits to help Michigan’s nonprofits and people who adopt children now that Michigan’s financial picture has improved. “I really feel that we need to make sure that we help people with their adoptions because there’s a large cost for that. It won’t cost the state much and it’s a huge help to people who want to adopt,” he told the Detroit Free Press.

credits would cost Michigan about $50 million. Some Michigan charitable organizations reported declines in donations after the tax credits were ended. They include the Coalition on Temporary Shelter, the Detroit Rescue Mission, Gleaners Community Food Bank and Detroit Public Television.

Former lobbyist to lead medical marijuana board

STATE OF MICHIGAN

Some Republicans in the Michigan Senate are hoping to restore tax credits eliminated six years ago.

Democrats have introduced bills to restore the tax credits every legislative session since they were eliminated in 2011. But both last year and this year, those bills have been sponsored by Republicans. Last year, the bills were approved in a Senate committee, but they never got a vote in the full Senate or House of Representatives. Testimony on last year’s legislation indicated that restoring the tax

A former state House speaker and lobbyist on medical marijuana legislation has been appointed to lead a state board that will handle licensing of medical marijuana growers and dispensaries under a new state law. Gov. Rick Snyder’s appointment of Rick Johnson, a Republican state representative from LeRoy from 1998 to 2004, as chairman of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Licensing Board comes after a nomination from Senate Majority Arlan Meekhof, Snyder’s office said Friday. Johnson was a registered lobbyist with the state from 2005 until November, when state records show he terminated his registration. Johnson was a partner with Lansing-based lobbying firm Dodak Johnson & Associates LLC. The Detroit Free Press reported Johnson is selling his stake

INSIDE in the firm to partner Lew Dodak, also a former House speaker. His term will expire Dec. 31, 2019. Snyder’s appointments also include: J David LaMontaine, of Monroe, an executive board member of the Police Officers Association of Michigan. LaMontaine has served in the U.S. Marine Corps and is a former Monroe County sheriff’s detective and Hamtramck police officer. He was nominated by current House Speaker Tom Leonard. His term will expire Dec. 31, 2019. J Nichole Cover, of Mattawan, chairwoman of the Michigan Board of Pharmacy and a healthcare supervisor for Walgreen Co. Her term will expire Dec. 31, 2018. J Donald Bailey, of Traverse City, a retired state police sergeant. His term will expire Dec. 31, 2020. J Vivian Pickard, of Bloomfield Hills, president and CEO of consulting firm The Pickard Group and former president of the General Motors Foundation. Her term will expire Dec. 31, 2020.

GOP leaders set Michigan spending without Snyder Lawmakers are ramping up work on the state budget after cutting Gov. Rick Snyder out of talks, The Associ-

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COMPANY INDEX: SEE PAGE 66 ated Press reported. Republican leaders over the weekend of May 28 set “target” spending levels — a key step needed before the House and Senate this week can start ironing out differences in a $55 billion spending plan. The leaders proceeded despite an impasse with the Republican governor over closing the pension system to newly hired school employees. Their plan would spend or save $475 million less than Snyder proposed. It would use the money to pay transition costs to make new teachers eligible for a 401(k) only and not a hybrid pension/401(k) plan. Snyder opposes the switch. The last time top lawmakers signed a target agreement without a governor was 2009, when Democrat Jennifer Granholm was in office.

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Nonprofits

Ford Foundation to open Detroit office after 64-year hiatus By Chad Livengood clivengood@crain.com

The Ford Foundation is establishing its first presence in Detroit since leaving the Motor City in 1953 as it ramps up a major initiative to invest in affordable housing in the city where it was founded 81 years ago by Edsel Ford. The New York-based international foundation announced Wednesday it has hired Detroit native Kevin Ryan from the New York Foundation to be its new Detroit-based program officer.

Politics

Darren Walker: More effective way to do work.

Kevin Ryan: Detroit-based program officer.

“[Ryan] will be working from Detroit and working with grantee

partners there so we don’t have to have staff parachute in and out,”Ford Foundation President Darren Walker told Crain's. “I think it’s important because having someone close to the ground, someone working in the city, is a more effective way to do our work.” He starts work in Detroit on June 12, according to the Ford Foundation. Ryan comes to Ford Foundation after 14 years at the New York Foundation, where he managed a portfolio of grants for New York City

community organizations. He will be based in shared office space inside the Kellogg Foundation’s downtown Detroit office, according to the Ford Foundation. The Ford Foundation president planned to detail the foundation's new work in Detroit in a speech Thursday at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island. Walker’s decision to plant an employee in Detroit is the latest effort he’s made to rebuild the foundation’s ties to the city where its

endowment was first generated from the estates of auto baron Henry Ford and his son, Edsel, who chartered the foundation in 1936. In June 2015, Walker brought the foundation’s annual board meeting to Detroit, the first since 1948, following the Ford Foundation’s unprecedented $125 million contribution to the “grand bargain” deal that settled Detroit’s historic bankruptcy and shielded the city’s art collection from creditors. SEE FORD, PAGE 62

Detroit

Calley sells plan for part-time Legislature

By Chad Livengood clivengood@crain.com

and Lindsay VanHulle

Crain’s Detroit Business/Bridge Magazine

MACKINAC ISLAND — Lt. Gov. Brian Calley grabbed attention at the opening day of the annual Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference by launching a statewide campaign to create a part-time Legislature — a state government reform proposal to which he says employers have been receptive. Calley’s proposed constitutional amendment would create a 90-day legislative session each year, limiting the time when legislators can make laws and budget tax dollars unless the governor calls an emergency session. The Calley-led Clean MI Government campaign, which needs 315,000 voter signatures to get on the November 2018 ballot, has the potential to change the makeup of the Legislature’s 148 members, who already turn over frequently because of constitutional term limits. Calley’s ballot campaign is seen by some Republican Party observers as an attempt to gain attention from conservative grassroots activists ahead of a potential gubernatorial campaign. He remained mum about whether he’s going to launch a campaign for the governor’s office in 2018, when Gov. Rick Snyder will be barred by term limits from seeking re-election. SEE CALLEY, PAGE 66

MUST READS OF THE WEEK

“It’s a very, very important piece of our mission — on how we’re interacting with the city, what we’re doing in the city, the implementation of our strategy in the city and the opportunity to have another set of eyes and ears that is working on that strategy.” Bill Emerson

LARRY PEPLIN

Bill Emerson taking on larger public role for Gilbert By Chad Livengood clivengood@crain.com

After 15 years as CEO of Quicken Loans, Bill Emerson is stepping into a more public role for Dan Gilbert’s business empire with a focus on building the company’s presence in Detroit. Emerson, 54, became vice chairman of Quicken Loans and its parent company, Rock Holdings Inc., in February after leading the company to become the nation’s second largest retail mortgage lender. Jay Farner, the president and advertising pitchman for Quicken, succeeded Emerson as CEO. In his new role, Emerson is becoming Gilbert’s new top representative

The business of bobbleheads Major League Baseball borrows promotional ideas from the farm teams. Page 50

for the company’s initiatives in Detroit. Those efforts center on building on the revitalization momentum Quicken Loans is credited with fueling when Gilbert moved the mortgage giant’s headquarters from Southfield to Detroit seven years ago and began a downtown property buying spree. “It’s a very, very important piece of our mission — on how we’re interacting with the city, what we’re doing in the city, the implementation of our strategy in the city and the opportunity to have another set of eyes and ears that is working on that strategy,” Emerson said in an interview with Crain's. When Gilbert isn’t available, Emerson said he’ll “carry Dan’s message” in

public appearances. Earlier this month, Emerson was part of an announcement about Quicken’s partnership with DTE Energy Co. and General Motors Co. to help stabilize the Cody Rouge neighborhood on Detroit’s west side and create career opportunities for youth. Gilbert wasn’t planning to attend the May 30-June 2 Mackinac Policy Conference. His Cleveland Cavaliers will be facing the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Oakland, Calif. Emerson and other top executives from Gilbert’s Rock Ventures LLC and Bedrock LLC will be attending the annual gathering of state business leaders instead.

Fighting for fighters Macomb County, state lobby for F-35A jets at Selfridge. Page 6

“Dan can only be in so many places,” Emerson said. Matt Cullen, the former CEO of Gilbert’s Rock Ventures, remains a principal and part-owner of the investment and development firm, but will be less visible in Detroit initiatives as he focuses on being CEO of Jack Entertainment LLC, spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said. Cullen has been seen as Gilbert’s top lieutenant in the billionaire businessman’s efforts to spur revitalizaion in Detroit. Cullen took on the role as volunteer CEO of M-1 Rail, the organization that developed and controls the new QLine streetcar on Woodward Avenue. SEE EMERSON, PAGE 66

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Q&A: JOHN RAKOLTA JR.

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Rakolta talks construction industry, education, K-cars John Rakolta Jr., CEO and chairman of Detroit-based construction giant Walbridge Aldinger, has spent virtually his adult life in the building industry. Last month, he was awarded the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Urban Land Institute Michigan. Over the years, his company has John Rakolta Jr.: been involved in some of the largCEO, chairman Walbridge Aldinger. est building projects in the city and state, and has grown to a more than $1 billion business. He sat down with Crain’s reporter Kirk Pinho in his downtown office a few hours before he left for the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference to talk about his career and the future of the construction industry, education in Detroit and Michigan, skilled trades, and how his company once accepted a payment for work in Chrysler K-cars. Crain’s Detroit Business: I’m wondering if you can talk a little bit about locally some of the more memorable projects the company has worked on. John Rakolta Jr.: The first and perhaps the most important to show the character of the company and the people was what we would call the (Dearborn) Rouge (Powerplant) explosion. We weren’t involved in any construction at the Rouge powerhouse, but a number of people died and many of them were injured. We, the company, stepped forward and began to help with the rescue and rebuilding, around the clock on a handshake agreement with Ford Motor Co., to try to get, to contain, to help the injured, clean up the site and then put it back into production. It was a monumental effort. We dropped everything and brought people in from all over the state of Michigan and, in some cases, around the world. The reason why I hold the project up so high is that it wasn’t done for profit. We didn’t make any money at all on it, not that that was the point. But the way the whole company came together and we were able to embrace and do something for Ford. We had been building for Ford since 1916. To think about the kind of partnership, the trust, the expertise that had developed between us and Ford at that point and time really spoke to the core values of the company and the fact that we are not a company that is not just driven by shareholder profit, but really all stakeholders having the benefit for the good of the company. I think (One Campus Martius) that came at a very critical time to see. It’s one thing to see people talk about moving into Detroit, but Peter Karmanos really took a leap of faith

to return his businesses (Compuware Corp.) in Detroit and he brought down thousands and thousands of people, sort of like the forerunner to what Dan Gilbert did. That project right there was instrumental. It was also important for us because it gave us great visibility. We were able to insist on a program to be able to utilize as many Detroit-based subcontractors and residents on the project as possible. Another one is the Chrysler Technology Center. That’s an interesting project, first of all, because of its scale. It’s massive. It threw our company into a completely different league. Up until that point in time, we had never done billion-dollar projects, and all of a sudden, we get this opportunity and we took full advantage of it. Finally, it’s another testimony to how partnerships can work really well together, company to company, B-to-B. Walbridge built the first assembly plant for Chrysler in 1923 in Windsor. We continued to do work. There came this time in the early 1980s where Chrysler was teetering on bankruptcy. We had finished a project for them in Kokomo, Ind., a place where they made transmissions and they were going to make the K-car transmission. The K-car was Chrysler’s first front-wheel-drive car. And at the end of the project, they didn’t have any money to pay us. So my dad struck a deal with them to take K-cars as payment. They didn’t have the cash, so they gave us cars. What? That’s amazing. It is. I don’t know how many we took. Forty? It’s a lot. Do you guys still have them? Of course not. That was in the 1980s. What’s that, 35 years ago? We should. They could have gone in a museum somewhere. We should go out and buy one. I hadn’t thought about that. Put it in the lobby. Anyway, when it came time to award the Chrysler Technology Center, Mr. (Lee) Iacocca made a point of saying to us that while we were the most qualified, we had the best proposal, we were the most competitive, the icing on the cake for Chrysler was that they like to continue business with their key strategic suppliers and mentioned how meaningful it was that years earlier, that we had taken K-cars in lieu of a final payment. That Chrysler Tech Center was another critical project. It seems like almost ... I’ve been on a Mt. Everest kick recently, watching documentaries on it, and the running theme is that you go up a little bit and you stay put for a bit, and keep climbing. Lack of oxygen. You have to SEE RAKOLTA,PAGE 5

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RAKOLTA FROM PAGE 4

acclimate yourself. It’s the same thing in business. You can only grow so much before the software system doesn’t work anymore, the talent level has to be significantly higher. It’s exactly the same thing as going up Everest. CDB: What are the challenges in Michigan that require cooperation? Rakolta: There are many, many challenges I’m focused on. One is where the auto business is going to be in 10 years. What’s it going to look like and is it going to still be the same economic driver 10 years from now that it is today? It’s vitally important to the well-being of the state of Michigan and our area that autos retain their leadership, and it’s being challenged today by foreign competitors. But they’ve dealt with that reasonably well. What the unknown is what kind of challenges are the Googles and Apples and Teslas and Ubers are going to present to our mainstay in the state of Michigan. CDB: Well, talent is a lot of it. Rakolta: That gets to my second point. We’ve had this brain drain going on in Michigan for 20 years. We have these bright kids leaving for destinations unknown, but they are not staying here. Then, if you want to take it one step further, we have this crisis in K-12 education that is going to affect the future in a very, very big way if we don't get it right. I think there has been a lot of progress since last June. Last June, we were fighting to eliminate the debt, get rid of the EAA, get an elected school board. We got all those things done, and I think they have paid handsome dividends in the last year. I'm very impressed with the conduct and direction that the Detroit Public School board has put forth. They went on a national search, hired a first-class company to help them with that search, created a world-class set of criteria for the new superintendent, searched the country, came up with three really good candidates, withstood the pressure of the community and picked the guy who I believe will be a great reformer. If you would have asked me a year ago if we could have gotten a Nikolai Vitti here, I don't know what my answer would have been. But I’m incredibly impressed that we have that guy here today. CDB: Are you still informally or formally involved with the district itself, offering your insights, feedback, given all your work on the coalition the last two, two and a half years? Rakolta: The coalition has reconstituted itself intentionally. We had a half-dozen high-level meetings, in addition to, on average, probably every other week a co-chair phone call. We have set an agenda. We are going to come out with our new recommendations in September. It’s not informal. It’s very formal. We asked the school board if they wanted us to continue to play that role. If we weren’t sort of like on parallel tracks

and of like mind, we didn’t want to do anything to obstruct what the school board had in mind. We wanted to be viewed upon as a partner in their efforts to completely reform education in the city of Detroit. They told us that they did. We wouldn’t always agree on every single point. Also, on the community/business/ labor side, certain citizens, parents, teachers, activists, the board is something that was really needed. I’m involved on a day-to-day basis. CDB: What about the future of the construction market around here? There has been a lot of upward push on rates due to labor shortages. Are there ways to address that?

Rakolta: I think several things will happen. I think the pace of construction will slow. We are sort of at unprecedented levels today. No. 2, we are beginning to take seriously, as an industry, the need for repopulating the skilled trades. The apprentice schools are at full capacity. If you look at the makeup of those apprentice schools, they are really a good cross-section of society today. If you want to become a plumber or pipefitter, you’ll have no problem as long as you have the academic and intellectual capacity to become a skilled tradesman. If you want to become an electrician, you have to know algebra. You’ve got certain calculations and ways of thinking. No. 2, you have to pass a drug test. No. 3, you’ve got to

go to an apprentice school and realize that you are going to be wearing construction boots, in many cases working outside, and you have to show up on time for work. But if you can meet all of those criteria, and you graduated from high school, you’ve got a great future. CDB: We do have the shortage of skilled trades, which is a prominent issue, but we can’t just stop churning out engineers or computer scientists. Rakolta: I think the tension is that there is plenty of kids. The problem is that Michigan has fallen from 12th or 13th in the nation 10 years ago, in terms of K-12 education, to 43rd today. There are plenty of kids. In the

Detroit public school system, on any given day, one-quarter of the kids aren’t in class. If you are to extrapolate that into what a full year looks like, that means every kid is missing like 45 days a year out of 180. What kind of education are you going to get if you are missing 25 percent of the time? I’d like to ask Mary Barra or Bill Ford, what would happen if 25 percent of your workers didn’t show up in the plants one day? They wouldn’t build a car. CDB: Those guys also wouldn’t have jobs. Rakolta: It’s nuts. Once you go two or three years of that kind of behavior as a student, you’ll never catch up.

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JOHN SWANSON/SELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL GUARD

Macomb County and state officials are stepping up their lobbying of the U.S. Air Force to land a squadron of F-35A fighter jets at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.

Macomb County, state lobby for F-35A fighter jets at Selfridge By Chad Livengood clivengood@crain.com

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Macomb County and state officials are stepping up their lobbying of the U.S. Air Force to land a squadron of F-35A fighter jets at Selfridge Air National Guard Base by highlighting how the countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defense industry is larger than other metropolitan regions competing for the planes and jobs. At the first day of the annual Mackinac Policy Conference, Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and other local and state officials rolled out a new economic feasibility study comparing Selfridge Air National Guard Baseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vicinity to the metro Detroit defense industry compared to bases in Montgomery, Ala.; Boise, Idaho; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Madison, Wis. Those four bases and Selfridge in Harrison Township are the Air Forceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finalists for bedding down 18 to 24 F-35A Lighting II fighter planes. Two bases will be chosen to host the planes, bringing jobs and prolonged military commitment to the bases. The countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consultant concluded metro Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defense industry has â&#x20AC;&#x153;significant defense-related economic and workforce advantages over the other candidate regionsâ&#x20AC;? and is more prepared for an expanded force at Selfridge, which â&#x20AC;&#x153;no one else even comes close to having the capacity that we have,â&#x20AC;? Hackel said in an interview. Hackel, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters and Selfridge Commander John Slocum were to detail the consultantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s analysis at a joint press conference Wednesday morning at the Detroit Regional Chamberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual policy conference on Mackinac Island. When deciding where to place

â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you take politics out of it and they try to make it a determination as to what will be the best location, Detroit and southeast Michigan is the place for them to select.â&#x20AC;?

Mark Hackel, Macomb County executive

fighter planes, the Air Forceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategic basing process considers the cost, environmental impact and capacity at an existing base for additional aircraft, maintenance facilitates and personnel. Macomb County Planning and Economic Development Department hired the defense industry consulting company Matrix Design Group to conduct an economic analysis to make its case. Matrix Design Group found that the 59,278-employee metro Detroit defense industry is six times larger than the other four regions combined. Madison, Wis., is a distant second with 4,069 defense jobs, according to the study. The countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consultants also found that metro Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defense sector gets 73 percent of the purchasing demands from companies based in the region, compared to 32 percent in Madison, followed by 17 percent in Boise, 16 percent in Jacksonville and 12 percent in Montgomery. Metro Detroitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defense industry has 1.21 job openings per defense worker. Among the other four metropolitan regions, the talent shortage for defense workers ranges from 3.51 openings for every worker in Madison to 6.27 unfilled jobs per existing worker in Jacksonville, according to Matrix Design Groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

analysis. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think the No. 1 choice is clearly Macomb County, based upon the numbers,â&#x20AC;? Hackel said. The U.S. Air Force is currently conducting site surveys at each of the five bases and a decision is expected by late summer in a process thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s designed to be non-political. But Hackel, a Democrat who often works closely with Republicans, said congressional politics behind the base selection for the F-35 fighter jet squadrons remains â&#x20AC;&#x153;a wild card.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you take politics out of it and they try to make it a determination as to what will be the best location, Detroit and southeast Michigan is the place for them to select,â&#x20AC;? Hackel said. The Selfridge plan has the backing of Peters and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, two Democrats. But it also has support from Calley â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a Republican â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the base in Macomb County, which is credited with helping President Donald Trump win Michigan in the November general election. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To me, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an unknown,â&#x20AC;? Hackel said the potential political factor in the base decision. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m still trying to figure out what this animal is in Washington, D.C.â&#x20AC;? Chad Livengood: (313) 446-1654 Twitter: @ChadLivengood

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

OPINION

Vitti the disruptor

year ago, I attended the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference as a guest speaker, warning Michigan’s leadership that the candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders reflected a momentous challenge to social and political institutions — disruption that will only intensify. I urged the assembled leaders of to embrace economic, technological and demographic change — and to help their angry customers (and voters) navigate it. This year, I came to Mackinac as a fellow Michigander, an ex-expat, the new publisher/editor of Crain’s Detroit Business. I’m still obsessed with how leaders adapt to times like these, which is why this issue’s cover story celebrates the state’s top Change Makers: J Anya Babbitt, founder and CEO of SPLT. J Mary Barra, CEO of GM. J Maurice Cox, Detroit’s planning commissioner. J Dick and Betsy DeVos, Grand Rapids’ power couple. J Patrick Doyle, CEO of Dominos’ Inc. J John Fox, president and CEO of Beaumont Health. J Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans Inc. and Rock Ventures LLC. J Patti Poppe, president and CEO of CMS Energy Corp. J Rip Rapson, president and CEO of the Kresge Foundation.

RON FOURNIER Publisher and Editor

Ron Fournier is publisher and editor of Crain’s Detroit Business. Catch his take on business news at 6:10 a.m. Mondays on the Paul W. Smith show on WJR AM 760.

Dug Song, CEO of Duo Security Inc. J Khali Sweeney, founder of the Downtown Boxing Gym. J La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Now I’m looking ahead to next year and to the years beyond, when Michigan needs to be the most problem-solving, risk-taking, changemaking state in the nation, a state that fixes seemingly unfixable problems. Which is why I came to Mackinac looking for Nikolai Vitti, the new superintendent of Detroit’s public schools. Vitti is the former chief of Duval County Public School in Jacksonville, Fla., hired there five years ago to be a change agent. “Detroit’s new schools chief is known in his former district as a reformer who produces quick reJ

PHOTO BY LARRY PEPLIN

Nikolai Vitti, the new superintendent of Detroit’s public schools.

sults while at times upsetting those swept up in the changes,” according to Detroit News education writer Holly Fournier (I trust her judgment; she’s my daughter). Mark Woods, a columnist for the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, said Vitti reminds him of the song “Non-Stop” from the play “Hamilton.” It’s about a young Alexander Hamilton making both friends and enemies as he charges hard toward an idealistic vision of the possible. The lyrics ask: “Why do you write like you’re running out of time?” Woods, who has covered Vitti, 40, for five years, said goodbye in a mustread column that began this way:

“Nikolai Vitti’s time as superintendent of Duval County Public Schools will officially end at 11:59 p.m. Sunday. If the last four years are any indication, he’ll send a dozen emails at 11:56 p.m., create a plan for three new magnet schools at 11:57 p.m., change a couple of principals at 11:58, write an 800-word op-ed about a legislative bill at 11:59 and then — when the clock strikes midnight and he officially transitions from the challenges of Jacksonville to the ones of Detroit — he will go to sleep. “I’m kidding. First he will send a dozen emails to Detroit board members at 12:01 a.m., change some principals at 12:02, convert one school to

an arts magnet at 12:03, line up private donors to fund a program involving high-performing teachers in struggling schools at 12:04 … “I am exaggerating. Slightly.” Detroit schools needs that kind of energy. Detroit schools need to increase graduation rates, make allies in the business and philanthropic communities, lure top-shelf teachers with better pay and purpose, and give charter schools legitimate competition — all things Vitti did in Florida. Vitti slowed down enough Wednesday to have breakfast with me and my colleague Chad Livengood at the Grand Hotel, where he embraced the change-maker label. “One of the reasons why I consider myself a change agent is because I’m constantly willing to challenge the status quo,” he said, outlining plans to trim district bureaucracy, reorganize its leadership structure, and lure national education talent to Detroit. “When you’re talking about (shaking up) the status quo, it has childrens’ faces and futures connected to it.” A year ago, I was still a Washington-based political columnist when I told the Mackinac conference I hoped to return this year, not as a guest but as “a member of the family. Because of all of you, I think Detroit’s best days are still ahead of us.” Today, I’m no less bullish about Detroit, and hope that Vitti creates better days for city schools. Born and raised in Dearborn Heights, he’s now an ex-expat, a member of the family, a Detroit disruptor.

It is time to come home

Send your letters: Crain’s Detroit Business will consider for publication all signed letters to the editor that do not defame individuals or organizations. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Email: rfournier@crain.com

For 37 years, the Detroit Regional Chamber has held an annual get-together at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, some 300 miles north of Detroit. The late Dan Musser KEITH ran a great resort and his CRAIN son has continued on Editor-in-chief that tradition. It will continue to flourish. But after 37 years, it’s time for the chamber to bring it back to Detroit. In 2012, Roger Penske brought the Detroit Grand Prix back to Belle Isle. It’s a stellar event for the beginning of June, attracting tens of thousands of fans who spend millions of dollars in Detroit’s economy. It is crazy for an organization that supposedly is promoting our economy to encourage its members to spend their money outside of Detroit. There are many fine venues available to the chamber in the city of Detroit, and they could even include the rest of Southeast Michigan. It is simply a misappropriation of time and money to have it hundreds of miles away rather than within the region. All it takes is a quick look at the magnificent job that Roger Penske has been doing

on Belle Isle and there can be nothing but admiration for the work he has done to once again make Belle Isle the jewel of our city. He has invested millions of dollars to make it a much better place, and there are parks all over this nation that would kill to have our race in their park. Each year we welcome tens of thousands of race fans to enjoy what Detroit is best known as: Motor Capital of the World. Twice a year Detroit shines: once in January when we host the North American International Auto Show, which has an economic value in excess of the Super Bowl and attracts hundreds of key automotive executives from around the world along with thousands of automotive journalists and hundreds of thousands of auto enthusiasts. It is an event that is the envy of the world and adds millions of dollars to our economy. The Grand Prix is its proper bookend and makes for two automotive events that pump our economy. The Detroit Regional Chamber needs to announce a switch of the venue to Detroit. The success of the event should not be based on the location but the content. It is long overdue for the chamber to come home. The city will welcome it.

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

On Mackinac, talk and reality don’t always match up This time of the year we always witness the return of the swallows to Capistrano, Calif., and the buzzards to Hinckley, Ohio. In Michigan, another migration takes place — the Lansing “old bird” lawmakers making their annual trek to Mackinac Island for the Policy Conference. Fans of “Seinfeld” know it as a show about “nothing” and if one examines the accomplishments of the conference, it becomes apparent that this is also an event about “nothing.” Few if any of The Island marauders can recite the “takeaways” from last year’s sojourn, and if there were any accomplishments, it would be diffi-

OTHER VOICES Bill Kalmar

Bill Kalmar is former director of the Michigan Quality Council. cult to ascertain what was on the list. This post-Memorial Day weekend powwow resembles a fraternity/so-

rority party where media types will attempt to report on issues that lawmakers are discussing, but that is a tough assignment because as a past attendee myself, I can attest to the participants’ choice of putting playtime over proposals. So those of us who had other plans for the week have to endure hours of media reports of our lawmakers pretending to focus on issues that will have a positive impact on our state. And I have to say that most of the revelers will put their best foot forward once they emerge from the Cupola Bar or the golf course and at-

Few if any of The Island marauders can recite the “takeaways” from last year’s sojourn, and if there were any accomplishments, it would be difficult to ascertain what was on the list.

tempt to wax eloquent about meaningful discussions they have participated in or sessions they attended. But don’t ask for their written notes, because chances are none exist! So let’s just hope that the bal-

loons, the party puffs and the cheese curls don’t attract an invasion of swallows and buzzards! On the other hand, these birds have a plan and a purpose, something that seems to escape the “old birds” from Lansing.

TALK ON THE WEB Re: Bill seeks to help Detroit Salt gain edge over Canadian firms The government is going to give a preferential deal to a Canadian salt company to protect us from Canadian salt? I am sure we are going to pay more additional price to the company than the cost of their lobbying expense with the legislature for their elections in about two days. sometimestheyaresomewhatright Salt is vital to industry. Michigan First! Jose

Re: What's next on health care? Chatting with Upton and Kildee But health insurers say right now — as they seek to make decisions on 2018 premium costs — the Trump administration is destabilizing the individual market further with its delay in announcing whether it will continue $7 billion in annual “cost-sharing subsidies” to lower-income policyholders to reduce deductibles and copayments. Most believe President Trump wants to create a “death spiral” in the individual market to force Democrats to agree with him on Trumpcare. THIS....If the ACA fails. it’s because the GOP made it fail. Michigan guy

Re: Michigan Senate OKs allowing dogs on restaurant patios I don’t know why this is an issue. If a business wants to let dogs in their restaurant we don’t need big brother looking out for us. Yes, the government is there to make sure things are safe but that can be done with dogs. Yes some customers will choose not to go to a restaurant with dogs no matter what. But we don’t need the legislature micromanaging our businesses. E M Parmelee Reader responses to stories and blogs that appeared on Crain’s website. Comments may be edited for length and clarity.

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

Patrick Doyle Domino’s Inc. | Page 12

Dug Song Duo Security Inc. | Page 12

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Dan Gilbert Quicken Loans Inc./Rock Ventures LLC | Page 16

Maurice Cox City of Detroit | Page 18

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SPECIAL REPORT

Michigan T Change Makers Dynamic disruptors chart the course of change

Mary Barra General Motors | Page 22

hese are times of epic change: an economic transition atop a technological revolution amidst a new demography that is literally transforming the face of our nation. ¶ This confluence of transformative events, the magnitude of which has not been experienced since the beginning of the 20th century, creates a particular challenge for leaders. ¶ For the first time ever, Crain’s Detroit Business is celebrating Michigan’s top “Change Makers” — the most influential and innovative leaders who are helping their companies and communities navigate the harsh currents of change.

Anya Babbitt SPLT | Page 24

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

La June Montgomery Tabron W.K. Kellogg Foundation | Page 14

Rip Rapson Kresge Foundation | Page 15

Patti Poppe CMS Energy Corp. and Consumers Energy | Page 18

Dick and Betsy DeVos Dick & Betsy DeVos Family Foundation | Page 20

Dynamic disruptors. Anya Babbitt, Mary Barra, Maurice Cox, Dick and Betsy DeVos, Patrick Doyle, John Fox, Dan Gilbert, Patti Poppe, Rip Rapson, Dug Song, Khali Sweeney and La June Montgomery Tabron. This list is as broad as change itself: Corporate CEOs, tech gurus, nonprofit champions, and re-inventors of government and politics. It includes the head of GM (Barra), the face of new Detroit (Gilbert), and the wallet of western Michigan (DeVos). These men and women don’t just react to change; they embrace and exploit it.

John Fox Beaumont Health | Page 25

This list is as broad as change itself: Corporate CEOs, tech gurus, nonprofit champions, and re-inventors of government and politics.

As you read this series of stories, ask yourself whether your enterprise is adapting quickly enough to economic and social shifts. Are you a change maker? If not, are there any lessons you can glean from these profiles? Two caveats: First, this list is not exhaustive. A state on the move in a time of great movement is filled with leaders who are nimbly adapting their causes. Tell us who we left off. We might make room for them next year. Second, these profiles are not endorsements. Fair-minded readers may object to the course of change charted by one or more of

these disruptors. Feel free to do so, even as you channel their spirit of risk and revolution to make yourself more successful in business. Be a maker of good change.

Ron Fournier Publisher and Editor Crain’s Detroit Business

Khali Sweeney Downtown Boxing Gym | Page 26 ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROBERT CARTER FOR CRAIN’S

C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

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Patrick Doyle

Turning around a struggling pizza brand By Dustin Walsh | walsh@crain.com

atrick Doyleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice is big. His smile is bigger. Âś The CEO of Dominoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Inc. is jovial for a reason. Dominoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stock is up 5,000 percent since 2008, its franchisees opened a store every seven hours last year and its market share is up to 15 percent of the market from only 9 percent in 2009.

But Dominoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s faced a different reality before Doyle took over. And the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s turnaround is a testament to Doyleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s risk-taking â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and his radical honesty. Eight years ago, Dominoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reputation was that of a bland recipe unchanged in 50 years with suffering sales escalated by the worst recession in as many years. Then the internet nearly finished off the already wounded pizza chain. In late 2009, a Dominoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s employee at a franchise in North Carolina was filmed putting cheese in his nose and adding snot to the food. Chaos ensued. The video went viral and every major news outlet in the world covered the story. Doyle, then president of U.S. operations, was sent out to clean up the mess. Using the same technology,

Patrick Doyle, 54 CEO Dominoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Inc.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are focused on taking smart risks and leading with innovations that are meaningful to our customers and stores, not just driving favorable PR. Everything weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing is real.â&#x20AC;?

Doyle launched an apology video on YouTube, promising big changes. Doyleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s predecessor David Brandon worked with Doyle, the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marketing apparatus and chefs to create a new recipe and an ad campaign telling customers their pizza was awful no more â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which launched when Doyle took over as CEO in March 2010. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have joked many times that I risked being the shortest-tenured

CEO cam ther laun the pan proa that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s thes unc

best-funded IT startups in state history, offering what is called two-factor authentication â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to identify who is trying to access a computer or network â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to more than 8,000 companies and organizations in more than

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Dug Song

Changing how Silicon Valley looks at Michigan

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ug Song has changed the way internet service providers and client companies worldwide protect their companies and customers from hackers. Âś While doing that, he has changed the way Silicon Valley investors view Michigan firms, having attracted an A list of West Coast VC firms who wanted him to move his company to Silicon Valley but were still eager to invest in him when he wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a beer guy, and Michigan is a beer state,â&#x20AC;? he joked with Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. â&#x20AC;&#x153;California is a wine state.â&#x20AC;? And he has helped boost the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Ann Arbor by investing in startups himself, and by founding networking organizations and tech incubators. Song is CEO of Duo Security Inc., which he and Jon Oberheide co-founded in 2010. It has become one of the fastest-growing and

Dug Song, 42 CEO and Co-Founder Duo Security Inc.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a beer guy, and Michigan is a beer state. California is a wine state.â&#x20AC;?

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CEO in corporate history with this campaign if it back-fired, because there was no Plan B, but luckily launching the campaign was one of the best risks we’ve taken as a company.” Doyle said. “... We are approached almost weekly, still, about that campaign. People remember it, it’s still news and noteworthy, all these years later. We believe that the uncommon honesty in the cam-

paign has resonated, and frankly, we’re surprised that more companies haven’t done the same.” Doyle said the company is about taking calculated risks, which translates to the company investing heavily in technology. Under Doyle, the company introduced new ordering methods by using Facebook, Twitter emojis, Apple Watch, voice-activation, “zero click,”

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROBERT CARTER FOR CRAIN’S

100 countries, including Facebook, Paramount Pictures, Random House, Etsy, Yelp, Twitter and NASA. The company has raised about $49 million in venture capital, including a round of $30 million in

2015 from a bevy of Silicon Valley heavyweights. The round was led by Menlo Park, Calif.-based Redpoint Ventures and joined by previous California investors, including San Francisco-based Benchmark Capi-

and, yes, a wedding registry ordering site. Customers can also track their pizzas online from order to toppings being applied through delivery. More than half of Domino’s 800 employees at its Ann Arbor headquarters are information technology specialists or data scientists. The company’s digital orders are up 60 percent since Doyle took over. “Technology is more than just ordering platforms, it’s also our unified point-of-sale system that makes these innovations work, it’s the analytics around all the data being generated and it’s making sure we have pizza ordering available no matter which technology platform our customer is using at the time,” Doyle said. “We are focused on taking smart risks and leading with innovations that are meaningful to our customers and stores, not just driving favorable PR. Everything we’re doing is real.” The risks paid off. Last year, U.S. sales increased 10.5 percent, the biggest growth among the top-10 quick-service chains, Bloomberg Newsweek reported earlier this year. Domino’s customer loyalty is also the highest among pizza chains, according to consultancy Brand Keys. “We listened to our consumers and what they wanted and that helped to push us further into getting the technology right,” Doyle said. “This helped our store traffic and improved our customer satisfaction. We are taking smart risks and keeping our lead as a brand innovator. And keeping our franchisees focused and profitable. Despite our success, there’s still much to do.”

tal and True Ventures, Mountain View-based Google Ventures and Palo Alto-based Radar Partners. Duo has grown dramatically, hitting revenue last year of $73 million and becoming cash-flow positive. “We’ve more than doubled revenue each of the last four years, so hopefully we’ll continue on that trajectory this year,” he said. In the last year, Duo doubled its head count to more than 400. Until recently, it was undergoing buildouts in each of its four cities — San Mateo, Calif.; Austin, Texas; London and Ann Arbor, where it has 50,000 square feet in two buildings downtown. In 2000, Song was one of five self-proclaimed geeks and hackers who co-founded Arbor Networks, a pioneer in internet security that was highly profitable and providing security to 80 percent of the world’s internet service providers when it was sold to Tektronix in 2010. In 2009, Song, a member of the 2012 class of Crain’s 40 under 40, founded the Tech Brewery, a co-op/ incubator space in Ann Arbor whose venture capital-funded alumni include Deepfield, Sidecar, Sight Machine and QuadMetrics. Song was also the chief organizer and fundraiser for a 30,000-squarefoot skate park that opened on Ann Arbor’s northwest side in 2013.

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La June Montgomery Tabron Changing the conversation about racial equity in Michigan By Sherri Welch | swelch@crain.com

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a June Montgomery Tabron is bringing a new voice to conversations about education and racial segregation in Michigan as a Detroit native and the first African American woman to serve as president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Montgomery Tabron grew up in a family of 10 children in inner-city Detroit. She knows first-hand the day-today challenges faced by the families the foundation seeks to serve in fulfilling its mission to help the most vulnerable of children. She also remembers how good the city’s public schools were when she attended them, the 1967 uprising and the day the white family next door came over to say goodbye because they had to move. She doesn’t shy away from conversations about race. It is, she says, the root cause of broken education systems both in Detroit and the foundation’s hometown of Battle Creek. And getting at structural barriers is the only way to bring real change. White flight sparked by underlying racial segregation has gutted Battle Creek Public Schools of the resources it needs to educate children, Montgomery Tabron said, quoting a study done by New York University. In May, Montgomery Tabron and the foundation responded with an unprecedented $51 million commitment to their hometown district over the next five years in a bid to replace eroded funding and give students the same quality of education they could get in some of the country’s finest schools. “We will … face the inequities in this community head on, address them and remove them,” said Montgomery Tabron, who was named to Black En-

La June Montgomery Tabron, 54 President and CEO W.K. Kellogg Foundation

“We will … face the inequities in this community head on, address them and remove them.” terprise Magazine’s 2017 list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Business. She believes Kellogg’s support of the school district is a model that could be replicated around the country. Core to that model, and Kellogg’s mission, is promoting racial equity and helping communities uproot conscious and unconscious beliefs in racial hierarchy to create opportunities for all children. The foundation is committed to addressing the same issues in Detroit. It recently committed a $3.5 million grant to support the Detroit Promise scholarship program to ensure high school graduates in Detroit can afford to go to college. And it’s co-leading the “Hope Starts Here” early childhood initiative with the Kresge Foundation to create a citywide action plan for coordinated, high-quality early child-

hood systems that ensure children are born healthy, prepared for kindergarten and for success in their subsequent education. “In so many ways, my own journey illustrates the power and impact of what is possible with the right conditions,” said Montgomery Tabron, who joined Kellogg 30 years ago and rose through its ranks to become president and CEO in 2014. She’s also changing things inside the foundation, the largest in Michigan and one of the largest in the country, with assets of $9.6 billion at the end of fiscal 2016. Just months after being named president and CEO, she began leading the board through a year-long shift to a new governance model. The board no longer reviews grants — $429 million in new commitments last year — or engages in daily operations, leaving staff to do their best work without being micro-managed. In what Montgomery Tabron believes is another unprecedented move, Kellogg’s board moved from considering close to three-quarters of the foundation’s grants to not looking at any of the grants unless there was any type of conflict of interest to consider. “Grants are means; they don’t care about the means anymore,” Montgomery Tabron said. “What they really care about is are we making a difference for children? Show us we are.”

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Rip Rapson

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Changing how philanthropy works in Detroit By Sherri Welch | swelch@crain.com

ome mortgages in Detroit are up 25 percent across the city. The QLine has spurred $1.3 billion in economic development. ¶ Both are examples of the wide-ranging work the Kresge Foundation has done to show the world Detroit is on the way back — and of how Rapson is changing philanthropy in Detroit.

In the decade since Rip Rapson joined the Kresge Foundation, he’s taken its work well beyond grants. The Kresge Foundation has served as a convener on important issues and helped bring private investment back to Detroit by taking the first risk. He and the Troy-based foundation have played a role in “table-setting” — helping to convene community conversations around important topics like the one that led to the Detroit Future City plan, a 50-year blueprint for revitalizing the city and neighborhoods in Detroit, released in 2013. Similarly, Kresge is now co-leading conversations with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation on the need for a quality, consistent early childhood system in the city. Helping Detroit neighborhoods develop a problem-solving muscle is another effort Rapson has championed. Now in its third year, Kresge Innovative Projects: Detroit is providing grants that enable communities to solve problems on their own terms. “Not everything can be done from city hall or the perch of a foundation,” Rapson said. The foundation has also helped Detroit build lending capacity to help neighborhood redevelopment. It contributed the initial $5 million in 2013 to fund the Woodward Corridor Investment Fund to provide one-

Rip Rapson, 65 President and CEO Kresge Foundation

“Not everything can be done from city hall or the perch of a foundation.” stop financing for residential and commercial projects along the Woodward Avenue corridor. That support — and the foundation’s pledge to pay back any funds that weren’t repaid — spurred MetLife, Prudential Financial, PNC Bank, Calvert Foundation, Living Cities and the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation to come into the initiative, creating a $30.25 million lending pool for local projects. Rapson has also spurred Kresge to use different forms of capital to help bring private investment back into Detroit, including grants, low-interest loans, guarantees and investments in community development financial institutions. Under Rapson’s leadership, Kresge helped develop the $40 million Detroit Home Mortgage program, the

first of its kind in the country. Launched last year with five banks, community foundations, nonprofits and the state, the program is aimed at helping 1,000 buyers obtain mortgages in Detroit to bridge the property appraisal gap. It gives qualified buyers a first mortgage of up to the appraised value of the home and a second mortgage of up to $75,000 for renovations. Kresge contributed a $1 million grant to the program and issued a $6 million guarantee, its largest to date, on the second mortgages. Rapson and his team got the banks to lend at 150 percent of market value on the strength of its convictions that property values would rise. In the fund’s first year, mortgages were up 25 percent across the city, and Detroit Home Mortgage generated one-third of those leads, according to Kresge. Kresge is also helping signal that Detroit is a sustainable place to invest through grants made to highly visible projects like the QLine. Roger Penske — himself a significant change agent in Detroit — championed the project, but Kresge made the lead $50 million grant and helped recruit and nurture other support for the development of the downtown Detroit streetcar system. The QLine began shuttling the public in May.

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Dan Gilbert

Changing the game in downtown Detroit By Kirk Pinho | kpinho@crain.com

rom the street level, emergency sirens whir up to the 10th floor of the gleaming One Campus Martius building where Dan Gilbert has his office as Quicken Loans Inc. and Rock Ventures LLC founder and chairman. ¶ It’s a surprising sound in the downtown that the billionaire baron of mortgages and real estate — and a player in industries as niche as luxury watches, a rap lyric annotation website, a sort of stock market for sneakers, and football helmets — has played a key role in remaking in six years. ¶ “It’s rare that you hear that out here, especially more than one,” Gilbert says in an aside during an interview.

For Gilbert, who made what Forbes estimates is his $5.8 billion fortune as Quicken Loans grew, issuing $96 billion in mortgages last year, the renewed business district epitomizes his philosophy about change:

It needs to be predicted and nurtured. “You have to keep up with the speed of the game,” Gilbert, the owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, said. In the heat of the post-season

as the Cavs advanced in the playoffs, he turned to a basketball analogy. “There are tons of athletes, great players, that can play college,” he said. “But the speed of the game is just so much faster (in the NBA) than every other level. I sort of view business in that sense, too.” Seven years ago, Gilbert noticed he was having difficulty recruiting young talent to come work in his suburban office buildings in Livonia and elsewhere. So he packed up his company and moved it downtown. Today, he has become one of the largest landlords in the central business district, buying, renovating and constructing new residential and office space. “We definitely knew we wanted to make as much impact we could on the city,” Gilbert said. “The perfect storm is like the perfect sunny day. Here we were, down here already, with beautiful architecture and leases coming up. We needed the space, and we had the people.”

Dan Gilbert, 55 Founder and Chairman Quicken Loans Inc. / Rock Ventures LLC

“There are tons of athletes, great players, that can play college. But the speed of the game is just so much faster (in the NBA) than every other level. I sort of view business in that sense, too.”

Gilbert has made change beyond downtown real estate, too. Among other initiatives, he has helped lead a task force on the city’s blight epidemic, spent millions funding the QLine street car and pushed for legislation that he says helps developers transform problematic sites not just in Detroit but across the state. That legislation is key to moving Gilbert’s development project at the Hudson’s site forward — a legacy-cementing change to the downtown skyline. When completed, it will be the tallest building in Detroit. For Gilbert, with so much activity centering around — and in some ways, dependent on — him, it can be difficult to keep up. “I have no freakin’ idea,” Gilbert says with a laugh when asked how he keeps his myriad commitments and tasks straight. “Everyone runs into more things to do than there is time in the day, so it’s how you prioritize. That’s the whole game.”

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You know. The Motor City has both fueled and felt the power of the Laker Effect. Many of our students not only hail from the Detroit area, but they also return there: as analysts and engineers, biochemists and health professionals, as leaders in business and leaders of communities. Support them. Support us. And see the power of what can be.

Maurice Cox

Creating a planning department that “starts with yes” By Chad Livengood | clivengood@crain.com

hen Mayor Mike Duggan recruited Maurice Cox from New Orleans two years ago to become Detroit’s new urban planner, the city planning department had six employees and was seen as a pass-through for developers. ¶ “We hadn’t had a world class planner in decades,” Duggan said. “The planning department basically ran demolitions.”

These days, Cox is focused on demolishing barriers in Detroit’s Planning and Development Department. And he’s pursuing a redevelopment strategy in the city’s neighborhoods that reimagines vast tracts of vacant land where homes once stood. In two years, Cox has hired 25 new planners and created teams with a city planner, urban designer, landscape architect and architectural historian to focus on four main regions in the city as well as big projects like the East Riverfront redevelopment and construction of Little Caesars Arena and the surrounding District Detroit. Outside of the 7.2 square miles of downtown and Midtown, Cox is

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Maurice Cox, 58 Planning director City of Detroit

leading the charge for the development of “20 minute neighborhoods" where a resident can live, shop, dine and recreate within a 20-minute walk or bicycle ride from their house. The first major project is underway in the Fitzgerald neighborhood, where the city is attempting to string together vacant lots to build a quarter-mile greenway path connecting the University of Detroit Mercy with Marygrove College. Instead of waiting for new con-

struction of homes that may never get built, Cox is pursuing a strategy of infilling 192 vacant lots with a park-like landscape that he says “knits the fabric of a neighborhood back together.” Approximately 115 dilapidated homes in the Fitzgerald neighborhood will be rehabilitated. Vacant lots not used for the pathway or the new 2-acre Ella Fitzgerald Park will be converted to mini-parks or urban farming plots of land dotting the landscape. “This is where the comeback will be tested,” Cox said. Downtown and Midtown Detroit are “humming along” with construction of new housing developments and high-rise buildings, Cox said. “But ultimately, if we don’t build neighborhoods that attract families and families with children, then the recovery will not be complete,” Cox said. Cox also is helping foster a culture change inside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building — starting with the creation of an “Office of Yes,” which does just what its title suggests. “It comes from this notion that people don’t expect City Hall to say yes,” Cox said. “The city had a reputa-

Patti Poppe

Changing culture in the face of an uncertain energy future

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By Lindsay VanHulle | Crain’s Detroit Business/Bridge Magazine

n Patti Poppe’s perfect world, line workers at Consumers Energy would show up for work each day at one of dozens of sites across the state and be out the door to a job site within 15 minutes.

Their trucks would be loaded with needed materials. They’d have work orders in hand. After a quick team briefing, they would be on their way. “That is not how it goes today,” said Poppe, who is roughly 11 months into her tenure as president and CEO of Jackson-based utility CMS Energy Corp. and its electric subsidiary, Consumers Energy. “We saddle them with some pretty inefficient processes right now.” Poppe, 48, is leading change on two fronts: internally, as a driver of cultural transformation, and externally, during a time of disruption for the energy sector as a whole — rocked by fluctuating oil prices, major investments in clean energy technology and uncertainty in U.S. politics. She came to the energy sector from General Motors, where she

Patti Poppe, 48 President and CEO CMS Energy Corp. and Consumers Energy

worked in plant management and was immersed in the concept of operating lean. Poppe wants to bring the idea to Consumers; if successful, she said practices co-opted from lean manufacturing would be innovative for a utility that so far hasn’t figured out how to do it well. Since every job is different — from residential hookups to connecting large commercial users — the ability to design and prepare for each job before a worker arrives has “tremendous potential” to improve customer satisfaction, she said. “We’ve spent very little time engi-

neering the work,” she said. “That’s, I think, our biggest opportunity out of the gate.” Before Poppe became CEO in July 2016, she was part of Consumers’ senior management team and the utility’s strategic planning process. After taking the top job, she led a strategy review that led to a commitment to what Poppe calls the “triple bottom line — people, planet and profit.” Poppe, a 2016 Crain’s Most Influential Women honoree, said the utility needs to be better at communicating the changes it is making to improve customer reliability and electric affordability and reduce its environmental impact. For instance: Consumers retired seven of its 12 coal-fired units at three plants in the spring of 2016, more than 950 megawatts and twothirds of Consumers’ coal fleet. The utility says it retired more coal as a percentage of its electric generation than any other investor-owned utility in the nation, and more than all other American utilities save the Tennessee Valley Authority. But many would expect it to build a giant natural gas-fired plant to re-

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tion of not being able to be very responsive. Our notion is we say yes until we have some reason that we can’t get to yes. We start with yes.” Cox, who came to Detroit from the University of Tulane with an academic background, has used the Office of Yes to partner with the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Faculty and students at the college wanted to help the city develop planning strategies for building middle-density housing. The U-M students provided “tens of thousands of dollars” worth of free consulting that the planning department can use as a guide for future neighborhood revitalization, Cox said. “Being able to actually say ‘Yes, we welcome your partnership,’ has really been able to marshal those resources,” he said. As new construction projects have popped up in Midtown and downtown, Cox has challenged real estate developers to build housing, retail and office space differently with an eye toward building a more densely-designed city. “He has absolutely pushed developers to step up their design game,” said Sonya Mays, CEO of Develop Detroit, a nonprofit housing developer. “And as this process moves forward, it will continue to elevate the design aesthetic in Detroit. ... He’s been pretty forthright about his expectations and his vision.”

“The city had a reputation of not being able to be very responsive. Our notion is we say yes until we have some reason that we can’t get to yes. We start with yes.”

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place the coal that is now offline, she said. Instead, Consumers plans to backfill the lost generation in part through the purchase of an existing natural gas plant in Jackson and a plan it’s calling “Clean and Lean,” which pushes cleaner forms of energy. That could include natural gas, renewable sources and reducing customer demand for electricity. And Consumers in April said it plans to sell two of the now-closed coal plants in Muskegon and Luna Pier to Charlotte, N.C.-based Forsite Development Inc., which specializes in repurposing similar properties, for reuse as marine and inland shipping terminals. The plan needs approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission. Consumers is not alone in its efforts to get ahead of the curve on coal replacement. Last month, Detroit-based DTE announced that it plans to retire all of its coal plants by 2040 and replace that capacity with natural gas and renewable energy sources. Her approach to creating cultural change includes involving team members when crafting a long-term vision for the organization. That leads to greater buy-in among employees, she said, especially when paired with visiting work sites and talking to employees to learn how job demands can be improved. “We don’t have to fight internal resistance,” she said. “We just have to implement the thinking and the techniques to enable them to do it.”

“We’ve spent very little time engineering the work. That’s, I think, our biggest opportunity out of the gate.”

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Dick and Betsy DeVos

Changing institutions, and the face of their hometown By Chad Livengood | clivengood@crain.com

n 1991, a plan was floated publicly in Grand Rapids to build a multi-purpose sports and convention arena north of downtown. ¶ Dick DeVos, who at the time was on a path to the CEO’s job in his family’s Amway Corp., picked up the phone and started lobbying against the idea.

DeVos was worried that the convention center would be as detrimental to downtown Grand Rapids as the construction of the Pontiac Silverdome and Palace of Auburn Hills had been for Detroit when the Lions and Pistons left the city in the 1970s. “That lesson was not lost on us,” said DeVos, who was CEO of Amway from 1993 to 2002. DeVos’ campaign against a sports facility outside the central business district led to the formation of Grand Action, a group of business leaders who were the driving forces behind construction of Van Andel Arena, the DeVos Place Convention Center, the DeVos Performance Hall, the Grand Rapids City Market and Michigan State University’s medical school.

Those destinations are credited with changing the Grand Rapids skyline — and the trajectory of a city trying to staunch suburban sprawl. As the heirs to two family fortunes, Dick and Betsy DeVos have spent much of their adult lives attempting to change institutions and policies. As GOP mega-donors, their political influence has catalyzed major changes in state laws affecting education and labor. Betsy DeVos pushed successfully for expansion of charter schools, while Dick DeVos engineered the 2012 law that converted Michigan from the birthplace of organized labor to a right-to-work state where union membership is no longer a condition of employment.

But the DeVos influence extends well beyond the Republican politics and conservative causes they’re arguably best known for supporting. From 1989 to 2015, the Dick & Betsy DeVos Family Foundation reported giving away $138.7 million to leadership programs, arts and culture, health and human services, churches, and policy initiatives centered on education reform and scholarships for private schools. In Grand Rapids, the couple made the leading donation of $12.5 million toward the 2006 construction of a $103 million children’s hospital in the Spectrum Health System named after Dick’s mother, Helen DeVos, the wife of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos. “The children’s hospital now has allowed families to remain at home and for parents not have to take time off work to drive to Mayo (Clinic), or Chicago or Ann Arbor or wherever the case may be to receive care,” said Dick DeVos, who chairs Spectrum’s corporate board. Education reform has been one of the DeVos’ biggest initiatives. Dick

Dick DeVos, 61, and Betsy DeVos, 59 Dick & Betsy DeVos Family Foundation

“The momentum around giving parents more choices, giving students more choices, is continuing to build.” — Betsy DeVos

DeVos founded an aviation charter high school at Grand Rapids International Airport. Betsy DeVos said their education advocacy and philanthropy have been on “similar tracks,” seeking the same outcome: that children from poor families have the same opportunity their kids had.

The DeVos’ efforts to sway public opinion toward their philosophies has not always succeeded. In 2000, voters rejected a DeVos-sponsored constitutional amendment to create tax-funded vouchers for students to attend private schools. Six years later, Dick DeVos lost a costly campaign for governor against incumbent Jennifer Granholm. But the DeVoses didn’t give up. They shifted their strategic advocacy for private school vouchers to other parts of the country. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia now have some form of vouchers for private schools, Betsy DeVos said. “The momentum around giving parents more choices, giving students more choices, is continuing to build,” Betsy DeVos said in an interview with Crain’s. Betsy DeVos’ school choice advocacy was one reason President Donald Trump cited in appointing her U.S. Secretary of Education. She was narrowly confirmed by the U.S. Senate amid a heated debate over the impact of school choice programs on traditional public school systems.

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Mary Barra

Changing GM’s old boys’ club By Dustin Walsh | dwalsh@crain.com

ary Barra is a company woman. She’s been at General Motors Co. her entire professional career. ¶ But that doesn’t mean she’s part of the status quo. After GM’s bankruptcy and a massive recall crisis on top of decades of declining market share, Barra, a second-generation GM lifer, has turned out to be the change agent that the automaker needed.

She launched into national prominence in January 2014 when she became the first woman to lead a major automotive company. During her first year she faced revelations about faulty ignition switches that led to deaths and injuries and a 30 million car recall. She was interrogated by Congress and lampooned on Saturday Night Live. But through the crucible of the ignition crisis, Barra forced a stagnant old boys’ club to move forward. And despite a trial by fire, Barra led the

automaker to record profits in 2015 and 2016, introduced a critically-acclaimed model lineup and invested in future mobility technology. Last year, Buick landed atop J.D. Power’s latest customer-satisfaction rankings, with Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac not far behind. Buick also became the first domestic maker ever to finish in the top three of Consumer Reports’ annual reliability survey. As GM looks to the industry’s future, Barra has made some big bets

on autonomous technology, car sharing and ride hailing. GM invested more than $500 million dollars buying California autonomous tech startup Cruise Automation and took a minority stake in Lyft. GM launched its own sharing service, called Maven, in more than a dozen markets across the country; many of them, not coincidentally, are areas where GM historically has been weak. GM’s board gave Barra a vote of confidence in January 2016, giving her the title of chairman as well. Fortune named Barra as the country’s most powerful woman two years in a row. Last year, she became the highest paid automotive CEO in the world, with a compensation package totaling $22.6 million in 2016. But after years of record car sales, U.S. carmakers are now faced with a flattening car market. (The same forces have depressed Ford Motor Co.’s stock prices, leading to the ouster in May of CEO Mark Fields and his replacement with former Steelcase Inc. CEO Jim Hackett, who also

Mary Barra, 55

sponse to a weakening market. About 30 percent of GM’s hourly CEO workers are classified as short-term General Motors employees, meaning their jobs could be eliminated with“Globally, we are now in out a big hit from the right markets to drive unemployment compensation and profitability, strengthen that half would be short-term workers our business performance within a few years, and capitalize on growth Automotive News reported. opportunities for the Earlier this year, long term.” GM agreed to sell nearly all of its Eubrings a reputation for change-mak- ropean operations to PSA Group and ing to the role.) is exiting India and South Africa. So, though she has an eye on “Globally, we are now in the right what’s next for the auto industry, markets to drive profitability, Barra is also keeping today’s profits strengthen our business perforin her sights. GM has been working mance and capitalize on growth opto cut costs since 2015 in an effort to portunities for the long term,” Barra save $6.8 billion by 2018. In April, said in a statement. “We will continGM said the company is well-posi- ue to optimize our operations martioned and could easily reduce costs ket by market to further improve our further, by roughly $1 billion, in re- competitiveness and cost base.”

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Anya Babbitt

Changing how we get to work

By Tom Henderson | thenderson@crain.com

he average American commute to work is 26.4 minutes, and it’s been getting longer for years, according to U.S. Census data reported in The Washington Post earlier this year. ¶ As long as people continue to live in the suburbs, that’s unlikely to change. But what if it were easier for people to share their rides to work?

That’s Anya Babbitt’s plan for making workers more relaxed — and reducing CO2 emissions in the meantime. She’s selling her technology to enterprises, rather than their employees, making it more affordable and easier to adopt. And she’s taking her vision for better mobility global, whether that means getting seniors in Michigan to their doctors’ appointments or getting employees to work in Mexico City. Babbitt is the founder and CEO of SPLT, which markets a ride-sharing app to companies to coordinate travel for employees. SPLT was a mem-

Anya Babbitt, 35 Founder and CEO SPLT

“We’re already profitable. We’ve expanded to both coasts and we’re in Chicago, Austin, the Carolinas, Ohio and New Jersey.”

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ber of the first class of the Techstars Mobility incubator program in Detroit at Ford Field in 2015. Several hundreds of thousands of SPLT apps have been downloaded since then, and many more soon will be as the company expands this year into Great Britain, France and Germany. She didn’t plan to permanently

move her company to the Motor City. But she says she fell in love with the sense of entrepreneurship in the city, established relationships with important mentors, including prominent angel investor Terry Cross, and made quick progress lining up customers and winning pitch contests. Babbitt has raised about $1.7 mil-

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lion through early-stage investments and pitch competitions. In March, SPLT won first place in the transportation technologies division of the South by Southwest Accelerator Pitch event in Austin, Texas. Last November, Babbitt won the $500,000 first prize at the annual Accelerate Michigan Innovation competition at Cobo Center, the same month Entrepreneur Magazine named SPLT as one of the 10 most innovative companies to watch in the U.S. SPLT has early-stage investments from Macomb Community College’s $2.7 million Innovation Fund and from Detroit-based Invest Michigan, a nonprofit funded by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. All of this would be meaningless without paying customers. But thousands of people use SPLT’s apps, including employees of DTE Energy Co., Honda Manufacturing of Ohio and Magna International of America Inc. SPLT has said publicly that it plans to make $2 million in revenue this year. “We’re already profitable,” said Babbitt, who said growth has come faster than expected. “We’ve expanded to both coasts and we’re in Chicago, Austin, the Carolinas, Ohio and New Jersey,” she said. Last August, SPLT announced two strategic partnerships, with Beaumont Health and ride-hailing company Lyft to get elderly patients to medical appointments. SPLT, which now employs 20, recently expanded to Mexico, offering ride-sharing through Bosch Mexico to its 14,000 employees. “We’ve had an adoption rate there of 50 percent, which his unheard of,” said Babbitt. What’s next? SPLT has an another app in the works, this one a ride-sharing platform. Customers won’t share rides; they’ll share cars. Babbitt’s previous businesses, all New York-based, include a luxury marketing and events company, a short-term apartment rental service and a real estate consultancy.

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John Fox

Navigating changing winds in health care By Jay Greene | jgreene@crain.com

ohn Fox arrived at newly-merged Beaumont Health in March 2015 with a singular mission: to unify three legacy Beaumont hospitals, four Oakwood Healthcare hospitals and Botsford Hospital. The new Beaumont Health won federal antitrust approval and closed September 2014. ¶ Now, Fox is on the uncertain brink of more major changes in health care.

One justification for the Beaumont merger was the need under Obamacare to develop a larger system that could offer payers and businesses higher quality, broader geographic reach and close relationships with physicians and outpatient care. If approved, the American Health Care Act — what some are calling Trumpcare — could reduce hospital payments even further, leading many unprepared hospitals to an uncertain future. But by now, Fox knows how to navigate the winds of change. Merging the employee and physician cultures of the eight hospitals, once fierce competitors with different strengths and weaknesses, was something Fox knew he needed to do well at Beaumont to be successful. Luckily, he had been through several similar experiences with integration at former jobs at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta and Clarian Health, now called IU Health, in Indianapolis. “I measure my success by how much I am not in” my corporate office in Southfield’s Town Center, said Fox. “I meet with all medical staffs, hospital leadership, directors and managers at all eight hospitals. It is important for me to hear directly

from them. I walk out with pages of stuff I have to follow up on.” Last fall, Fox got sidetracked a bit as he took on a second job within Beaumont. Fox replaced retiring CFO John Keuten, the former Oakwood CFO, for a five-month stint, because, as he quipped, “I was looking for a full-time job.” Last November, Fox hired John Kerndl from for-profit LifePoint Health to replace himself as CFO. “From an operating standpoint, we have got a beat and rhythm and are doing well,” Fox said of the merger. “We are exceeding our targets, getting higher volumes, our hospitals are growing with better asset utilization. Part of that reason is that people understand a lot better than a couple years ago what Beaumont health is.” For fiscal 2016 that ended Dec. 31, Beaumont Health enjoyed an operating income increase of 43 percent to $200.6 million for a 4.6 percent margin compared with $140.7 million the prior year. Net revenue grew 6.7 percent to $4.4 billion, including about $77 million attributed to synergy from the merger. Beaumont has projected net savings from the merger over three years to be more than $134 million. Net income also rose to $286 mil-

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John Fox, 65 CEO Beaumont Health

“I meet with all medical staffs, hospital leadership, directors and managers at all eight hospitals. It is important for me to hear directly from them. I walk out with pages of stuff I have to follow up on.”

lion from $10 million in 2015. In the two years Fox has been CEO, Beaumont has moved the needle on integrating the eight hospitals into one entity in a number of ways. It has appointed 11 top executives, including three from outside the original hospitals, to Fox’s management team; issued a consolidated bond for $398.4 million that saved the new system $23.5 million; consolidated electronic medical record systems through Epic Corp.’s EMR; formed the 900-physician Beaumont Medical Group and launched Beaumont Care Partners to negotiate managed care contracts. This year, Beaumont plans to open a new ER center and proton beam cancer center in Royal Oak and a new patient tower at Botsford Hospital. It also is building a new shopping village with a hotel, shops and food services adjacent to its 1,100-bed hospi-

tal complex on Woodward Avenue and 13 Mile Road. Beaumont Health consists of eight hospitals with 3,337 beds, 168 outpatient sites, 4,603 physicians, 35,000 employees and about 3,500 volunteers. On possible changes in health care financing that may come under a potential repeal of the Affordable Care Act and the emergence of Trumpcare, Fox is concerned, because stable financing from Medicare, Medicaid and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will help Beaumont continue to improve. “What America needs is health care networks that can deliver high-quality patient care consistently at an affordable price,” said Fox. “We will remove a lot of the avoidable costs, which is where the waste is. Our job is to organize as a high performing network that payers want to tap into.”

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Khali Sweeney

Changing kids’ lives through boxing — and books By Bill Shea | bshea@crain.com

he boxing gym as a sort of school of hard knocks is an ancient cliché from movies and books. Life lessons imparted from the corner of the ropes. The odor of sweat and the din of slapping leather in a dimly-lit basement. ¶ The nonprofit Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program, founded by Carlo “Coach Khali” Sweeney, 48, is a modern take on that scene. But instead of churning out boxers desperate to escape the inner city, the organization is lifting up kids who are underserved by Detroit’s poor education system with a safe, clean, well-lit facility that puts learning above punching.

There’s boxing, and a few have gone on to success in the ring, but the primary mission is providing classroom and life skills education to economically disadvantaged Detroit students. That includes after-school literacy and math remediation and elevation, STEM classes, career exposure, health and

wellness workshops, computer coding and soon, music. Students also volunteer in the community. The program is changing kids’ lives. But Sweeney had to change his own life first. Sweeney was illiterate when he dropped out of school in 11th grade.

But a few years later, when he thought about the kids he knew from his neighborhood — most of them dead, or in jail — he knew he needed to forge a different path. He got a job in construction. He taught himself to read. His learning gym has made a difference: each of the 267 students who have passed through the program since its launch in 2007 have graduated from high school. The 27,500 square-foot gym at 6445 E. Vernor Highway serves about 130 students between the ages of 7 and 18, most of whom live within a few miles and often in public housing. There are six full or part-time teachers, three coaches and 25 volunteers. The gym owns five vans, soon six, that pick kids up and bring them to the facility. It also offers summer programming. The former book-binding factory, with brick walls and industrial windows, was renovated to house a pair of boxing rings, speed bags, a track and other workout gear, but also

Khali Sweeney, 48

Sweeney launched the program in a smaller facility with money he’d Founder and CEO saved from his construction job. Downtown Boxing Gym Within a few years, the cash was spent. He happened to meet “For me, it’s always been Jessica Hauser in ‘What is it that will make you 2010, and when she learned that a more successful and the gym was struggling, she productive person?’ footed the bills For me, that’s literacy.” and then helped make connecclassrooms, labs, a library and other tions that boosted funding from coreducational workstations. Sweeney’s porations, foundations and celebriphilosophy is “books before boxing.” ties — which helped the Boxing Gym “For me, it’s always been ‘What is purchase and renovate the current it that will make you a more success- building. Hauser is now the gym’s exful and productive person?’ For me, ecutive director. that’s literacy. You can then do your Sweeney isn’t resting on any lauown fact-finding. It’s books before rels. any sports, for that matter,” he said. “I’m still working. We haven’t The gym is free for students, but made it there yet. We’re not going to the gym must raise $1,800 to cover celebrate until we cross the finish each student’s costs. The waiting list line. There’s still a lot of kids in the has about 800 names, Sweeney said. city dying, making bad choices,” he Kids are chosen by lottery. said.

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

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Jon Cotton, president and COO, Meridian Healthcare

Lauren Hood, co-director, Live6 The Live6 Alliance, a cooperative effort of the University of Detroit Mercy, the Kresge Foundation and the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., launched in 2015 to drive development in the Livernois-McNichols area. The idea was to bring a Midtown Inc.-style revitalization effort to the neighborhood. But Hood is determined to make sure the revitalization is community-led and benefits neighborhood residents and business owners — most of them African-American. (Her co-director, Michael Forsyth, joined Live6 earlier this year.) Why we’re watching: Will Hood’s neighborhood development approach lead to a real turn-around for the Livernois and McNichols corridors?

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Cotton is one of the leading advocates for Medicaid health plans to manage the state’s $2.6 billion behavioral health system. Cotton believes health plans can expand services to the 350,000 people who need treatment for mental health, substance abuse or developmental challenges. He also believes Medicaid health plans can lower costs to the state by coordinating care and reducing wasteful and duplicative services. Why we’re watching: Will Cotton persuade the Michigan Legislature to give the public behavioral health system to HMOs?

Mike DiBernardo, director of Food Innovation Projects, Eastern Market

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Jenifer Acosta, real estate developer, Jenifer Acosta Development Earlier this year, the former Bay City Times building in downtown Bay City reopened as the 31-unit Times Lofts after a $4.5 million redevelopment. For their next project, Jenifer Acosta and her father, Rod Hildebrant, saved the 125-year-old Crapo Building from the wrecking ball. Redevelopment of the former bank building into apartments and a restaurant is underway. Why we’re watching: Will Acosta’s development projects catalyze a comeback in one of Michigan’s many struggling downtowns?

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Gary Wozniak, president and CEO, RecoveryPark Wozniak led the creation of RecoveryPark, founded in 2010 with a mission to revive blighted land and put people with barriers to employment to work. The nonprofit’s first food business, RecoveryPark Farms, was founded in 2012. Today they farm three acres of land on the near East side — but his vision is bigger than that. In 10 years, RecoveryPark plans to farm 100 acres and employ over 200 people. Why we’re watching: Will Wozniak scale up his ambitious vision for creating economic and social change through urban farming?

James Rigato, chef, The Root and Mabel Gray Rigato had been on the leading edge of fine dining in metro Detroit for years when, in 2015, he chose blue collar suburb Hazel Park for his new restaurant Mabel Gray. Rigato resisted efforts to brand Hazel Park “the next” anything (Royal Oak, for example) in a 2015 interview with Crain’s: “I think Hazel Park is the next Hazel Park,” he said then. But when Joebar opened next door to Mabel Gray earlier this year, it sparked speculation that Rigato may have more influence on Hazel Park’s hipness than he was willing to admit. Why we’re watching: Will Mabel Gray drive a dining and nightlife revival in sleepy Hazel Park?

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CRAIN'S LIST: PRIVATE 200

Ranked by 2016 revenue Detroit Revenue Revenue area Worldwide ($000,000) ($000,000) Percent employees employees 2016 2015 change Jan. 2017 Jan. 2017 Type of business

Company Address Phone, website

Top executive

Penske Corp., Bloomfield Hills 48302-0954 (248) 648-2000; www.penske.com

Roger Penske chairman

$30,098.0

$29,178.0

3.2%

1,936

Rock Ventures, Detroit 48226 (800) 251-9080

Dan Gilbert chairman and founder

6,500.0 B

6,100.0 B

6.6

16,617 C

International Automotive Components, Southfield 48034 (248) 455-7000; www.iacgroup.com

Robert S. Miller president and CEO

6,000.0

5,900.0

1.7

833

31,000

Guardian Industries Corp. D, Auburn Hills 48326-1714 (248) 340-1800; www.guardian.com

Ron Vaupel president and CEO

5,600.0 B

5,600.0 E

0.0

Meridian Health Plan, Detroit 48226 (313) 324-3700; corp.mhplan.com

David Cotton CEO

3,732.0

3,365.5

10.9

1,610

1,936

Government programs health insurance

Ilitch companies, Detroit 48201 (313) 471-6600; www.ilitchcompanies.com

Christopher Ilitch president and CEO, Ilitch Holdings Inc.

3,400.0

3,300.0

3.0

3,914

22,839

TI Automotive F, Auburn Hills 48326 (248) 296-8000; www.tiautomotive.com

3,300.0 B

3,400.0 G

-2.9

2,800.0

2,600.0

7.7

867

Global tier-one automotive supplier of interior systems, closure systems, roof systems, and motors and electronics

Plastipak Holdings Inc., Plymouth 48170 (734) 455-3600; www.plastipak.com

Bill Kozyra chairman, president and CEO Lon Offenbacher president, CEO and founder William Young president and CEO

Little Caesars Pizza, Detroit Red Wings, Blue Line Foodservice Distribution, Champion Foods, Olympia Entertainment, Olympia Development, MotorCity Casino Hotel, Detroit Tigers, Little Caesars Pizza Kit Fundraising Program and Ilitch Holdings Inc. Global tier-one supplier of automotive fluid systems technology

2,689.4

2,856.7 H

-5.9

Manufacturer of rigid plastic containers for the consumer products industry

Barton Malow Co., Southfield 48034 (248) 436-5000; www.bartonmalow.com

Ryan Maibach president and CEO

2,425.5

1,780.3

36.2

1,100

2,090

Moroun family holdings, Warren 48089 (586) 939-7000

NA I

2,218.5 B

2,311.2 B

-4.0

Bridgewater Interiors LLC, Detroit 48209 (313) 842-3300; www.bridgewater-interiors.com

Ronald Hall Jr. president and CEO

2,205.6

2,092.2

5.4

1,026

2,102

Automotive seating/interiors

Sherwood Food Distributors LLC J, Detroit 48228 (313) 659-7300; www.sherwoodfoods.com

Earl Ishbia chairman and CEO

2,154.8

2,181.3

-1.2

339

1,140

Wholesale food distributor

The Suburban Collection, Troy 48084 (877) 471-7100; www.SuburbanCollection.com

David T. Fischer chairman and CEO

2,130.4

2,001.5

6.4

1,955

2,129

Automobile dealerships

H.W. Kaufman Financial Group/ Burns & Wilcox, Farmington Hills 48334

2,050.0

1,830.0

12.0

260

1,722

(248) 932-9000; www.kaufmanfinancialgroup.com

Alan Jay Kaufman chairman, president and CEO

Key Safety Systems Inc. K, Sterling Heights 48314 (586) 726-3800; www.keysafetyinc.com

Jason Luo CEO and vice chairman

1,800.0

1,575.0

14.3

339

Provides insurance services including distribution, brokerage, underwriting, reinsurance, real estate, premium financing, inspections, audits, risk management and third-party claims administration Inflators, airbags, seat belts, steering wheels, active safety and electronics

Belfor Holdings Inc., Birmingham 48009 (248) 594-1144; www.belfor.com

Sheldon Yellen CEO

1,590.2

1,400.2 L

13.6

1,950

7,767

Property restoration

Piston Group M, Redford Twp. 48239 (313) 541-8674; www.pistongroup.com

Vinnie Johnson chairman

1,581.9

930.8

70.0

1,108

7,759

Automotive supplier

Victory Automotive Group Inc., Canton Twp. 48188 (734) 495-3500; www.victoryautomotivegroup.com

Jeffrey Cappo president

1,567.6 N

1,223.7 N

28.1

Walbridge , Detroit 48226 (313) 963-8000; www.walbridge.com

John Rakolta Jr. chairman and CEO

1,450.0

1,432.0

1.3

360

1,000

Wolverine Packing Co., Detroit 48207 (313) 259-7500; www.wolverinepacking.com

Jim Bonahoom president

1,280.0

1,268.0

0.9

500

Soave Enterprises LLC, Detroit 48207 (313) 567-7000; www.soave.com

Anthony Soave president and CEO

1,193.0

1,232.0

-3.2

625

1,568

The Diez Group, Dearborn 48126 (313) 491-1200; www.thediezgroup.com

Gerald Diez CEO

1,152.0

1,079.0

6.8

Aluminum and steel sales, processing and warehousing companies

Syncreon Global Holdings Ltd., Auburn Hills 48326 (248) 377-4700; www.syncreon.com

Brian Enright CEO

1,100.0 B

0.0

Global provider of advanced supply chain services that offers a full range of third- and fourth-party logistics services

United Shore Financial Services LLC, Troy 48083 (855) 888-8737; www.unitedshore.com

Mat Ishbia president and CEO

857.0

510.1

68.0

2,000

Amerisure Mutual Insurance Co., Farmington Hills 48331 (248) 615-9000; www.amerisure.com

Gregory Crabb president and CEO

835.9

759.7

10.0

351

731

Rank

1 2

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Inteva Products LLC, Troy 48084 (248) 655-8886; www.intevaproducts.com

53,827

Retail automotive, truck leasing and logistics, motorsports racing

28,742 C Services organization that connects and serves a portfolio of companies, investments, and real estate Global supplier of interior automotive components and systems including cockpits and overhead systems and soft trim and acoustics Manufacturer of glass and automotive products and building products distributor.

General contracting, construction management, design/build, engineer-procure-construct, integrated project delivery, selfperform services: civil, concrete, rigging and interiors Ambassador Bridge and various trucking and logistics companies

Automotive dealerships Construction: general contracting, design-build, construction management, engineer/procure/construct, virtual design, digital mapping Wholesale meat packer and processor; wholesale meat, poultry and seafood distributor Diversified management holding company

Mortgage banking Property and casualty insurance company

This list of privately held companies is an approximate compilation of the largest companies in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Washtenaw counties that do not have stock traded on a public exchange. It is not a complete listing but the most comprehensive available. Crain's estimates are based on industry analysis and benchmarks, news reports and a wide range of other sources. Unless otherwise noted, information was provided by the companies. Companies with headquarters elsewhere are listed with the address and top executive of their main Detroit-area office. Actual revenue figures may vary. NA = not available.

B Crain's estimate. C Includes Greektown Casino. D Shareholders, on Nov. 21, 2016, approved the sale of the company to KGIC Merger Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Wichita, Kan.-based Koch Industries Inc. E From Forbes. F Acquired by private equity firm Bain Capital LLC in June 2015. G Automotive News estimate. H Estimated revenue includes acquisition of APPE packaging division of LaSeda de Barcelona Group in July 2015. I There is not a holding company for the Moroun family businesses. Some are public companies controlled by Manuel and/or Matthew Moroun. Others are owned privately by the Moroun family. J Merged with San Diego-based Harvest Food Distributors in a deal that closed April 3. They are now both owned and operated by Sand Dollar Holdings Inc. K Acquisition by public Chinese auto conglomerate Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp. completed on June 2, 2016. L In 2015, 88.05 percent of revenue for Belfor, a disaster recovery firm, was from construction management. The figure was 92 percent in 2014. M Piston Group includes Piston Automotive, Detroit Thermal systems, Airea and the acquisition of Irvin Automotive. N Automotive News. LIST RESEARCHED BY SONYA D. HILL

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C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CRAIN'S LIST: PRIVATE 200 Rank

27 28 29 30 31 32 32 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 41

Company Address Phone, website

Top executive

Ranked by 2016 revenue Detroit Revenue Revenue area Worldwide ($000,000) ($000,000) Percent employees employees 2016 2015 change Jan. 2017 Jan. 2017 Type of business

$816.8

$768.4

6.3%

1,101

Kenwal Steel Corp., Dearborn 48126 (313) 739-1000; www.kenwal.com

Michael LaFontaine owner and chairman Maureen LaFontaine owner and president Kenneth Eisenberg chairman and CEO

774.0

910.0

-14.9

220

354

U.S. Farathane, Auburn Hills 48326 (248) 754-7000; www.usfarathane.com

Andrew Greenlee president and CEO

750.0

700.0

7.1

2,037

4,200

McNaughton-McKay Electric Co., Madison Heights 48071-4134 (248) 399-7500; renewable energy: (734) 645-6005; www.mc-mc.com

Donald Slominski Jr. president and CEO

724.0

702.0

3.1

350

810

Electric/electronics distributor

General RV Center Inc., Wixom 48393 (248) 349-0900; www.generalrv.com

707.0

582.0

21.5

600

1,300

Recreational vehicle dealership

Lipari Foods LLC, Warren 48089 (586) 447-3500; www.liparifoods.com

Robert Baidas CEO Loren Baidas president Thom Lipari president and CEO

702.0

646.0

8.7

704

1,190

Wholesale food distribution. Lipari Foodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s truck fleet delivers to 12 states.

Neapco Holdings LLC, Belleville 48111 (734) 447-1372; www.neapco.com

Kenneth Hopkins president and CEO

702.0

647.0

8.5

533

2,880

Designs, manufactures and distributes driveline systems and service parts

Carhartt Inc., Dearborn 48126 (313) 271-8460; www.carhartt.com

Mark Valade chairman and CEO

677.8

691.0

-1.9

525

5,000

Apparel manufacturer

Art Van Furniture Inc. B, Warren 48092 (586) 939-0800; www.artvan.com

660.0

650.0

1.5

1,962

3,532

Retail home furnishings

Orleans International Inc., Farmington Hills 48334 (248) 855-5556; www.orleansintl.com

Archie Van Elslander chairman Kim Yost CEO Earl Tushman president

610.0

856.0

-28.7

MSX International Inc., Detroit 48226 (248) 829-6300; www.msxi.com

Frederick Minturn president and CEO

526.0

528.0

-0.4

1,250

6,051

Atlas Oil Co., Taylor 48180 (800) 878-2000; www.atlasoil.com

Sam Simon founder and chairman

506.7

1,465.5 C

-65.4

105

236

Business process outsourcing service provider for global automotive retail segments and human capital managed service provider Petroleum distribution, innovative fueling solutions

Barrick Enterprises Inc., Royal Oak 48073 (248) 549-3737; www.barrickent.com

Robert Barrick president

491.9

551.1

-10.7

Petroleum retailer and wholesaler

Plante Moran PLLC, Southfield 48037 (248) 352-2500; www.plantemoran.com

Gordon Krater managing partner

481.8

465.9

3.4

1,142

2,388

PVS Chemicals Inc., Detroit 48213 (313) 921-1200; www.pvschemicals.com

James B. Nicholson president and CEO

471.0

497.0

-5.2

Camaco LLC, Farmington Hills 48331 (248) 442-6800; www.camacollc.com

Arvind Pradhan president and CEO

471.0

462.0

1.9

2,000

RKA Petroleum Cos. Inc., Romulus 48174 (734) 946-2199; www.rkapetroleum.com

457.5 C

481.6 C

-5.0

Wholesale distributor of gasoline, diesel fuel, ethanol, biodiesel, Jet A and Jet A1 products; hauler of crude oil, common carrier

450.0 D

495.0 E

-9.1

Plastic and paper packaging manufacturer

443.5 C

484.5 C

-8.5

Automobile dealerships

LaFontaine Automotive Group, Highland Township 48357 (248) 887-4747; www.thefamilydeal.com

Automobile dealerships

Steel service center Plastic injection molder, extruder, thermal compression molder

Meat importer

Accounting and management consulting firm Manufacturer, marketer and distributor of industrial chemicals Full-service supplier of automotive seat structure assemblies

Letica Corp., Rochester 48307-2321 (248) 652-0557; www.letica.com

Kay Albertie managing shareholder Kari Elliott CEO Anton Letica president

Southfield Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram, Southfield 48034 (248) 354-2950; southfieldchrysler.com

Kenneth Thomas owner and general manager

Aristeo Construction Co., Livonia 48150 (734) 427-9111; www.aristeo.com

Joseph Aristeo president

402.8

410.0

-1.8

385

General contractor and construction manager

NYX Inc., Livonia 48150 (734) 462-2385; www.nyxinc.com

402.0

359.0

12.0

1,991

Automotive interiors and under-hood plastic moldings

400.0 C

400.0 F

0.0

Sales and support services company for hot-rolled and cold finished steel bar products

Hungry Howie's Pizza Inc., Madison Heights 48071 (248) 414-3300; www.hungryhowies.com

Chain Sandhu chairman; JatinderBir Sandhu CEO Gary Goodman co-owner Mark Goodman co-owner Steve Jackson president and CEO

378.2 G

342.5 G

10.4

Pizza franchisor

Prestige Automotive , St. Clair Shores 48080 (586) 773-2369; www.prestigeautomotive.com

Gregory Jackson chairman and CEO

360.7 H

379.4 H

-4.9

Automobile dealerships, real estate and insurance

The Bartech Group Inc. I, Southfield 48034 (248) 208-4300; www.bartechgroup.com

David Barfield CEO

345.0

305.5

12.9

Workforce management and staffing systems provider

A123 Systems LLC, Livonia 48152 (734) 772-0300; www.a123systems.com

Jason Forcier CEO

340.0

311.0

9.3

Lithium-ion battery manufacturer that globally provides complete energy storage solutions for the transportation market

Stewart Management Group Inc., Harper Woods 48225 (313) 432-6200; www.gordonchevrolet.com

Gordon Stewart president

338.3

329.7

2.6

110

398

Automobile dealerships

Great Expressions Dental Centers PC, Southfield 48034 (248) 203-1100; greatexpressions.com

Rich Beckman CEO

338.0

300.0

12.7

696

2,956

47 48 49 50 51 52

Eaton Steel Bar Co., Oak Park 48237 (248) 398-3434; www.eatonsteel.com

Dental care, including general and preventive care, cosmetic, orthodontic and specialty dental services

B Art Van Elslander, chairman and founder sold the company to Boston-based private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners in February. C Crain's estimate. D Plastics News. E Plastics News estimate. F Metal Center News. G Systemwide sales. H Automotive News. I Acquired by the U.K. staffing company Impellam Group plc in December 2015.

C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CRAIN'S LIST: PRIVATE 200 Rank

55 56 56 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 72 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83

Ranked by 2016 revenue Detroit Revenue Revenue area Worldwide ($000,000) ($000,000) Percent employees employees 2016 2015 change Jan. 2017 Jan. 2017 Type of business

Company Address Phone, website

Top executive

Acro Service Corp., Livonia 48152 (734) 591-1100; www.acrocorp.com

Ron Shahani president and CEO

$331.8

$318.3

4.2%

2,382

6,323

Alta Equipment Co., Livonia 48150 (248) 449-6700; www.altaequipment.com

Steven Greenawalt CEO

330.0

303.2

8.8

332

732

Strategic Staffing Solutions Inc., Detroit 48226 (313) 596-6900; www.strategicstaff.com

Cynthia Pasky president and CEO

330.0

303.0

8.9

970

3,200

Elder Automotive Group, Troy 48083 (248) 585-4000; www.elderautogroup.com

326.5

287.1

13.7

225

450

Detroit Lions Inc., Allen Park 48101 (313) 216-4000; www.detroitlions.com

Tony Elder president Robert Elder vice president Martha Ford owner

Consulting and staff augmentation services, vendor management programs, executive search services, call center technology and a domestic IT development center Automotive dealerships

321.0 B

298.0 B

7.7

National Football League franchise

Belle Tire Distributors Inc., Allen Park 48101 (313) 271-9400; www.belletire.com

Jack Lawless III CEO

313.0

360.0

-13.1

1,500

2,000

The Ideal Group Inc., Detroit 48209 (313) 849-0000; www.weareideal.com

Frank Venegas Jr. chairman and CEO

307.0

276.3

11.1

360

585

Commercial Contracting Group Inc., Auburn Hills 48326 (248) 209-0500; www.cccnetwork.com

William Pettibone chairman

298.0

291.0

2.4

283.7

235.9

20.3

270

279.0

265.6

5.0

1,005

1,075

267.7 C

330.0 C

-18.9

235.9

222.1

6.2

327

1,096

235.0

242.0

-2.9

218

Construction services, program management, construction management, design and build

AccessPoint LLC, Farmington Hills 48334 866-513-3861; apteam.com

Jeffrey Hausman Detroit office director Michael Medici president and managing partner Gary Roncelli, chairman and CEO; Thomas Wickersham, president and COO Greg Packer CEO and chairman

229.3

227.4

0.8

Staffing for manufacturing, information technology, and health systems

Global Automotive Alliance LLC, Detroit 48210 (313) 849-3222; www.gaasolutions.com

William Pickard chairman

229.0

414.9

-44.8

220

1,517

Buff Whelan Chevrolet, Sterling Heights 48313 (586) 939-7300; www.buffwhelan.com

Kerry Whelan president

224.8

208.0

8.1

163

Automotive dealership sales and service

Crain Communications Inc., Detroit 48207 (313) 446-6000; www.crain.com

Keith Crain chairman

221.0

229.0

-3.5

268

688

Publisher of business, trade and consumer publications and related websites

Dykema Gossett PLLC, Detroit 48243 (313) 568-6800; www.dykema.com

Peter Kellett chairman and CEO

219.0

225.0

-2.7

300

820

Law firm

219.0

226.0

-3.1

116

Specialty engineering thermoplastics distributor

210.0

251.0

-16.3

220

Mobile application, managed IT and talent management services

203.7

172.2

18.3

155

General contracting, construction management, design/build and tenant coordination

203.5

182.5

11.5

431

952

Global retail marketing consulting with a scientific approach

200.0

180.0

11.1

151

379

Distributor of pipe, valves, fittings, heating and cooling, control and instrumentation, boilers, pumps repair, steam products, sanitary piping products, fire protection and more.

186.6

142.6

30.8

527

1,140

Jim Riehl's Friendly Automotive Group Inc., Warren James Riehl Jr. president and CEO 48093 (586) 979-8700; www.jimriehl.com Dale Wieczorek Motor City Electric Co., Detroit 48213 chairman, president and (313) 921-5300; www.mceco.com CEO Madhava Reddy HTC Global Services Inc., Troy 48084 president and CEO (248) 786-2500; www.htcinc.com SmithGroupJJR Inc., Detroit 48226 (313) 983-3600; www.smithgroupjjr.com

Roncelli Inc., Sterling Heights 48312 (586) 264-2060; www.roncelli-inc.com

Kevin Chase president and Carole Chase vice president Vision Information Technologies Inc., Detroit 48202 David Segura CEO; (877) 768-7222; www.visionit.com Christine Rice president Todd Sachse, CEO and Sachse Construction and Development Co. LLC, founder; Steve Berlage, Detroit 48226 president and COO (313) 481-8200; www.sachseconstruction.com James Anderson Urban Science Applications Inc., Detroit 48243 president, founder and (313) 259-9900; www.urbanscience.com CEO William McGivern Jr. The Macomb Group Inc., Sterling Heights 48312 CEO (586) 274-4100; www.macombgroup.com Keith Schatko vice president Daniel Craig Hatch Stamping Co., Chelsea 48118 COO and president (734) 475-8628; www.hatchstamping.com Chase Plastic Services Inc., Clarkston 48346 (248) 620-2120; www.chaseplastics.com

Staff augmentation, outsourcing and IT and engineering consulting, application development and enablement, relational database design and development, Web design and development Heavy construction equipment, material handling equipment, industrial equipment, cranes

Retailer of tires and automotive services General contracting, specialized miscellaneous steel manufacturing and distribution of protective barrier products, global supply chain management, other General contractor, machinery installer, building interiors, concrete Automobile dealership

Electrical contractor

Application development and maintenance, business process management, document and content management and project management office services Architecture, engineering and planning

Automotive manufacturer, assembler, warehouse sequencer, aerospace warehousing and logistics

Manufacturing

Bill Perkins Automotive Group, Eastpointe 48021 (586) 775-8300; www.merollischevy.com

Bill Perkins president

175.6

157.8

11.2

153

Automobile dealerships

Fori Automation Inc., Shelby Township 48315 (586) 247-2336; www.foriauto.com

175.0

164.0

6.7

230

650

Vesco Oil Corp., Southfield 48076 (248) 557-1600; www.vescooil.com

Mike Beck, VP of operations Paul Meloche, VP of sales Marjory Epstein chairman

173.0

161.1

7.4

126

218

Global assembly, testing, and welding equipment for the automotive, aerospace, military agriculture, recreational vehicle, and alternative-energy industries Distributor of auto and industrial lubricants and chemicals, auto aftermarket products

George W. Auch Co., Pontiac 48341 (248) 334-2000; www.auchconstruction.com

Vincent DeLeonardis president and CEO

172.8

136.5

26.6

General contractor and construction manager

Dearborn Mid-West Co., Taylor 48180 (734) 288-4400; www.dmwcc.com

Jeff Homenik president and CEO

172.0

183.0

-6.0

Material handling systems, construction, tooling/equipment installation, plant maintenance services, life-cycle improvement

B From Forbes. Net of stadium revenue used for debt payments. C Crain's estimate.

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

REBUILDING DETROIT

How residents shape changes in Detroit Story by MATT HELMS

When people talk about Detroit’s resurgence, many point to the changing skyline and new big-ticket developments. Fewer, however, take the time to recognize the people who are powering Detroit’s resurgence: everyday Detroiters who never gave up on their city. Many were here through Detroit’s highs and its lows. Some are newer residents who heard Detroit was a place where you could create a future in a city steeped in history, where houses and neighborhood storefronts are less expensive than other big cities. Regardless of where they’ve come from or why they’re here, together they’re rebuilding a great American city on the premise that Detroit’s redevelopment can be — must be — sustainable and inclusive. While redevelopment in Detroit historically has been piecemeal, today the city is beginning to transform entire neighborhoods at once. Not in isolation, but in collaboration with the public, private and philanthropic sectors. Not top-down, but inclusive and driven by the needs and involvement of our residents through extensive community meetings.

SPONSORED BY:

he Fitzgerald neighborhood transformation project on the northwest side near Livernois and McNichols is a great example of how neighborhood redevelopment in Detroit is being done with longtime residents as the first consideration, not the last. In Fitzgerald, residents will see 115 vacant homes renovated and reoccupied by new families to join the more than 600 who stayed, even when their neighborhood’s future was uncertain. Nearly 200 empty lots will become community parks, gardens and orchards and a greenway connecting the University of Detroit Mercy and Marygrove College. The $4 million project covers a quarter square mile whose residents played a major role in the planning process through a series of 40 public meetings. Funding came from the Knight, Kresge, JPB and Rockefeller foundations in a partnership called Reimagining the Civic Commons. The result will be a walkable, clean and green community that is completely free of blight. Fitzgerald developers David Alade and Andrew Colom of Century Partners are working to prove that inclusive neighborhood redevelopment works in Detroit. “Real estate is about people. It’s not about houses, it’s not about lots, it’s really about people,” Colom says. “And I think the way to

ensure it’s successful is to really engage with people.” Using that model, Colom and Alade are making the case that investment in Detroit pays off in ways that benefit residents, developers and businesses alike. Fitzgerald is just the start of what will be a steady progression of neighborhoods seeing concentrated planning and investment. Through the Strategic Neighborhood Fund — a $30 million eff ort to promote inclusive redevelopment — we’re expanding our efforts across the city. You can see it in action now in southwest Detroit, where developers will remodel row houses in the Vernor Highway corridor, and in West Village on the lower east side with a new commercial and residential project called the Coe. They’re growing our city in ways that serve first the people who live there. The city’s goal is to have more than 10 areas engaged in community planning and redevelopment efforts over the next three years, touching more than 50 individual Detroit neighborhoods. Like in Fitzgerald, residents will help guide and shape the redevelopment of their neighborhood. Inclusive, sustainable growth like this should create opportunities for everyone — not just jobs, but housing. The city already has a policy, and may soon have an ordinance, that requires devel-

The City of Detroit thanks Comcast Business for helping to share the stories of inspiring businesses throughout our neighborhoods. From their commitment to Project Green Light, to their support of events and initiatives throughout our community, to their investments in helping people discover important business resources, Comcast Business keeps small businesses connected.

opers 20% excee the p afford A ters f new a ing th desig nue a In Black ris, to smal Fo acces desig Si millio the E and t

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

Lana Rodriguez at Mama Coo’s.

Joe Spencer from Louisiana Creole Jumbo.

opers of any city-subsidized, multi-unit project to reserve at least 20% of its units for low-income Detroiters. Already, the city is far exceeding that goal. Of the 1,593 new residential units opened in the past two years or under construction in the city, 739 (46%) are affordable to families who make less than $45,000 per year. Antonio McClure recently moved with his two young daughters from Warren back to Detroit. They are living in a beautiful new apartment at the Treymore in Midtown, a long-vacant building that now has 28 newly remodeled units — every one of them designated as affordable — a stone’s throw from Woodward Avenue and within walking distance of dozens of new businesses. In 2014, The City of Detroit partnered with the Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce, and its President Dr. Ken L. Harris, to find innovative ways to drive more resources to Detroit’s small businesses and entrepreneurs. For the first time in decades, Detroit entrepreneurs are gaining access to a strong collection of technical and financial resources designed to help them launch or grow their businesses. Since 2015, the Detroit Development Fund has deployed $13 million in small-business loans and another $3.6 million through the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund, funded by J.P. Morgan Chase and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Motor City Match, which pairs entrepreneurs with commercial property owners, has distributed more than $3.4 million in grant funds since its founding in 2015, helping more than 660 entrepreneurs nurture their goals, 61% Detroiters and 78% minority-owned businesses. MCM has helped 17 businesses open, with another 23 under construction. You’ll find those businesses in every part of the city. Stop by Detroit Sip on McNichols near Livernois and enjoy a coffee brewed by Jevona Watson. Check out the eclectic mix of resale and vintage goods at Lana Rodriguez’s boutique Mama Coo’s on Trumbull in Corktown. Get your hair trimmed at Dante Williams’ Cutz Lounge (pictured, above) on Grand River near Evergreen. Grab a spicy bite to eat at the new second location of Louisiana Creole Gumbo on West 7 Mile near Schaefer, owned by Joe Spencer and his daughter Stephanie. Each of these Detroit entrepreneurs was able to open or expand through the collection of business development groups helping entrepreneurs set up shop in Detroit and bring locally owned, locally inspired commerce back to our neighborhoods. Day by day, layer upon layer, Detroiters are driving their city’s comeback. And their work is just getting started. ■

Jevona Watson at Detroit Sip.

Mayor Mike Duggan and winners of Motor City Match.

C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CRAIN'S LIST: PRIVATE 200 Rank

84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101

Company Address Phone, website

Top executive

Humanetics Innovative Solutions Inc., Plymouth Christopher O'Connor president and CEO 48170 (734) 451-7878; www.humaneticsatd.com Eddie Abueida and Ed Medcart Specialty Pharmacy, Livonia 48150 Saleh, co-CEOs (877) 770-4633; www.medcartpharmacy.com

Ranked by 2016 revenue

Detroit Revenue Revenue area Worldwide ($000,000) ($000,000) Percent employees employees 2016 2015 change Jan. 2017 Jan. 2017 Type of business

$165.0

$150.0

10.0%

230

600

Designs and manufactures safety equipment, including sophisticated crash test dummies, software modeling, customer engineering solutions, strain & fiber sensors and related test equipment

163.0

81.0

101.2

Specialty pharmacy services

Devon Industrial Group, Detroit 48226 (313) 221-1550; www.devonindustrial.com

David Burnley president

160.0

62.9

154.4

1st Source Servall Inc., Centerline 48105 (586) 754-9952; www.1stservall.com

Kim Adler president

155.0

142.0

9.2

397

Provides construction management, general contracting, program management, design build, pre-construction and decommissioning services Distributor of appliance parts

154.0

144.0

6.9

250

Detroit Pistons, The Palace of Auburn Hills, DTE Energy Music Theatre

151.5

139.8

8.4

254

651

Legal Services; Law Firm

Palace Sports & Entertainment LLC, Auburn Hills Bob Wentworth, Platinum Equity 48326 partner; Arn Tellem, (248) 377-0100; www.palacenet.com Palace vice chairman John Hern Clark Hill PLC, Detroit 48226 CEO (313) 965-8300; www.clarkhill.com Ghafari Inc., Dearborn 48126 (313) 441-3000; www.ghafari.com

Yousif Ghafari chairman

151.0

173.9

-13.2

808

1,085

Jeffrey Tamaroff Automotive Family, Southfield 48034-1928 (248) 353-1300; www.tamaroff.com

149.0

148.1

0.6

213

Automobile dealerships

Ray Laethem Inc. , Grosse Pointe 48224 (313) 886-1700; www.raylaethem.com

Jeffrey Tamaroff, chairman and CEO; Marvin Tamaroff, chairman emeritus Jeff Laethem president

144.5

148.0

-2.4

154

173

Automobile dealership

National Business Supply Inc., Troy 48083 (248) 823-5400; www.yourNBS.com

Richard Schwabauer president

138.0

130.0

6.2

163

Commercial furnishing, audiovisual distributor

Deshler Group Inc., Livonia 48150 (734) 525-9100; www.deshlergroup.com

Robert Gruschow president, CEO

135.3

135.1

0.2

160

460

Industrial manufacturing group, incorporating fabrication, design, assembly, logistics, transport and information technology

The Colasanti Cos., Macomb Twp. 48042 (586) 598-9700; www.colasantigroup.com

Angelo Colasanti, CEO and Carey Colasanti, president Mindi Fynke president and CEO

135.0

102.0

32.4

200

General contracting and construction management and design/build; self-perform concrete services

134.7

131.3

2.6

112

Pharmacy benefit manager

133.0 B

144.4 B

-7.9

Automobile dealership

132.0

130.0

1.5

319

Retail, institutional, food service baking mixes

131.0

123.8

5.8

121

Automobile dealership

129.0

137.0

-5.8

107

Global supply chain management providing services in IT, export/import logistics, assembly, consolidation/deconsolidation Snack food manufacturing and distribution

EHIM Inc., Southfield 48033-2154 (248) 948-9900; www.ehimrx.com

Milosch's Palace Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge Inc., Lake Donald Milosch president Orion 48359 (248) 393-2222; www.palacecjd.com Howdy Holmes Chelsea Milling Co., Chelsea 48118 chairman, president (734) 475-1361; www.jiffymix.com and CEO Walter Douglas Sr., Avis Ford Inc., Southfield 48034 chairman; Mark (248) 355-7500; www.avisford.com Douglas, president John A. James James Group International Inc., Detroit 48209 chairman (313) 841-0070; www.jamesgroupintl.com

A global engineering, architecture, process design, consulting, construction services, and professional staffing firm.

Kar Nut Products Co., Madison Heights 48071 (248) 588-1903; www.karsnuts.com

Nick Nicolay president and CEO

128.4

116.2

10.5

216

102

Big Boy Restaurants International LLC, Warren 48091 (586) 759-6000; www.bigboy.com

Keith Sirois, CEO; David Crawford, CMO

125.0

245

103

Village Ford Inc., Dearborn 48124 (313) 565-3900; www.villageford.com

James Seavitt president and CEO

124.8

122.2 B

2.1

164

Automotive dealership

Tony DeMaria, president; Joseph DeMaria Jr., CEO Andra Rush, chairman; Rush Trucking Corp., Wayne 48184 Gregory Humes, (800) 526-7874; www.rushtrucking.com president Loc Performance Products Inc., Plymouth 48170 Louis Burr president (734) 453-2300; www.locperformance.com Sean Zecman National Food Group Inc., Novi 48377-2454 president and CEO (800) 886-6866; www.nationalfoodgroup.com

124.1

144.2

-13.9

145

148

General contracting, design build, construction management, program management

121.3

140.4

-13.6

245

579

Motor carrier, logistics management

120.3

84.0

43.2

250

Final drive, suspension and track systems for Army combat vehicles

113.4

96.4

17.6

Wholesale and retail food manufacturing and distribution, commodity processing

Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC, Detroit Michael McGee CEO 48226-4415 (313) 963-6420; www.millercanfield.com Michael Riehl Roseville Chrysler Jeep Inc., Roseville 48066 president (586) 859-2500; www.mikeriehls.com

111.0

112.0

-0.9

294

439

Law firm

110.9

99.6

11.4

Automobile dealership

Leon Richardson CEO, chairman, president Gary Zatkoff president and CEO

108.5

100.0

8.5

199

330

Chemical manufacturing, chemical management

105.3

111.4

-5.5

170

Distributor of seals and packings; manufacturer of gaskets

Proper Group International Inc., Warren 48089 (586) 779-8787; www.propergroupintl.com

Geoffrey O'Brien CEO

105.0

102.0

2.9

275

575

113

Advantage Management Group Inc-Advantage Living Centers, Southfield 48075 (248) 569-8400; AdvantageLiving.net

Reginald Hartsfield and Kelsey Hastings owners

103.3

83.0

24.4

1,609

Complex plastic injection molds, Premium injection molded parts and assemblies, consumer products, polyurethane and skin form tooling, microcellular foam tooling, conformal cooling technologies, vaccuum metalizing, rapid prototyping and web-based management of tooling and process data Skilled-nursing homes, assisted living

114

Wolverine Truck Sales Inc., Dearborn 48120 (313) 849-0800; www.wolverinetruckgroup.com

Lynn Terry president

101.3

80.5

25.8

162

104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112

DeMaria Building Co., Novi 48374-1305 (248) 348-8710; www.demariabuild.com

ChemicoMays LLC, Southfield 48033 (248) 723-3263; www.chemicomays.com Roger Zatkoff Co. (Zatkoff Seals & Packings), Farmington Hills 48335 (248) 478-2400; www.zatkoff.com

Restaurants, food manufacturer

Truck sales, parts and service

B Crain's estimate.

C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CRAIN'S LIST: PRIVATE 200 Rank

115 116 117 118 119 120 121 121 123 123 125 126 126 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 139 141 142 143 144 145 145 147

Company Address Phone, website

Top executive

Ranked by 2016 revenue Detroit Revenue Revenue area Worldwide ($000,000) ($000,000) Percent employees employees 2016 2015 change Jan. 2017 Jan. 2017 Type of business

BullsEye Telecom Inc., Southfield 48033 (248) 784-2500; www.bullseyetelecom.com

Ronald Staley, senior VP, Southeast Michigan operations William Oberlin chairman and CEO

Kirco Manix , Troy 48084 (248) 354-5100; www.kircomanix.com

Douglas Manix president

96.0

61.0

57.4

Link Engineering Co., Plymouth 48170 (734) 453-0800; www.linkeng.com

Roy Link chairman and CEO

95.0

91.0

4.4

340

480

Manufacturer of testing systems and provider of commercial testing services

Auburn Pharmaceutical Co., Troy 48083 (248) 526-3700; auburngenerics.com

Jeffrey Farber chairman, president and CEO David Goldstein CEO

94.4

106.2

-11.2

Distributor of generic pharmaceuticals

93.1

90.6

2.7

1,016

Security services: alarm installation and service, guard services, medical monitoring

93.0

95.0

-2.1

Secure-24 LLC, Southfield 48033 (800) 332-0076; secure-24.com

Joseph Hollenshead chairman, president and CEO Mike Jennings CEO

93.0

81.0

14.8

565

Distributes imaging/printer supplies, develops IT strategies for clients and supports back-end connectivity with XML feeds, EDI integration and an e-commerce platform Managed services provider, delivering managed IT operations, application hosting and cloud services

Phillips Service Industries Inc., Livonia 48150 (734) 853-5000; www.psi-online.com

W. Scott Phillips president and CEO

92.0

122.0

-24.6

International Extrusions Inc., Garden City 48135 (734) 427-8700; www.extrusion.net

Nicholas Noecker president and CEO

92.0

85.0

8.2

280

WorkForce Software LLC, Livonia 48152 (877) 493-6723; www.workforcesoftware.com

Mike Morini CEO

91.0

65.9

38.1

265

590

Marsh Construction (T.H. Marsh), Bloomfield Hills 48304 (248) 586-4130; www.thmarsh.com

Ryan Marsh president and CEO

90.0

83.0

8.4

TransNav Technologies Inc., New Baltimore 48047 (586) 716-5600; www.transnav.com

Percy Vreeken president

90.0 B

85.0 B

5.9

Atwell LLC, Southfield 48076 (248) 447-2000; www.atwell-group.com

Brian Wenzel president and CEO

88.3

86.3

2.3

138

550

Load One Transportation & Logistics, Taylor 48180 (734) 947-9440; www.load1.com

John Elliott CEO

87.2

89.6

-2.7

568

610

Oliver/Hatcher Construction and Development Inc., Novi 48377 (248) 374-1100; www.oliverhatcher.com

Paul Hatcher, president; Paul Oliver, principal

86.7

43.0

101.6

Trading and manufacturing company specializing in product design and development, tooling fabrication, injection molding and decorating and assembly Civil engineering, land surveying, land solutions, land planning, environmental consulting, natural resource management, program management and construction management Transportation and logistics solutions. Transportation services include ground expedite, air charter, air freight, logistics management, truckload, and specialized curtain-side flatbeds. Construction manager, general contractor and design/build

Rodgers Chevrolet Inc., Woodhaven 48183 (734) 676-9600; www.rodgerschevrolet.com

Pamela Rodgers president

86.1

77.6

11.0

Automobile dealership

Danlaw Inc., Novi 48375 (248) 476-5571; www.danlawinc.com

Raju Dandu founder and chairman

85.0

118.2

-28.1

Cloud-based, connected-vehicle telematics and embedded electronics to OEMs and tier-one suppliers

MJC Cos., Macomb Township 48044 (586) 263-1203; www.mjccompanies.com

Michael Chirco founder and president

84.7

74.2

14.2

Residential, apartment, commercial construction, builder and developer

MPS Group Inc., Farmington Hills 48331 (313) 841-7588; www.mpsgrp.com

Charlie Williams chairman

83.0

76.0

9.2

158

387

Total waste management and industrial cleaning

TTi Global Inc., Rochester Hills 48309 (248) 853-5550; www.tti-global.com

Lori Blaker president and CEO

82.7

82.4

0.4

200

2,000

Kasco Inc., Royal Oak 48067 (248) 547-1210; www.kascoinc.com

Michael Engle vice president

80.6

72.0

11.9

Construction management, design/build, construction program administration

79.2

78.3

1.1

2,775

Restaurant

79.0

70.5

12.1

General contractor/construction manager

The Christman Co., Detroit 48202-3030 (313) 908-6060; www.christmanco.com

Guardian Alarm Co., Southfield 48075 (248) 423-1000; www.guardianalarm.com Diversified Computer Supplies Inc., Ann Arbor 48108 (800) 766-5400; www.dcsbiz.com

Ansara Restaurant Group Inc., Farmington Hills 48331 Victor Ansara president and CEO (248) 848-9099; www.ansararestaurantgroup.com Charles E. Gleeson II C.E. Gleeson Constructors Inc., Troy 48083 president and CEO (248) 647-5500; www.gleesonconstructors.com

$100.0

$120.1

-16.7%

100.0

95.0

5.3

186

218

Construction management, general contracting, design/build, facilities planning and analysis,program management, real estate development, self-perform skilled construction trades Integrated telecom and internet services to small and medium single-location businesses and large Fortune 1000 enterprises with multiple locations Design and build, construction management

Defense systems, homeland security, aircraft components, providers of direct manufacturing technology, welding machines, rugged electronics, wireless networks, automated assembly systems, repair services, uninterruptable power supplies Manufacturer of aluminum extruded profiles, powder-coat painting and fabrication facilities Complete workforce management platform for large employers with complex needs such as time and attendance, scheduling, absence and leave management, analytics to connect the dots A construction company providing general contracting, construction management and advisory services.

Staffing, training, consulting, outsourcing and research

BlueWater Technologies Group Inc., Southfield 48075 (248) 356-4399; www.bluewatertech.com

Suzanne Schoeneberger president

76.0

70.0

8.6

Live event and AV technology experiences

Shaw Electric Co., Southfield 48033 (248) 228-2000; www.shawelectric.com

Robert Minielly president and CEO

76.0

68.0

11.8

258

284

Electrical and teledata contractor

Multi-Bank Securities Inc., Southfield 48075 (800) 967-9045; www.mbssecurities.com

David Maccagnone CEO

75.5

61.0

23.7

142

Independent, investment firm that specializes in the sales, trading and underwriting of institutional, fixed-income securities

Stevens Van Lines Inc., Saginaw 48601 (989) 755-3000; stevensworldwide.com

Morrison Stevens, Sr. chairman and CEO

75.0

0.0

157

Moving and storage

74.0

69.0

7.2

400

Stamping plant, automotive welding, assembly, dies and prototypes

71.8

69.0

4.0

435

1,845

70.0 C

70.0

0.0

Motor City Stamping Inc., Chesterfield Township 48051 Judith Kucway CEO and CFO (586) 949-8420; www.mcstamp.com Nanua Singh Rapid Global Business Solutions Inc. (RGBSI), Troy chairman and CEO 48083 (248) 589-1135; www.rgbsi.com Tim Manney Altimetrik Corp., Southfield 48075 president and CFO (800) 799-9625; www.altimetrik.com

Software development, IT services, staffing, VMS/MSP Services, engineering, vendor management, and recruitment process outsourcing

Better Made Snack Foods Inc., Detroit 48213 (313) 925-4774; www.bettermadesnackfoods.com

Salvatore Cipriano CEO

70.0

65.3

7.2

225

257

Business transformation and technology solution provider. We cater primarily to global enterprises in the areas digital, connected solutions, consumer technologies and enterprise integration Snack foods

Frank Rewold and Son Inc. , Rochester 48307 (248) 651-7242; www.frankrewold.com

Frank Rewold president and CEO

69.5

91.9

-24.3

Construction management, general contracting, design/build

B Plastics News. C Crain's estimate.

C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CRAIN'S LIST: PRIVATE 200 Rank

148 149 149 151 151 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163

Company Address Phone, website

Top executive

Ranked by 2016 revenue Detroit Revenue Revenue area Worldwide ($000,000) ($000,000) Percent employees employees 2016 2015 change Jan. 2017 Jan. 2017 Type of business

Systrand Manufacturing Corp., Brownstown Township 48183 (734) 479-8100; www.systrand.com

Sharon Cannarsa president and CEO

$69.2

$65.0

6.4%

217

267

Precision machining and assembly

PrizeLogic LLC B, Southfield 48033 (734) 679-7104; www.prizelogic.com

Keith Simmons CEO

69.0

49.9

38.3

165

Online promotion execution for Fortune 100 brands

Bob Jeannotte Buick GMC Inc., Plymouth 48170 (734) 453-2500; www.jeannotte.com

Robert Jeannotte CEO

69.0

53.0

30.2

Automobile dealership

E.W. Grobbel Sons Inc. , Detroit 48207 (313) 567-8000; grobbel.com

Jason Grobbel president

68.0

71.0

-4.2

200

Corned beef

Epitec Inc., Southfield 48033 (248) 353-6800; www.epitec.com

Jerome Sheppard, CEO; Josie Sheppard, president

68.0

67.5

0.7

675

1,000

Harley Ellis Devereaux Corp., Southfield 48033 (248) 262-1500; www.hed.design

67.4

66.2

1.8

125

369

Full-service architecture, engineering, planning, interior design, landscape architecture, construction administration

Market Strategies International, Livonia 48152 (734) 542-7600; www.marketstrategies.com

Michael Cooper president and managing principal Andrew Morrison chairman and CEO

65.4

70.6

-7.3

138

762

Market research consultancy

Glassman Automotive Group Inc., Southfield 48034 (248) 354-3300; www.glassmanautogroup.com

George Glassman president

65.2

52.7

23.6

Automobile dealerships

Andiamo Restaurant Group, Warren 48092 (586) 268-3200; andiamoitalia.com

Joe Vicari CEO, president

65.0

52.5

23.8

450

1,000

Wade Trim, Detroit 48226 (313) 961-3650; www.wadetrim.com

Andrew McCune president and CEO

64.7

62.4

3.7

147

394

Consulting engineering and planning services

The Mars Agency, Southfield 48033-7496 (248) 936-2200; www.themarsagency.com

Ken Barnett global CEO

64.4

55.0 C

17.1

202

309

Advertising and integrated marketing agency with a focus on consumer brands and retail

Helm Inc., Plymouth 48170 (734) 468-3700; www.helm.com

Justin Gusick president & CEO

63.6

61.4

3.5

110

Multi-channel fulfillment services including warehousing and logistics

Gonzalez Design Group, Pontiac 48340 (248) 548-6010; www.gonzalez-group.com

Gary Gonzalez CEO

63.5

75.4

-15.8

255

Design engineering, staffing, manufacturing technologies, production systems, other

63.2

58.0

8.9

Data and application services including big data, advanced analytics, business intelligence

62.0

58.0

6.9

Full service talent management agency

61.0

64.3

-5.1

690

Franchisor of party shops

Ravi Vallem, CEO; Sridhar Kodati, CFO; Venkat Gone, president Productions Plus - The Talent Shop, Bingham Farms Margery Krevsky CEO, owner 48025 (248) 644-5566; www.productions-plus.com Anthony Buscemi Buscemi Enterprises Inc., Roseville 48066 manager (586) 296-5560; www.originalbuscemis.com Reliable Software Resources Inc., Northville 48167 (248) 504-6869; www.rsrit.com

IT, engineering and professional staffing.

Restaurants

HelloWorld Inc., Southfield 48075 (248) 543-6800; www.helloworld.com

Peter DeNunzio CEO

60.0

70.0

-14.3

300

350

Domestic Linen Supply & Laundry Co., Farmington Hills 48334 (248) 737-2000; www.domesticuniform.com

Bruce Colton president

59.0

58.0

1.7

100

575

Digital marketing company specializing in building promotional campaigns and loyalty programs, with mobile and analytics capabilities Facility management and textile rental

Staffworks Group, Southfield 48076 (248) 416-1090; staffworksgroup.com

L. William Brann III, president and CEO; Jason Brann, executive VP Timothy Marshall president and CEO

58.0

45.5

27.5

Staffing, recruiting, HR outsourcing

57.6

53.7

7.1

212

Bank

Mary Graff, president and CEO, Kevin Stolzenfeld, VP of operations Michael Lowry chairman, president and CEO Asad Malik president and CEO

55.0 D

62.0 E

-11.3

Injection molding, assembly

54.0

50.0

8.0

125

IT systems integrator

49.6

37.0

34.1

387

625

49.0

57.0

-14.0

IT staffing and consulting, including application development, business intelligence and data analytics

Industrial Control Repair Inc., Warren 48092 (586) 582-1500; www.icrservices.com

Eric Hardy chairman, president and CEO Paul Gutierrez president and CEO

48.0

49.7

-3.4

121

172

Bell Fork Lift Inc., Clinton Township 48035 (586) 415-5200; www.bellforklift.com

Wayne Bell president and CEO

48.0

45.0

6.7

130

Repair of electronic and mechanical industrial equipment as well as purchasing and selling refurbished industrial electronics, robots, and machinery Material handling

174

Orchard, Hiltz & McCliment Inc. (OHM Advisors), Livonia 48150 (888) 522-6711; www.ohm-advisors.com

John Hiltz president

46.6

43.1

8.0

207

383

Architects, engineers, and planners

175

EEI Global Inc., Rochester Hills 48307 (248) 601-9900; www.eeiglobal.com

Derek Gentile president and CEO

44.5

49.2

-9.6

100

Experiential marketing company that offers in-house, turnkey experiential solutions

Arrow Strategies LLC, Southfield 48034 (248) 502-2500; www.arrowstrategies.com

Jeff Styers founder and CEO

44.0

50.0

-12.0

313

353

Kyyba Inc., Farmington Hills 48334 (248) 813-9665; www.kyyba.com

Thiru Ganesan president and CEO

42.6

39.2

8.7

Staffing firm specializing in placement of professionals in the information technology, engineering, professional, and health care services industries Engineering and IT staffing services, application software, offshore development and automotive electronics solutions

American Plastic Toys Inc., Walled Lake 48390 (248) 624-4881; americanplastictoys.com

John Gessert president and CEO

42.3

39.2

8.0

180

300

164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172

176 177 178

Arbor Bancorp Inc. (Bank of Ann Arbor), Ann Arbor 48104 (734) 662-1600; www.bankofannarbor.com Sur-Flo Plastics & Engineering Inc., Warren 48089 (586) 773-0400; www.sur-flo.com Lowry Solutions, Brighton 48116 (810) 229-7200; www.lowrysolutions.com Amerilodge Group LLC, Bloomfield Hills 48302 (248) 601-2500; www.amerilodgegroup.com W3R Consulting, Southfield 48075 (248) 358-1002; www.w3r.com

Manufactures and distributes injection-molded plastic toys

B The Charlotte, N.C.-based private equity firm Pamlico Capital took majority ownership stake in the company on June 30. C Ad Age Datacenter and Agency Report 2016. AdAge.com/agencyreport2016 D Crain's estimate. E Plastics News. LIST RESEARCHED BY SONYA D. HILL

C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CRAIN'S LIST: PRIVATE 200 Rank

179 180 181 182 182 184 185 186 187 187 189

Company Address Phone, website

Top executive

Ranked by 2016 revenue Detroit Revenue Revenue area Worldwide ($000,000) ($000,000) Percent employees employees 2016 2015 change Jan. 2017 Jan. 2017 Type of business

$41.3

$38.9

6.3%

Almetals Inc., Wixom 48393 (248) 348-7722; www.almetals.com

Tanya Bartelo and Michael Bartelo, owner, managing directors James Chain president

41.0

44.5

-7.9

Global provider of logistics services, including domestic and global air, ocean and ground transportation, freight forwarding, customs brokerage, warehousing and distribution and export crating Metal slitter, distributor, warehouser and processing service center

Contract Direct, Southfield 48075 (248) 395-1166 ; www.contractdirect.net

Elizabeth Hammond president

38.6

37.7

2.3

Facility maintenance services company.

New Center Stamping Inc., Detroit 48211-2008 (313) 872-3500; www.newcenter.net

Greg Smith president and Ron Hall Jr. CEO Deborah Schneider, cofounder and CEO; Martin Rosenau, co-founder and COO Larry Malace president

36.0

180

Automotive Stamping Manufacturer

36.0

41.0

-12.2

Staffing, payroll, executive search and other HR-related services

34.1

33.1

2.9

Integrated staffing company

31.3

18.4

70.4

31.0

30.8

0.6

150

TAG Holdings LLC, Wixom 48393 (248) 822-8056; www.taghold.com

John P. Darin co-chairman of the board, COO and president Joseph Anderson Jr. chairman and CEO

Information Technology Alliance Technology Solutions (Alliance) is an IT Infrastructure Solution Provider / Value Added Reseller (VAR) of High-end and Low-end Hardware, Software, Services and Maintenance. Retail nursery, garden and Christmas center with landscaping and decorating services

30.0

48.0

-37.5

110

Roy Smith Co., Detroit 48212-1597 (313) 883-6969; www.rscmain.com

Peter Wong president and CEO

30.0

Brightwing, Troy 48083 (248) 585-4750; www.gobrightwing.com

Aaron Chernow, CEO; George Opitz, president

29.4

30.5

-3.6

221

358

Seko Worldwide Detroit, Romulus 48174 (734) 641-2100; www.sekologistics.com/detroit

CrossFire Group, Auburn Hills 48326 (248) 364-0007; www.xfiregroup.com

Malace & Associates Inc., Troy 48098 (248) 720-2500; www.malacehr.com

Alliance Technology Solutions LLC, Lake Orion 48359 Margie Carlson president and CEO (248) 364-2195; www.ATS.biz

English Gardens, Dearborn Heights 48127 (313) 278-5244; www.EnglishGardens.com

Module and component manufacturing for various industries including aerospace, defense, automotive, sports and recreation vehicles, mining, construction and other heavy vehicles Industrial gas, welding products and welding consultation services for North America. Staffing, Recruiting and Employee Learning/Development Services

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C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CRAIN'S LIST: PRIVATE 200 Rank

190 191 192 193 194 195

Company Address Phone, website

Top executive

Ranked by 2016 revenue Detroit Revenue Revenue area Worldwide ($000,000) ($000,000) Percent employees employees 2016 2015 change Jan. 2017 Jan. 2017 Type of business

Automotive Quality & Logistics Inc., Plymouth 48170 Sangeeta Ahluwalia CEO (734) 459-1670; www.aql-inc.com Carla Walker-Miller Walker-Miller Energy Services , Detroit 48202 president and CEO (313) 366-8535; www.wmenergy.com Mark Zausmer Zausmer, August & Caldwell PC, Farmington Hills managing shareholder 48334 (248) 851-4111; www.zac.com Camille Nicita Gongos Inc., Auburn Hills 48326 president and CEO (248) 239-2300; www.gongos.com

$28.0

$24.0

16.7%

210

1,312

Staffing, warehousing, sorting and inspection, manufacturing service support

24.5

8.2

198.1

Energy efficiency services provider

23.4

19.5

20.0

Law firm

23.2

116

133

Research firm. Consumer-centric decision intelligence

Campbell Marketing and Communications, Dearborn 48120 (313) 336-9000; www.campbellmarketing.com

David Scheinberg managing partner and president

22.2

21.1

5.2

Integrated marketing solutions involving events, public relations, training, advertising, research, print creative and digital.

Airea Inc., Southfield 48075 (248) 426-0100; www.aireainc.com

Vinnie Johnson, chairman and CEO; Ken Bylsma, president; Dave Kiwior Executive vice president Mary Ann Lievois CEO

21.0

27.0

-22.2

Office furniture dealer

20.2

18.5

9.1

Workplace furnishings, interior design and integrated services

196

Interior Systems Contract Group Inc., Royal Oak 48067 (248) 399-1600; www.iscginc.com

Florine Mark chairman and president and Hannan Lis COO

20.0

0.0

550

800

Weight-loss products and services

197

The WW Group Inc. (Weight Watchers), Farmington Hills 48334 (248) 553-8555; www.8883florine.com www.florineonline.com

198

University Moving & Storage Co., Farmington Hills 48335 (248) 615-7000; www.universitymoving.com

Elise Benedict-Howard chairman and CEO

19.8

21.3

-7.0

125

Household/commercial, storage-transportation-domestic/ international

Blue Chip Talent, Bloomfield Hills 48302 (248) 858-7701; www.bctalent.com

Nicole Pawczuk CEO

14.5

11.0

31.8

Talent acquisitions

ASG Renaissance LLC B, Dearborn 48124 (313) 565-4700; www.asgren.com

Lizabeth Ardisana CEO

13.6

15.3

-11.4

Technical and marketing communication services

199 200

B Kyyba Inc. purchased all staffing contracts belonging to ASG Renaissance in January. LIST RESEARCHED BY SONYA D. HILL

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

COURTESY OF TECHSTARS MOBILITY

The 2016 startup companies of the Techstars Mobility program pose during the annual Demo Day event.

Techstars Mobility and Autoblog join forces for mobility event in Detroit By Kurt Nagl knagl@crain.com

The third annual Techstars Mobility Demo Day program is being combined with the Upshift conference in Detroit this year for a twoday event focused on the future of mobility. Techstars, founded in Boulder, Colo., and with offices in Detroit, is partnering with AOL-operated Autoblog for the event taking place at the Detroit Institute of Arts on Oct. 18-19. Demo Day will take place Oct. 18, and Upshift will happen the following day. The plan is to eventually expand the event to a week, said Ted Serbinski, managing director of Techstars Mobility. Demo Day is a startup investor conference

that attracts more than 1,000 people each year, including venture capitalists and transportation executives from around the world, Serbinski said. The 11 startup companies at this year’s program will be announced late next month. In 2015, a pay-as-you-go smartphone service startup called Lunar and the ride-sharing startup SPLT moved offices to Detroit because of the program, Serbinski said. Upshift, which began in Detroit last year, gathers innovators from around the world for a day of presentations, panels, tech demos and networking, according to its website. Last year’s speakers included billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert and Bret Greenstein, vice president of IBM Watson Internet of Things.

CALENDAR MONDAY, JUNE 5

Building a Consumer-Focused Health Care System. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Detroit Eco-

nomic Club. Mark Bertolini, chairman and CEO, Aetna Inc., will discuss his thoughts on a 21st century health care system that is built around the consumer. Townsend Hotel. $45 members, $55 guests, $75 nonmembers. Website: econclub.org.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7

Funding Options For Your Next Big Idea. 8-9 a.m. Inforum A2Affinity. Presenter Marlo Rencher, vice president, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Diversity at Cleary University, discusses getting the next big idea off the ground, looking for funding for a new product or service and using crowdfunding. Attendees will learn about funding options available for business ventures: seed capital, venture capital funding and crowdfunding investing. Free. Ann Arbor. Contact: Debra Power, phone: (734) 741-1134; email: debra@getresearchpower.com; website: inforummichigan.org

THURSDAY, JUNE 8

Michigan’s Economic Bright Spots. 11:00 a.m.-2 p.m. Corp! business magazine. Speakers include: Andrea Riley, chief marketing officer, Ally Financial and Jed Howbert, executive director, jobs and economy team, Detroit mayor’s office. International Banquet Center, Detroit. $75. Contact: sscheffer@corpmagazine.com. Website: https://www.corpmagazine.com/events/2017-michigans-economic-bright-spots/

UPCOMING EVENTS

Gender Equality in the U.S. and the Workplace.

11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. June 12. Detroit Economic Club. A discussion on the social barriers which hold women back from participating more fully in the workplace, and where progress has been made; what the talent pipeline looks like across Fortune 500 companies in the U.S., and how it differs by industry and how leaders’ talent decisions impact gender equality in the workplace. MotorCity Casino Hotel, Detroit. $45 members; $55 guests of members; $75 nonmembers. Website: econclub.org. JVS 20th Annual Strictly Business Luncheon.

11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. June 13. Tom Wilson, president and CEO of Olympia Entertainment, will talk about building the Little Caesars Arena and rebuilding Detroit. The event will also showcase success stories of people who JVS helped to overcome life challenges to find success in the workplace. MotorCity Casino, Detroit. $150. Contact: Marla Janness, email: mjanness@jvsdet.org; website: www.jvsdet. org/strictlybiz 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.

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

Futurists discuss bionic, regenerative medicine at HealthQuake By Jay Greene jgreene@crain.com

An invited group of 30 physicians, executives, medical researchers, lawyers and the media gathered late last month at the HealthQuake Summit in Detroit to talk about the future of medicine and how science and technology is changing not only how and where patients receive care — but ultimately how research will be conducted. Topics under discussion included regenerative medicine, bionic medicine, mitochondrial medicine, genetic medicine, digital medicine and postmodern surgery, a new phrase that describes non-invasive operations on patients with nanoscale robots, lab-grown organs and tissues. Kicking off the day at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel was Charles Shanley, M.D., a vascular surgeon at Beaumont Health and founder and chairman of Seraph Biosciences Inc. Shanley also is a professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine and Oakland University-William Beaumont School of Medicine. “I would argue that health care as we know it will be unrecognizable in 20 years, maybe 10 years,” said Shanley, adding that the current foundation that health care has been built on the past several decades may change radically in the near future. Shanley noted that information in the world doubles every 12 days and medical knowledge doubles every 3 1/2 years. By 2023, medical knowledge will double every 73 days, he said. “We are in the postmodern era of science and technology with the changes in medicine,” he said. “Primary care doctors might have a new role. What will happen? More patients are taking control through genomic medicine (personalized medicine that is unique to each person). ... You will have a drug designed especially for you based on your physiology.” Shanley said bionic medicine also is changing medical research and the choices orthopedic doctors and other practitioners give to patients. “The artificial eye is a reality,” he said. “There are artificial limbs and organs. ... If bionic limbs can replace real limbs, how much do we invest in orthopedic (research)? Cyborgs are happening today.”

Charles Shanley: Anthony Atala: In the postmodern Potential to make era with science. lives better.

“The technology (under development) has the potential for making people’s lives better,” Atala said.

If salamanders can regenerate lost legs in a matter of days, Atala said one day medical research will be able to replicate lost, damaged or diseased major organs. For example, researchers are now able to grow new skin for burn victims through a liquid spray of special cells, he said. Research is going on to regenerate skeletal muscle, blood vessels and simple organs as bladders, tracheas, lung, kidneys and liver tissues, Atala said. Skeletal muscle is one of three major muscle types, including cardiac muscle and smooth muscle. Most skeletal mus-

cles are attached to bones by tendons. Earlier this year, Wake Forest began a five-year $20 million public-private partnership that involves the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. The goal of the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium is to accelerate progress in regenerative medicine manufacturing. The HealthQuake Summit was put on by the Detroit International Research and Education Foundation. Jay Greene: (313) 446-0325 Twitter: @jaybgreene

“The artificial eye is a reality. There are artificial limbs and organs. ... If bionic limbs can replace real limbs, how much do we invest in orthopedic (research)?” Charles Shanley, M.D.

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Regenerating failed tissue Another topic that generated much discussion among the group was regenerative medicine, which is a general phrase used to describe the repair and growth of tissues, organs and limbs. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, gave a 20-minute talk that was highlighted by a video of a young patient who received a regenerated bladder and is doing quite well 15 years later.

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

On the Detroit River, a faded dream at a city-owned marina By Nancy Derringer Bridge Magazine

Death, even sudden death, is a time for settling accounts and closing books. Business left unfinished by fate may be carried on by descendants; but for the dead, we ask only that they rest in peace. Porterfield Wilson’s death in 1989 came suddenly, at 55, but the epitaph on his black granite headstone in Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery suggests a to-do list with one big item unfinished: May my vision of Porterfield’s Marina Village on the Detroit River be fulfilled. Wilson, well-known in Detroit as a leading African-American car dealer, sought to leave his mark on the eastside skyline with a residential tower overlooking a new marina, on cityowned land, all marketed to affluent African-Americans who could enjoy a yacht club life in a newly majority black city. Residents’ boats would be as close as their cars, and the sparkling river beyond the marina seawall beckoned them the way it did sailors in nearby suburban communities. It was a dream not only for Wilson, but of his friend, then-Detroit Mayor Coleman Young. Today, the parcel Wilson once hoped would bear his name has a less dazzling one — Riverside Marina — and no apartment tower. There are two banquet facilities, a pool, store, gas dock and 372 boat slips. But some customers say docks have fallen into disrepair, making many unusable. As Detroit seeks to recover from a decades-long decline, some of its as-

NANCY DERRINGER/BRIDGE MAGAZINE

Porterfield Wilson’s headstone speaks of unfinished business — a marina and housing project he hoped to develop on Detroit’s east side. sets, from Belle Isle to Eastern Market to selected parks, have benefited from more focused management dedicated to their improvement. But the cityowned marinas, which give city boaters access to the same water as other communities up and down the waterway, haven’t done as well in private hands. Under management since 2013 by a company with a contract up for renewal soon, patrons complain about a facility that city of Detroit officials acknowledge was once beleaguered, but now suggest is steadily improving. Representatives of Riverside Marina didn’t respond to calls for comment, and wouldn’t allow Bridge onto the grounds, referring all inquiries to the city. Mayoral spokesman John Roach

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forwarded a memo from the city’s parks and recreation department that described how the marina’s management company, ABC Professional Enterprises LLC, brought a nonfunctioning marina back from the brink, although Beverly Alexander, a department staffer, acknowledged that much of the memo was written by representatives of ABC Professional Enterprises. Alexander said ABC Enterprises pays the city $62,000 to run the marina operations as a private business, plus another $22,000 for the smaller Erma Henderson Marina about a half-mile downriver. “The past operator had an abrasive relationship with the city and concealed all of the operating challenges and walked out on the con-

tract,” the memo reads. No investment was made to the facility and “the city was unaware of the depth of the deterioration of the property.” Further, since ABC Professional Enterprises took over the marina, it has made substantial investments beyond what the contract required to make it operable, the memo states, describing $4 million in investment by the company, “as a commitment to the partnership and the vision of what it could be in the future.” The memo describes a facility that is growing in membership, slip rental, clubhouse use and storage sales. Much of this would be news to Felicia Coates-Page. Coates-Page was a first-year boater last fall when she said she brought her 28-foot Bayliner to Riverside for heated winter storage. After having been quoted a price of $3,000 at a marina next door, she said she was pleasantly surprised to be quoted a far lower one at Riverside — $1,749, which she could reduce further by paying cash, which she did. For $1,574.10, she said she expected her boat to be brought indoors and stored in a warehouse through the cold months. She said she had an emergency the day the boat was scheduled to be hauled out, but was told by marina staff that she didn’t have to be present. Coates-Page didn’t return until March of this year, and said she found her boat sitting outdoors, where it had apparently been all winter, with no covering and no winterization. The freeze/thaw cycle had destroyed the engines and bilge pump, leaving it a total loss, she said. She said an employee at Riverside initially promised to “take care” of Coates-Page. But the final resolution, she said, was an email from manager Brian McGuire, stating that the employee who made the agreement with Coates-Page was no longer employed there, that there was no contract on file and no payment was made. Coates-Page showed photographs of a contract and receipt, marked as paid, to Bridge. Her insurance company eventually paid $15,000 for the loss of the engines, about half what she estimates the boat was worth. She signed the title over to the insurance company

and spent the settlement on a new, larger boat, which, she said, she would be keeping at another marina.

A market that can drown the unprepared Even well-run businesses make mistakes. Other boaters described McGuire and his employees as friendly and sincere, but challenged by the demands of running the marina. “There are docks you can’t walk on safely,” said one boater, who, like others, requested anonymity, because his boat remains at the marina. William Jordan, an obstetrician who is African-American, has been boating on the river for years, berthing his vessels at facilities ranging from city-owned Riverside to the private Grosse Pointe Yacht Club. He said running any marina is a difficult business, made more so by conditions in the greater economy. Luxury items like boats are among the first things to go when owners feel an economic pinch, making marinas highly susceptible to business cycles. Heavy equipment required to move and hoist boats is expensive, and maintenance is a constant chore. “The margins are tight, and there’s a lot of competition,” said Jim Cummins, CFO for Kean’s Marina, Riverside’s next-door neighbor. Short-term contracts like ABC Professional Enterprises’ are a poor model for good management, he said. “They’re not incentivized to make improvements.” Jordan agreed. “There’s not a lot of money down there now,” Jordan said. “There’s nobody bad in this picture. It was bad timing. Older people are getting out of boating, and younger people are not getting into it.”

Right place, wrong time Bad timing seems to have been a theme with the Riverside site. Porterfield Wilson’s dream was dealt a blow when he died at the peak of his career; his Pontiac, GMC, Mazda and Honda dealerships were the biggest of their brand in Michigan, and his overall business was the nation’s 11th-largest black-owned enterprise. SEE MARINA, PAGE 44

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NANCY DERRINGER/BRIDGE MAGAZINE

The highest-profile vessel at Riverside Marina on Detroit’s east side is the Ste. Claire, one of two Boblo Island ferry boats and the last one remaining in Michigan.

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MARINA FROM PAGE 42

His vision was to develop the $60 million Porterfield’s Marina Village, which would have been the largest black-owned real estate venture in Detroit history. A sales brochure from the late '80s shows development plans that glitter even by the optimistic standards of architectural renderings. What looks like a substantial luxury yacht sits outside the seawall while lesser vessels motor into the marina, over which two multistory towers loom. (Today, the spot where the fantasy yacht sits is taken by the Ste. Claire, one of two boats that ferried revelers to Boblo Island, the defunct Detroit River amusement park. Under ongoing, lengthy restoration, it was towed there last winter but could not enter the marina because the 197-foot boat draws more water than the marina allows.) Wilson’s death was only one blow to the project. News clippings from the early 1990s reported concerns about contaminated soil, and nearby residents and anglers protested that the project would limit access to the public boat launch next door, at the foot of St. Jean Street. The soil was dug out by one of Wilson’s partners in the project, the John Carlo Development Corp., and ultimately trucked to Rouge Park on the city’s west side, where it was capped with clay and topsoil and seeded with

Boats sit in Riverside Marina slips in this undated photo from the Detroit-owned marina’s Facebook page. grass to prevent erosion, but never developed into the winter-sports hill originally envisioned. By 1993, the marina was built but the housing piece was bankrupt, and Wilson’s widow withdrew from

the project, passing control to the John Carlo group. With the move, the last dream of an African-American-owned complex near St. Jean and Freud died. The marina, minus the high-rises,

RIVERSIDE MARINA

operated as a decent business until the Great Recession, Jordan said, when Jerome Morgan took it over, in hopes of developing nearby parcels into high-end housing, similar to his Morgan Waterfront Estates develop-

ment, around the corner on St. Jean. “An idiot could have run this place before 2006,” Jordan said. Afterward, though, it needed too much. “The docks are run down,” said another boater, who likewise asked to remain anonymous because he still has his boat there, although he said he’s considering a move. “Planks are broken on slips. Some are barely hanging on to the pilings. I don’t know when the last time it’s been dredged through there.” As the ABC Professional Enterprises contract comes up for renewal at the end of this year’s boating season, the city will have to decide whether to stick with the same team or bring in another. Roach said selling the facility isn’t being considered; it’s considered a park, if a specialized one, similar to a golf course. While African-American boaters are no longer actively discriminated against in river accommodations — the nearby Detroit Yacht Club welcomes members of color, as do other clubs — it’s important that a facility where they feel welcome remain intact, Jordan said. It just needs to improve management and maintenance. It also needs a significant cash injection, by either the city or an independent operator with the capital to do it, he added, and “there are only about three people in this city who have the interest and the desire to do it.”

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Future of small business outside Detroit’s downtown uncertain Brian Pikielek’s business, Bike Tech, started in the MorningSide neighborhood, but eventually moved farther east on Warren Avenue.

By Lester Graham

Michigan Radio/Bridge Magazine

There are small business districts throughout Detroit that are barely hanging on. They were once thriving. But, population loss, and the loss of wealth in the neighborhoods have caused hard times for neighborhood businesses. The question is: what to do with them now? In the MorningSide neighborhood on Detroit’s east side, the main business strip is East Warren Avenue. It cuts through the center of the neighborhood. Business owners who have been in the area for decades remember its best days. “Eastern Warren used to be a major shopping spot,” said Bill Kamman, owner of Hammer Time True Value hardware store. “There were businesses in every building on Warren,” said Marilyn Nash Yazbeck who owns Nottingham Pharmacy. “No matter what you needed, you could find it on Warren Avenue: the grocery stores, the party stores, the library, the movie theater, the bike store,” Patrick Maher of Eastside Locksmith told us. Brian Pikielek of Bike Tech said, “The tailor, an arcade, a woodworking store, five and dime, whatever.” Back in the day, East Warren Avenue in MorningSide was so busy that finding a place to park was difficult

Brian Pikielek was the last president of the East Warren Avenue business association which folded several years ago. and the sidewalks bustled into the evening. On a driving tour of the neighborhood, Eric Dueweke described the Warren Avenue strip in MorningSide today. “I’d guess 50 percent are boarded up and then you see all these vacant spaces here. This is where buildings have recently been torn down,” he said. Dueweke is a lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan. He also lives in MorningSide.

“Really this is a problem all over Detroit of what do we do with our former retail strips that there really isn’t a demand for. You know, people just don’t shop in these kinds of small businesses as much anymore,” Dueweke said. Demand is also down because there is not as much wealth in this neighborhood. Firefighters, police officers, teachers once owned the homes in MorningSide. They left. Today many of the people here rent. Kamman of Hammer Time hardware store said that means his busi-

ness has been cut in half in the last 15 years. “It’s about not having money to buy stuff around here. They’re spending 60 to 70 percent of their money on rent and they don’t have the extra money to be working on houses and putting into stuff,” Kamman said. With much of the neighborhood without disposable income, it’s risky for new businesses to fill those vacant storefronts. Marilyn Nash Yazbeck, owner of Nottingham Pharmacy, is one of the few African American business owners in MorningSide. “I’m not really sure what will really thrive here because of the economics of the area,” she said. The celebrated economic boom happening in downtown Detroit is not spilling over into the neighborhoods.

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Patrick Maher with Eastside Locksmiths owns the firm which has been operating in MorningSide since 1939. He says the area needs a kickstart. “I understand that everybody wants to put the money downtown, but — and I mean not knowing a whole lot about a lot of the other neighborhoods, but knowing a lot about this particular one, we need some help,” Maher said. What kind of help? Brian Pikielek at Bike Tech has some ideas. He was the last president of the business association before it folded several years ago. He’d like the city to do a few things. “To quickly and efficiently take care of the abandoned buildings, boarded up, keep the neighborhood clean, safe, and lit.” These days the lights are on. In the past, 40 percent of Detroit’s streetlights were out. With the huge replacement project, all of Detroit is now lit with LED streetlights. Some neighborhoods have gotten grants to update facades of business district buildings. Recently, Mayor Mike Duggan announced three neighborhoods will be getting money to help rejuvenate business and improve the area. Thirty million dollars of public and private money is being made available to the Fitzgerald/University District, the West Village on the east side and southwest Detroit near Clark Park. A recent press release indicates the City of Detroit is now “seeking proposals for planning and design services to create a neighborhood and economic development strategy in three additional neighborhoods: Russell Woods/Nardin Park, Jefferson Chalmers, and Campau/Banglatown.” Kamman said he is not sure if MorningSide is ready for economic development. “I don’t think that this side of Detroit has hit bottom yet. So, maybe throwing good money after bad where other neighborhoods showing signs of a rebirth or something. ... That money might be better used in those areas than here,” Kamman said. That’s not a sentiment many other residents share. They’ve seen a few new stores recently open along East Warren Avenue. They seem to be doing well. The residents are hoping for more and say they want the City of Detroit to do what it can to encourage that development. Unfortunately, when that day comes, it will be too late for Kamman’s business to benefit. Since being interviewed for this report, Hammer Time True Value has closed.

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

DiChiera’s legacy: ‘We were there’ By Sherri Welch swelch@crain.com

David DiChiera shocked people when he brought the Michigan Opera Theatre to downtown Detroit in 1971. Many local arts patrons questioned the move. They had left the city for the suburbs in the 1960s, and DiChiera had been helping to establish a school of music at the newly established Oakland University at the time as a teacher and composer. DiChiera, who retired with the season’s final performance of his “Cyrano” late last month, was resolute in his decision to bring opera downtown. “People thought I was crazy. My suburban friends would say, ‘Why are you going down there? The riots were only four years ago,’” DiChiera said. “I said the riots happened for a reason. When you begin to make a community better with more activity and so forth, those kinds of things don’t happen.” They only happen when people live in a vacuum and feel isolated and not cared about, he said. “The riots notwithstanding, Detroit ... needed to be again a major metropolitan center,” he said. “It needed to have all of the cultural institutions a great city should have.” Ensuring Detroit’s African American community was represented on stage was also a priority for DiChiera. “When you consider the city of Detroit which is probably 80 percent

plus African American, it was just a no-brainer,” he said. Young black students need to see people who looked like themselves performing, and they need to feel their story is being told, DiChiera said.

opera companies were able to share the costs to stage a new production of “Norma” by Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini for Joan Sutherland, bringing one of the great divas of the 20th century to both cities.

Moving downtown

Wearing many hats

DiChiera moved MOT, then operating as Overture to Opera, into what is now Music Hall in 1971, saving it from demolition and planting the seeds for Detroit’s entertainment district. In the midst of productions, he spearheaded the 1973 establishment of Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts. Three years later, MOT commissioned and staged its first world premiere, Thomas Pasatieri’s “Washington Square,” a performance that garnered national press coverage, according to DiChiera’s Kresge 2013 Eminent Artist profile. He went on to serve as president of Opera America from 1979-1983. Doors opened to him as he gained a national reputation. While still serving as head of MOT, DiChiera was named artistic director of the Dayton Opera Association in 1981 and founding general director of Opera Pacific in Santa Ana, Calif., four years later. By heading more than one opera company, “I had the opportunity to collaborate with myself,” DiChiera joked. The Detroit and Orange County

Here in Detroit, MOT had purchased the historic Capitol Theatre in December 1988 and launched fundraising to renovate it and reopen it as the Detroit Opera House. The rundown theater had taken to showing adult movies by that time. It was “not in an area that was ... prime time,” said MOT Chairman Rick Williams, managing partner of Williams, Williams, Rattner & Plunkett PC in Birmingham. But DiChiera saw its potential. He set to raising $70 million — surpassing an earlier cost projection of $62 million — to turn the once grand, rat-infested, flooded historic theater with its peeling plaster walls into a new home for MOT. First on the list was a new roof, the source of many woes inside the theater. Then, work began to expand the stage, which had originally been constructed for vaudeville, DiChiera said. MOT pushed through the wall behind the stage after acquiring and tearing down the Roberts Fur building behind it in 1993, gaining one of the largest stages in the Midwest. DiChiera had left the Dayton Opera Association in 1992. But as he continued to fundraise and shep-

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David DiChiera, who retired with the season’s final performance of his “Cyrano” late last month, was resolute in his decision to bring opera downtown. herd renovations in Detroit, he commuted cross country to Opera Pacific up until 1996 when he resigned. Leaders of the California opera company were shocked at the time. They asked who would rather live in Detroit than California? “I can produce opera anywhere,” he told them. “But what I needed to do in Detroit was help revitalize the city.”

Gaining momentum DiChiera opened the renovated Detroit Opera House near Grand Circus Park that same year, eight years after Mike and Marian Ilitch reopened the nearby, renovated Fox Theatre. “David and MOT were able to buy a chunk of property that by today’s standards would be very expensive,” Williams said. Today, MOT is among four opera companies that owns its facility, out of 125 across the country, Williams said. “When we opened the opera house, there was very little around us,” DiChiera said. For at least four or five years, the opera house kind of stood there on its own, he said. But then, Comerica Park opened, then Ford Field, then the Boll YMCA and a number of restaurants on Broadway. “I’m very proud of that. We were there, and we began to be the catalyst for all the things that happened afterwards.” You don’t have a thriving commercial district without arts, entertainment and attractions, said Jeff Horner, director of the Urban Studies Program at Wayne State University and a senior lecturer in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Once the opera house started filling up and bringing world-class singers, bankers got more interested in the area. They saw people coming downtown and the retail spaces starting to attract more people. And pretty soon, they were more inclined to provide financing for more community development downtown, he said. “MOT was a foundational building block for downtown development,” Horner said, setting the table for Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and others to come in with livework spaces that have enticed younger people into the city.

‘As any parent ...’ DiChiera, now 82, and the longest running director of a U.S. opera company, is retiring from MOT on a high note. The organization is nearly midway through a $50 million capital campaign that will help position it to grow in the coming years. And it’s poised to pay off its remaining $4.5 million debt tied to the parking garage and Ford Center for Arts and Learning. As for DiChiera himself, who knocked back pancreatic cancer in 2013 but was diagnosed again in April, his health is stable, with the issues he’s seen under control, he said. “I’m happy to be able to do the things I’m able to do.” When the season closed with the final performance of DiChiera’s “Cyrano,” he became artistic director emeritus. He’s stepping back, but he’ll be watching from the wings. “It’s my child — as any parent, it’s very difficult to let your children go on their own,” DiChiera said. Sherri Welch: 313 (446-1694) Twitter: @SherriWelch

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

Mining the minor leagues The art of the bobblehead: Detail boosts fan spending

MLB borrows promotional ideas from the farm teams By Bill Shea bshea@crain.com

By Bill Shea bshea@crain.com

Haley Kolff spent a month agonizing over James McCann’s index finger. She’s the Detroit Tigers’ manager of promotions and special events, and that includes ensuring the 30,000 bobbleheads the team will distribute this year look as much like the player as possible. In the case of McCann, there Haley Kolff: was a month of Making bobbleof heads as exact as discussion whether the possible. catcher’s index finger would appear outside of his mitt. It will when 10,000 fans get the figure before the July 29 game at Comerica Park. That’s the level of detail that goes into the creation of bobbleheads, which are the No. 1 promotional attendance-booster in Major League Baseball. Modern sculpting and expectations mean that bobbles are realistic, and no longer the boyish, cherubic smiling figure in which the noggin was the same for every player. The McCann figure also includes a Tigers promotional first: a removable face mask. The bobble-birth process includes the months of ensuring the polyresin figures, which are created and hand-painted in China, are accurate — down to how a player holds his glove or bat, his stance or pose, the piping on the uniform, painted belt loops, and even how the tape appears on the back of McCann’s chest protector straps. The process includes forensic-like photographs taken of players during spring training, and a series of images and sample figures sent from China to ensure the skin color, hair, lettering, and myriad other details are correct. Kolff still is ironing out details of a Miguel Cabrera-as-Jedi-Knight figure for Sept. 16 that will be a “Star Wars Night” promotion available with the purchase of a special ticket bundle. “I’m very picky when it comes to bobbleheads. I want to make it exact as possible,” Kolff said. “I love it when the guys think it looks just like them. I’ve hidden that one away until I think it looks like Miguel.” Which player is featured as a bobblehead is decided by the end of the SEE DETAIL, PAGE 51

The James McCann figure also includes a Tigers promotional first: a removable face mask.

MLB teams hosted 35 “Star Wars” promotions last season, according to a Sports Business Daily survey

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

When pitchers and catchers report for spring training, it means it won’t be long before the local ballpark sees its share of home runs, stolen bases ... and Stormtroopers. The white-clad foot soldiers of the Galactic Empire have become a staple of baseball promotions as teams across the country stage “Star Wars” nights to attract fans. A long time ago, in a ballpark not too far away, the Lucas film-endorsed promotion was born, specifically at Fifth Third Field just north of Grand Rapids where the West Michigan Whitecaps staged what’s believed to be baseball’s first “Star Wars” night in 2005. It flopped, but the next season, after refinements and better promotion the following season, it was a wild success. A few years later, the Detroit Tigers — the parent club of the Single-A Whitecaps — were hosting their own “Star Wars” night complete with stormtroopers, wookies, an X-Wing pilots wandering the stadium. Most Major League Baseball clubs now host “Star Wars” promotions during the season. The promotion is an example of the sort of experimentation that goes on in baseball’s minor leagues, and is eventually borrowed by major league clubs. The farm teams basically serve as testing laboratories, R&D operations for the majors. It’s a symbiotic relationship that benefits everyone’s bottom line. Promotions across baseball, especially in the majors, have grown more sophisticated over the past couple of decades, and the schedule that in decades prior may have had just a few giveaways and theme nights is now dotted with events and handouts for nearly every game. The Tigers and other clubs stack promotions on top of other perks, like discounts and fireworks, to ensure they maximize incentives to get fans through the turnstiles regardless of team performance. One member of Detroit’s front office, Manager of Promotions and Special Events Haley Kolff, is specifically tasked with monitoring what the minor leagues do to lure fans through the gates. She attends several meetings and trade shows each season to pick up ideas for giveaways and theme nights. “I walk the trade show floor, and I talk to the different vendors about what they thought worked and what was most popular and what minor leagues were requesting most,” she said. Theme nights are one of the chief ideas the Tigers have borrowed from the minors. In addition to “Star Wars,” the “Jimmy Buffett Night” held in 2010 came directly from the minors, said Ellen Hill Zeringue, the

Tigers’ vice president of marketing. “It’s exciting to see them take a risk, and you look at what they’re doing and you say, ‘OK, that was a stretch for it being in the minors, so how can we refine that idea and pull it back and what can we do conservatively here on the Major League level,’” she said. “Just reading about their inspiring ideas and innovative thought process, I think helps us to make us feel like, ‘OK, what can we do that can be unique or different but do it a little more conservative major-league way.’” It’s “Star Wars” that has really garnered attention. Mickey Graham, the Whitecaps’ director of marketing and media relations, helped birth the first “Star Wars” night. “It just kind of took off and got really big. It’s our biggest night every year,” he said. As soon as word got out about the

“We’re not really in competition for one another. It’s a sharing industry, or borrowing industry. Maybe both.” Mickey Graham, Whitecaps’ director of marketing and media relations

promotion, Graham started fielding calls from other minor-league teams asking him how they did it. He passed along the details, and “Star Wars” night took off across baseball — helped by the iconic movie franchise having multiple generations of loyal fans, and new TV series and films every few years. MLB teams hosted 35 “Star Wars” promotions last season, according to a Sports Business Daily survey. The promotional idea collaboration with other teams is a textbook example of how baseball’s ecosystem works. Off the field, the teams help each other. “We like to share ideas and we like to look at other teams and see what works with them,” Graham said. That sharing and borrowing is aided now by social media. Fans and media see photos and videos immediately from promotions that wow or that flop. “It’s almost instantaneous,” Graham said. Social media also is a part of the promotional repertoire: The Whitecaps this season asked fans to submit Snapchat photos that will be used for “Social Media Night” on June 29. The pictures, thanks to a direct-dye printing technology called sublimation, will completely cover jerseys worn by the players SEE IDEAS, PAGE 51

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

DETAIL

IDEAS

year for the following season, in part because of the turnaround time between China and Detroit — including a month of production lost to the Chinese New Year, she said. “We like to have our bobbleheads identified before Christmas,” Kolff said. Such devotion to detail is, in part, intended to keep the Tigers from embarrassing themselves like the Red Sox did in 2016 when they canceled a bobblehead giveaway hours before a game because the figurine looked nothing like the player (David Ortiz). The vagaries of the roster also can be tricky for promotions. “We don’t do a lot of player-focused items after the All Star break or after the trade deadline because you run the risk of trading someone you’ve made a bobblehead of,” Kolff said. Her department works with the front office to try to ensure they market players who still will be around all season, and Duane McLean, the Tigers’ executive vice president of baseball operations, ultimately signs off on player promotions. The other bobbles this season are pitcher Michael Fulmer on June 16 — he was the 2016 rookie of the year, making him nearly immune from trade risk — and ex-Tigers hero Alan Trammell on Aug. 19. The Tigers say they are open to doing celebrity bobbleheads — think Kid Rock or Bob Seger — and more of former Tigers. This season’s Trammell bobble already is goosing ticket sales. “We already know that people are super interested in that one because the ticket sales have shown that there’s incremental difference between what that game should be if you look at it from just from a season ticketed pre-sale to where it is right now. People want that Alan Trammell bobblehead,” said Ellen Hill Zeringue, the Tigers’ vice president of marketing. For most teams, a bobblehead is the lure to get more fans through the turnstiles, after which they’ll spend more money inside the ballpark. Bobbleheads, which became an MLB staple in 1999, can boost fan spending by as much as $25 per person, and corporate sponsors typically pay a premium to be part of bobblehead giveaway days, said bobblehead impresario Malcolm Alexander in comments to Crain’s for a story in 2014. His company, Bellevue, Wash.-based Alexander Global Promotions, has produced more than 50 million bobbleheads since 1999. The dolls are not a cheap item: The wholesale cost of one bobblehead is $2.50 to $4.25 each, or more, with the price hinged on the complexity of the figurine’s pose Teams consider the cost worth it because bobbleheads boost the gate. MLB attendance by 6,674 fans per game, according to a survey published in 2006 by the American Journal of Business. Bobbles are the most effective giveaway at boosting attendance, according to 55 percent of sports team executives surveyed in 2011 by Haddonfield, N.J.-based analysts Turnkey Sports & Entertainment Inc.

that night. Teams typically auction special jerseys to aid a local charity. “The jerseys are fun to do, the guys usually love wearing them,” Graham said, adding that they do about 10 a season. The Mud Hens, the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate, got media attention this year for the jerseys they will wear on June 16 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ release of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” “We know it’s going to be in the news and talked about, we know we’ll be in those discussions,” said Michael Keedy, the Mud Hens’ director of entertainment and promotions. “We try to anticipate pop culture trends and what anniversaries are coming up to celebrate.” The sublimated jersey printing process allows the team latitude to do quirky uniforms more quickly and cheaply versus the old days of screen printing and embroidery. And the minors aren’t nearly as constrained when it comes to jerseys as their MLB counterparts, who must adhere to baseball’s stricter rules on what players wear. The Tigers do just a couple of specialty uniforms — for the Hispanic heritage ¡Fiesta Tigres! and to honor the Detroit Stars of the historic Negro leagues. “Fifteen years ago, if you wanted to do a specialty jersey, the turnaround time was probably a year and a half and you didn’t have flex-

FROM PAGE 50

The Mud Hens, the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate, got media attention this year for jerseys to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ release of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

ibility in what the jersey looked like,” Keedy said. “We absolutely have the ability to be more creative at the minor league level.” Teams still also do standard promotions that remain popular, such as fireworks and 10-cent hot dog nights. But the idiosyncratic and whimsical promotions draw the big reactions from fans and media — which is the point. “It’s the crazier (ideas) that get attention,” Graham said. Of course, there are plenty of examples that have backfired. Among the most infamous was the Cleveland Indians’ “10-Cent Beer Night” in June 1974 that, not surprisingly,

resulted in a ninth-inning riot by fans and the game being forfeited because of the violence. One baseball promotion that is a bit less common in the minors are bobbleheads. That’s because fans are much less connected to players below the major leagues. “We don’t have the names, especially the names at this level of baseball,” Graham said. Typically, bobbleheads in the minors are for major leaguers who once played for the farm team while young or while on injury rehab assignment. The Mud Hens did one last season to commemorate Justin Verlander’s 2015 rehab start in Toledo during

51 which he wore a Jurassic Park-inspired theme night jersey and had the ball delivered to the mound by a T-Rex — the game set the stadium attendance record with 13,300 fans. Bobbleheads are a pricey promotion at about $4-$6 per figure, meaning it’s easier for major league clubs to give them away. The Tigers this season have scheduled three bobblehead giveaways — Michael Fulmer (June 16), James McCann (July 29), and Alan Trammell (Aug. 19). Each giveaway is 10,000 figures. In the minors, bobbles are usually limited to about 1,000. The McCann figurine has a removable catcher’s mask, an idea that Kolff said she picked up from the minor leagues. The Tigers will give away 315,000 items this season, a figure that doesn’t include merchandise that are part of ticket bundles such as Tigers hats in college colors. Also separate from that total are a Miguel Cabrera Jedi Knight figurine for “Star Wars” Night on Sept. 16, and a J.D. Martinez “Game of Thrones” bobblehead for July 28. Those are both promotions that require a special ticket purchase to receive the figure. So far, more than 500 such tickets have been sold for the Martinez figure, which is the outfielder sitting on the Iron Throne from the hit HBO show, the team said. Typically, about 1,500 such ticket bundles are made available. Bill Shea: 313 (446-1626) Twitter: @Bill_Shea19

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

Detroit firms dream of expansion at Quicken Loans demo day By Annalise Frank afrank@crain.com

ANNALISE FRANK/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Entrepreneurs and businesses that won the Quicken Loans Detroit Demo Day pitch contest received between $50,000 and $200,000 in interest-free loans Thursday evening at a ceremony held in conjunction with WeWork LLC’s Creator Awards. The event took place at both the Gem Theatre and Cadillac Square in Detroit’s downtown area.

A barber shop in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood that advertises itself as a community gathering space won big at Quicken Loans Inc.’s inaugural Detroit Demo Day. Quicken Loans awarded more than $1 million in interest-free loans to be administered by another in the Dan Gilbert-owned family of companies, Rock Ventures LLC, during a pitch event and ceremony at the Gem Theatre and Cadillac Square in Detroit's downtown area. In tandem, New York-based co-working space company WeWork LLC hosted its own funding event, the Creator Awards. WeWork and Quicken Loans shared the two spaces, connected with live video feeds. WeWork awarded $1.5 million in investments and grants to entrepreneurs, small businesses and nonprofits from Chicago, Detroit, Toronto and other areas in the region as part of a $20 million international giving initiative. While WeWork cast a wide net, Quicken Loans Detroit Demo Day focused on the city it calls home. Quicken Loans announced investments of $50,000-$200,000 in eight companies in Detroit, Highland Park or Hamtramck (or willing to relocate to those areas) out of a total 600 applications. Twenty businesses pitched for the chance to win on May 25, with 10 making traditional pitches and 10

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demonstrating their products. Social Club Grooming won the demo day’s $25,000 people’s choice award and the highest pitch competition award: $200,000. With the funding help, co-founder Sebastian Jackson said he plans to finish remodeling the Midtown space and also open two new locations for about $175,000 total: one in the Wurlitzer Building in October and one in The District Detroit in summer 2018. The second-highest pitch award went to the Detroit Training Center. CEO Patrick Beal said the educational operation aims to use its $150,000 to expand to another location, adding another 20,000 square feet or more to its current 5,000 square feet. The expansion could cost $1 million more, depending on the location, which Beal said will be on Detroit’s east side. “There are literally jobs going unfilled for Detroiters,” Beal said. “We were designed to solve that gap. We’re really expecting that to be a problem we can solve.” Also at the event, Quicken Loans chairman Gilbert and WeWork Founder and CEO Adam Neumann discussed their business philosophies and tips for growing an idea into a successful company. “The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make ... is that they think the things that work from 0-30 (miles per hour) will work for them from 30-60,” Gilbert said. Over the course of the night, more than 20 businesses received financial stepping stones from Quicken Loans after sharing their own business philosophies. They said the funding would help them expand, remodel, hire, ship products overseas or build foundations for growth. “For us, the story that I continue to tell right now, because I work closely with Dan Gilbert, and when I’m out and about in town people talk about him as an idea and for me he’s a business partner, a mentor, but he’s just a guy who started in an office ...” said Josh McManus, COO of Rock Ventures. “And so I think our deep, deep and abiding belief here (in Detroit) is that anybody can start anything at any time for any reason, and they should.” The rest of the Quicken Loans Detroit Demo Day winners are: J Detroit is the New Black, a retail coop shop: $25,000 people’s choice award J Ash & Anvil, a retailer for shorter men: $50,000 demo award J RecoveryPark Farms, which grows produce in blighted neighborhoods: $50,000 pitch award J Eli Tea shop: $100,000 demo award J The Farmer’s Hand, a pantry, market and kitchen: $100,000 pitch award J Social Sushi, a pop-up that aims to bring sushi to more Detroiters across neighborhoods: $150,000 demo award J Good Cakes and Bakes, an organic bakery: $200,000 demo award WeWork Creator Award winners from southeast Michigan: J Detroit-based Empowerment Plan: $180,000 J Detroit-based Assemble Sound: $130,000 J Ann Arbor-based Warmilu: $72,000 J Detroit Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in Prison program: $36,000

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A business solution

At work, with autism

1 in 68 individuals have an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. 50 percent of individuals with autism have normal or above-average intelligence; 12 percent fall in the extremely high IQ range, exceeding the proportion of the typical population. The mandated federal diversity hiring objective for disability is 7 percent for federal contractors.

Through a comprehensive training program offered by the Autism Alliance of Michigan, employees learn to understand and embrace the unique talents of co-workers with autism.

Employers receive a $2,400 direct federal tax credit per individual with a disability hired. Companies typically spend $3,500 to fill an empty position. AAoM’s retention rate is over 96 percent. 87 percent of Americans say they prefer to give their business to companies that hire individuals with autism, and 92 percent of Americans view companies hiring individuals with autism and related disabilities more favorably than those that do not. Source: Autism Alliance of Michigan

Story by Laura Cassar |Photos by Jacob Lewkow Crain Content Studio Imagine your job is to tell how many fingers a co-worker is holding up. The fingers change in random order; you need to say out loud how many there are. Seems simple enough. Now imagine this: air is blasting on the back of your neck and another co-worker occasionally shoves you from behind. Someone waves a strobe light in front of the hand that’s holding up the fingers. And two more co-workers read in your ears: They each read aloud different books at the same time. Now how many fingers is your co-worker holding up? This is a scene that Josh Stokes, a 26-year-old individual with autism, recently put to a role-play test at an employer training event led by the Autism Alliance of Michigan. The role-play and event was designed to illustrate some of the workplace challenges - and unique benefits - of individuals with autism. Founded in 2009, AAoM works to improve the quality of life for individuals with autism through education, access to comprehensive services, community awareness, inclusion efforts and coordinated advocacy. Within that mission is its growing push to impact the state’s unemployment rate and talent gap with an untapped workforce: those with autism. Between 75 and 90 percent of adults with autism are unemployed.

Josh Stokes, top, trains employees at Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn to work alongside individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Stokes, whose presentation is part of an Autism Alliance of Michigan workplace initiative, says he doesn’t want his audience to just hear him: He wants them to experience life with autism, which is why they role-play different scenarios, at right. To join the dozens of metro Detroit businesses that are increasing workforce diversity and taking advantage of the talents of individuals with autism, visit www.aaomi.org, email employment@aaomi.org or call 877-4632266 (AAOM).

“Frequently we hear from businesses that they cannot find reliable employees. We have a talent pool of hundreds of individuals that, by clinical definition, have normal to high intelligence, arrive at work on time, complete tasks efficiently and with attention to detail,” said Tammy Morris, AAoM’s chief program officer. These individuals “present a business solution with potential of a high return on investment.”

Help for employers A key part of AAoM’s workforce effort happens before the individual with autism ever sets foot in the door. As part of the program, supervisors, human resources departments and staff receive training to learn what they can expect from these employees with autism. That training includes a “What is Autism” presentation by Stokes. Stokes works full-time as a chef and is studying to be a special education teacher. He was diagnosed at age 7. His presentation is a window to his world and that of others with autism. Stokes has given about 40 autism presentations at workplaces throughout metro Detroit. “Individuals with (Autism Spectrum Disorder) are great workers,” Stokes said. “We have great potential to focus, which makes us incredibly efficient.”

There are five things AAoM requests of new employers when hiring an individual with autism: assume they are competent, support their communication needs, be aware of their sensory needs, model appropriate behavior and friendships, and have fun. AAoM uses Josh’s presentation to help employers recognize and understand some of the sensory difficulties that some individuals with autism experience. By working with job seekers for many months in advance, AAoM knows these individuals’ specific abilities, including frequently a high degree of technical ability, and works with both the individual and the company to best manage them. In addition to social communication struggles, for instance, one core clinical feature of individuals with autism is the need for self-soothing repetitive behavior. A recent individual with autism who was placed in a job was guided to move pennies from hand to hand as a self-soothing mechanism that wouldn’t disrupt co-workers. Companies are beginning to recognize the broad range of talents and abilities among individuals with autism and other disabilities. Most companies seek help from this talent pool because of the high levels of unemployment in the group and the fact that a high percentage of individuals with autism have average or above-average intelligence. “The more big companies do this, the more it becomes the norm and we can really change things,” said Kirstin Queen,

manager of diversity and inclusion for Ford. Stokes presented to Ford employees this spring.

Help for employees In addition to its work with the employers, AAoM works with individuals with disabilities to help them prepare to find a job. The AAoM database houses about 300 job seekers from Michigan and an additional out-of-state pool of job seekers with disabilities. Jesse Sissom, 32, was one of Michigan’s job seekers on the autism spectrum. Sissom was having a hard time getting through the interview process to find meaningful employment. AAoM helped him prepare for interview questions. Sissom secured an interview with Michigan Blood, an independent, nonprofit blood bank that supplies 36 hospitals across Michigan. After AAoM’s coaching, Sissom got the job. “People with autism offer a lot of value to companies,” Sissom said, noting that the position is a good fit for him because of his attention to detail. “I make sure everything is right because people’s lives depend on it.” Attention to detail is just one of the notable strengths an individual with autism brings to the workplace, according to AAoM. Other strengths include visual thinking, systematic information processing, efficiency and disinterest in “office politics.” “A person who thinks differently is worth more than you can count,” Morris said.

Tapping into unique talents Individuals with autism are hired to work in various industries and roles including: ■ Information technology ■ Engineering ■ Marketing ■ Finance ■ Business offices ■ Laborers ■ Retail ■ Health ■ Entertainment ■ Food

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

The American Dream is fading faster in Michigan Residents have some of the worst odds of climbing the economic ladder in the country DESIFOTO VIA ISTOCK

By Ron French Bridge Magazine

In 1977, Bryan Kaminski walked out of high school and into an Ypsilanti factory. By 19, the General Motors employee, making what amounted to $26 an hour in today’s dollars, had enough money to buy a house. In 2012, son Kyle Kaminski walked out of high school and onto the campus of Central Michigan University. Five years later, armed with a bachelor’s degree, he earns $16 an hour as a reporter, the equivalent of 60 percent of what his father made straight out of high school. He rents a small Traverse City apartment he can only afford because his girlfriend splits the rent. He drives a 12-year-old car with 185,000 miles on it that he doesn’t know how he’ll ever be able to afford to replace. Bryan Kaminski does repairs on his son’s 2005 Ford Focus, recently replacing wheel bearings, to keep the car limping along. “How these kids are doing it these days, I don’t know,” Bryan said. “I’m hoping when I’m 30 I can be where my dad was at 19,” said Kyle. He’s uncertain that will happen. The American Dream is just a dream for more and more Michigan residents. Today, your chances of out-earning your parents are less

than 50-50. And while upward mobility has declined across the nation, Michigan residents have some of the worst odds of climbing the economic ladder in the country. It wasn’t always that way. In 1970, about 93 percent of Michigan’s 30-year-olds were earning more than their parents did at the same age (when adjusted for inflation), according to a recent Stanford University study. By 2010, just 46 percent in Michigan were out-earning their parents. The findings capture the frustrating dichotomy of modern economics. Unemployment is low and the stock market is high. But the standard economic indicators cited by politicians and business leaders belie the checkbook realities for many families, where workers bring home paychecks that provide a lower standard of living than that of their parents. The implications of a fading American Dream are far-reaching, from huge swaths of working-age adults not even looking for work, to anger expressed at the polls for lives that don’t measure up to the dream we’ve been sold. “This is a core aspect of American identity, providing a better lifestyle for your children,” said Robert Manduca, a Harvard graduate student and researcher who co-authored the

“This is a core aspect of American identity, providing a better lifestyle for your children.” Robert Manduca, Harvard graduate student and researcher

Stanford report. “It’s what draws immigrants to this country and what we all expect. When it fails to happen, it makes people feel the country hasn’t lived up its promise.”

Broken dream The study, which analyzed decades of data from the Census and tax returns, found young people entering the workforce in recent years are less likely to out-earn their parents compared with children born in the two generations before them. The ability of children to climb higher on the economic ladder “is one of the things we think about (which sets) America apart,” Manduca said. “We had the sense that this core piece of the American Dream isn’t as solid as we’d like to believe. But it wasn’t until we ran the analysis

that we realized the magnitude” of the decline. Nationally, the odds have dropped from about 90 percent in 1970 (for those who were 30 that year), to about 50 percent in 2010. Michigan was a top American Dream state in 1970, ranked 13th among the 50 states with 93 percent out-earning their parents. By 2010, Michigan had plummeted to 48th in the nation, ahead of only Alaska and Nevada, with only 46 percent faring better than their parents.

Economy up, but workers? Not so much Most of the decline in upward mobility across America, according to the Stanford researchers, can be blamed on growing income disparity between those at the top of the economic pile and those in the middle. “The economy is growing slower, and almost all the growth has accrued to the top (earners),” Manduca said. “Wages for the bottom 50 percent haven’t gone up in 40 years (adjusted for inflation).” The widening gap between the haves and have-nots is exemplified in Michigan, with its history of a large, prosperous blue-collar middle class, said Michigan State University economist Charles Ballard. “My

friend’s father came here from Poland in the 1940s, penniless,” Ballard said. “For 30 years, he attached the left rear door handle on cars, and he went from nothing to the middle class. “We rode the manufacturing wave so successfully in the 20th Century,” Ballard said. “It made perfect rational sense to not go to college. You weren’t dumb to not go to college when you could walk across the street to the Fisher Body plant and make upper middle class wages.” Today, a high school diploma is a more difficult ticket to the middle class. While the unemployment rate in Michigan is lower than it has been in more than a decade (the preliminary figure for April is 4.7 percent), a lot of those jobs aren’t paying what they used to. For example, new General Motors workers make significantly less (about $16 an hour) than what Bryan Kaminski earned ($26 an hour in today’s dollars) straight out of high school in 1977. The median hourly wage in Michigan is lower today ($17.32) than it was 10 years ago ($18.67). That 7 percent decline ranks Michigan dead last among states, with Michigan being one of only eight states where residents have lost ground since 2007. SEE DREAM, PAGE 56

C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

DREAM FROM PAGE 54

And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only the adults who are working. Michigan also ranks 40th in the nation in the share of adults in the workforce, another data point hidden by that upbeat unemployment rate, which only measures those actively looking for jobs, said Lou Glazer, president of Michigan Future, an Ann Arbor-based nonprofit working to improve the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy. In 2014, just 56 percent of Michigan residents over the age of 16 had jobs, compared with 67 percent in Minnesota. If the same percentage of Michigan residents were employed as they are in Minnesota, there would be 847,000 more people bringing home paychecks. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our former avenue to the middle class has been cut off now,â&#x20AC;? Ballard said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And we in Michigan have been a day late and a dollar short in adjusting to these changes.â&#x20AC;?

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Study co-author Manduca said there was no clear lesson to be drawn between states with higher rates of upward economic mobility and those with less. The states where residents have the best odds of earning more than their parents are South Dakota (62 percent chance), North Dakota (59 percent) and Montana (59 percent). The bottom states are Michigan (46 percent) Nevada (40 percent), and Alaska (38 percent). Instead, Manduca said, the studyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s findings suggest we may be focusing on the wrong economic indicators. Politicians and business leaders focus on increasing jobs, Manduca said. But to make the American Dream a reality for more people, leaders may need to focus instead on wages. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In general, we need much higher wages across a wider income distribution,â&#x20AC;? Manduca said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One thing

SPOTLIGHT

Belle Tire hires chief marketing officer

Our paint brings new life to old surfaces; it strengthens and preserves. Motor City Paint is made in Michigan to stand up to the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rugged climate. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s faith, integrity, purpose and community in every can: Our FRPSDQ\ WDNHV XQZDQWHG SDLQW IURP JDUDJHV DQG EDVHPHQWV DQG UHF\FOHV LW WR Ć&#x201C;JKW EOLJKW UHVWRUH LQQHU FLW\ KRPHV DQG FRYHU XQZDQWHG JUDIĆ&#x201C;WL 'HWURLW LV LQ WKH PLGVW RI D UHYLYDO DQG Motor City Paint is part of its recovery.

Belle Tire Distributors Inc. has appointed Vivek Saran to the newly created position of chief marketing officer. Saran, 46, will oversee all marketing initiatives for the Allen Parkbased retail tire and auto repair Vivek Saran shop chain, according to a news release. Saran spent 12 years as senior vice president and director of business strategy and innovation at MARC USA, a Pittsburgh-based advertising agency. Last year, Belle Tire hired the agency to handle its creative and media buying. Saranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience spans several companies, including Adidas

weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve overlooked as a country is that economic growth by itself doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have an uplifting effect on the country as a whole if it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t include rising wages.â&#x20AC;? Instead of jobs, jobs, jobs, the mantra should be pay, pay, pay, Ballard said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We should focus on median wage,â&#x20AC;? Ballard said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get nearly as much play as the unemployment rate.â&#x20AC;? Michigan Futureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Glazer agrees. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what our new report tries to address â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a rising tide does not lift all boats,â&#x20AC;? Glazer said. Michigan and other states have at various times made policy decisions to incentivize companies to increase jobs. But what if states incentivize ways to increase worker pay? Another, less radical idea suggested by Glazer: implement policies that increase the number of Michigan residents with college degrees. Those with bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree have lower unemployment rates and earn, on average, $1 million more over the course of their careers than those with a high school diploma. Michigan is below the national average in the percent of adults with a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree or higher. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To me, the most important recommendation in our report is explicitly making the goal rising income for all Michiganders, instead of a growing the economy and lots of folks still not doing well,â&#x20AC;? Glazer said. One of those folks is Kyle Kaminski. He said he loves his job as a reporter for the Traverse City Record-Eagle, but the college grad canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t avoid comparing himself to his father. He admits being â&#x20AC;&#x153;kind of jealousâ&#x20AC;? of his fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s higher rung on the economic ladder, despite his father only having a high school diploma. Bryan Kaminski said he realizes how much easier it was for him, coming of age in the 1970s, than for his son today. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I worry about it,â&#x20AC;? Bryan Kaminski said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure what Michigan has to offer now.â&#x20AC;? Golf, Cooper Tires, Rite Aid Pharmacy and S.C. Johnson & Family, the release stated.

Detroit hires chief sustainability officer The city of Detroit has hired Joel Howrani Heeres to lead its new sustainability office to â&#x20AC;&#x153;guide efforts to strengthen the economic, social and environmental well-being of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residents, neighborhoods and businesses.â&#x20AC;? Heeres was Joel Howrani chosen from a Heeres: field of more than 200 applicants from across the country, according to a city news release. He started working with the city in 2015, serving as director of open data and analysis for the department of innovation and technology.

C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

Leadership summit to discuss diversity, inclusion in workplace By Sherri Welch swelch@crain.com

In a bid to take the conversation thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening in Detroit to a national level, the Detroit Historical Society has invited CEOs from around the country to a closed-door dinner to discuss the role they can play in advancing diversity and inclusion in their workplaces and communities. Also part of the conversation will be four imperatives for Detroit identified by the Detroit Historical Museum through the Detroit 67 project that have national relevance: race relations, youth engagement and development, advancement of neighborhoods and economic inclusion and opportunity. The society sent letters this week to a list of about 100 CEOs, including a select number of local corporate and nonprofit leaders, inviting them to a July 17 leadership summit in Detroit. The centerpiece of the summit is an intimate, dinner roundtable for about 20-25 CEOs, led by Tim Ryan, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s U.S. chairman and senior partner and W.K. Kellogg Foundation President and CEO La June Montgomery Tabron. Ryan is leading conversations on diversity and inclusion in the workplace on the corporate front, and Montgomery Tabron has led the same push at the Kellogg Foundation during her 30year tenure there. Marlowe The foundaStoudamire: tion is the largest Some â&#x20AC;&#x2122;67 issues funder of the Deexist today. troit 67 project, with a commitment of more than $500,000, the largest single grant the society has ever received, said Marlowe Stoudamire, owner of Butterfly Effect Detroit and the contracted project director for the Detroit 67 project for the Detroit Historical Society. The exact amount of Kelloggâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment is expected to be announced during the Detroit Regional Chamberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mackinac Policy Conference next week. â&#x20AC;&#x153;All of the symptoms and anecdotes that lead to â&#x20AC;&#x2122;67 arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t specific just to Detroit ... this was an American issue,â&#x20AC;? Stoudamire said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some of those same conditions existed in other communities and (still) exist now.â&#x20AC;? At the end of the day change starts at the top, he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have to make sure our business leaders are modeling the behavior to really be part of the solution.â&#x20AC;? During the dinner event, leaders will be taken on private tours of the Detroit Historical Museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Detroit 67: Perspectives Exhibition. Local leaders whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve already committed to attend the summit include: Ken Harris, president and CEO, Mich-

igan Black Chamber of Commerce; Wright Lassiter III, president and CEO, Henry Ford Health System; and Mariam Noland, president, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Depending on what kind of response we get from national invitations ... that will make it easier to curate which (other) local leaders are invited,â&#x20AC;? Stoudamire said. The summit will also include a Detroit Economic Club luncheon led, again, by Ryan. Stoudamire said it is seeking two other national corporate speakers to join Ryan on a panel about the business imperative for diversity and inclusion and why itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s critical for Detroit and other cities to move forward. The ticketed lunch, which is also set for July 17, will be open to the public, Stoudamire said, and is being underwritten by the Detroit Economic Club and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The event will also include community groups like New Detroit and Community Development Advocates of Detroit and youth group partners like the Youth Development Commission and United Way for Southeast Michigan to give youth exposure to leaders, Stoudamire said. The event isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t yet on the Detroit Economic Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website calendar. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of people worry that after July, the momentum will stop ... the conversation on how we move forward and what it is going to take to ensure we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t repeat the same mistakes of the past,â&#x20AC;? Stoudamire said. During the summit, the Detroit Historical Society plans to announce a three-year initiative dubbed the Leadership, Engagement, Accountability, Detroit Committee. The group will combine legacy leaders like Joseph Hudson Jr. with current business and philanthropic leaders and emerging leaders, all of whom will commit to tracking and reporting their own progress on advancing diversity and inclusion every July for the next three years. Efforts could include committing to continue dialogue or to launching specific projects, Stoudamire said. The group will be staffed by Detroit Young Professionals, a nonprofit dedicated to the development of the next generation of metro Detroit leaders. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re trying to connect the dots of past, present and future, almost to pass the torch,â&#x20AC;? Stoudamire said. The LEAD Committee will differ from groups like New Detroit and the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion in that it will look to address not only race relations but other critical imperatives facing Detroit: youth engagement and development, advancement of neighborhoods and economic inclusion and opportunity, he said. The committee will operate for the next three years, parallel with the Detroit Historical Museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Detroit 67 exhibition.

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C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CRAIN'S LIST: GRAD BIZ DEGREE PROGRAMS Degrees offered

Listed alphabetically

Michigan campus locations

Types of programs

Minimum Minimum GMAT/ GPA GRE

Cost per credit hour as of June 2017

Andrews University Berrien Springs 49104-0620 (269) 471-6321

MBA; M.A., Ed.S, Ed.D, Ph.D. in leadership, educational leadership and higher education administration; M.S. community and international development

Berrien Springs

On campus, online

Varies

Aquinas College 1607 Robinson Road S.E., Grand Rapids 49506-1799 (616) 632-2924

Master of management with concentrations in organizational leadership, marketing management and sustainable business

Grand Rapids

Part time, full time

2.8

450

Baker College Center for Graduate Studies 1116 W. Bristol Road, Flint 48507 (800) 469-3165

MBA, M.S. in information systems, M.S. educational effectiveness, M.S. in nursing, doctor of business administration

Allen Park, Auburn Hills, Clinton Twp., Port Huron, others

Online, part time

2.5

3 years FT work

$450

Central Michigan University 1200 S. Franklin, Mount Pleasant (and other locations) 48859 (989) 774-4000

M.S. in administration, information systems/SAP, logistics; M.A. in economics and in sports administration; master and doctor of health administration; others

Auburn Hills, Clinton Township, Dearborn, Detroit, Southfield, Troy, Warren, others

FT, PT, evenings, weekends, in person, hybrid, online

Varies

$548

Cleary University 3750 Cleary Drive, Howell 48843 (517) 338-3332

MBA in health care leadership; analytics, technology, innovation; global leadership

Howell, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Online, blended Flint

2.5

$920

Concordia University - Ann Arbor 4090 Geddes Road, Ann Arbor 48105 (734) 995-7300

MBA, with concentrations in communication, finance, health care, HR, Ann Arbor international biz, others. M.S. in organizational leadership and administration; master's in ed. leadership, curriculum, instruction

Varies

$579-699

Lansing, Kalamazoo, Grand Full time, evenings, Rapids online

2.7

$460-$500

Livonia, Warren, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Midland, Flint, others

2.75

$765

MBA; MBA concentrations in health care administration, global business, Cornerstone University, Professional and project management, finance; M.S. in management Graduate Studies 1001 E. Beltline Ave. NE, Grand Rapids 49525 (616) 222-1448 Executive MBA, master of accountancy, others; MBA with optional graduate Davenport University certificates in accounting, finance, health care management, others 27650 Dequindre Road, Warren 48092 (800) 686-1600 General MBA or MBA with 13 specialization options; M.S. in accounting, HR Eastern Michigan University and organizational development, information systems, integrated marketing 306 Gary Owen Building, Ypsilanti 48197 communications, taxation; 14 graduate certificates (734) 487-4444

Full time, part time, evenings and online

Full time, part time, evenings, weekends and online

Ypsilanti. MBA and MSHROD courses also in Livonia

FT, PT, evenings. For MBA and MSHROD, some Saturdays, online Ann Arbor, Auburn Hills, Online, weekends, Clinton Township, Harper campus Woods, Warren, others

Ferris State University 1201 S. State St., Big Rapids 49307 (231) 591-2000

MBA, M.S. in information security and intelligence

Grand Valley State University Seidman College of Business 50 Front St., Grand Rapids 49504 (616) 331-7400

MBA, M.S. in taxation; M.S. in accounting

Grand Rapids

Kettering University 1700 University Ave., Flint 48504 (800) 955-4464

MBA with concentrations in leadership, IT, supply chain, and technology management; engineering concentrations in manufacturing, mechanical design, power electronics and machine drives. Additional M.S. offerings.

Lawrence Technological University 21000 W. 10 Mile Road, Southfield 48075-1058 (248) 204-2210

$1,073 (Masters) and $1,248 (Doctoral) $548

2.75 (3.0 450 (500 for MSA for MSA or or MST) MST)

$640

2.75

500/upper 50th percentile

$542

Part time, full time

3.0

500

646

Flint

Online, full-time

3.0

890.00

MBA, M.S. in information Technology, dual degrees: MBA/M.S. in information Technology, MBA/master of engineering management, MBA/master of architecture

Southfield, Warren, Chrysler Technical Center

Full time, part time and online

3.0

3.0 or better

$1,090

Madonna University 36600 Schoolcraft Road, Livonia 48150 (734) 432-5667

MBA, 9 certificate options; MSBA in leadership studies, leadership studies in criminal justice and MS in health services administration

Livonia, Gaylord, Detroit

Part time, evenings, weekends and online

3.0

$790

Marygrove College 8425 W. McNichols, Detroit 48221 (313) 927-1513

M.A. in human resources management, educational leadership

Detroit, online

Part time, full time, online

3.0

$590-$735

Michigan State University Broad College of Business 632 Bogue St. N520, East Lansing 48824 (517) 355-8377

MBAs: full-time and executive. M.S. in accounting; analytics; finance; Detroit, East Lansing, Troy Full time, part time, hospitality business; management, strategy and leadership; marketing research; evenings, weekends, supply chain management. Ph.Ds in accounting, business information systems, and online finance, logistics, management, marketing, others

Varies

Campus, full time, part time

2.9

550/NR

$905

Full time, part time, campus

3.0

500/NR

$623

FT, accelerated, PT, evenings, online and executive

3.0

Varies

Part time or full time, evenings, some Saturday, online

3.0

Online

3.0

500

$760

Online, hybrid, part time, evenings

3.0

450

$536.20

Evenings, blended online, online

3.0

$600

Full time, online, hybrid

3.0

$690

Houghton Michigan Technological University School MBA, accounting and applied natural resource economics of Business and Economics 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton 49931-1295 (906) 487-3055 MBA Marquette Northern Michigan University 1401 Presque Isle Ave., Marquette 49855-5301 (906) 227-2900 MBA and M.S. in organizational leadership; M.S. in accounting, applied Troy, Grand Rapids, East Northwood University Richard DeVos economics, finance and taxation Lansing, Midland, Graduate School of Management Belleville; others 4000 Whiting Drive, Midland 48640 (800) 622-9000 MBA, executive MBA in health care management, information systems Rochester Hills Oakland University School of Business leadership, M.S. in IT management, accounting; post-master certificates in Administration accounting, business economics, entrepreneurship, finance, others; and 238 Elliott Hall, Rochester Hills 48309 general management geared to non-business master's applicants (248) 370-3287 MBA in insurance Olivet Olivet College 320 S. Main St., Olivet 49076 (269) 749-7626 MBA Saginaw Saginaw Valley State University 7400 Bay Road, 160 Wicks, Saginaw 48710 (989) 964-6096 M.A. in leadership in organization, health care, higher education, organizational Southfield, Jackson, Siena Heights University Monroe, Adrian, Battle 19675 W. 10 Mile Road, Suite 400, Southfield healthcare and organizational leadership Creek, Benton Harbor, 48075 Lansing, Dearborn, (248) 799-5490 Kalamazoo MBA Spring Arbor, Flint, Grand Spring Arbor University Gainey School of Rapids, Jackson, Lansing, Business metro Detroit, others 106 E. Main, Spring Arbor 49283 (517) 750-6611

GMAT $680.75 in 500/ V 153 state; $1,027 Q 144 non-resident

Information for this list was provided by the schools through surveys or their websites. It is not a complete listing, but the most comprehensive available. NA = not available. NR = not required. LIST RESEARCHED BY SONYA D. HILL

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CRAIN'S LIST: GRAD BIZ DEGREE PROGRAMS Degrees offered

Listed alphabetically

Michigan campus locations

Types of programs

Minimum GPA

Minimum GMAT/ GRE

Cost per credit hour as of June 2017

University of Detroit Mercy 4001 W. McNichols, Detroit 48221 (313) 993-1200

MBA; MBA with health care concentration; joint MBA/MHSA; joint JD/MBA; joint MBA/MCIS; graduate certificates in finance, ethical leadership & change management, forensic accounting, business fundamentals, and business turnaround management

Detroit, McNichols; Detroit, Riverfront

Part time, full-time, and evenings; BTM available online

3.0

UM Ross School of Business 701 Tappan St., Ann Arbor 48109 (734) 615-5002

MBA, global MBA, executive MBA, master's in management, supply chain management, accounting; executive education, PhD.

Ann Arbor

Full time, part time, and executive

Varies

UM-Dearborn College of Business 19000 Hubbard Drive, Dearborn 48126 (313) 593-5460

MBA in accounting, finance, HR management, international business, Dearborn investment, management information systems, others. M.S. in accounting, business analytics, finance, information systems, others. Dual degrees in MBA/ M.S.-finance, MBA/health services MBA with concentrations in accounting, computer information systems, Flint finance, health care management, international business, other; M.S. in accounting; grad certificate in business

Full time, part time, evenings and online

$859

Part time, full time, traditional, mixed

3.0

450/150

668

University of Phoenix 26261 Evergreen Road, Suite 135, Southfield 48076 (248) 675-3704

MBA concentrations in accounting, management, finance, human capital, marketing, project management, manufacturing

Southfield and downtown Detroit

Evenings and online

2.5

University of Windsor Odette School of Business 401 Sunset Ave., Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4 (519) 253-3000

MBA; MBA/JD dual; master's in management and manufacturing, logistics, supply chain and HR management

Windsor

Full time

2.75

550

Varies

Walsh College 3838 Livernois Road, Troy 48083 (248) 823-1600

MBA, M.S. in accountancy, finance, IT, IT leadership, management, marketing Troy; Novi; at Macomb and Full time, part time, and taxation. Dual degrees: MBA/M.S. finance, IT leadership, management, and St. Clair County CCs evenings, and online marketing

2.750

$740

Wayne State University Mike Ilitch School of Business B 5201 Cass Ave., Detroit 48202 (313) 577-4501

MBA, graduate certificate in business, joint J.D./MBA, Ph.D. in business with tracks in finance, management and marketing

Detroit, Farmington Hills, Warren, Livonia

Full time, part time, evenings, weekends and online

GMAT 450 Ph.D. 600

Western Michigan University Haworth College of Business 2100 Schneider Hall, Kalamazoo 49008 (269) 387-5133

MBA in aviation, computer information systems, finance, general business, health care, management, marketing, international business; MBA/J.D., MBA/ M.D., M.S. in accountancy

Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo

Evening courses (full or part-time)

2.5

GMAT 450 $554.65 per or credit hour for equivalent Michigan GRE score residents

UM-Flint School of Management 2200 Riverfront Center, 303 E. Kearsley St., Flint 48502 (800) 942-5636

Can be $1,579; waived scholarships with and experience. assistantships available NR NA

Information for this list was provided by the schools through surveys or their websites. It is not a complete listing, but the most comprehensive available. NA = not available. NR = not required.

B Formerly Wayne State University School of Business Administration LIST RESEARCHED BY SONYA D. HILL

Multifamily housing projects in District Detroit to create 686 units By Kirk Pinho kpinho@crain.com

The effort to redevelop four historic buildings and build two new ones for multifamily housing is projected to cost $160 million, officials said. What is being dubbed as the first phase of large-scale residential development in the 50-block District Detroit area downtown with 686 units is expected to begin construction this year. “There was a time in our city’s history when the idea of new residential developments dotting the landscape of Detroit simply wouldn’t be possible,” Christopher Ilitch, president and CEO of Detroit-based Ilitch Holdings Inc., said during a media event to announce the projects. “Yet now, we are seeing rapid new development, frequent renovation of existing structures along with an incredible pace of new restaurants and shops.” Of the 686 units planned, 139 are expected to be affordable for those making 80 percent of the area median income. Rent in those units is expected to be about $700 per month. Bagley Development Group LLC, which is led by longtime Detroit-developer Emmett Moten Jr., is leading the redevelopment of the United Artists Theatre building at 150 Bagley St. The other five projects are being lead by Detroit-based American Community Developers Inc., owned by developer Gerald Krueger. Moten said the city’s climate is

The 6 projects n Redevelopment of the United Artists Theatre building at 150 Bagley St. into 148 units with first-floor retail space. Construction to begin this year. n Redevelopment of the Hotel Eddystone at 110 Sproat St. into 96 units with first-floor retail space. Construction to begin next year. n Redevelopment of the Hotel Fort Wayne into 163 units at 408 Temple St. Construction to begin next year. n Redevelopment of the Alhambra Apartments into 46 units at 100 Temple St. Construction to begin next year. n A new building called One Eleven Henry at 111 Henry St. with 80 units. Construction to begin this year. n A new building called The Arena

Lofts with 153 units at 120 Henry St. Construction to begin this year. Source: Olympia Development of Michigan

vastly improved since he arrived to town four decades ago. “I saw it when I got here in 1978 and everybody was doom and gloom,” Moten said. The investors in Bagley Development Group are: Moten, Scott Allen, Richard Hosey III, Bob Charles, Jim and Joni Thrower, Wayne Thomas, O’Neil Swanson and Tom Goss. Hobbs + Black Architects out of

COURTESY OF OLYMPIA DEVELOPMENT OF MICHIGAN

A new building called One Eleven Henry at 111 Henry St. will have 80 units. Construction is to begin this year. Ann Arbor is the architecture firm on the United Artists redevelopment. On Friday, Krueger said the new One Eleven West building will be eight stories with a mix of one- and two-bedroom lofts, while the new five-story Arena Lofts project is expected to have studios, one- and two-bedroom units. George Jackson, founder of Detroit-based Ventra LLC, which is the residential advisor on The District Detroit project, said tax credits are expected to help finance the proj-

“There was a time in our city’s history when the idea of new residential developments dotting the landscape of Detroit simply wouldn’t be possible.” Christopher Ilitch, Ilitch Holdings Inc.

ects, along with Neighborhood Enterprise Zone financing. The District Detroit project, anchored by the Little Caesars Arena planned for completion in a few months as home to the Detroit Red

Wings and Detroit Pistons, represents a planned $1 billion-plus in development and redevelopment north of downtown with residential, office, retail and entertainment uses in a 50-block area.

CRAIN CONTENT STUDIO is the business solutions arm of Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Detroit Business. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a team of storytellers, visionaries and creators. We work with your brand to deliver your message in a customized way that gets results. One popular approach: Our Executive Insights roundtable report, where you give us the guest list and we invite those business and civic leaders into one room to talk about the issues your business aligns with most.

Learn more about our custom business solutions by contacting Lisa Rudy at 313-446-6032 or lrudy@crain.com

SURVEY FROM PAGE 1

Dennis Fogel, principal at Farmington Hills-based accounting firm Fogel and Co., voted for Trump but is disillusioned by his performance. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I voted for him and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not ashamed of that, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not pleased with some of the BS happening in Washington,â&#x20AC;? Fogel said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all anxiously waiting for him to do something, but nothing has happened on health care and nothing has happened on taxes. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s June. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s get the ball rolling.â&#x20AC;? Fogel said the self-imposed setbacks from Trump and his team are weighing on his confidence for Trump to lead. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I expected more action,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He needs to shut his mouth and work.â&#x20AC;? Fogel is joined by a majority of his peers in the survey in thinking U.S. Congress is also not living up to its expectations. Of the respondents, 84 percent viewed the performance of Congress negatively. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Once they get elected, their next goal is to get re-elected...â&#x20AC;? Fogel said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work for us, they work for themselves.â&#x20AC;? Health care and reducing federal business taxes were the top concern of the survey respondents, driving the disdain toward Washington. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The (American Health Care Act) is nowhere near the final version and the issue of federal corporate tax rates havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been addressed,â&#x20AC;? Cavanaugh said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is creating frustration for businesses.â&#x20AC;? Comparatively, Michiganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legislators fare better, but respondentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; outlook was still negative, with 59 percent of respondents viewing the Michigan House and Senate negatively. However, the survey reveals cultural issues rather than economic ones compounding the business leadersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; growing disdain for Washington and Michiganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Legislature.

Political matters Select results from a Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s/Honigman survey of 300 business owners and managers in Southeast Michigan: How would you rate Donald Trump as president?

39% Poor

6% Undecided

24% Pretty good

14% Excellent How would you rate Rick Snyder as governor? 9% Poor 2% Undecided

17% Just fair

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39% 21% Pretty Excellent good

Work right downtown in this Class A space just a block from Main Street. Top floor available with roof deck, kitchenette and private bathrooms. Onsite parking available. Owner is also a tenant.

Do you think Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan deserves to be re-elected?

Photos, 3D tour at millikenrealty.com. Contact Bill Milliken at 734-821-4321.

3% No

Dustin Walsh: (313) 446-6042 Twitter: @dustinpwalsh

dwalsh@crain.com

Despite the bottlenecks in Washington and Lansing, business leaders are still excited over the economy. Nationally, 53 percent of respondents to the Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s/Honigman survey of 300 Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s subscribers think the economy is getting stronger, while only 7 percent see it as getting weaker. Michiganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy is viewed even more favorably, with 64 percent saying it is getting stronger. What respondents arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sure of: How President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress will do in promoting business-friendly policies. While 65 percent of survey respondents agree Trump has created uncertainty in the business environment, 54 percent of respondents say they are excited about the possibilities and 51 percent say he may create great potential for growth. Coupled with the high confidence in the national and local economy,

this is leading to more leaders saying they will hire or maintain employees, 49 percent and 45 percent, respectively. The same goes for wages, with 47 percent saying they plan to increase wages in the coming year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;While there is no love lost for politicians of any stripe, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enough certainty in our own backyard to see opportunity,â&#x20AC;? Cavanaugh said. The rosy attitude on the economy is causing Michiganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business leaders to ponder opportunity for the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residents and the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role in that pursuit. A majority, 66 percent, say economic inclusion is a top priority or important for state government to address. Income inequality â&#x20AC;&#x201D; since 1979, the pretax income of the top 1 percent of households has increased by more than four times that of the bottom 20 percent â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is also seen as important, with 53 percent indicating the state should address as a top priority or a secondary priority.

SURVEY ANALYZE MATCH

4750 SQUARE FEET â&#x20AC;˘ $11,875/MO

86% Yes

Social media and the 24-hour news cycle are largely blamed for declining civility in political discussion, according to the survey. Term limits and the issue of gerrymandering legislative districts were viewed as less of a problem in the topic of civility. Social media is also having an unprecedented impact on Lansing and Washington, further harming political discourse and, potentially, policymaking, said John Truscott, president of Lansing-based public relations and nonpartisan political consulting firm Truscott Rossman LLC. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen legislators afraid to take a tough vote because of what people on Facebook may say about them,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They think the 15 people commenting on social media is a groundswell.â&#x20AC;?

Contact Lauren Melesio lmelesio@crain.com â&#x20AC;˘ 212-210-0707

REAL ESTATE

29% Just fair

11% Undecided

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LIVINGSTON COUNTY 7.72 Ac. Vacant Industrial Prop., $299,900 Utilities / Rail at Site / Ready to Develop

Contact Paul Harmon Harmon Real Estate 517-944-4550 or harmonpaul@harmonrealestate.net

Business leaders see economy strengthening By Dustin Walsh

June 5, 2017 61

CRAIN CRAINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DETRO I T â&#x20AC;&#x2122;SB DUETROIT S I NBEUSINESS S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

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NEIGHBORLY NEEDS INC. Neighborly Needs Inc. is developing an Assisted Living Facility (ALF) Rosa Parks Place located in Detroit, MI. Neighborly Needs Inc. will enter into an agreement with an in-home services agency to address the personal care and health related service of both fair markets (private pay) tenants and tenants that are consumers of publicly funded services. This residence will be a mixed income senior housing project (age 55 years and older) and will offer a total of 150 apartments. The on-site service provider shall be selected through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process. All parties who are service providers who are interested in submitting a RFP to be the Facility/Operations Manager for Rosa Parks Place submit a proposal to request a RFP package by going to following link below:

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

LARRY A. PEPLIN

Skillman Foundation CEO Tonya Allen speaks at an event at Don Bosco Hall in the Cody Rouge neighborhood in Detroit last month. Rocket Fiber now plans to send a wireless signal there.

Rocket Fiber to beam internet service to Detroit neighborhood By Chad Livengood clivengood@crain.com

MACKINAC ISLAND — Rocket Fiber is going wireless. The Detroit-based high-speed fiber optic internet company plans to beam a wireless signal to Don Bosco Hall community center in the Cody Rouge neighborhood on Detroit’s far west side, said Marc Hudson, co-founder and CEO of Rocket Fiber. Rocket Fiber, which is part of Quicken Loans Inc. chairman Dan Gilbert’s family of companies, is donating internet service to Don Bosco Hall as part of a coordinated effort with DTE Energy Co., General Motors Co. and the Skillman Foundation to stabilize the neighborhood. For Rocket Fiber, the project represents a new opportunity to test its wireless internet technology, beaming the signal from Gilbert-owned downtown buildings 10 miles west to a neighborhood on Detroit’s western border with Dearborn Heights. “We’re not doing anything new,” Hudson told Crain’s. “It’s just new for us.” Josh McManus, COO of Gilbert’s Rock Ven-

FORD FROM PAGE 3

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The Ford Foundation’s Detroit program officer will be charged with overseeing the $15 million in grants the foundation is making in Detroit annually, the most of any U.S. city, Walker said. That total is in addition to its $8.5 million yearly payment to the bankruptcy “grand bargain” fund used to boost Detroit’s municipal pension funds and shield assets of the Detroit Institute of Arts from ever being sold. Walker said the new Detroit program officer will have an office inside shared space with another foundation. The Ford Foundation was planning to announce the hire internally on Tuesday before making a public announcement. Robert Collier, president and CEO of the Council of Michigan Foundations, said he and others in the state’s philanthropic foundation circles have been encouraging Walker to re-establish a physical presence in the city since the “momentous” 2015 board meeting. “Having someone who is here is certainly strategically very important as opposed to having someone drop in once a month for a couple of days or having an endless stream of consultants,” Collier said. The stationing of a new Ford Foundation staffer in Detroit comes as the foundation is looking to wade into investing in affordable housing in the city’s neighborhoods outside of downtown and Midtown. In April, Ford Foundation’s board announced it would take $1 billion out of its $12.5 billion endowment and put it into mission-related investments focused on tackling poverty abroad and affordable housing in the U.S.

tures LLC, said Rocket Fiber’s new use of wireless internet can be an alternative to costly installation of fiber optic cable to sparsely populated parts of Detroit. “Beaming is a good way to overcome that,” McManus said in an interview at the Mackinac Policy Conference. McManus, who oversees the smaller but upand-coming companies in Gilbert’s empire, said he’s meeting with new “partners on the West Coast” on Monday to bring the latest “point-to-point” wireless internet technology to Detroit. McManus declined to name the companies, but said they’re “some of the best tech companies in the world who are concerned about and want to help in Detroit.” “They’re sort of serving us the technology on a platter saying, ‘Here, how can you put it to good use?’” McManus told Crain’s. McManus said his meeting in California is scheduled the day after he’ll be in Oakland to watch Gilbert’s Cleveland Cavaliers play the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

Walker told Crain’s that Detroit and surrounding suburbs will be a “primary focus” for the foundation’s housing development investments. “What drove it was the realization was that we’re going to have to leverage every asset we have to advance revitalization in Detroit,” Walker said. “And those tools must go beyond our grant-making.” The Ford Foundation has not set a target dollar amount for affordable-housing investments in Detroit. But they’re open to hearing financing proposals from developers with projects outside of the 7.2 square miles of greater downtown, Walker said. “Rather than setting an artificial target, we want to generate as much demand as we can,” Walker told Crain’s. The Ford Foundation is using its endowment for targeted investments in housing that it expects will be paid back over time and is in addition to the 5.5 percent of charitable grants it gives away annually. Collier said the Ford Foundation’s new Detroit program officer will be critical to carrying out its neighborhood redevelopment mission. “Community building is very much relationship-based and very much face to face,” he said. Walker said the foundation is looking to invest in a range of housing projects for households earning between 75 percent and 150 percent of the median household income. In Detroit, that would benefit lower-income families earning between $19,300 and $38,600 annually. The Ford Foundation plans to hire a director of its $1 billion mission-related investments this summer, Walker said. “We expect to start making investments in the fall,” Walker said.

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CLOUT FROM PAGE 1

Standing apart, an increasingly conservative Legislature has put budget and income tax cuts and reforming teacher pensions at the top of its to-do list. And leaders have shaved hundreds of millions of dollars from Snyder’s 2018 proposed budget in a bid to reduce, not expand, government spending. While both sides deny a schism, the contrast between what the business community wants and what the Legislature has pushed so far this term is striking, raising questions about the industry’s enduring influence. “They’re fighting an uphill current, right?” said Bill Rustem, Snyder’s former strategy adviser, of the business community’s efforts. “A lot of these people are not chamber of commerce Republicans, not traditional Republicans. They’re just not,” Rustem said. “The business community has got to figure out how to pull some of these people back, or figure out how they get candidates elected who are supporting the agenda that they want.” Rustem and others in Lansing say pro-business groups must find a way to effectively advocate a longer view of Michigan policy, since term limits don’t incentivize lawmakers to look beyond their few years in office. But pushing for investment when a Legislature wants rollbacks appears a fool’s errand in 2017. “It’s very safe to say that a lot of the heavy lifting was done in (Snyder’s) first term … where there was a strong level of alignment,” said Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, which is hosting an annual statewide policy conference this week on Mackinac Island. Among the key themes of this year’s chamber confab: restoring civility in politics, and improving economic opportunity for all Michiganders. Six years into Republicans’ hold on Lansing, “there’s kind of an ideological mismatch,” Baruah said. “The tea party influence is stronger. The governor himself is obviously still very much a practical-minded centrist, which is kind of a unique breed in politics these days — one might even say a rare breed in politics these days.”

Other voices, in other rooms The ideological standoff can’t be attributed to any one factor. Matt Grossmann, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University, contends that the conflict in Lansing mirrors an ideological shift in the Republican Party nationally. Others note that Republican leaders are finding increased support for their anti-tax, public pension reform efforts from small-government and free-market groups, including the DeVos-backed Michigan Freedom Fund, the state chapter of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity and the Midland-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The business community agrees on the need to resolve unfunded re-

Michigan’s business PACs

How the state’s prominent business political action committees stack up in fundraising over the past several election cycles and their ranking among the top 150 political action committees of all kinds in the state. Business group/political action committee

2013-14 CYCLE Rank

$ Raised

2015-16 CYCLE Rank

$ Raised

2017 YTD

2017

TOTAL

CAMPAIGN

CURRENT

Michigan Association of Realtors/Realtors PAC

$860,532

$936,863

$152,684

$151,500

$587,501

Business Leaders for Michigan PAC

$271,450

$250,250

$101,226

$100,000

$42,861

Auto Dealers of Michigan PAC

$531,325

$484,626

$97,147

$96,900

$53,410

Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers PAC

$883,257

$981,429

$95,450

$84,450

$153,963

Michigan Chamber of Commerce PAC

$523,682

$646,794

$79,373

$77,850

$225,860

Michigan Credit Union League Action Fund

$374,913

$320,765

$69,112

$67,150

$179,142

Michigan Bankers Association PAC / MI Bank PAC

$431,299

$447,226

$49,438

$48,225

$172,958

Michigan Association of CPAs (MACPA PAC)

$220,527

$221,423

$37,500

$45,919

Michigan Restaurant Association PAC

$204,150

$155,248

$33,625

$68,591

122

$111,370

122

$79,033

$24,786

$23,725

$13,184

Michigan Association of Insurance Agents / Agent PAC

109

$127,314

$133,996

$20,164

$19,850

$43,642

Michigan Manufacturers Association PAC

N/A

$30,619

N/A

$37,383

$14,561

$14,400

$7,382

Michigan Farm Bureau PAC / AGRI PAC

$336,027

$333,559

$7,638

$7,550

$279,613

Detroit Regional Chamber PAC

$156,271

114

$91,356

$5,690

$5,500

$14,041

Powering the Economy (Detroit Regional Chamber SuperPAC)

$141,535

$712,864

$9,409

$2,500

$24,137

Business Leaders for Michigan PAC II (SuperPAC)

$535,000

$537,000

$441,413

Michigan Association of Realtors (SuperPAC)

$843,105

$471,515

$58

Michigan Chamber PAC III (SuperPAC)

$594,675

$304,750

$1,346

Small Business Association of Michigan PAC II (SuperPAC)

140

$89,326

103

$114,613

$64,746

Small Business Association of Michigan PAC

N/A

$40,596

N/A

$84,832

$38,448

$7,306,973

$7,345,525

$797,803

$770,725

$2,458,215

$68,179,286

$48,560,003

11%

15%

Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan / ABC PAC

TOTAL TOTAL RAISED BY MICHIGAN'S 150 LARGEST PACS % RAISED BY SELECT BUSINESS MEMBER/ ADVOCACY GROUPS

Source: Political Action Committee April 2017 filings with Michigan Elections Bureau (https://cfrsearch.nictusa.com/)

tiree legacy costs, but is less enthused about rolling back or eliminating Michigan’s 4.25 percent income tax rate, especially without a specific plan to replace lost revenue. And business leaders have yet to convince anti-tax lawmakers that raising user fees or investing more money in infrastructure and education, creating new tax incentives, are crucial to a state still emerging from recession. Also at play: Highly gerryman-

“It’s very safe to say that a lot of the heavy lifting was done in (Snyder’s) first term … where there was a strong level of alignment.”

Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber

dered legislative districts mean that primaries are the deciding race in many parts of Michigan, Rustem said, so it’s more necessary now than in the past for business leaders to be active in primary campaigns.

“There is increasing fear of primary challenges on the right,” Grossmann said, “but the broader trend is that legislators start more consistently right or left than before." Politicians in both parties are gravitating more to their bases than they used to, agreed Doug Rothwell, president and CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan, the state’s business roundtable. That can lead to fewer across-the-aisle compromises. One point of disagreement is on social issues, with corporate groups sometimes finding themselves more progressive on gay rights, for instance, than conservative lawmakers in Lansing. Couple that with the sense that the answers to today’s policy problems aren’t as obvious as they were when Snyder took office, and it becomes harder for any one interest group to break through the noise. “We have just not made the case as compelling as really we need to,” Rothwell said. “We’ve got to do a better job.” So it is that establishment business groups like the Detroit and Michigan chambers have backed candidates from both major political parties at times. “As the process changes, if you want to continue to be effective and

make a positive difference, you have to change and evolve in terms of strategies and tactics,” said Rich Studley, president and CEO of the Michigan Chamber. “A lot of it, frankly, is just education and information.”

A populist tilt It’s not that business groups no longer have sway in Lansing. It’s that they increasingly find themselves competing for lawmakers’ attention. “The Legislature is more responsive to the direct will of the grassroots now, but that is not to say that the Michigan Chamber of Commerce isn’t still probably the most influential organized voice in Lansing,” said Joe Lehman, president of the Mackinac Center. The business lobby remains among the capital’s biggest power brokers, agreed Craig Mauger, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, which tracks the influence of money in state politics. Business Leaders for Michigan and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce are among the largest contributors to state legislative candidates, Mauger wrote in a recent analysis of state campaign finance records.

BLM gave $50,000 each to political action committees for House Speaker Tom Leonard and Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof from Jan. 1 through April 20, state campaign finance records show. Strikingly, BLM’s February donation to Leonard came as the lower chamber was debating an income tax rollback supported by Leonard, a proposal that was not on BLM’s agenda. The effort failed on the floor, though new efforts to reduce the tax are expected. Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for BLM, said the organization consistently gives money to House and Senate leaders but that contributions aren’t intended to curry favor on any particular bill or policy. “As in years past, we want to work with the Legislature on policy that will make Michigan a Top Ten state,” she said. “We recognize that this isn’t easy and that it all won’t happen overnight. But BLM is in it for the long haul and wants to be a resource to our policymakers.”

What business wants Chamber and pro-business advocates from Grand Rapids to Detroit agree with the governor that the Legislature should make infrastructure SEE CLOUT, PAGE 64

C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

CLOUT FROM PAGE 63

and education spending priorities, particularly education at the K-12 level. They say Michigan must take immediate steps to reverse its academic decline and produce more young people with college degrees or certificates in the skilled trades to meet employers’ long-term demand for talent. Snyder-appointed commissions heavy on business expertise recommended seismic increases in how much the state devotes to reviving Michigan’s economic fortunes — an estimated $4 billion more a year for infrastructure and another $2 billion for education. But when Snyder submitted his budget earlier this year, the House and Senate balked — sharply reducing the governor’s spending priorities, including money for a statewide infrastructure fund. On fixing Michigan’s horrible roads, business groups and the governor agree that while a $1.2 billion road-funding package in 2015 was a good down payment, it was not enough. Half of the money promised is to come from diverting general-fund spending when it’s fully implemented in 2021. Conversely, the Michigan Freedom Fund and Americans for Prosperity say the state already has enough money for transportation infrastructure, if only it made spending on roads or bridges more of a priority. The two interest groups call themselves grassroots advocates and share common policy goals of cutting the state’s income tax, paying into unfunded retiree benefits systems and repealing Michigan’s prevailing wage law, which requires the payment of union-scale wages and benefits on public building projects. Tony Daunt, executive director of the Michigan Freedom Fund, said an income-tax cut would be a “bold” move that would separate Michigan from other states. He concedes the need for a broader conversation about how to offset lost revenue, but said groups like his are gaining influence because they — like the current crop of state lawmakers — are more closely aligned with what the public wants. “I’m a firm believer in the market and the power of the market, and if there wasn’t a demand for work that we do, it wouldn’t exist,” Daunt said. “I do think we have influence, and I hope we continue to grow that influence.” Pete Lund, director of Americans for Prosperity in Michigan, said he believes freshman members of the House — who helped create a 63-member Republican majority that Leonard calls more conservative than the one that left in December — are open to ideas shared by groups like his because they aren’t yet beholden to special interests. “I think you’re seeing that these people come in with a fresh point of view,” Lund said. “They come up here and say, ‘Wait a second: I know what the people want. I just got elected here. I can tell you the people want a tax cut.’”

STATE OF MICHIGAN

Gov. Rick Snyder signs business tax reform legislation in May, 2011, his signature economic accomplishment, with Republican legislative leaders by his side.

2017 business favorites in the Michigan Legislature Top recipients of PAC contributions from leading business advocacy groups Name

Party

Chamber

Biz $

Leadership Position

Tom Leonard

GOP

Representative

$75,000

Speaker of the House

Arlen Meekhof

GOP

Senator

$59,000

Senate Majority Leader

Lee Chatfield

GOP

Representative

$25,950

Speaker Pro Tempore

Jim Stamas

GOP

Senator

$14,250

Assistant Majority Floor Leader

Dan Lauwers

GOP

Representative

$10,700

Majority Floor Leader

Peter MacGregor

GOP

Senator

$ 8,500

Appropriations Vice Chair

Mike Shirkey

GOP

Senator

$ 8,500

Health Policy/Competitiveness Committees Chair

Jim Ananich

DEM

Senator

$ 8,000

Minority Leader

Margaret O’Brien

GOP

Senator

$ 7,750

Veterans/Military Affairs/Homeland Security Committee Chair

Jim Tedder

GOP

Representative

$ 7,500

Tax Policy Committee Chair

Source: Political Action Committee April 2017 filings with Michigan Elections Bureau (https://cfrsearch.nictusa.com/)

Lund said he suspects that if Meekhof and Leonard were in leadership positions during Snyder’s first term in office, their priorities would be more closely aligned because of the pressing nature of some of the budget and fiscal challenges Michigan faced at the time. “It’s not necessarily that the influence is greater or lesser, it’s that our priorities are different than the administration’s,” he said. “And you can say that the House and the Senate probably have different priorities, as well.” Americans for Prosperity spent nearly $167,000 on lobbying in Michigan in 2016, according to state records. Michigan Freedom Fund spent just $1,466. By contrast, Business Leaders for Michigan and the Michigan and Grand Rapids chambers spent close to or more than $60,000. Gideon D’Assandro, spokesman for Leonard, challenged the narrative that there’s a split between business and Republican leadership, or that the Legislature is against spending money on infrastructure or schools. “There’s not a reluctance against

investment,” he said. “We try to go through the budget line by line, identify areas that are not working and not producing results, reduce funding there and put it toward programs that do produce results.” According to D’Assandro, lawmakers’ slashing of Snyder’s infrastructure fund reflected “a difference in opinion about how the money would be used; it’s not a reluctance to invest.”

A few victories Certainly, nobody is saying the business establishment has been neutered. Last year, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce was seen as a key ally in maintaining Michigan’s 10-percent electric choice market in the debate over energy policy. Choice customers buy electricity from an alternative supplier, not a regulated utility; proponents say it contributes to a free market and helps push down electricity prices. Energy bills ultimately earned bipartisan support in both the House and Senate via a compromise Snyder helped to negotiate.

In May, a plan to capture state sales and income taxes to help developers finance large projects on contaminated sites, known as brownfields, headed to Snyder’s desk after clearing both chambers by wide margins. That the creation of a new tax incentive made it through the Legislature with few hang-ups speaks volumes of business’ lobbying pull, after similar bills failed last December. BLM is spearheading a separate incentive that would allow employers to keep a share of state income taxes paid on new hires if they create hundreds of jobs in the state. It passed the Senate in March and awaits action in a House committee.

An evolving GOP History is rife with examples of Republicans investing in major public projects, said Rustem, the former Snyder strategist who also advised moderate Republican Gov. William Milliken in the 1970s. Abraham Lincoln was instrumental in authorizing the transcontinental railroad. Teddy Roosevelt, a conservationist, protected public land

for use in the national park system. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration built interstate highways. “Investing in infrastructure and investing in the future has always been a key core value of Republicanism, and I think the business community needs to help get that back,” he said. “If you’re a business person, you understand that investment matters.” But those who want to prioritize unfunded retirement debt say they, too, are thinking of the future. It’s why legislative leaders are taking another stab at reform of the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System, known as MPSERS, which had more than $26 billion in unfunded obligations as of 2015. Michigan cities, meanwhile, have an estimated $11 billion in unfunded promises for retiree health care. In order to get out of this legacy hole, they say, Michigan needs to stop digging. Meekhof told Bridge Magazine in April that he doesn’t disagree with Democratic lawmakers who say more investment is needed for education and infrastructure. The difference, he said, is that he believes the state should better use the money it has, instead of asking taxpayers for more. Closing off teacher pensions and shoring up retirement benefit funds are ways to do that, he said. “How do we solve this problem so that we have more money to spend on our priorities going into the future?” Meekhof said. “I think more and more that (senators) understand the smart policy of paying down debt so you have more money to invest in infrastructure, you have more money to invest in education.”

Rekindling the romance Indeed, pension reform is one area where Lansing insiders see room for alignment between business interests and lawmakers. The influential West Michigan Policy Forum, a business advocacy group, made public pensions a focal point of its policy conference in September. And the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce calls it the most important issue to tackle before 2018. Bills to close off the hybrid teacher pension system — which was created in 2010 and offers new teachers a combination pension and defined-contribution retirement plan — and move new teachers into a 401k-style plan died in December, but has since been revived. “My kids are going to be going into, essentially, an underfunded system,” said Andy Johnston, vice president of government and corporate affairs for the Grand Rapids chamber. “We need to address it so our kids in the future can have more money going into the classroom.” But finding broader consensus with a more independent-minded, populist Republican legislature will take patience and fortitude. “I will tell you,” said Baruah, of the Detroit chamber, “that the business community doesn’t really have a kinship with any one of the political parties anymore.”

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C R A I N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

A guide to Michiganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading business groups Detroit Regional Chamber

Purpose: Power the economy of southeast Michigan through public policy, advocacy, economic and workforce development, talent attraction, and improving the image and quality of life in the Detroit areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cities and suburbs. Membership: 2,518, including core members, sub-accounts for businesses with multiple branches or locations, and associate members Annual Revenue: $14.4 million (2014) Staff: 96 (CEO is Sandy Baruah) Key legislative priorities: J Invest in infrastructure: Supports fee-based increases for transportation infrastructure. J Make college affordable for all students. J Healthy local governments and school districts, including public benefits reform that â&#x20AC;&#x153;balances fiscal responsibility with the desire to attract top talent,â&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;appropriate public policies to ensure revenues are sufficient to meet the needs of unique communities.â&#x20AC;? J Education: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Develop an education system worthy of Michiganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s citizens,â&#x20AC;? including support for Michigan Merit Curriculum and Common Core, and thoughtful accountability including measuring and comparing the growth in Michiganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s classrooms to peer states. J Criminal justice reform, including â&#x20AC;&#x153;presumptive paroleâ&#x20AC;? polices to ensure that those sentenced to prison are no longer serving â&#x20AC;&#x153;exorbitantly long terms.â&#x20AC;?

Michigan Farm Bureau

Purpose: To represent, protect, and enhance the business, economic, social, and educational interests of Farm Bureau members. Membership: Nearly 200,000, including 46,500 Michigan farmers. Annual revenue: $11.9 million (2014) Staff: 137 (President is Carl Bednarski) Key legislative priorities: Current key issues include opposition to the Michigan Department of Environmental Qualityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent designation of the western Lake Erie basin as â&#x20AC;&#x153;impaired due to excessive phosphorous levels,â&#x20AC;? water availability in southwest Michigan, various federal regulatory issues, and development of the 2018 federal farm bill.

Michigan Chamber of Commerce

Purpose: Promote conditions favorable to job creation and business success in Michigan. Membership: 6,600 employers, trade associations and local chambers of commerce across Michigan. Annual revenue: $5 million (2015) Staff: 52 (CEO is Richard Studley) Key legislative priorities: J Education: Support parental choice and charter schools. K-12 schools accountability. High academic standards. J Employer rights: Support Right to Work. Oppose regulation â&#x20AC;&#x153;overreach.â&#x20AC;? Reduce unemployment insurance/workers comp claims fraud. J Environment: Streamline regulations. Limit environmental regulatorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; authority. J Taxes: Expand personal property tax relief. Oppose any efforts toward a graduated income tax, sales tax on services, or new excise taxes. J Infrastructure: Support development and funding of a long-term strategy to modernize and maintain Michiganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s critical economic development infrastructure.

Michigan Association of Realtors

Purpose: Enhance Realtorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ability to succeed professionally. Membership: 28,000 Annual revenue: $5.1 million (20140 Staff: 27 (CEO is Rob Campeau) Key legislative priorities: The organization has not publicly published a 2017 legislative agenda but recently updated members on two policy initiatives: J Transformational brownfield legislation

(Senate bills 111-115) to support large-scale economic development projects. J Placemaking projects and initiatives.

Business Leaders for Michigan

Purpose: To develop strategy, raise awareness, and champion initiatives to grow the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy. Membership: 100 CEOs and senior executives of Michigan companies and research universities. Annual revenue: $4.2 million (2015) Staff: 11 (CEO is Doug Rothwell) Key legislative priorities: J Stronger economic development tools, most notably the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Good Jobs for Michiganâ&#x20AC;? legislation (Senate bills 242-244) to offer new incentives for economic development projects that add more than 250 new jobs to the state economy. J Fiscal stability. Reducing state and local government debt and liabilities, requiring cost estimates for proposed legislation, and increased transparency of governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unfunded pension and health care liabilities. J Improving the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talent pipeline. More state investment in universities to make college more affordable. Job training programs. Improved K-12 school performance. J Infrastructure investment, including additional user-based fees and revenues to close a multi-billion-dollar annual gap between what Michigan currently spends and what it needs to spend to properly maintain roads, water/sewer systems and other infrastructure.

Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce

Purpose: Create opportunities for west Michigan and members to connect, grow and succeed â&#x20AC;Ś through advocacy, diversity and community programming that promotes inclusion, prosperity and growth. Membership: 2,500 Annual revenue: $3.7 million (2014) Staff: 32 (CEO is Rick Baker) Key legislative priorities: J Education: Early childhood investment. STEM. Statewide career/college readiness standards. Accountability through rigorous assessment and school ratings. College tuition control. J Infrastructure: Support â&#x20AC;&#x153;appropriate fundingâ&#x20AC;? to maintain transportation infrastructure. J Government fiscal management: Government efficiency and management of unfunded liabilities. J Employer issues: Oppose government wage controls. Oppose increases in unemployment and workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; compensation benefits. Support Right to Work.

Michigan Manufacturers Association

Purpose: To investigate, study, and promote manufacturing in Michigan. Membership: 2,500 Annual Revenue: $2.2 million (2014) Staff: 22 (President is Chuck Hadden) Key legislative priorities: J Economic development: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Michigan must have economic development programs for manufacturers that are competitive with other states and nations.â&#x20AC;? J Employer issues: Constrain unemployment insurance and workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; compensation costs. J Regulatory reform: State regulatory standards should not exceed federal law. Remove barriers to environmental cleanups. Oppose tax increases on for waste disposal.

Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers

Purpose: To promote and protect the general welfare of Michigan wholesale beer and wine distributors. Membership: 70 Annual revenue: $1.75 million (2014) Staff: 5 (President is Spencer Nevins)

Key legislative priorities: J Maintaining Michiganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;three-tierâ&#x20AC;? alcohol distribution system â&#x20AC;&#x201D; manufacturers, distributors, retailers. J Maintaining franchise laws to ensure independence. J â&#x20AC;&#x153;Enough is Enough!â&#x20AC;?: Limit additional distribution through new alcohol outlets, retail licenses and other sales to consumers.

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Purpose: To promote and safeguard the interests of wholesale and retail dealers in the Michigan auto industry. Membership: 600 Annual revenue: $1.3 million (2014) Staff: 15 (Terry Burns is executive vice president) Key legislative priorities: J Shortening the point of sale tax relief for consumers (often referred to as Sales Tax on the Difference). J Monitoring auto insurance reform and any franchise activities.

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Small Business Association of Michigan

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Purpose: To help Michigan small businesses succeed. Membership: 25,000 Annual revenue: $1.25 million (2014) Staff: 24 (CEO is Rob Fowler) Key legislative priorities: Hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t publicly published a 2017 legislative agenda. Longstanding policy principles include: J State budget: Cut and reform existing government programs before pursuing any tax increases. J Education: Support school choice, accountability, and matching education to job needs. J Economic development: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gardeningâ&#x20AC;? by creating a generally good environment for small business growth rather than â&#x20AC;&#x153;Huntingâ&#x20AC;? for big projects with incentives.

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C R A I N ’ S D E T R O I T B U S I N E S S // J U N E 5 , 2 0 1 7

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FROM PAGE 3

In a recent interview with Crain’s, Cullen said he plans to step away from the CEO role as the QLine transitions from a business startup to a permanent public transit operation. Cullen will remain involved in Rock Ventures’ pursuit of a deal with Wayne County to build a new county jail in exchange for the half-built jail on Gratiot Avenue and surrounding properties, Eichinger said. Gilbert and Pistons owner Tom Gores want the jail site to build a Major League Soccer stadium and mixed-use development that would

sit adjacent to Greektown Casino, which Gilbert’s Jack Entertainment owns. With Cullen taking a less visible role in the company, Emerson will be more involved in guiding what company leaders are calling their “for more than profit” strategy in Detroit that is focused on tackling structural economic problems in the city. Quicken Loans and Rock Ventures employees are involved in a number of initiatives involving mentoring Detroit schoolchildren, tackling structural problems hampering workforce readiness, boosting tourism to the city and helping local en-

trepreneurs launch or expand small businesses. “We’re taking what we do, taking the earnings that we have and redeploying them back into the city where we live, work and play in,” said Emerson, who has been with the company since 1993. Gilbert’s family of companies has grown to become Detroit’s largest employer with 17,000 employees downtown amid 95 Gilbert-owned properties that are managed by his Bedrock LLC real estate company. Quicken Loans alone accounts for 12,000 of the company’s downtown Detroit employees. Emerson said he will remain in-

CALLEY FROM PAGE 3

Over the past month, Calley said he’s been asking employers from different industries whether they would allow an employee to take a 90-day leave of absence to serve in the state Legislature. He declined to name the employers. “So far I haven’t had anybody say no,” Calley said in an interview with Crain’s Tuesday at the Grand Hotel. “You need an employer to work with you. But one thing I know for sure is none of those people can serve in today’s system.” Some employers may see a business advantage to having a state legislator on their payroll, said former state Rep. Mark Ouimet, president of Hantz Holding Co., the parent company of Hantz Bank. “That would be very attractive for the right employer, since it gives them inroads into government that they can’t get now,” said Ouimet, a Republican from Ann Arbor who served two terms in the House. “I think it would be good.” Most members of the Legislature have to quit their day jobs, step aside from businesses or retire when they get elected to the Michigan House or Senate. Some maintain part-time work when the Legislature is not in session. Calley himself left a job in community banking in Ionia County after he got elected to the state House in 2006 at age 29. He served two two-year terms before becoming Gov. Rick Snyder’s lieutenant governor. “This is something I’ve been field testing ever since I wanted to do it,” Calley said. “When I was in banking, I know for certain that I could have gone to my employer and said, ‘I want to do this,’ and they would have worked with me.” Some in the business community say that may be easier said than done, especially for small companies. “It’s one thing if you’re a Fortune 500 company and have an employee who’s gone for 90 days. It’s another thing if you’re a 10-person shop,” said Brad Williams, government relations vice president for the Detroit Regional Chamber. City councils and school boards across the state already count business leaders among their members, Williams said, adding that the chamber would be open to more ideas to encourage public service among the business community.

CHAD LIVENGOOD/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley talks about his part-time Legislature proposal in an interview Tuesday with Crain’s on the porch of the Grand Hotel ahead of this week’s Mackinac Policy Conference. “We’ll certainly want to provide input,” Williams said of Calley’s initiative. Michigan is one of 10 states with a Legislature that is considered fulltime and can meet year-round. The state House is scheduled to be in session 101 days this year, with just two session days in July and August and five in April. Calley said he concluded the Legislature’s structure is flawed during his time in the House and, now as lieutenant governor, serving as president of the Senate. “Naturally, I think you’re going to get fewer laws introduced and actually passed,” Calley said. “And I think that’s just a win overall.” The ballot proposal would set legislator pay based on teacher pay and add a constitutional ban on pensions and retiree health care for legislators — fringe benefits that the Legislature statutorily eliminated years ago for new members. “This will make sure that they never come back,” Calley told reporters. “We shouldn’t have benefits that exceed what the regular people in our state get.” Democrats accused Calley of using the annual business conference for political gain, as he hasn’t ruled out running for governor in 2018. “I figured, that’s his crowd, and he’s going to take advantage of it for his own purposes — which is another example of what politicians do,” said Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint. “It’s one of the reasons people don’t trust people in politics. This conference is supposed to be about Michigan’s economic future, and he’s making it about him.” Calley told Crain’s he supports changing the state’s voter-imposed legislative term limits, but he considers it a “totally separate issue” from

the length of the annual session. “It wouldn’t hurt my feelings a bit if somebody went out and advocated for a change in term limits,” Calley told Crain’s. “In a perfect world, elections serve as term limits. But it’s very clear here in Michigan that people still like or support term limits.” Yet a part-time Legislature shouldn’t be pursued without also reconsidering term limits, said Dianne Byrum, a partner in East Lansing-based Byrum & Fisk Advocacy Communications. Byrum, a former Democratic state lawmaker from 1991 to 2006, said she is not necessarily in favor of eliminating term limits, but believes they should at least be extended if lawmakers have less time in session in Lansing. The goal is to prevent a short-term view of state policy, she said. One unintended consequence could be a Legislature that actually is less representative of Michiganders, she said: “I think you’re going to end up with a Legislature made up of people with means who can walk away from a job for 90 days.” Byrum & Fisk has 15 employees. Byrum and her husband, Jim, also own two Ace Hardware stores in the

volved in growing Quicken Loans, which closed $96 billion in home mortgages in 2016 — a $17 billion lending increase from 2015. Despite being the second-largest retail mortgage originator, Quicken Loans controls just 6 percent of the retail market, Emerson said. “What that really means is 94 out of 100 people wake up every day and go somewhere else,” Emerson said. “So our mission is just to make sure that only 90 of those people wake up and go someplace else. So there’s a lot of opportunity for us to continue to grow and build this business.” Chad Livengood: (313) 446-1654 Twitter: @ChadLivengood

Lansing suburbs of Leslie and Charlotte. “It’s unrealistic for small business to be releasing people for 90 days,” she said. “You still have work to do.” Calley kicked off the ballot initiative before a crowd of mostly college-aged supporters who were ferried to Mackinac Island for the announcement. “Make no mistake, there will be plenty of time to do the state’s business,” Calley said in a speech at the Village Inn. “There will just be less time for procrastination. There will be less time for politics and posturing. There will be less time to propose thousands of new laws each year. Sometimes, less is more.” Dozens of supporters chanted “clean it up” throughout Calley’s speech. Several declined to be interviewed about their affiliation with the ballot campaign or how they made their way to Mackinac Island for the campaign kickoff. Calley said the young people would help him gather the more than 315,000 valid voter signatures needed to get the constitutional amendment on the 2018 ballot. “This is just a little flavor of what we have in store,” Calley said. Wayne County Commission Chairman Gary Woronchak, a Dearborn Democrat who served in the state House from 1999 to 2004, attended Calley’s campaign announcement Tuesday before the policy conference officially kicked off Wednesday. Woronchak said Calley’s proposal would lead to a “weaker legislative branch” in Lansing. “Whether Michigan needs a fulltime Legislature is worth some study and deliberation, and not hype and pandering,” Woronchak said. “This is so much like term limits — an easy issue to demagogue, an issue people will support without even thinking it through or what it means.”

INDEX TO COMPANIES These companies have significant mention in this week’s Crain’s Detroit Business: Beaumont Health

General Motors

Bike Tech

Kresge Foundation

CMS Energy

Michigan Opera Theatre

Consumers Energy

Quicken Loans Inc.

Detroit Tigers

Riverside Marina

Domino’s Inc.

Rock Ventures

Downtown Boxing Gym

SPLT

Duo Security Inc.

W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Ford Foundation

48 3, 16

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Sports Hall of Fame class includes Rose, Leyland

Peacock Room owner to open new store in Fisher Building

eacock Room and Frida owner Rachel Lutz is continuing her expansion of boutiques catering to women with a new store set to open in the Fisher Building this fall. The 2,000-square-foot Yama is named after legendary Detroit architect Minoru Yamasaki, best known for designing the World Trade Center. It will cater to contemporary women and showcase “architecturally-inspired, edgy fashion and accessories for the modern woman,” according to a news release. “There has been such an overwhelming response to The Peacock Room that we’ve outgrown our footprint after doubling the original space,” Lutz said in a written statement. “I’m now doubling that into New Center, a neighborhood that will be growing leaps and bounds over the next few years.” Lutz said Yama, like her other stores, will offer sizes 0-26 at all price points. “People ask me how the three stores will differ,” she said in the release. “The Peacock Room is for women inspired by vintage classics. Frida is for today’s woman. Yama will be our sister store of the future.” Earlier this month, she doubled the size of Frida boutique in response to an expected surge of business from the new QLine streetcar transit system. Detroit-based real estate company The Platform LLC, along with owners of the Fisher Building and nearby Albert Kahn Building, announced in November plans for a $100 million restoration of the buildings.

CHRISTIAN HURTTIENNE ARCHITECTS

The $328,000, three-bedroom “H Haus” at 2802 Harrison St. in North Corktown will be the first home in the area for Detroit-based energy-efficient building system maker Phoenix Haus LLC.

are also considering banning such devices on U.S.-bound flights from Europe. The U.S. government has been rolling out such initiatives to safeguard against small explosives hidden in personal electronics, which it deems a serious terrorist threat. J The Downtown Detroit Partnership has received a three-year, $400,000 grant to launch Creative Partnership for Detroit to help attract and retain creative professionals. It’s a part of the Michigan Film & Digital Media Office’s new Creative Chambers initiative, a pilot program established in five Michigan cities to convene and mobilize local talents in the creative economy, a news release said. J The Detroit-based nonprofit Inforum Michigan is starting an initiative to increase the number of women pursuing STEM careers in the state. InSTEM, announced at the group’s 55th annual meeting, pairs mentors with K-12 STEM programs in hopes of creating a pipeline for girls and women interested in science, technology, engineering and math fields as well as the auto industry. J Detroit-based Phoenix Haus LLC, which designs and builds energy-efficient building systems, is creating

its first home in Southeast Michigan, in Detroit’s North Corktown neighborhood, to showcase its low-cost housing templates that can achieve zero emissions. Construction will start in July and Phoenix Haus expects in late 2017 to complete the showpiece, an about 1,700-square -foot single-family residence, said founder and principle Bill McDonald. J Two technology startups in Oakland Country are receiving a $125,000 boost from the Macomb Innovation Fund. Munetrix, based in Auburn Hills, will receive $100,000, which it must match. The company is a data science and advisory firm that provides analytics, planning, transparency and compliance tools for state and local governments, according to a news release from Macomb Community College. J Rochester-based Skypersonic was awarded $25,000 in support of its introduction to the market. The company develops drone technology for indoor applications for commercial, industrial, agricultural and civil purposes. J Shanshan Feng shot a 4-under 68 on Sunday to win the LPGA Volvik Championship by one stroke over Minjee Lee and Sung Hyun Park.

OTHER NEWS J A new restaurant dubbing itself as a vegan Coney Island is coming to Detroit. Pete LaCombe, owner and chef of Chili Mustard Onions, said the restaurant will open at 3411 Brush St. in Midtown by August. Build-out of the 1,350-square-foot space — once home to Le Petit Dejeuner breakfast cafe — has not yet started, he said. LaCombe said the restaurant will open by August. LaCombe expects to invest around $200,000 for the project. J Detroit’s crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries has closed 167 illegally operating shops since the city’s regulation efforts began last year and dozens more are expected, the Detroit Free Press reported. J Detroit Lions offensive tackle T.J. Lang was set to be grand marshal at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on Belle Isle. J Detroit Metropolitan Airport is one of 10 airports nationwide that are testing increased screening of electronics brought aboard planes, Bloomberg News reported. Officials

ormer basketball stars Jalen Rose and Dennis Rodman and Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland are among the eight people being inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame this year. The diverse class was chosen for their contributions to Michigan sports by a statewide group of veteran sports journalists, college and professional sports administrators, hall of fame board of directors and members, and a public vote online. “It is an honor to be recognized with such a prestigious group of inductees,” said Rose, a Detroit native and 13-year NBA veteran who led the University of Michigan to backto-back national championship appearances. The evening ceremony is Sept. 15 at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit. Invitations have been sent to all inductees, though it is too early to tell who will attend, organizers said. The full list of 2017 inductees and their accomplishments: J Mitch Albom: Since arriving in Detroit in 1985, he has delivered the stories of Michigan sports via newspaper, books, radio and TV to a national audience. J Greg Kampe: In 33 years as head coach of Oakland University basketball, he successfully led the program’s transition to Division I.

J Jon Jansen: The Clawson native was a University of Michigan football captain and played 10 years in the NFL. J Jim Leyland: The World Series winning manager led the Detroit Tigers to two American League titles. J Dean Look: The Lansing native quarterbacked at Michigan State University, played in the American Football League, played baseball for the Chicago White Sox and went on to a 29-year career as an NFL official. J Andre Rison: The Flint native starred at MSU and played for 11 years in the NFL. J Dennis Rodman: The 14-year NBA veteran, five-time NBA Champion and seven-time NBA rebounding leader was a key member of the Detroit Pistons championship teams in 1989 and 1990. J Jalen Rose: The Detroit native was a state champion at Southwestern High School, led the University of Michigan to back-to-back national championship appearances and played 13 seasons in the NBA. Grand Rapids-based Meijer Inc. returns this year as presenting sponsor of the induction ceremony. Smaller-level sponsors have yet to be announced. Tickets start at $25. For more ticket information, visit dso.org or michigansportshof.org.

BRECK CRANDELL

Social Sushi owners plan to open the pop-up and catering business’s new permanent dinner spot at 18663 Livernois Ave. A rendering shows the planned design.

Social Sushi moving from pop-up to dining lounge

CARTER SHERLINE

The gallery follows eventual champion Shanshan Feng from hole 9 to hole 10 during Round 4 of the 2017 LPGA Volvik Championship.

ocial Sushi Detroit co-owner Jay Rayford has had his eye on the intersection of Livernois Avenue and Seven Mile Road for a few years. And now, armed with a $150,000 loan from Thursday’s Quicken Loans Detroit Demo Day, Rayford’s pop-up sushi operation is on track to open there in September, he said. “It’s a beautiful, historic area, but there’s also a lot of things that are happening and developing there, it’s so exciting,” said Rayford, who grew up in Detroit, moved away and moved back in 2010. The current owners of 18663 Livernois Ave. in the “up-and-coming area” are renovating the location before Social Sushi’s team begins its three months of build-out and set-

up, Rayford said. That ownership team consists of Rayford, Grace Montero, Christian Bittner and Bub McDonald. They signed the lease in March. Investment is expected to total about $130,000, including equipment costs. Millions of dollars have been funneled into redeveloping buildings and opening retail in recent years around the intersection. It’s also home to Good Cakes and Bakes LLC, another Quicken Loans Detroit Demo Day winner, and Kuzzo’s Chicken & Waffles. Social Sushi, which also won $45,000 through Motor City Match in October, had previously planned to open in another building in the same area, but it didn't work out.

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