Inside Track

Compass president plays many roles

Jay Greer’s background in accounting, medical devices and entrepreneurship proves beneficial in next endeavor.

Danielle Nelson

dnelson@grbj.com

Jay Greer has been crisscrossing professions since he was able to work, but now he is settled on one.

Greer is the president of Compass College of Film & Media, a nonprofit Christian college in Grand Rapids. He became the president of Compass in 2018 and since then he has used the varied experiences and knowledge he gained throughout the decades to help the school excel.

Despite taking the helm just four years ago, he has made significant changes at Compass, including changing the school’s name from Compass College of Cinematic Arts to Compass College of Film & Media to give the school a new identity.

Compass now owns the building it once shared with ArtPrize. The entire two-story, 28,000-square-foot building is undergoing an approximately $400,000 renovation that includes its theater space with the purchase of a new movie projector and acoustic treatments, with sound and video systems to follow.

The collection of those changes was the result of Greer’s life work that preceded them. Greer began his career as a certified public accountant after excelling in accounting classes at Walsh College. His first accounting job was at Deloitte & Touche where he worked for more than two years as a peer professional in the tax department while he was attending school part-time.

Although Greer was working in the tax department, he said he realized he didn’t love taxes. So, after he graduated, he went to work at KMPG where he did auditing and consulting for four years before leaving.

“The reason I left was because I was working too many hours,” he said. “I was working about 2,700 hours per year, which a normal person works 2,200 hours. I wanted to become a partner, but I realized I couldn’t, and they didn’t have the priority of raising a family that I was going to have. We didn’t have kids yet, so when I knew that we were going to have kids in a couple of years, I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t working those crazy hours.”

He went on to work at what was Crittenton Healthcare in Rochester where he was an accountant. The hospital started to diversify its services by buying a home care business and starting to build a nursing home. Greer said those two businesses began losing money and the health system ended up on shaky financial ground.

Greer used the accounting skills he gained at Deloitte and KMPG and helped to make the businesses profitable after a little over a year. He said he was later promoted within the system and ended up starting three more companies.

In his second year at Crittenton Healthcare, Greer started a business that made durable medical equipment (DME), which can include blood sugar test strips, canes, commode chairs, crutches, walkers, oxygen equipment and nebulizers.

“What I found out with home care, which are the nurses and the physical therapists going to a person’s house and helping to take care of them, that those people needed equipment at their homes, DME,” he said. He said the information from the Crittenton nursing staff eventually led to the formation of a DME business.

Greer also started another business in his third year. While he was building relationships with doctors, he encouraged them to use the labs at the hospital instead of sending patients to other labs. Greer said the hospital labs could handle basic lab testing but not sophisticated lab testing, so he was able to put together a joint venture between the hospital and a national lab and, as a result, the hospital was able to create another revenue stream.

He also was responsible for starting physician practices during his eight years and Crittenton and soon realized he had developed some entrepreneurial skills.

Greer decided to start Surgical Carepair, a company that repaired such hospital equipment as minimal invasive surgery cameras and heart scopes, and he was able to help the company expand nationally with a presence in 30 cities across the country.

“What I found was that we could repair them faster and cheaper than manufacturers, like half the cost, so I helped the hospital save money and made it that they didn’t have to rent equipment,” he said. “Instead of the manufacturer taking two weeks to get it back, they can have it back in three days.”

Greer purchased another competitor during the fourth year of operations and then sold Surgical Carepair to Cardinal Health. He eventually spent 14 years at Cardinal, initially on a series of six-month contracts. During that time, Cardinal purchased another company that was failing. Greer was able to turn that business around and eventually sold it. He then started a new company at Cardinal Health called Optifreight Logistics, which grew into a $250 million enterprise in six years, three of which he served as president. Eventually, Greer also facilitated a joint venture between Cardinal Health and Healthcare IQ in Florida.

After 14 years at Cardinal Health, Greer retired. The hiatus didn’t last long.

“I had two companies call me within a week,” he said. “One from Iowa and one from Auburn Hills, Michigan, that were entrepreneurial companies. They were small companies, and they were service businesses, which was all I had ever done, service businesses, and they asked if I could consult so I started doing consulting.”

As a result, Greer started a consulting firm called Jay Greer Entrepreneurial Consulting. He also started another business, Cornerstone Technologies, that sells medical supplies to the same clients Carepair focused on.

Fifteen years later, Cornerstone is serving more than 80 hospitals in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, and Greer still is involved as a managing member.

Jumping from a medical device manufacturer to president of an arts and entertainment school might seem like a stretch, but like everything else in Greer’s life, there are connections.

He became involved with what was then Compass College of Cinematic Arts after his son attended a high school film camp at the institution. His career as a CPA gave him the opportunity to join Compass’ board of directors 15 years ago as its treasurer and later chairman.

After the previous president retired, Greer agreed to serve as interim president and eventually filled the position permanently. The school was rebranded this year as Compass College of Film & Media.

Greer said Compass is using the resources it has to show students the various opportunities they have in the film and media industries while stressing those opportunities are not limited to just Los Angeles and New York. He said there are many cinematic, television, marketing and advertising jobs right here in Michigan.

“The industry in the last five years has changed, and with the COVID piece, the number of things being shot in LA has gone down,” he said. “There are more things being shot in other states and with the streaming services that are going on, it doesn’t matter where you shoot the film. The question is, ‘Do you have the right equipment? Do you have the right staff? Do you have the right background? Do you know how to edit? Is it a good story?’”

Compass recently created three productions on-site and students were able to get hands-on experience from professionals in the industry. One of the TV series the students produced is called “The Watchers.” The trailer will be released in April on a streaming service.

Students recently partnered with the Kent County Sherriff’s Department to help its staff create a better social media presence by training them to write, produce and edit videos. Compass also partnered with Critter Barn in Zeeland to do a nativity shoot so the organization could post it online for people to watch when they couldn’t visit the barn because of the pandemic.

“I am hoping to build a relationship with the community,” he said. “I want to reach out to different parts of our community with our skillset. I am looking at how can students learn hands-on while helping the community, because if they can help serve the community while they are doing hands-on, they can make an impact on the community with their video storytelling skills. Compass could help the community in a lot of different ways.”

JAY GREER

Organization: Compass College of Film & Media Position: President Age: 64 Birthplace: Pontiac Residence: Hudsonville Family: Wife, Ann; sons, Aaron and Daniel Biggest career break: Starting Surgical Carepair and then being able to sell it. “That was the biggest thing. Starting my first company and growing it to 30 cities in three years, that was huge. I learned so much during that period of time and I was able to replicate it in other businesses.”

Jay Greer served as interim president before taking A late class during her undergraduate career led Shorouq Almallah to turn her attention to information science. the role full-time in 2018 at what is now Compass College of Film & Media. Photo Courtesy of Aaron Greer Courtesy 616 Media

Economists forecast slower growth trend in 2022

GVSU analysts present views from West Michigan business leaders at chamber’s annual meeting.

Rachel Watson

rwatson@grbj.com

The economic confidence of business leaders across West Michigan is slipping as hurdles to growth mount, according to a recent presentation by local experts.

At the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce’s 134th annual meeting on Feb. 2 at DeVos Place, economists Paul Isely, professor of economics and associate dean in Grand Valley State University’s Seidman College of Business, and Kuhelika De, assistant professor of economics at Grand Valley, presented “The State of Grand Rapids Business,” an economic forecast they published with the support of data and perspectives collected from chamber members.

The report is based on a representative sample from a survey last fall of 1,000 organizations in Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon and Allegan (KOMA) counties.

“We were excited to match data from the Seidman College of Business with expert analysis from members in manufacturing, real estate, hospitality and employment,” said Rick Baker, president and CEO of the Grand Rapids Chamber. “Despite the uncertainty, there is a lot to be excited about in 2022, including continued growth. As we tackle these challenges and opportunities, the Grand Rapids Chamber will continue to have our business community’s back.”

Isely said business leaders are heading into 2022 with less confidence than last year. He added West Michigan businesses will continue to rebound from the pandemic, but growth will slow later this year due to a likely rise in interest rates.

“Surprisingly, what we’re finding in talking to business leaders across West Michigan is that they’re feeling less confident going into 2022 than they were going into 2021,” Isely said. “This is telling us that concerns over talent, prices, supply chain and the pandemic are creating uncertainty. COVID and COVID responses clearly shaped 2021 and will continue to do so into 2022.

“(Business executives) are worried about how much longer this will go on, and (they) wonder if they will have to worry about inflation, interest rates and finding labor for the next 12 months.”

Several factors, including a short COVID recession and $5 trillion in federal stimulus, contributed to slowing the projected growth rate, Isely said. These factors “superheated the economy,” which will correct itself and swing back like a pendulum, he said.

“If you pull it too far in one direction, it will correct in the other direction,” Isely said. “You can accelerate really fast for a short period of time but can’t do it for a long time. The economy corrects itself by using things like increases in prices in order to try to slow down.”

De said supply chain bottlenecks and low labor force participation rates will impact inflation, predicted by the Federal Reserve at 3% for 2022. However, De said her economic models show inflation measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index at 3-4%, while inflation on the consumer price index (CPI) is at 4-6%.

The confidence index, tracking overall business confidence in KOMA, fell last year due in part to uncertainty, inflation and supply chain issues, Isely said.

Other findings from the GVSU economic forecast for 2022: •The Business Confidence Index for the end of 2021 was 72.4%, lower than expected last year. •The Forecast Business Confidence Index for 2022 is 70.5%, showing reduced expectations. •Employment is expected to grow by 2.6%-3.2%, showing similar growth to 2021. •Overall nominal sales are expected to increase by 2.3%-2.9%, a pickup in growth from expectations in 2021. •Wages are expected to increase by 4.4%-5.2%. •Prices are expected to increase by 5.9%-7.3%. •All indicators signal the West Michigan economy will show solid growth during the beginning of 2022, with growth slowing as the year progresses.

About 700 chamber members attended the event.

“We were so pleased to partner

The report was based on a representative sample from a survey last fall of 1,000 organizations in Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon and Allegan counties. Courtesy of Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce

CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

Michigan bests nation’s Business Conditions Index

Citizens survey showed state’s Q4 numbers improved from Q3 while U.S. numbers declined.

Rachel Watson

rwatson@grbj.com

Michigan fared better than the nation during the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the latest Citizens Business Conditions Index, although both numbers showed economic expansion.

Citizens on Jan. 27 published the quarterly national Citizens Business Conditions Index (CBCI), which was 54.35 for the fourth quarter, down from 57.84 at the end of September but still in expansionary territory.

Michigan’s Q4 index was at 54.82, slightly better than 54.08 in Q3.

The index draws from public information and proprietary corporate data to establish a view of business conditions across the country. An index value greater than 50 indicates expansion and points to positive business activity for the next quarter.

“It’s good to see (Michigan’s) slight uptick over the third quarter, given that the national average went down, and I think that’s just a testament to the resiliency of (the) Michigan economy coming back, and it’s also a testament to a lot of companies out there managing through the pandemic that now have a little bit more of a tailwind from the pandemic versus a lot of headwinds going into it a year-plus or so ago,” said Jim Malz, Midwest regional executive at Citizens.

Following particularly high readings in the second and third quarters, the latest index value reflects the demand momentum still driving business conditions. The CBCI has been in expansionary territory for five consecutive quarters. “The vast majority of companies have successfully adapted to the pandemic. (Last) quarter, we started to see some overheating. That’s prompting an adjustment back to a more moderate pace of growth,” said Eric Merlis, managing director, corporate risk solutions, Citizens. “A slight pullback will help the supply chain continue to normalize and allow the labor market to keep adjusting, both of which are constructive for confidence levels.”

With increasing concerns about inflation and a new COVID variant surging late in Q4, there was considerable volatility. Supply chain issues continued, something the omicron wave might further aggravate.

“(If there’s another variant on the horizon) how is that going to impact people’s psyche and behaviors in terms of spending, and how can we better manage? You never know about that, but I think folks have pretty well prepared,” Malz said.

The strong demand experienced throughout the year carried economic activity along at a fast pace. The Federal Reserve announced changes to its policy outlook for 2022 to stave off excessive inflation.

“I think the biggest concern is (whether) the supply chain challenges will hopefully slowly abate over time as we roll into Q2 and the back half of the year,” Malz said. “I think it’s looking promising, somewhat, now that rates will likely increase, and so things may slow or temper a bit.”

Against this backdrop, three of the five underlying components in the CBCI were additive, while one was neutral, and one had a moderating effect.

High readings in the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) indexes for manufacturing and nonmanufacturing contributed to the positive CBCI value this quarter. As of December, the manufacturing index reflected some progress in supply chain and labor issues. The services index hit an all-time high in November, Citizens said. These indexes also capture sentiment, reflecting a broad confidence that continued throughout the economy in Q4.

Employment markers were neutral during the period, neither boosting nor pressuring the CBCI. Hiring activity continued its trendline, driving the unemployment rate down, while wage inflation ticked upward. New business applications were an area of relative weakness in the fourth quarter. However, Citizens said there was strength in the proprietary activity data of its commercial banking clients, which is an underlying component of the CBCI, as well.

Several trends solidified the recovery in 2021 and even drove the economy toward early indications of overheating. Excess savings have been a key driver of the high demand level. The fourth quarter saw signs excess savings finally have tapered off, and households slowly are returning to pre-pandemic behaviors.

Malz

Another key theme in the index data this quarter was business activity pulled back modestly from second- and third-quarter peak levels but remained steady. As policymakers work toward removing support, a moderating trend in business activity should help ease inflationary pressures, Citizens said. Though the pandemic’s impact continued, the fourth quarter brought signs of continued strength, alongside “reassuring markers of normalizing trends” in the economy, according to the financial institution.

Malz said he believes the biggest unknown affecting the economic picture moving forward is the geopolitical scene.

“If there’s an event or events, how does that impact the U.S. and our goods manufacturing base, consumer base, industry base and economic base here in the United States?” Malz said. “That’s a wild card right now we’re paying very close attention to, and a lot of our clients are talking about the same thing. We just don’t have a feel for what’s going to happen and hopefully (it will be) nothing too major or nothing too severe.”

Citizens is based in Providence, Rhode Island, and has branches in Michigan and 10 other states.

More information about the Q4 index is at bit.ly/CBCIQ42021.