Grand Rapids Business Journal 03.21.22

Organization eyes equitable housing system.

PAGE 3

MARCH 21, 2022 VOL. 40, NO. 6

The Business Newspaper of Metro Grand Rapids, Holland, Muskegon & West Michigan

THIS WEEK

DOYLE MAKES DEI HIS LIFE’S WORK

His consulting company hones sustainable and transformative results without relying on a cookie-cutter approach.

Page 8

Initiative assists young men of color The collaborative We Matter Now creates pathways of opportunity.

Chelsea Carter

ccarter@grbj.com

Renewed hope Hope College’s Prism seeks to provide safe, affirming activities for LGBTQ individuals and their allies.

PAGE 3

Breaking barriers Greenleaf Trust’s intentional professional development for women is designed to leave no one behind.

PAGE 9

SOLID FOUNDATION Fishbeck’s Jenny Waugh draws women to the construction industry. Page 9

THE LIST

The area’s top college and university online programs.

Page 6

Three Black-owned, West Michigan nonprofits have come together with a common goal of creating pathways to opportunity for boys and young men of color through a new, collaborative initiative.

The creation of We Matter Now will bring together strengths-based, ongoing programming intended to help Black and brown “at-potential” youth to

Principals in We Matter Now are, from left, Henry Sapp, Dondreá Brown and Cole Williams.

Courtesy We Matter Now

feel safe and empowered to build deeper, stronger relationships and become successful leaders in their communities. Dondreá Brown of Young Money Finances, Henry Sapp of Better Wiser Stronger and

Cole Williams of the Delta Project joined forces to create a safe and encouraging space for young men to become agents of positive change. Multi-year fiscal support is coming from Heart of West Michigan United Way.

We Matter Now will serve as a resource broker to equip local and often underserved young men with the necessary tools to close the gap on education, wellness CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

How companies can ‘do the work’ of DEI Strategist shares threephase process to fostering a culture of inclusion within an organization.

Rachel Watson

rwatson@grbj.com

A local consultant says now is an “optimal time” to begin the work of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), but many organizations might not know where to start.

Ana Ramirez-Saenz is founder and president of LaFuente Consulting, established in 2000 and based in greater Grand Rapids.

The firm uses a straightforward,

business-focused approach, an objective perspective, and data-driven strategies to help companies align their diversity, inclusion and cultural intelligence with corporate objectives.

The Business Journal featured Ramirez-Saenz’ journey to becoming a DEI consultant in a March 7 Inside Track profile.

Ramirez-Saenz works with clients in many industries across the country, from West Michigan to Washington, D.C., both as a solo operator in her firm and via strategic partnerships with other service providers.

With a background in finance and corporate leadership, Ramirez-Saenz’ journey to DEI CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

Ana Ramirez-Saenz said it’s crucial to de-mystify the idea of DEI work for her clients. Courtesy Ana Ramirez-Saenz

GRBJ.COM Vol. 40, No. 6 $3.00 a copy. $59 a year © Entire contents copyright 2022 by Gemini Media. All rights reserved.

Inside Track ....... 8 Guest Columns.. 10 Future of cannabis

Chamber reimagines OutPro Council.

Change-Ups ..... 20 Calendar .......... 20 Public Record .... 21 Street Talk ...... 22

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GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

MARCH 21, 2022

3

Organization eyes equitable housing system Housing Kent has seven-step roadmap to address living instability.

Chelsea Carter

ccarter@grbj.com

A group of nearly 220 partners from 130 public and private entities, nonprofit and philanthropic community organizations has come together to create a movement addressing housing instability in Kent County.

In May 2018, KConnect, a Grand Rapids collective-impact organization focused on ensuring all children in Kent County have an equitable path to economic prosperity through quality education, family and community support, received a letter from several community stakeholders asking the organization to bring people together to examine the housing system, establish common goals and develop collaborative strategies to create change. The plan would center on addressing systemic issues in Kent County related to housing stability with a focus on racial and ethnic disparities affecting children, families, youth and people of color, as well

as barriers to collaboration.

The group, initially known as the Housing Stability Alliance (HSA) and led by temporary backbone entity KConnect, collectively examined homelessness in Kent County over a three-year period.

HSA’s plans later would come to fruition through the transition to and establishment of Housing Kent, which would serve as the primary vehicle to create a collaborative, equitable housing system.

The new organization, which also recently named its board members and president, is built on the common agenda and roadmap established by HSA. HSA’s initial work was led by board of trustees members Rosalynn Bliss, mayor of Grand Rapids; Mandy Bolter, then-chair of the Kent County Board of Commissioners; Lynne Ferrell, program director for the Frey Foundation; and Christina Keller, president and CEO, Cascade Engineering.

Tasha Blackmon, president and CEO of Cherry Health, and Brad Kessel, president and CEO of Independent Bank, led as co-chairs.

According to the group’s findings, the number of people in Kent County’s homeless system grew by 37% between 2017 and 2019, with the largest growth — nearly two-thirds — existing among families with children and largely

drawn along the lines of race and ethnicity. Nearly one in six Black children in Kent County accessed the homeless system at some point in 2019, offering a stark contrast to the one in every 130 white children by the same measure.

“Over the last 10 years, the median sale price of homes in Kent County has increased by 120%.

There are tens of thousands of households that are paying too much of their monthly income to housing costs,” Blackmon said.

“Behind the data are real families in our community and the facts underscore one point: we must act now.”

The group’s “Community Plan” established a common agenda and roadmap with a fivepart approach directly addressing the root causes of housing instability, including systemic racism.

It outlines equity and community engagement, high-leverage activities, a shared measurement system, continuous communication and the establishment of its permanent backbone entity, Housing Kent.

“A staggering number of our neighbors are homeless, constantly moving from place to place,” said Salvador Lopez, president of KConnect, who also has served as interim president for Housing Kent. “Without a dramatic

redesign, they will never be able to afford a home of their own choosing.

It is long past time for us, as a community, to acknowledge policies deeply rooted in racial Lopez bias. We need to encourage balanced investment and accelerate the meaningful change we know is possible.”

Lopez, who served as interim president since January 2021, was responsible for helping to create the entity that evolved from HSA to Housing Kent, by establishing it as its own 501(c)3, raising funds, building a governance body, and eventually raising enough capital to hire a support team and president.

“So, one of the biggest lessons learned, if you will, from this initiative over the course of the last three to four years, is that we are stronger collectively if we take a look at collaborating across different sectors. And therefore, within the last 12 months, when we took a look at fundraising, we (looked at) the entire community.

So, it has really been great to see such support for the (HSA), and

now Housing Kent, and it’s really come financially from the philanthropic community, as well as the private sector community,” Lopez said. “There’s also been some very strong support from nonprofit leaders within the community in terms of connecting us to people with lived experience, so this has really been a strong effort.”

To further the roadmap’s equity and community engagement plan, Lopez said the collaborative also has worked closely with Urban League of West Michigan and Hispanic Center of West Michigan to make sure the voices of those with lived experience are heard, helping to effectively guide the strategy and effective outcomes.

According to the Community Plan, perhaps most important is the established foundation of creativity, impressive pilot programs, best practices and talent that already exists in the community.

Housing Kent will work alongside existing efforts of organizations to create a comprehensive housing system and strategic process in alignment with the county’s current approach to homelessness.

Its goal is to decrease children and adults in need of accessing Kent County’s homeless system CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

Chamber reimagines OutPro Council Hope creates LGBTQIA+ networking group expands mission to be a ‘driving force’ in local education, advocacy.

Rachel Watson

rwatson@grbj.com

OutPro, an LGBTQIA+ professionals group within the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, is undergoing a transformation.

The Grand Rapids Chamber said in February it transferred the OutPro Council, a group established in 2013 and previously led by the chamber’s diversity and inclusion team, under the leadership of the chamber’s talent development team — a move the organization said would put the council on an even footing with its other leadership and professional development programs. These include ATHENA Grand Rapids, Leadership Grand Rapids, Leading Edge, LeadUp and others.

OutPro previously provided a platform for LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies to network at social and professional events, but now it is expanding its mission to be “a driving force in community education and advocacy.”

Monica Mendez, talent development manager at the Grand Rapids Chamber, and Rowan Leo, account manager at 8THIRTYFOUR Integrated Communi-

cations and a member of the OutPro Council, recently spoke to the Business Journal about the group’s new focus.

Mendez, whose pronouns are she/her, said Mendez when the chamber made changes within the past year to its inclusion team, she and Mel Trombley, director of leadership programs, took the opportunity to advocate for moving OutPro under the talent team’s oversight to concentrate on aligning its programming with community needs.

“There had been, in the past, some issues that had kind of truncated the relationship a little bit between the council and the chamber, so Mel and I were very, very intentional about making sure the council was really involved moving forward with what we wanted the mission and the vision to be,” Mendez said.

“We wanted to make sure that the council was part of that and that their input was part of this new rebranding of OutPro.” At the end of 2021, the chamber hired Grand Rapids-based Urban Curry Consulting to lead a strategic planning session to help assess what wasn’t working and what they wanted to prioritize moving forward.

“We wanted to be the driving force for the LGBTQIA+ commu-

Leo

nity within the business community — not just the social networking aspect of it, but what else we can do to be personal advocates within our organizations, within our circles,” Mendez

said.

Leo, who identifies as asexual and genderqueer and whose pronouns are they/them, has been with the council since fall 2019 and was on board when the chamber presented the changes it would be making.

“Since then, we’ve been able to start propelling toward what it seems like OutPro was trying to grow into without really knowing how — focusing on being a welcoming place and creating that bridge, because West Michigan gets a bad rap for being very conservative sometimes, and that could be hard for people who are looking to (come here) and don’t know much about the area,” Leo said.

“We wanted to brand (OutPro) as a bridge to say, hey, here’s how you can learn about the community if you’re not a part of it, and if you are a part of it, here’s the resources that you can have. It’s been interesting to see the progression in the short time since.”

Part of the transformation of the group has included going

deeper with its events, inviting subject matter experts to give talks on topics that are of importance to the LGBTQIA+ population, such as public policy, human resources and strategies for public education.

The group’s first event for 2022, on the subject of public policy, was hosted in partnership with the chamber’s government affairs division at Creston Brewery on March 8 and featured Andy Johnston, senior vice president of advocacy and strategic engagement for the chamber.

Attendees received an Empower Toolkit that contained information on local schools, government and political officials, as well as a “terminology 101” sheet to educate people on the common terms and definitions used within the LGBTQIA+ community.

“We understand that people are in different stages of their journey,” Mendez said. “I think a lot of the time, people are fearful and embarrassed to ask questions, and so the Empower Toolkit is just precisely that — empowering people, if they don’t feel comfortable asking questions out loud, to at least have the information and the tools to be great advocates.”

Mendez and Leo both stressed OutPro events and discussions are open to allies and the general public, as well as to those who identify as LGBTQIA+. Additionally, chamber members and nonmembers are all welcome.

“A huge part of the magic of CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

an inclusive LGBTQ space Prism seeks to provide safe, affirming activities for individuals and their allies.

Danielle Nelson

dnelson@grbj.com

The Center for Diversity and Inclusion at Hope College is on a mission of supporting underrepresented students through its student group organizations.

One of those organizations is Prism, which began in 2019, just before the pandemic. The organization was created to “provide safe and affirming spaces for LGBTQ-identifying individuals and their allies in order to foster community, celebrate and understand queerness and grow in allyship and advocacy.”

Hailey Schumann, Prism historian and a junior at Hope College, said the group was created to represent LGBTQ students at the small, religious-based school in Holland. In an effort to support those students and help them find their voice, the organization began a new Affirming LGBTQ+ Students Lecture Series.

“As a board, we had talked about creating spaces on campus for CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

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GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

MARCH 21, 2022

Grand Valley engages community in STEM Virtual lectures are available to the general public and cover diverse topics.

Danielle Nelson

dnelson@grbj.com

Grand Valley State University has found another way to invest in the community.

The university recently launched a free virtual learning series called Grand Morsels.

The series is hosted by the Regional Math and Science Center (RMS) at GVSU. Kris Pachla, director of RMS, said the vision of the center is to inspire and engage everyone in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), and the virtual series is an outreach to the community.

“This works toward our vision of really engaging community members and looking for how we might be able to elevate those connections between GVSU science faculty and the community,” he said.

Pachla said the premise behind Grand Morsels is providing opportunities to take big scientific concepts and break them down into bite-sized morsels.

“We have worked with our College of Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty to identify topics of interest and topics of expertise that they can work on (and give) about a 30-minute presentation in the virtual space with a 15-minute question and answer session at the end from the community,” he said. “We invite the community. We invite K-12 teachers. We invite K-12 students to come into the conversation and just learn some more about something that is related to the idea that STEM and science are everywhere.”

GVSU students also can participate in the series by listening and asking questions. Since the series began in January, there have been two lectures.

Two more remain for the spring semester.

GVSU faculty have tackled various scientific topics during their presentations. The program in February was “Human Impacts on the Environment — The View from Archaeology and The Past,” by Elizabeth Arnold, associate professor in the anthropology department at GVSU. The lecture presentation in January was “Talking Through the Air: The Science of Wireless Communication,” by associate professor Len O’Kelly from GVSU’s School of Communications.

“Dr. Len O’Kelly was our inaugural Grand Morsel presenter,” Pachla said. “He presented about the history of radio and the history of the AM versus FM and the ways in which the radio has evolved over the course of time. It was a really engaging presentation. Our sec-

ond presentation was Dr. Elizabeth Arnold. She presented from an anthropology perspective about how anthropology sees the world around us differently than other social and hard sciences.”

In addition to keeping the community informed, Richard Besel, professor and director of the School of Communications at GVSU, said it allows K-12 teachers to stay updated with the latest information in the sciences and as a result, make teaching adjustments in their classrooms with the new information.

“How they incorporate the information is up to them, but the idea is to keep the teachers up to date in terms of what's happening with experts in certain fields,” he said. “The

“We invite the community. We invite K-12 teachers. We invite K-12 students to come into the conversation and just learn some more about something that is related to the idea that STEM and science are everywhere.”

Kris Pachla last time we had, for example, someone from the anthropology department, an environmental archaeologist, talking about some of the things that she has done on dig sites. There was a lot of really interesting information there. She was talking about how things in her field have changed. That is something that K-12 teachers might not get all the time and so they can introduce those concepts into their classroom. It gives them another opportunity to find additional resources.”

Teachers also can receive 0.75 State Continuing Education Clock Hours after completing the lecture series in April.

SCECH allows educators to keep their teaching certificates up to date.

The lectures are recorded and are available on GVSU Regional Math and Science Center’s website.

“Hopefully, the audience members actually end up learning some new concepts from these presentations,” Besel said.

“You have these experts in their fields, and this is an opportunity for them to reach out to new audiences so, hopefully, audience members get to learn new things about science and how it functions. The experts have an opportunity now to talk to a new audience they would otherwise not communicate with.

Professors are in the classroom talking to their students on campus, but this gives them the opportunity, those same professors, to reach out and give back to the community.”

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GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

MARCH 21, 2022

THE LIST

Top Area College and University Online Courses (RANKED BY THE NUMBER OF ONLINE COURSES OFFERED) President 1

Western Michigan University 1903 W. Michigan Ave. Kalamazoo 49008 p (269)-387-8400 wmich.edu

2

Grand Rapids Community College 143 Bostwick Ave. NE Grand Rapids 49503 p (616) 234-4000 grcc.edu

3

Central Michigan University - Grand Rapids 1633 East Beltline Ave. NE Grand Rapids 49525 p (616) 361-4160 cmich.edu/grandrapids

Year Number of established in online W. Mich. courses

Number of online students

Public or private

Full-ride scholarship Degrees offered

Online courses offered

Edward Montgomery

1903

8,444

9,203

Public

Undergraduate programs: aviation, child and family development, communications, criminal justice, cybersecurity, interdisciplinary health, nursing, psychology, religion, university studies. Graduate programs: cybersecurity, coaching, education, nursing, science education, spirituality culture and health, vision rehabilitation therapy

Online courses are offered in many subjects and disciplines at all levels of study

Bill Pink

1914

1,257

5,000

Public

Associate, certificate, apprentice and job training DND programs; 2+2, 3+1, and many other transfer options with the Michigan Transfer Agreement

Robert Davies

1995

1,200

400

Public

Bachelor's, master's, certificates at undergraduate and graduate levels, doctoral degrees

DND

4

Cornerstone University 1001 East Beltline Ave. NE Grand Rapids 49525 p (616) 949-5300 f 222-1528 cornerstone.edu

Gerson MorenoRiaño

1941

658

510

Private

Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Bachelor of Science-Engineering, Bachelor of Social Work, Doctor of Education, Master of Arts, Master of Business Admin, Master of Divinity, Master Religious Education, Master of Science, Master of Theology, Master of Public Administration

5

Davenport University 6191 Kraft Ave. SE Grand Rapids 49512 p (800) 686-1600 davenport.edu

Richard Pappas

1866

500

1,503

Private

Bachelor's and master's degrees in business, technology, DND health and urban education

6

Baker College 1903 Marquette Ave. Muskegon 49442 p (855) 487-7888 f 766-2051 baker.edu

Bart Daig, PhD Lesa Louch, PhD

1911

442

3,313

Private

100% online degree programs at the associate, bachelor's, Courses available in several master's, and doctorate levels. Mix and match courses disciplines including, from two online formats—BakerOnline (flexible schedule) business, health science, IT and OnlineLive (real-time instruction with set meeting and computer science, times) criminal justice, education, psychology and general education

All graduate programs offered completely online, including an all-online Master of Divinity; all-online degree programs through professional and graduate studies

7

Grand Valley State University 1 Campus Drive Allendale 49401-9403 p (616) 331-5000 gvsu.edu

Philomena V. Mantella

1960

401

10,308

Public

97 undergraduate, 46 graduate degree programs, including doctoral degrees in nursing practice and physical therapy, occupational therapy; more than 200 areas of study

8

Muskegon Community College 221 S. Quarterline Road Muskegon 49442 p (231) 773-9131 muskegoncc.edu

Dale Nesbary

1926

290

3,046

Public

37 associate in applied science degrees, 15 associate in Online courses are offered science and arts degrees, one associate in science degree across most academic and 32 certificate programs disciplines

9

Hope College 141 E. 12th St. Holland 49423 p (616) 395-7000 hope.edu

Matthew Scogin

1866

105

755

Private

Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Science, Courses in disciplines and Bachelor of Science in Nursing subjects including accounting, art, atmosphere and environmental change, business, economics, English, kinesiology, linguistics, music, nursing, physics, religion, sociology and Spanish, as well as interdisciplinary cultural heritage courses

10

Aquinas College 1700 E. Fulton St. Grand Rapids 49506 p (616) 632-8900 f 732-4489 aquinas.edu

Stephen Germic

1886

98

1,080

Private

60+ majors in associate, bachelor's and master's degree Education, business, programs, as well as continuing education classes for mathematics, psychology, adult learners, veterans accounting, theology, computer information, sociology, English, kinesiology, management, biology, community leadership, counseling, economics, history, music, world languages, art

11

Grace Christian University 1011 Aldon St. SW Wyoming 49509 p (800) 968-1887 f 530-7763 gracechristian.edu

Ken Kemper

1961

95

DND

Private

AA and BS in leadership and ministry, AA in general DND studies and social sciences, BS in criminal justice, business, psychology, global communication, human services; MA in leadership and ministry and organizational leadership

12

Calvin University 3201 Burton St. SE Grand Rapids 49546 p (616) 526-6000 calvin.edu

Michael Le Roy

1876

28

565

Private

Bachelor's degrees in accounting, biological and physical sciences, communications, computer science, engineering, environmental studies, finance, fine arts, marketing, nursing, social work, special education, therapeutic recreation and nearly 75 other fields; master's degrees in education, speech pathology, accounting, media and strategic communication, geographic information science

Undergraduate courses in foundations of information technology, religion, crosscultural learning, geographic information systems, education and business.

Graduate courses in education, business, public health, exercise science and geographic information systems

13

Compass College of Film & Media 41 Sheldon Ave. SE Grand Rapids 49503 p (616) 988-1000 f 445-84676 compass.edu

Jay Greer

1997

DND

DND

Private

Bachelor of Fine Arts in cinematic and media arts, Associate of Applied Science in film/media production

DND

Undergraduate and graduate courses in 82 disciplines, including business, technology and health professions

The Grand Rapids Business Journal list of top area college and university online programs, ranked by number of online courses offered, is the most comprehensive available. The list is based on responses to Business Journal surveys. The Business Journal surveyed 32 schools, 15 responded and 13 are listed. To be considered for future lists, email dnelson@grbj.com. DND = Did not disclose

The Grand Rapids Community College Foundation created a new, full-ride scholarship called the Board of Directors Excellence Scholarship.

Students must be nominated by a high school counselor to be considered.

Appointed trustee Former Michigan representative Jon Hoadley was appointed as a trustee to the Western Michigan University Board of Trustees. He replaced Ron Kitchens, who stepped down.

Master’s degree Grace Christian University created a degree program, MBA and Master of Arts in higher education leadership.

Teacher shortage Aquinas College is offering a new accelerated master’s degree in education program to address the current teacher shortage in the state.

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Y O U R O P P O R T U N I T Y. Get your Bulldog Bonus. Ferris is offering up to $2,000 in additional scholarships to new first-year and transfer students who complete certain steps toward enrollment by March 30, 2022.

To learn more, visit ferris.edu/bulldogbonus.

Ferris State University is an Equal Opportunity institution. For more information on the university’s policy on Non-Discrimination, visit ferris.edu/non-discrimination.

8

MARCH 21, 2022

GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

Doyle makes DEI his life’s work

INSIDE TRACK Paul Doyle was the first in his family to graduate high school and college.

His consulting company hones sustainable and transformative results without relying on a cookie-cutter approach.

Paul R. Kopenkoskey

Special to the Business Journal

P

aul T. Doyle credits his mother, Mae Etta Doyle, for making it possible for him to become the man he is today.

“She provided for and raised the five of us as a single parent in our house,” said Doyle, who grew up in a government-owned housing project in Brooklyn, New York. “She provided me the ability to be empathetic, caring and sensitive to others. It’s settled in my core and influenced a lot of my relationships in my life.”

These days, Doyle is doing his part to shepherd empathy in others by staunching the bleeding of racism.

Doyle works to nurture diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) for companies that have ears to hear.

In 2010, he launched Paul T. Doyle and Associates, since renamed Inclusive Performance Strategies.

His company hones sustainable and transformative DEI results without relying on a cookie-cutter approach.

Doyle marshaled the fortitude to launch his own company thanks in part to his grandfather Stephen Joseph Doyle’s entrepreneurial, can-do outlook.

“My grandfather, who lived to be 102, had a newsstand in New York City on 42nd and Madison and it showed me the satisfaction of having your own entity,” said Doyle, whose professional background includes working as the director of service strategies for Spectrum Health from 1998-2008.

Word has reached the ears of C-suite executives and others who desire to spark inclusive change in their companies. Doyle’s clients include Steelcase, Spectrum Health, Wolverine Worldwide, RoMan Manufacturing, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, Blandford Nature Center, Ottawa County, University of Michigan HealthWest, Meijer and California Pacific Medical Center.

Doyle said his clients want to ensure they’re intentional with their diversity and inclusion prac-

tices.

“They appreciate the breadth and depth of our experience and our team of consultants’ customized approach,” said Doyle.

“They appreciate we understand their context to make meaningful changes. One of the key components of our work is that we develop measurable frameworks to achieve sustainable results for optimal impact.”

Doyle said DEI work can be intense, but making a leap toward it means people feel more supported and even resilient when they learn to adapt to change.

“We believe at our core, organizations and systems can achieve their desired state by ensuring everyone feels valued and that they truly belong,” he said. “When people’s identities are affirmed and there is psychological safety, their sense of well-being increases, their ability to perform and participate increases. The behaviors, mindsets, skills that are necessary to do that (are) very vast and complex and require a lot of what we would call ‘sweat equity’ investment.”

The work Doyle’s company seeks to accomplish is ongoing and some would argue, never-ending. Overt proof of this conclusion comes to the fore with the scorched-earth rhetoric that comes from the pump of alt-right, white supremacist groups such as The Proud Boys who promote racism and incite violence.

As unsavory as these characters are, Doyle’s drive to make a difference is steadfast. He does not pause to imagine what he would say if he encountered such people.

“It’s not so much what I would say but how much I would ask,” said Doyle. “I would want to find out what is it that they feel they’re trying to achieve? We talk about freedom, being able to make things work well or be impactful. What makes them think they’re the only ones who have the market on that or the ability to make that happen?”

Doyle is convinced the fissures of hate would begin to close if he could get white supremacists to

PAUL T. DOYLE Organization: Inclusive Performance Strategies Position: Founder/CEO Age: 66 Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York Residence: Caledonia Family: Wife Celeste, three adult daughters and four grandchildren Community/business involvement: Chair of the Grand Rapids African American Health Institute; board member of Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, Ferris State University Foundation, Economic Club of Grand Rapids and RoMan Manufacturing.

Biggest career break: Attending the Executive Leadership Institute at Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. “It gave me the insight and understanding of effective leadership and also provided me with the final incentive to launch my own business.”

Photo by Paul Kopenkoskey

calm down and listen. That’s when change starts to peek through.

“In talking with people who are polarized, or on opposites ends, by the time you facilitate the discussion, they realize how much they have in common, or they really are desiring the same things for themselves and their families,” said Doyle.

“But because of how they feel, they’ve created an ‘us versus them’ lens that influences their behavior.

People look at inclusion through the lens of scarcity versus abundance. What do I lose versus what does someone else have? Actually, it’s what do people gain when we all benefit? That’s the work to be done.”

Achieving such work dovetails into what Martin Luther King Jr. implored the world to do in keeping the eye on the prize: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

“Knowing that what you do, or have done, has not only provided an opportunity to support you and your family but also contribute to making the world a better place,” Doyle said. “I don’t accept, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ If it ain’t broke, improve it, should be more of our focus.”

Doyle was the youngest of five siblings who was the first to graduate from high school and college.

That didn’t happen by chance.

“That would not have been possible without delivered decisions to reimage policies and behaviors for someone like me,” said Doyle.

“It was intentional to make that happen. I feel I’m a living and breathing example of what happens when communities and systems invest in ensuring equitable outcomes.”

Doyle said he’s fortunate an

elementary school was launched within his housing project that hired some of the best teachers in the city to staff it. The school was filled with educational resources in the sciences and arts.

“They intentionally named the school after Dr. Dale Hale Williams, who is the first surgeon to do an open-heart procedure,” said Doyle. “It was an intentional effort to surround us with quality education, have resources around us that would help us to be able to learn, and support us to the point of being able to apply to college.

This was a product of the 1965 Civil Right Acts and the things that came with it.”

The new school provided Doyle the means to whet his appetite for music at an early age, learning to play the French horn, percussion and the trumpet in elementary school. He went a step further when he competed in a drum and bugle corps from the time he was 13 through high school, playing the French horn.

“That really enhanced discipline and a work ethic for those who understand what’s involved in that,” said Doyle. “There is a lot of sweat equity and a lot of work to be a member of the drum corps to work together and be competitive.”

Doyle chuckles.

“Don’t ask me to play anything now. It’s been a long time,” he said.

Still, vestiges of his years as a budding musician remain with him.

“When I go to the symphony now, I always look at the French horns,” he said.

Twenty years ago, Doyle was co-founding board chair of the Grand Rapids African American Health Institute (GRAAHI) whose

focus is to bridge health care inequities.

“One of the most significant disparities was infant mortality among African Americans,” he said. “There were actually more African American babies dying per capita than (in) Detroit at that time.”

GRAAHI urges Black people to get the COVID-19 vaccine but therein lie some hurdles to clear, said Doyle, including access to health care and what Doyle said are “trust issues” that emanate from the past.

“There’s a trust issue with so much experimentation, nonconsensual testing from the Tuskegee Institute experiments,” said Doyle, referring to the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis on a group of nearly 400 Black males who were not informed of the study’s purpose, which was conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the United States Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 100 men died as a result.

Doyle has his eye on writing a book that would be part biographical with a dose of leadership tips mixed in.

“I’ll probably focus on leadership by using my life’s journey as a backdrop of how basically the challenges and my pathway led to me accumulating leadership qualities in my life’s journey by intentionally navigating challenges as they’re presented to you,” he said.

“My life’s journey is still a desire in me to pursue pathways where I could be a leader who’s committed to inclusive growth because I’m a product of that. And I see what value that brings to everyone.”

GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

MARCH 21, 2022

9

Greenleaf Trust breaking Waugh draws women to the construction industry barriers for women Firm’s intentional professional development is designed to leave no one behind.

Rachel Watson

rwatson@grbj.com

Local wealth management firm Greenleaf Trust is reaping the results of years of work to bring about a more inclusive financial services industry.

The firm — based in Kalamazoo, with offices in Grand Rapids; Traverse City; Bay Harbor; Birmingham; Midland; and Greenville, Delaware — has about 160 employees and offers wealth management, trust administration, retirement planning and other financial services.

Karen Baldwin, senior vice president and director of human resources who has been with the firm for 12 years, recently spoke to the Business Journal about Greenleaf Trust’s work toward diversifying its corner Baldwin of the financial services industry.

Greenleaf’s current executive leadership team is composed of 32% women, and at least 70% of promotions during the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 were of women. As of last month, of the promotions so far in 2022, 57% were of women.

About 83% of the firm’s middle management members — e.g., team leads, assistant directors and coaches — are female, and about 68% of its middle management-track employees, such as mentors and intern leaders, are female.

The rising number of women in the ranks has come about because of Greenleaf’s intentional actions to treat its employees as its most valuable asset and to give equal opportunity to all who wish to advance through the ranks, Baldwin said.

“We are always looking at ways that we can take every measure to make sure that our people are well cared for and that they’re prepared to take advantage of the opportunities for advancement that come about,” Baldwin said.

Greenleaf has created several ways to equip its people to reach the next milestone in their careers.

It has created special committees and work groups that allow people in different divisions to work together cross-functionally, learning about the other parts of the firm and how they can work together to create positive change within the organization, Baldwin said.

Greenleaf also offers quarterly coaching for all team members to listen to them and understand where they want to grow.

If a team member so desires, they also can receive one-on-one leadership coaching on a weekly or monthly basis.

“We take all that information, and those leaders come and sit with me and with our president a couple times a year,” Baldwin said, “so that we can talk through every single team member and what their goals are, what plays are being put in place for them, what kinds of things they might need to learn, what gaps of knowledge they have, who we can partner them up with, what projects are out there that we can have them lead or be part of so that they can gain those skills to move forward in those roles.”

Additionally, Greenleaf strives to put new hires into roles where they can continue to develop and grow into a leadership position if that’s a future goal of theirs.

About one-third of Greenleaf’s employees wear a leadership hat, Baldwin said. Although the gender makeup of the lower ranks and mid and senior levels are becoming more diverse, just a year ago, 100% of the executive council — a select group within the executive leadership team — was male. Now, the 11-member group has one female. With so many women rising through the ranks, the gender balance is expected to increase, Baldwin said.

“When you start in the financial services industry, the majority of people that are in those executive positions are men,” Baldwin said. “And we recognize that, and so we’re working very diligently on these next-level leaders who are coming up within the organization to groom them for these executive-level positions. All the way down that line, there’s a huge effort for women to be in those leadership roles and to be moving up that path to that executive level.”

This year, the firm has invited its new leaders and its mid-level managers to join a cohort of people who will be learning together via book discussions and coaching meetings with Baldwin and the firm’s president, Michael Odar.

Baldwin, the HR team lead and an HR specialist also will work with the brand-new internal leaders and mentors to help them navigate their journeys to management and leadership.

“We’ll be working together … and providing opportunities for them to see, what does that really look like if you decide to become a leader? What’s involved in being a leader? What is family medical leave? What do you do if you have somebody who is struggling? How do you coach, and all of those kinds of things?” Baldwin said. “It’s a transitional opportunity for them to learn, what does it look like to be a coach, what are some of the things that you’d be responsible for? Then moving into that next level where they’re meeting with me and the president, and we’re talking through, what are some of the scenarios that you’re dealing with now? How can we best

support each other? Who can we partner you with on the executive team (who) can help you learn and grow? What opportunities are there for you to take on and to be able to showcase those talents within the organization?”

Baldwin said many of the leaders who were just promoted went through this process, which also included hearing from special speakers on best practices for leadership.

Outside of the opportunities for professional development and mentorship for women, Baldwin said during the pandemic, the firm increased its flexibility for working mothers.

“There has been so much that has changed in our world, and for all of our team members in their homes and at work, but because we’re so committed to our clients and to our team members, we’ve really worked hard to go back out to them and listen to them to find out what is going on and what’s causing them stress,” she said.

Time was a huge issue for the parents whose children were in virtual school, so flex time increased — with some parents who needed to take the morning hours to help their kids with lessons adjusting their hours to afternoons and evenings.

The firm also created a relief fund that was in effect during the first year-plus of the pandemic, called Greenleaf Cares, which allowed full-time employees to be reimbursed for resources related to working from home, such as office furniture, internet costs, child care, additional computers for their children, etc.

“We partnered with them to be able to give them what they needed to make sure that they had every obstacle that could potentially be in their way removed so that they could do what they needed to do,” Baldwin said.

The firm also allowed employees to use dollars from the firm’s wellness fund to be reimbursed for housecleaning services if they wished. That policy became so popular that it still is in effect.

The firm, which always has emphasized cross-training, relied on its division leaders to ensure the work was divided as evenly as possible between parents and non-parents, and when extra work fell on cross-trained non-parents, they were encouraged to take time off later to make up for it, Baldwin said.

Besides its efforts to increase gender equity, the firm also is working to increase racial and ethnic diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry through its scholarship and internship program, which the Business Journal previously featured; its wealth developer program with Kalamazoo Public Schools; and through its recruiting of new employees.

Baldwin said the scholarship program, founded in 1999, is starting to pay dividends.

“Those students who have graduated and have gone on to work in the world now have great CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

Fishbeck’s marketing operations director leads by example, collaboration.

Danielle Nelson

dnelson@grbj.com

What once was just a marketing job opportunity for Jenny Waugh now has turned into a career-long fascination with the construction industry.

Waugh has made her presence felt for 20 years in the male-dominated industry.

Only 11% of the construction workforce nationwide is female, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

She is the Waugh marketing operations director for Fishbeck, an engineering, environmental sciences, architecture and construction management consulting firm in Grand Rapids.

Waugh oversees business development, sales and marketing, and public relations for the firm.

She is responsible for brand development and management, strategic planning, community relational and charitable giving, media relations and event planning for particular projects.

Waugh’s path to construction was by way of the health care and financial services industries. She briefly worked at Spectrum Health before joining Rockford Construction as its marketing manager. Waugh said it was her female boss who became her mentor and helped to guide her as she entered a new industry.

“There is just something about construction that once you get into the industry, it's like no other, so I'm always going to stay in this industry,” she said. “When I had the opportunity to leave my last position and come to Fishbeck — it's a little bit different, we’re more of an engineering and architecture firm than a straight-up construction company. It’s been so interesting to see the whole side of the industry from the design (perspective) and how important engineering is to the whole process, and then moving into construction. I feel like this has been the whole circle of that AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) industry, now I've got to see all the parts. I see behind the scenes before our project starts, like the environmental work and the site work, and then the design of a beautiful building and the construction of it. It has been fun.”

She said the industry has changed since she started 20 years ago as the roles of women have evolved from secretarial positions to executive and onsite construction roles.

“You would find women in the construction industry or AEC, but it would be more like accounting positions, marketing positions, finance, administrative assistant — in that secretarial role,” she said. “You wouldn't find women in the field. You wouldn't find construction superintendents or project managers or property managers as much as you would in what you could maybe call support positions. You didn't find as many women on the board level or in the executive positions as you do now.”

Waugh said women bring more diversity to the table; diversity of thought, creativity and a different point of view to a project or a neighborhood or a development.

“If you have too many people in … an industry that all think the same or come from the same background, then your buildings are going to be the same and your projects are going to be the same and the impact on the communities will be the same,” she said. “You need variety, you need creativity, you need different viewpoints to really bring a new perspective to a project and I think that is what women in the field can do.

We will think about something different than a man will, and we can bring a new perspective.

That is how I think we can have the biggest impact. We can be that change agent in the board room, out in the field, on the construction project or even in the design room because we are going to think about things from a different perspective. It is just natural.”

Waugh said there is a concentrated effort in Grand Rapids to get more women involved in construction. That, she said, is evident in the new West Michigan Construction Institute that opened earlier this year, and Grand Rapids Community College President Bill Pink’s effort to create a space where people can pursue a career in the trades or AEC positions. Waugh said she wants to help and be a mentor to other women who are just entering the industry so they can be successful.

She is intentional about introducing women to the construction industry.

Outside of her work at Fishbeck, Waugh is involved in the community and is on various local and national boards that support the construction industry. She is the chairperson of the Algoma Township Planning Commission. She also serves on the panel’s site plan review committee.

She is a board member and public relations director for the American Institute of Architects, Grand Rapids. She also co-chairs its annual gala committee. Waugh is the committee chair and a member of the American Council of Engineering Companies Ohio Chapter’s communication committee.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

10

GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

MARCH 21, 2022

COMMENT & OPINION

GUEST COLUMN Robert A. Hendricks

After five years of legalized cannabis, where next?

I

n December 2021, we began the fifth year of regulation of legalized marijuana in Michigan. We have traveled a long and interesting path over the past five years, and I want to both reflect on that journey and envision where we will go next.

Voters embrace cannabis Medical marijuana was approved in 2008 when Michigan voters cast their ballots in support of Proposal 1, the Michigan Compassionate Care Initiative. It was not until 2016, however, when thenGov. Rick Snyder signed bills that set up a commercial framework with regulatory guidelines, clearing the path for medical marijuana retailers to operate and for the use of edibles and topical applications.

Two years later, Michigan voters again went to the ballot box to show their support for recreational marijuana by approving the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act. The Michigan Regulatory Agency, or MRA, was formed in 2019 to oversee both adult-use and medical marijuana.

It’s important to remember Michigan has two separate laws controlling medical and adult-use marijuana. While those laws are very similar, they are not identical.

The fact they aren’t identical means the regulators sometimes have to use different rules to implement both programs.

Challenges and opportunities The cannabis industry has quickly generated substantial revenue. In 2021, adult-use sales rose to $1.3 billion while medical-use sales increased to $481.2 million. Cannabis sales contributed $131.1 million last year to an excise tax where funds are used for local governments, roads and schools. Another $115.4 million went into the general sales tax bucket for the state.

But Michigan’s cannabis industry has been — and continues to be — highly unpredictable. In November 2021, our regulator issued an unexpected recall that affected up to $350 million in product that had been tested by the largest lab in Michigan, throwing the industry into turmoil. Fortunately, much of that dispute was quickly resolved by the courts.

I’ve been practicing in this area for more than a decade, and I regularly tell my clients if they want to be in cannabis, they have to be prepared for uncertainty and risk.

Here are five things to keep in mind as the industry evolves: • Regulation is still developing: None of us knew exactly what to expect when regulation began.

Entrepreneurs started submitting applications for licensure in December 2017; licenses began to issue about mid-2018. We now have almost 3,000 marijuana licenses issued in the state of Michigan, with approximately 80% going to those growing cannabis or to retailers.

We have seen a significant increase in market penetration.

• Municipalities still are hesitant: We have more than 1,750 municipalities in our state, and each has the right to decide whether and to what extent they will allow or disapprove of medical and adultuse marijuana in their communities. Surprisingly, only about 150 have approved medical use while fewer than 120 have approved adult use. The majority of cities, villages and townships in our state prohibit cannabis within their jurisdictions.

• Michigan licensing creates competition: Our state doesn’t limit the number of licenses that can be issued to applicants. If an application is submitted that qualifies for a license, the MRA will issue one.

The limitation on the number of licenses comes from municipalities.

Consequently, we have a fairly competitive landscape where entrepreneurs are trying to establish their businesses in limited locations. On the plus side, increased competition translates into lower costs at the retail level.

• Mergers are on the rise: Entrepreneurs passionate about the benefits of medical marijuana who got into the industry early on are now wondering if they have the skills and resources to continue. We’re seeing a number of these businesses looking for an exit strategy, which is driving mergers and acquisitions.

• Marijuana is still illegal at the federal level: It’s impossible to ig-

nore this elephant in the room that, among other challenges, makes banking extremely difficult. Most large banks don’t want to engage in activity that violates federal law, even if regulators tell them not to worry. We’ve begun to see smaller banks providing services to cannabis businesses. What we are not yet seeing, and probably won’t until we see federal relief, is the availability of lending — something the industry is crying out for.

Bob Hendricks co-chairs the cannabis industry group at Warner Norcross + Judd LLP. He can be reached at rhendricks@wnj.com.

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GUEST COLUMN Tracey Hornbeck

Note to all business leaders: Read the room

T

here is a valuable axiom in business that guides many successful people — “read the room.” It means be aware of your surroundings and the people in the audience.

If someone were to read the room at the recent 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan event hosted by the Grand Rapids Business Journal, they would have been immersed in an interesting chapter about change management in our region. Scores of female executives from the business, education and nonprofit sectors came together to be recognized for their work.

It was an energizing event that allowed attendees, both women and men, to reflect on what has changed and what has yet to be

achieved.

The event featured recorded comments from the 50 honorees and a keynote presentation from accomplished academic and novelist Eileen Pollack. Pollack studied at Yale in the 1970s to be a physicist but pivoted away from the science industry due, in part, to sexism. Since then, she has authored 12 books, including “The Only Woman in the Room” in 2015. She shared personal stories about her life journey navigating several male-dominated industries.

She also spoke to the generational experiences of women and encouraged attendees in the audience to spend more time helping each other rather than judging one another for perceived differences or misunderstood choices.

It was a good reminder that we should not let our personal biases prevent us from leaning in and learning from the insight of others, regardless of their age or career experience.

This year I was selected as one of the honorees and I am tremendously grateful for the recognition. It was both flattering and humbling. As someone who has spent 27 years in the banking in-

dustry, I can tell you the C-suite landscape in West Michigan is changing.

Look no further than the office furniture industry where Steelcase and MillerKnoll, two of the three industry giants based in West Michigan, now have women CEOs. As I scanned this year’s list of honorees, I found women serving in executive positions at health care organizations, manufacturing and software firms, economic development organizations, banking institutions, public and private universities, legal firms and philanthropic foundations. There also were several female entrepreneurs who are carving out their own path in the business world.

At Legacy Trust, three of our top four executive positions are held by women. Candidly, I don’t think that would have happened just 10 years ago — but it’s hap-

pening now, and it’s happening in many other industries that historically were dominated by men.

That’s not to say that equity has been achieved — far from it.

The Pew Research Center reports that women made up just 7.4% of the Fortune 500 CEOs in 2020, and that number actually dipped in 2021, so we clearly have a long way to go. Still, the trend toward having more women in leadership positions is edging forward and for those of us who are part of the movement it’s a story that will make for an interesting read when the final chapter is written.

To my fellow recipients, and all the women in the room that day, I say congratulations on your many accomplishments and the ones we have yet to achieve.

Tracey Hornbeck is president and CEO of Legacy Trust in Grand Rapids.

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GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

MARCH 21, 2022

11

GUEST COLUMN Jim Heath

Keep education standards high for young learners

W

hen I was responsible for the Instruments Division at Stryker, the West Michigan-based Fortune 500 company, I knew we had to continually invest in our sales representatives. They must be on top of the latest technology and medical advancements.

After all, they have patients and surgeons counting on our products. Stryker’s representatives need to ensure that the equipment performs at the highest level in the operating room.

After I retired and had more time for community engagement, I saw the need for high quality early education and the role business could play in supporting it. I especially felt this was true when I got involved with KC Ready 4s, a Kalamazoo County nonprofit that works to increase the quality of pre-K in our community, regardless of the family’s finances. What could be more fun than helping kids get a great start in life?

Kristyn Buhl-Lepisto, the organization’s executive director, quickly helped me realize that what we called day care when my kids were young is as focused on quality training and improvement as I was in my professional life.

Buhl-Lepisto and her colleagues understand that this is occurring because we’re always discovering more about how the brain develops. Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child reports that an estimated 1 million new neural connections form every second in the first years of life.

The saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” also is true — it’s easier and less costly to form strong brain circuits during those early years than it is to try later.

I’ve seen the value early childhood educators bring to their roles when they have this kind of insight — when they understand how children benefit from what’s called the serveand-return interaction between them, parents and other caregivers.

As an organization that supports and advocates for high-quality practices in the classroom, KC Ready 4s encourages its partner teachers to attain the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential from the nonprofit Council for Professional Recognition.

Recipients learn how to create a safe and healthy learning environment; support children’s social and emotional development; and build productive relationships with families. These competencies are critical to educators who are new to the field.

Approximately 32,000 early childhood educators in our state and nearly 1 million in the U.S. have earned a CDA over the credential’s 45-year history.

CDA-holders have knowledge of how to put the CDA Competency Standards into practice and an understanding of why those standards help children move with success from one developmental stage to another.

I’m so impressed with this credentialing process that I’ve joined the council as a board member.

As we recover from the pandemic, we know we’re dealing with a loss of educators. KC Ready 4s reports that over 55% of programs say that staffing is their greatest challenge. It responded, in part, by providing a gratitude bonus to teachers at their partnering programs to assist with wages.

Another initiative, Thriving

“Some may say the answer to our early education staffing issue is just to lower the standards and let anyone who passes a background check fill a spot.

That’s exactly the wrong direction.”

Teachers — Thriving Children, offers health and wellness benefits such as free counseling and access to telemedicine through an employee-assistance program.

Some may say the answer to our early education staffing

issue is just to lower the standards and let anyone who passes a background check fill a spot.

That’s exactly the wrong direction. We certainly would never be able to get away with that in the medical equipment field — the quality always must be high,

Celebrating Diversity, Equity + Inclusion

Warner’s unwavering focus on creating and sustaining a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace and community continues with the promotion of its Diversity, Equity + Inclusion Manager, Mandice McAllister.

Congratulations, Mandice!

We celebrate you and your strategic leadership and management of the firm’s DEI-focused initiatives.

wnj.com Mandice McAllister

Diversity, Equity + Inclusion Manager Warner Norcross + Judd

Grand Rapids | Detroit | Midland | Macomb County Kalamazoo | Muskegon | Lansing Holland | Bloomfield Hills

even if there are worker shortages or delayed parts.

Now is the time to rethink how we encourage and support the certifications, pay and benefits we offer early childhood educators. We believe our approach is a great fit for our West Michigan community and we challenge others to step up with their ideas at this critical time.

Jim Heath is board treasurer of the Council for Professional Recognition.

12

GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

MARCH 21, 2022

GUEST COLUMN Matthew Franko

Swipe fee rules for credit cards would hurt small firms

T

welve years ago, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) introduced a last-minute amendment to the historic DoddFrank Wall Street Reform bill.

The amendment, intended to save money for retailers so they could lower prices for customers, imposed regulations such as a 22cent cap on debit card swipe fees and a routing mandate for processing debit card transactions.

The amendment helped bigbox stores gain $90 billion in extra revenue, but actually did more harm than good to consumers and small retailers.

First of all, the Durbin Amendment did not even lower prices for American consumers. Even after big-box stores got all that extra cash, they kept their prices

the same or had the audacity to raise them. The Richmond Federal Reserve studied the amendment’s impact on consumer prices a few years after it passed and discovered that only about 1.2% of retailers lowered prices.

Small retailers took a big hit because of the Durbin Amendment. Banks immediately started losing swipe fee revenue and tried everything they could to recover those losses, even charging the full 22-cent cap on all debit transactions, no matter the size.

Another study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond found that most swipe fees rose to the 22-cent cap, which tripled small purchase swipe fees for some small businesses. For many small retailers, this 22-cent flat

rate was much higher than the percentage proportional to each transaction they used to pay.

Small debit purchases suddenly became an expensive cost, which forced some small businesses to stop accepting debit cards or pass the costs onto customers. I am sure we are all familiar with those little signs that popped up at our favorite stores announcing a purchase minimum or added fee for debit card transactions.

If we allow big-box stores to get their way and extend the Durbin Amendment to credit cards, we will see even worse impacts than before.

Again, banks will lose billions and try to earn it back by charging small businesses the

Chamber reimagines OutPro Council CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

impact happens through meaningful connections,” Mendez said.

“We want to make sure that we’re connecting people with (others) who they would not generally connect with otherwise organically in their daily lives.”

Leo echoed the importance of the social component.

“We have this idea of ‘other,’ and as soon as you know somebody who falls under ‘other,’ it’s so much easi-

er to dispel those ideas that you had, because now you have somebody you can actually talk to like they’re a real person,” Leo said. “Those relationships really work.”

They added the educational piece will include, but not be limited to, making the business case for inclusion. “(It’s) being able to say, hey, here is the data that says doing this helps you in the long run. This is not just an opinion. This is not just us trying to be progressive. According to this

Achieve your dream

data, your business will succeed and do a lot better if you do this,” Leo said. “If for no other reason, if you are only motivated by finances, that’s a (fact) that we can point to.”

Speaking as a Chicago native who has lived in the Grand Rapids area for 10 years, Leo said there has been a shift in the past decade toward openness.

“I feel like West Michigan is really taking the initiative to move forward. Obviously, there will al-

full swipe fee cap to process every credit card purchase. In a recent study from economist Angelino Viceisza on the potential impacts of Durbin Amendment policies on credit cards, he concluded that swipe fee regulations “would benefit larger companies while adversely impacting small business.”

Banks also will cut back on consumer benefits and restrict credit access to save money, which will cause indirect harm to small businesses. After examining prior evidence from countries like Australia and Canada, Viceisza concluded in his study that swipe fee caps in the U.S. credit market would likely reduce credit card rewards, make credit more expensive, increase

fees and interest rates, and overall promote less adoption of and spending on credit cards.

A Shift Processing study in 2018 discovered that consumers spend up to 83% more when using a credit card instead of cash, meaning small businesses could lose out on that extra spending.

If this proposal goes through, it will generate an estimated $40 billion to $50 billion of extra profit for big-box stores a year at the expense of consumers and our small businesses. We must reject any policies that will harm our small businesses.

ways be work to be done — I mean, I have work to do, too — but it’s really cool to see that progression and to see West Michigan saying, hey, this is a place for everybody, and we want people to feel that and want to put our actions behind those words.”

Mendez said the chamber currently is reviewing applications from individuals who want to join the OutPro Council, whether they identify as LGBTQIA+ or as allies.

Those interested can email her at monica@grandrapids.org or visit grandrapids.org/talent-development/outpro to learn more.

Current members of the OutPro Council include Leo; Kayla Benda, with Oh Hello Branding Group; Wayne Bersano, New York Life Insurance; Roya Bruce, Steelcase; Courtney Failer, Warner Norcross + Judd; Janelle Hill, Arbor Circle; Charissa Huang, Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge; Carlos Kulas-Dominguez, Cherry Health; Jennie Knight, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine; Elisa Perez-Arellano, Inclusive Empowerment Services; Megan Persons, Grand Rapids Public Schools; and Jeff Sorensen, Out On The Lakeshore.

Matthew Franko is co-owner of Furniture City Creamery and owner/broker with The Valley City Group in Grand Rapids.

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Organization eyes equitable housing system CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

Kent County’s homeless system by more than one-third.

“The work accomplished through the two phases of work over an almost three-year period is remarkable and has led to a tangible, cross-sector movement in our community for real change,” Kessel said. “Housing Kent lays the foundation (and) is the framework from which we can build, innovate and continuously improve.

The current system was built for a different time; it is time to redefine the ‘path home’ and build a new system that centers equity and the voices of those with lived experience.”

Propelled by vast communi-

ty-funded support and led by HSA’s board, Housing Kent most recently named social impact consultant, facilitator and strategist Eureka People as president of the organization and named its board members. The team consists of original HSA board members Blackmon and Kessel (cochairs), along with Ferrell and Bliss.

New additions include Michael Bohnsack, president, Bohnsack Associates; Eric Brown, president and CEO, Urban League of West Michigan; Raquel Guzman, partner, Avanti Law; Josh Lunger, senior director of government affairs, Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce; Pamela Parriott, director of philanthropy, DeVos

Hope creates an inclusive LGBTQ space CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

LGBTQ students and what that has looked like historically,” she said. “Essentially, what’s the biggest obstacle that we found? And, unfortunately, on Hope’s campus most of the time that has been from the theological side.

To really create our space, that has been the barrier in which for religious reasons we get a lot of backlashes. I know that has been something that, of course, is really important to Hope students. There is such a strong spiritual life here that we wanted to actually make it a space where students who

were LGBTQ have representation within their own spiritual life.

“I think we don’t really put religion and sexuality into the same conversation as things that are not mutually exclusive, and so we wanted to represent that aspect of life, too.

Fortunately, there are a lot of really great queer-theory theologians out there that we were able to reference and find support from and create that space that we have going on with this series.”

The first event was held on March 1 when Rev. M. Barclay (they/them) gave an address on the lived expe-

MARCH 21, 2022

13

Family Foundation; Al Vanderberg, administrator, Kent County; and Mark Washington, Grand Rapids city manager.

Lopez said People’s first steps will be to reevaluate the community plan and put together a team that will then look to operationalize it. The initial roadmap identified seven housing spectrum categories, each with its own respective action.

Categories and action steps include: • No housing: secure residents an immediate place to stay • Temporarily housed: ensure permanent housing for all residents • Soon to lose housing: save housing or obtain new housing • At-risk of losing housing: stabilize at-risk households • Insecurely housed: address health, safety and finances of occupants to further stabilize housing • Stably housed: ensure residents can live in quality housing they can

afford • Housed by choice: facilitate the ability of residents to live where they choose With a plan and a growing team established to help carry out the initiative, the team is one step closer to creating a more equitable and inclusive housing system in Kent County, though the work is only beginning, Lopez said.

“I want to make sure we leave it open-ended, that anybody that is interested can still come to us and say, ‘we’re interested in participating in this,’ but we really wanted to have enough to hire a president for the organization, as well as a support staff team for that individual to then form Housing Kent,” he said.

Lopez said though the initial goal of securing funding for the first two years has been a success thanks to a wide range of support, ongoing funds are needed to continue to propel Housing Kent’s efforts.

The team now is looking at raising funds to support year three to year five of the initiative, with one of its goals set to bring in a centralized data system that will help measure how families are being moved from one end of the housing spectrum to the other.

“Housing Kent is really a collective impact movement. And because it is systems work, it can take some time to develop. … But we’re just very excited to have so many partners really aligning on this, and we’re excited to see how we may be able to affect change as a collective across different sectors. This work includes all of us and we all have a responsibility and role to play to make sure that we can end homelessness, but also add additional units that make it possible for us to have an affordable home,” Lopez said.

Additional information, including the full Community Plan, is available at k-connect.org/housingkent/.

riences of LGBTQ+ students on Christian campuses. Barclay is the co-founder and director of enfleshed, a nonprofit that creates and facilitates spiritual resources for collective liberation through prayer, liturgies, art, meditations and teachings.

Jevon Willis, director of The Center for Diversity and Inclusion, said the lecture series will continue in the fall and spring semesters. Although Prism has not received support from Campus Ministries, Schumann said they have received support from other student organizations on campus such as Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Emmaus Scholars Program and Hope Church of Holland.

Schumann said the organization’s

long-term goal is to get the support of Campus Ministries.

“Our nondiscrimination policy is a policy of Hope College not to discriminate on the basis of age, disability (and) ethnicity, and explicitly when we talk about sex that’s including gender, gender expression, gender identity, pregnancy and sexual orientation,” Willis said.

“One of the guiding ways that we, I think, move through these conversations is really connected with our virtues of public discourse. As an educational community whose mission is vitally informed by the historic Christian faith in which all individuals are — as a matter of deeply held principle — treated with respect as God’s

creatures, it is important that, I think, when we have this range of issues that they’re also guided by standards of intellectual integrity and in the spirit of Christian love.”

In addition to the new Affirming LGBTQ+ Students Lecture Series, Prism hosts other events and activities such as the Day of Silence and Breaking the Silence, a coming-out party at the beginning of the fall semester, member meetings and Pride Bible Study at Hope Church for LGBTQ+ students, whether they have identified themselves as such publicly or not.

“One of my hopes, dreams and prayers is that once students leave Hope College, they are more comfortable in their own skin,” Willis said.

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MARCH 21, 2022

GUEST COLUMN Dave Kahle

Knowing your customers is critical to sales success I

recently experienced what has become a common event. A client said sales were flat for too long and knew something had to be done.

One of my first questions was: “What do you know about your customers?” Once again, the answer was a glazed look and some mumbling about information in the credit department.

Trying to refine a sales system without adequately knowing your customers is like playing pin the tail on the donkey — you'll stumble around blindly unless you're lucky enough to stick something by chance.

On the other hand, if you become good at this critical portion of your sales and marketing efforts, you'll be able to focus your sales and marketing efforts in the sharpest, most effective areas.

I know you’ve heard it before.

The expression “know your customers” has been proclaimed from the pages of marketing books and the lips of marketing gurus so often it has become a cliché. While everyone gives lip service to the concept, however, very few practice it.

As a result, too many businesses scatter their sales and marketing efforts in a helter-skelter attempt to build the business. They squander marketing resources and struggle to focus their resources where they will bring the best results. Sales remain flat, and confusion and frustration grow.

Let's begin by defining the terms. “Knowing your customer" means developing several complementary processes for acquiring and using important information about your customers, and then regularly and routinely implementing those processes.

It’s one of those principles that has value at almost every level of your system. Salespeople can use knowledge of their customers to manage their time more effectively and to refine and deliver attractive proposals and presentations.

Sales managers can use it to direct salespeople to the highest-potential customers. Sales executives can use it to make effective decisions about products, pricing and sales processes. Knowledge of your customers is the most powerful of all a company’s accumulated information.

Your ability to know your customers begins when you develop a computer database in which you routinely collect useful information about your customers. If you have a CRM or ERP system, you probably have the mechanism necessary to manage this. If not, then you must create an account profile form and see that it is used regularly.

An account profile form is a document full of questions, or more precisely, spaces for the answers to questions. The questions are designed to reveal details about each of your accounts. The form is the document on which

you store that useful information.

In addition to the information about the business to whom you are trying to sell, you need another version of the form for each of the key individuals within those accounts. That’s called a personal profile, and it is the mechanism you use to collect personal information about the key decision makers.

Here’s how to create this important systems tool:

Identify each of the markets to which you sell You may sell to a number of different kinds of customers. Each different type of business should have its own version of the form.

For example, I sold to hospitals, large outpatient clinics and independent laboratories. The differences between these institutions were enormous, and each had a different business structure, set of needs and decision-making apparatus. Each warranted a unique account profile form.

Create a list Begin the form by listing all the things you’d like to know about your account. For example, you might find it useful to know the number of employees, the SIC code, which competitors are currently involved in the account, who your customer’s customers are, what products they manufacture or what services they offer, and so on. The key is to determine

the information that is useful to you.

Then, create the personal profiles about the individuals within each account. List all the things you’d like to know about the important individuals within that account. This is generally personal information such as where they went to school, their interests and hobbies, who you may know in common, the organizations to which they belong, and other similar information. Take several days to develop an exhaustive list, writing down ideas as they come to you.

Edit Now, edit your list of ideas down to those pieces of information you consider most useful. You probably can't collect everything, so focus on the information that is most useful to you. Start with the basics — name, title, and so on — then add important business information such as how much of each of your product categories that account purchases each year, what kind of business it is, and what the reporting relationships and decision-making processes are.

Design the form Now, create the form with spaces for each of the answers to the questions you listed above.

Don't get too involved in creating the perfect document. No matter how thorough a job you've done,

you'll probably revise the form in a few weeks after you have some experience working with it. So, design something that is workable for now, and let your day-to-day use direct the fine-tuning adjustments you’ll make along the way.

If you’re working with a computer and a contact-manager program, you may still want to start with a paper form. When you believe you have all the right pieces of information, you can then incorporate it into the contact manager.

Implement See to it that the form is used to collect information on every sales call. This doesn't mean that you, or your salespeople, sit down with pen in hand and interrogate every customer, although a little of that is appropriate. You can generally collect the information on the account portion in a formal session.

When you do, your customers will generally be favorably impressed with your professionalism and thoroughness.

That formal approach will not work for the personal portion.

With this piece, you’ll need to review the form before each sales call, solidifying in your mind the information you already have and determining what is missing.

Then, in the course of the conversation, attempt to listen specifically for those pieces of information CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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15

Greenleaf Trust breaking barriers for women CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

experience to be able to come back to Greenleaf,” she said, adding that 28% of the firm’s new hires last year were either past scholars or interns.

The wealth developer program is a four-hour experience held monthly on Saturdays from September through May, where students can learn about the various aspects of the financial world.

“It’s set up with the objective to grow the financial investing knowledge of participants and drive awareness of the different financial career paths that might be available to them, as well as

share about the Greenleaf Trust scholarship and internship program, because these are all juniors in high school,” Baldwin said. “It’s a cool program that teaches them about investments, and, upon completion, they earn an investment account that will be funded with $500 that allows them to continue their investment journey after they graduate.

We’re hoping that that will be a pool of candidates for us, as well.”

The firm has learned over the years that children need to see representation of people like themselves and the possibility of a career in finance from a young age, which is why it is investing in

students.

On the gender equity front, Greenleaf Trust has not set a target number of female leaders it hopes to have by a certain date, Baldwin said — but that’s not really the goal.

“We’ve really taken the mindset of working to educate women within our company and to continue them on that journey to get them to those positions, versus having a committed number, say, 50% of our people need to be women. We want everybody to feel good about moving into those roles and not feel like they were there because of some number that we needed to achieve.”

Waugh draws women to the construction industry CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

Waugh also is a board member and sits on the construction awards committee of the Associated Builders and Contractors.

She chairs the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual fundraiser and serves on the leadership programming council.

She is on the Women of Habitat Kent Council for Habitat for

ICCF

Humanity of Kent County. The Women of Habitat Kent Council was recently launched to get more women involved in building houses and learning new skills.

Waugh was previously a board member and chair of the women build committee and board development for Habitat for Humanity of Kent County. She also was a board member.

“Every time we do a wom-

en-build house event, I would organize 15 friends and family to come work at the house. They’re like, ‘No, Jen. I can’t possibly build a house. I’ll just push a broom and clean up.’ And I say, ‘No, you're going to come and you're going to learn how to use the saw and you're going to learn some skills,’ and they walk away feeling empowered because they’ve made a difference for the new homeowner. I just love that.”

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GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

MARCH 21, 2022

Airport hosts tech mobility companies WE’RE MAKING WHAT MATTERS

MEDC grants used for digital mapping, wheelchairs and drone security.

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Gerald R. Ford International Airport is the lift-off site for some companies.

But maybe not in the way you might think.

The GFIA Authority has partnered with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and Southwest Airlines to create Ford Launchpad for Innovative Technologies and Entrepreneurship (FLITE).

FLITE provides grants and testing opportunities to companies focused on air travel technology solutions. Three companies have begun utilizing FLITE to further product development.

The companies are United Kingdom-based Aurrigo, Japan-based WHILL and California-based Sunflower Labs.

Each company was given $50,000 from the MEDC through the Michigan Office of Future Mobility and Electrification to test its mobility products at GFIA with the possibility of using those products at airports that Southwest Airlines flies in and out of.

Aurrigo is using its auto-sim software platform to create a “digital twin” of airside operations.

“They are currently reviewing all the air operations that occur by the airline gate,” said Ford International Airport Chief Operating Officer Alex Peric. “They are trying to understand the movement of aircraft and ground service equipment, which includes de-icing trucks, belt loaders, pushback equipment, vehicles and things like that in and around the airport environment to see if they can come up with different pathways for bags to get to the bag rooms quicker or cargo pallets getting onto the aircraft quicker, so they are trying to map that out digitally to see if they can find any efficiencies there.”

WHILL is an autonomous mobility device company that creates autonomous wheelchairs.

“We have wheelchair pushers, our employees, here at the airport for passengers who need that assistance and obviously it is a labor-intensive operation, so this company has come up with an autonomous wheelchair that is currently testing at the airport,” Peric said.

Sunflower Labs has created a remote autonomous drone-in-abox security system.

“We’ve got around 3,000 acres of land here with miles of secure fencing around the airport so monitoring all that land and ensuring that we have a secure airport environment is quite costly,” Peric said. “It takes a lot of time

to do that, and this company has created a potential solution that can monitor via drone and video our perimeter fencing.

“Our ears perk up for sure with drones in and around our airport. We want to make sure that we are controlling any flying or airborne objects in and around our airport. We do set parameters for not only the drones and where they can operate and at what levels, but also the wheelchairs. These autonomous wheelchairs have to have safety as its No. 1 built-in priority, so we went to great lengths to ensure that these wheelchairs cannot injure anyone and that they can stop or potentially move or get out of the way, but specifically stop in front of obstacles whether that be a chair, column, person, child or an animal. Those were our concerns, but we have mitigated any of those risks out of the equation.”

Although the MEDC is investing in some global mobility companies, Charlie Tyson, MEDC mobility technology activations manager, said there are multiple goals of FLITE that will benefit West Michigan.

He said the priority is not only to support the airport’s objectives when it comes to innovation and improving the overall travel experience and being a leader when it comes to air travel, but also to support MEDC and other economic partners’ efforts in attracting talent and investments throughout Michigan, but specifically to West Michigan for this project.

“The goal is to find ways to get (companies) to scale their technology with partners and other local entities in West Michigan,” he said. “From an economic development perspective, we're trying to get them to set up a team and hire locally in Michigan, and hopefully in Grand Rapids.”

GFIA has identified six core focus areas for new technology advancements through FLITE: • Security: Enhancing the guest experience while strengthening safety and security throughout the campus • Automation: Optimizing workforce resources to operate more efficiently, enhancing safety for freight and the movement of goods through distribution hubs • Smart infrastructure: Deploying new technologies to optimize infrastructure resources • Data analytics: Providing timely, accurate data to decision-makers • Hold room of the future: Improving the experience during the time prior to boarding • Safety: Improving safety of employees and equipment on the ramp, enhancing safety audits and real-time notification MEDC plans to issue a second round of grants in June. Any mobility company can apply on the MEDC’s Michigan Mobility Funding Platform.

GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

MARCH 21, 2022

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Knowing your customers is critical to sales success CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

that you're still lacking. Completing the personal profile form may take months of sales calls.

Refine Review your master form from time to time and revise it as you get experience with it.

You'll soon determine what information is impossible to collect, and what really isn't useful.

Refer to it Store the information in a database within your organization. It is not enough to have your salespeople keep the information on their laptops. Remember, this information is an asset of the company, and needs to be maintained in the company’s computers.

From time to time, review the information you have collected on your customers. If you’ve done a good job of this, not only is this information helpful for your sales reps, you’ll find that it will bring you good, grassroots information

about your customers. You can then use that information to help make good marketing decisions, to continually refine offerings to your customers, and to more precisely target your sales efforts.

Some variations An account profile form is not the only way to collect information about your customers.

If you don’t have an outside sales force capable of collecting this information, use a telemarketer. Follow exactly the same process as outlined above.

We conducted a program with an office park developer who was building a new building. Before he began to promote the new building, he wanted to understand what his current tenants thought about the site, and how they felt about their relationship with him as landlord. He wasn't able to see them all. So, we developed some survey forms, hired a telemarketer, called and encouraged them to talk over the phone.

As a result, the developer modified the message he was making to his prospects. He's been exceptionally successful.

Today, in an overbuilt market, he continues to hover around 100% occupancy for his buildings when there are vacancies in office parks all around his buildings.

This is a relatively simple task. Develop the questions you'd like to ask your customers and create a survey form, similar to that discussed above.

Then hire a part-time, temporary telemarketer to call each of your customers. Depending on the number of customers you have, this can be an annual process. The script should be very polite and to the point. "Hi, this is so-and-so from X company. We're doing a short survey of our customers. Will you help me? I just want to take a minute of your time."

You'll invariably experience a positive response to that.

You’ll learn all kinds of things by the simple procedure of hiring a telemarketer and asking

Initiative assists young men of color CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

The initiative will offer a spring conference, extended summer programming and an August celebration for approximately 60 young men of color in grades 9-11 living in West Michigan. The inaugural conference will be held Friday, April 22, at Grand Valley State University’s Eberhard Center in downtown Grand Rapids. Those interested in joining the first cohort will experience a free day of education, recognition, celebration and connection.

“Recognizing the power of words, We Matter Now seeks to serve ‘at-potential’ boys and young men of color, flipping the narrative that too often begins with ‘at-risk’ youth,” said Brown, of Young Money Finances. “Our initiative strives to create a safe space, working to provide Black and brown high school students with the tools, skills, resources and relationships needed to face challenges within their community.”

In 2021, United Way put its Transformation Strategy in motion with the intent to close the economic and achievement gap for people of color in Kent County. The strategy led United Way to create an Opportunity Initiative that would provide financial and educational support through a one-time grant to grassroots organizations that were founded or are led by Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) individuals and are already successfully addressing systemic change.

United Way then brought Sapp, Williams and Brown into the conversation and handed them the reins to create something that would grant the three nonprofit leaders the opportunity to impact

the individuals at the heart of each of their organizational missions — young men of color.

“United Way is funding the We Matter Now initiative because we saw how intimately these three organizations work to empower young Black and brown men who struggle to achieve due to structural racism and other forms of oppression,” said Shannon Blackmon-Gardner, vice president of community impact for United Way. “We are so excited to support their work and see the change, growth and impact that this collaborative will have on our young men of color.”

Sapp, of Better Wiser Stronger, said United Way approached the three organizations not knowing the best way to reach their common goal, which granted the new team an opportunity to create something they felt was needed to best impact their community.

“So, we were able to put our voice into play to come together, which I think is the greatest thing to me — is three men coming together with one vision,” Sapp said. “… Research shows it’s critical for young people to have adults who believe in and support them in order to develop a positive sense of their future.”

Brown, Sapp and Williams emphasized the importance of the collaborative approach that brought three men of color from varying nonprofits together to support a common mission: encouraging Black and brown youth to become something they don’t always get to see. The three leaders are hyper-focused on providing a living example that displays three men of color working collaboratively to make positive change in their communities beyond the framework of Black

History Month.

“And I think that’s so important for us, is because one of the things that we want to do is shift the narratives and stereotypes that say that Black and brown men cannot collaboratively partner and work with each other,” said Williams, of The Delta Project. “And even though that is a stereotype, the truth of the matter is that it’s not visually told nor is our narrative often shared in the world of media around the fact that there are collaborative partnerships and brothers working together to serve one mission as it relates to serving Black and brown boys, women and children in our communities, but it’s not often something that’s talked about or glorified.”

The theme of the 2022 We Matter Now conference – Our Vision, Our Voice, Our Choice – also highlights the importance of creating a space where participants feel empowered to become active partners in designing programs that will offer them the most support. The group’s goal is to curate a memorable, judgment-free experience that will, as Sapp said, “make (participants) feel like young kings,” and help them feel comfortable to express their authentic selves.

Sessions will focus on financial education, healthy behaviors and conflict-resolution training to equip cohort members with the tools, skills, resources and relationships to be successful.

Better Wiser Stronger will offer its Blueprint Journal workshop derived from its boys-to-men curriculum. The workshop helps to identify support groups and mentors to lean on when forging a path to success.

The Delta Project will host its Delta Conversation, which uses vid-

your customers.

Or you could send them a survey. We used this technique with a large retail store. The store had a mailing list of over 35,000 customers, but knew very little about them. We randomly selected 500 and sent them a survey. After we studied the results, we made some changes in the advertising program to appeal to the customers in the way in which they indicated they wanted to be dealt with. My client did not spend any more money; rather, he just spent it differently.

In the first three months following these changes, he had a record quarter. The next quarter was another record and so was the entire year. He had record sales years almost totally because he changed his advertising based on what his customers told him.

The procedure to develop a written survey is very similar to that discussed above. Develop all the questions, have someone edit and comment on it, test it on a small group of customers,

then finalize it. There are lots of survey websites that can help you.

Write a short, polite email explaining why you're doing this and ask for your customer's help. If you can, offer some incentive for helping. In the example above, we offered a $5 gift certificate.

Then send it out to a representative sample of your customers (or all of them) and compile the responses.

These processes, when executed well and repeated with discipline, will bring you a continuous stream of useful information about your customers.

That information is the first step in building a successful sales and marketing approach.

eo editing to promote personal storytelling in a meaningful and digestible way. Williams said the program focuses not just on the story of each individual’s life, but more importantly, the story they tell themselves.

“The goal for me is to really talk about self-talk and how we tell our stories and what those stories mean to us, versus in our minds, and also, how those stories reflect out in our environment,” Williams said. “And then (we’ll) also talk about the superhero powers that come with being able to create healthy relationships and boundaries by using superhero characters that I’ve created for my comic book series.”

Young Money Finances will offer three sessions — Young Money Managers, Young Entrepreneurs and Young Investors — that will cover a range of topics, including sharpening money management skills, starting a business and best practices surrounding investing.

Brown said the theme, Count the Cost, will help to facilitate critical conversations to teach students how to have healthy conversations about money.

“We know that there are costs to everything, and sometimes, our youth are embracing the term(s) ‘secure the bag’ or ‘fast money,’ right?

What is the cost of that? Then, we’ll be addressing some of the issues behind how we take (participants) from welfare to wealth … we’ll be talking about scarcity versus abundance,” Williams said. “How do you become the provider in poverty?”

Williams expects that the tough and honest conversations will empower young men who hold varying responsibilities as providers.

“Some of them may be fathers, right? Some of them may be responsible for money in their community.

Some of the kids that we talk to are one of the main income sources for the family, even though there are other income sources, they’re work-

ing and they’re going to school,” he said.

All three organizations will continue to offer educational, resource and connection support to those who attend the April conference through ongoing summer programs.

By offering relevant, culturally responsive programming, We Matter Now’s ultimate goal is to create positive ripple effects that will impact future generations and others beyond the reach of immediate participants.

“We’re trying to learn so much through this process, but most importantly, we know we can’t do this alone. So, we are open to volunteers … different levels of support, because it’s bigger than us and it’s going to take more than us,” Brown said.

Collectively, the group hopes the project will serve as a blueprint that can be implemented by other underserved communities to uplift and empower those beyond the framework of their immediate programming.

“I think that’s one of the big pieces that we’re really wanting to move into, is recognizing that we are very system-heavy and that in order for kids to thrive, they need to have villages and community involvement.

(We Matter Now creates) a space for us to cultivate that. … In order for strong villages to thrive, you have to have organizations work and collaborate together to make that happen, and so this is just the first step to many more,” Williams said.

Additional information is available at the websites for Young Money Finances, Better Wiser Stronger and the Delta Project.

A temporary landing page for We Matter Now also is available online, and a permanent website is in the works.

Those interested in participating in We Matter Now’s first cohort can sign up online.

Dave Kahle is an author, consultant and speaker who has presented in 47 states and 11 countries, improved the performance of thousands of B2B salespeople and authored 13 books. Receive his insights on a regular basis here: https://www.davekahle. com/subscribe-daves-e-zines/.

20

GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

MARCH 21, 2022

AWARDS

Dr. Alex Strauch, staff veterinarian at Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch in Saranac, received the Early-Career Food Animal Veterinarian Award from Michigan State University’s Department of Large Animal Clinical Services for making significant contributions to the field of Production Animal Medicine.

Kalamazoo-based First National Bank of Michigan announced Cindy Kole, executive vice president and COO, was named a 2021 Notable Women in Banking award honoree by Crain’s.

Spectrum Health Rehab and Nursing Center Kalamazoo Avenue has been recognized on Newsweek’s Best Nursing Homes 2022 list. The Spectrum Health facility ranked second in Michigan and first in West Michigan based on key performance data, peer recommendations and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The award is presented by Newsweek and Statista Inc., a statistics portal and industry ranking provider.

The city of Grand Haven earned the American Public Works Association Midwest Michigan Branch, 2021 Project of the Year in Structures under $1 million Award for its Grand Haven Downtown Waterfront and Infrastructure Resiliency project.

The West Michigan Environmental Action Council announced Bill Stough is the recipient of its Joan Wolfe Award during its annual meeting and awards ceremony; Greg Mund received the CR Evenson Award; and Crystal ScottTunstall received the Educator of the Year Award.

BANKING

Independent Bank Market President-Bay Region Michael Stodolak was elected to serve as a director of the National Marine Lenders Association.

Ganus

Joey Ganus joined Old National Bank’s retail leadership team as the banking center manager of its Holland location.

United Federal Credit Union named Elvis Hadzalic manager at its branch at 1075 Washington Ave. in Holland.

Winstrom tapped as police chief Eric Winstrom, a commander of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), has been selected to serve as Grand Rapids’ next police chief, replacing Police Chief Eric Payne, who retired from the department.

Winstrom has served in the CPD for over 20 years in various patrol, tactical, investigative and administrative positions. He last served as an executive on the CPD Leadership Team and led the Area 5 Detective Division where he oversaw a staff of 200, including 40 homicide detectives. His previous assignments included teaching at the Chicago Police Academy, heading CPD’s citywide child sex crimes investigation unit and serving as a supervising attorney in the legal affairs division, assisting in the creation of the office of reform management, overseeing policy and procedure for the department and serving as captain of the 400-person 9th District Station.

Men and a Truck franchisee Kyle Norcutt recently acquired full control of Grand Rapids' Two Men and a Truck markets, along with territories in Evansville and Bloomington, Indiana.

Mary Bruce joined JetCo Federal as logistics manager. Bruce coordinates logistics for deliveries, manages broker relationships and supports quality management systems.

CONSTRUCTION

CD Barnes Construction announced R&R Mechanical Services is a winner of its Key to Our Success Award for its work on the JARS Cannabis project in Saugatuck.

Erhardt Construction announced the promotions of Marc Felt to vice president-construction operations; Ryan Formsma to senior vice president; and Taggart Town to chief operations officer.

EDUCATION

Four Aquinas College employees have been honored with the President’s Faculty and Staff Excellence Awards. Scott Brown, assistant professor of kinesiology, received the Outstanding Teacher Award; Rebecca Humphrey, assistant professor of biology, received the Outstanding Scholar Award; Ric Caceres, biology lab coordinator, received the Excellent Service Award; and Amanda St. Pierre, senior director of alumni and community relations, received the Rising Star Award.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

BUSINESS SERVICES

Grand Rapids native and multi-unit Two

MAR 21 World Affairs Council of Western Michigan Great Decisions Series. Topic is Creating a Just Transition in Climate Change Policy, by Vonda Brunsting, Institute for Responsible Investment, Harvard University. 6-7:15 p.m. in-person, Grand Rapids Community College WinserBottrail Applied Technology Center, 151 Fountain St. NE or virtually. Registration/ information: worldmichigan.org/greatdecisions22.

MAR 22 Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce Create Great Policy Health Care and Human Resources Summit. Featuring health care leaders and reform experts presenting on the future of health care and sharing options for businesses. 7:3011 a.m., Calvin University Prince Conference Center, 1800 E. Beltline Ave. SE. Cost: $125/ members, $150/nonmembers. Registration/ information: grandrapids.org.

MAR 22 Wedgwood Christian Services 5th State of the Child Panel Discussion.

Community experts and local teens will

Ada-based Mosaic Wealth Management added Nathan Boonstra as financial adviser.

discuss some of the biggest challenges facing kids and families. 7:30-11 a.m., Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.

Registration/information: (616) 942-2110, advancement@wedgwood.org or wedgwood.org/sotc/.

MAR 24 BIFMA Learning Series. Topic is Demystifying Furniture’s Role In Sustainability (accredited CEU). Noon1 p.m. Registration/information: bit.ly/ 2022SustainableFurniture.

MAR 24 Family Promise of Grand Rapids Woven Together Dreams Dinner. 5:30 p.m., 401 Hall St. SW, Studio D2D. Cost: $75/person.

RSVP by March 1 at familypromisegr.org/ events/dreams-dinner/.

MAR 24 Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce Silent Observer Reception With New GRPD Police Chief Eric Winstrom. 8:309:30 p.m., Grand Rapids Chamber, 250 Monroe Ave. NW. Cost: free. Registration/ information: grandrapids.org.

Greenleaf Trust relationship officer Cory Spaulding has been authorized by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards to use the Certified Financial Planner and CFP certification marks in accordance with CFP board certification and renewal requirements.

Molly Chelovich, financial adviser with Merrill in Grand Rapids, was named to the 2021 Working Mother/ SHOOK Research’s Chelovich Top Wealth Advisor Moms list, which recognizes the nation’s best financial advisers who have children living at home under the age of 21.

CHANGE-UPS & CALENDAR

CASA, New City Kids, Grand Rapids Urban League and ACE Mentor Program each received $5,000 to propel their missions and continue their work.

South Haven-based Michigan Maritime Museum is the recipient of a $55,000 grant from Entergy toward its Launching a Legacy capital campaign.

Priority Health appointed Nick Gates as senior vice president of finance, Joyce Chan Russell as senior vice president of government markets, Karena Weikel as senior vice president of advanced analytics and chief actuary and Mike Jasperson in the expanded and newly created role of senior vice president of provider network and health plan operations.

Spectrum Health West Michigan has recognized by the International Hospital Federation with a 2021 Dr. Kwang Tae Kim Grand Hospital Award for its Operational Deployment System work, which focused on creating clear and synchronized plans and priorities and then tracking them to successfully drive improved operations at its hospitals and medical offices.

LEGAL

Alexandra S. Page joined Rhoades McKee as an associate and member of its litigation team.

Foster Swift welcomed associates Anthony M. Dalimonte, Jim W. Scales and Mariah M. Silverstein to the firm. All three are members of the firm’s litigation practice group.

Grand Rapids Food Co-op announced the election of board members to its Top Circle, the cooperative’s governing body: Annabelle Wilkinson, Wojtek Nocon and Evan Edwards.

Page

GOVERNMENT

Holland-based Russells Technical Products, a global designer and manufacturer of environmental test chambers and equipment, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022.

The city of Kentwood promoted Stephanie Morningstar to deputy police chief.

Previously a captain in the Kentwood Police Department’s Services Division, Morningstar succeeds Bryan Litwin, who was promoted to police chief.

GRANTS

Holland-based GMB Architecture + Engineering announced a $20,000 gift to four organizations that are impacting students and their communities: Michigan

MANUFACTURING

NONPROFITS

Dégagé Ministries announced Stacy O’Keefe has been appointed director of development and Kacey Spencer as fund development and event manager.

Dégagé Ministries recently opened Thrift on Div, a thrift and artisan store at 140 S. Division Ave. The store offers new and

auction.

MAR 24 Grand Rapids Public Library/Mercy Health program for people 65-plus. Topic is Decreased Appetite, Nutrition and Fall Prevention. 11 a.m., Main Library, 111 Library St. NE. Registration/information: grpl.org/ seniorsbewell.

MAR 24 The Institute for Supply Management Greater Grand Rapids 19th Annual Supply Chain Management Conference.

8 a.m.-1 p.m., GVSU L.V. Eberhard Center, 301 W. Fulton St. Registration/information: ismggr.org/meetinginfo.php.

MAR 24 Mel Trotter Ministries Art & Experience Auction. The auction will highlight art from local artists at Heartside Art Ministry and throughout the community, and donated pieces from personal collections. Proceeds raised from the auction will benefit Day Center Operations at Heartside Ministry, a division of Mel Trotter Ministries. 6 p.m., The High Five GR, 19 LaGrave Ave. SE. Cost: free to attend.

Registration/information: meltrotter.org/

Salvation Army of Kent County named Joseph Curtis as the organization’s donor development director.

REAL ESTATE

HEALTH

FOOD & BEVERAGE

gently used women and men’s clothing and features artwork and crafts by Heartside artists.

MAR 24 Michigan Sustainable Business Forum Webinar. Topic is Reassessing the Tragedy of the Commons: A Guide for Sustainable Business and Collective Action. 1 p.m. Cost: free. Registration/ information: misbf.org/blog/misbf_events/ reassessing-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/.

MAR 26 Grand Rapids Public Museum’s A Rare Glimpse Into The Past: Magic Lantern Slides from the GRPM Collection. Special presentation highlights some of the museum's collection of magic lantern slides, the photographic significance of this collection and photographic processes. 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., GRPM Meijer Theater. Cost: free with general admission ticket. Registration/information: grpm.org.

MAR 28 World Affairs Council of Western Michigan Great Decisions Series. Topic is Biden’s Foreign Policy: How It Started and Where It's Going, by Elizabeth

Colliers West Michigan hired Chris VanderBand as an associate agent in the industrial sector and Chris Beltzer as marketing assistant.

616 Realty recently marked its 10th anniversary. Scot Kellogg founded the brokerage in 2011 that today includes 72 agents and Realtors. The firm sold over $157 million in real estate in 2020 and an expected $184 million in sales for 2021.

RETAIL

Byron Center-based SpartanNash has been named 2021 Midwest Innovator of the Year by grocery industry publication The Shelby Report. The December 2021 issue features extensive coverage of SpartanNash’s three core capabilities —a people, operational excellence and insights that drive solutions for customers.

The company also was recognized for 50 years of exemplary ethical practices and accreditation by the Better Business Bureau.

SPORTS

Dan Bartholomae has been named director for intercollegiate athletics for Kalamazoo-based West Michigan University. He is Oregon State University’s former executive deputy athletic director and chief operating officer. Bartholomae succeeds longtime athletic director Kathy Beauregard, who retired after a four-decade career at WMU.

WEBSITES

The Coopersville Area Historical Society launched a new website: coopersvillehistory.org.

CHANGE-UPS POLICY: The Business Journal welcomes submissions to the Change-Ups section. Send announcements concerning personnel changes, new businesses, changes of address etc. to Change-Ups Editor, Grand Rapids Business Journal, 401 Hall St. SW, Suite 331, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 or email bjchangeups@grbj.com.

Shackleford, Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs. 6-7:15 p.m. in-person, Grand Rapids Community College Winser-Bottrail Applied Technology Center, 151 Fountain St. NE or virtually. Registration/information: worldmichigan.org/greatdecisions22.

MAR 29 Wyoming Business Leaders Meeting. 8-9 a.m., Marge’s Donut Den, 1751 28th St. SW, Wyoming. Registration/information: (616) 261-4500 or d.kuba@instantcashmi.com.

CALENDAR POLICY: The Business Journal welcomes submissions to the calendar section. Send items to Calendar Editor, Grand Rapids Business Journal, 401 Hall St. SW, Suite 331, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 or email bjcal endar@grbj.com. Submissions must be received at least three weeks prior to the event.

The Business Journal calendar posted on the publication’s website (grbj.com) includes listings for events extended beyond those printed in the weekly publication that are limited by space restrictions.

PUBLIC RECORD MORTGAGES

Selected mortgages filed with Kent County Register of Deeds INTERRA HOMES LLC, Mercantile Bank, Plainfield Twp., $615,000 GRACE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY, Macatawa Bank, Wyoming, $3,000,000 LUNBUN INC., United Bank, Plainfield Twp., $795,000 TANNER, Jeffrey A. et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Cascade Twp., $576,000 VILLAGE EAST OF ADA LLC, First National Bank, Ada Twp., $20,000,000 SCOUT PROPERTIES LLC, Huntington National Bank, Parcel: 411432151039, $1,310,000 JTB HOMES LLC, Macatawa Bank, Algoma Twp., $396,760 STEIN, Martin W., Mercantile Bank, East Grand Rapids, $1,149,750 EAGLE CREEK HOMES LLC, Macatawa Bank, Byron Twp., $491,422 NEW TRADITIONS GRAND RAPIDS LP, PNC Bank, Grand Rapids City, $25,155,000 PARPAS DEVELOPMENT & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LLC, Economic Development Foundation, Wyoming, $655,000 GLC GR LIVE LLC, Lake City Bank, Parcel: 411325290009, $18,720,000 LINC UP NONPROFIT HOUSING CORP., ChoiceOne Bank, Wyoming, $995,327 CVSS HOLDINGS LLC, United Bank, Caledonia, $1,307,000 C28 HOLDINGS GROUP LLC, Commercial Bank, Cascade Twp., $1,522,000 EMBASSY PARK REALTY LLC, United Bank, Parcel: 411812305001, $527,500 LEJA REAL ESTATE LLC, PNC Bank, Plainfield

GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL Twp., $2,092,500 ALPINE AVE HOLDINGS LLC, Amjay Partners 9 LLC, Parcel: 411314231012, $1,000,000 JENSEN REAL PROPERTIES LLC, BMO Harris Bank, Byron Twp., $8,175,000 VANDERHYDE 2630 PRAIRIE LLC, Horizon Bank, Wyoming, $600,000 TURTLE DOG LLC, Patch Lending, Parcel: 411323459024, $469,500 HARVEE HOLDINGS LLC, Century Bank & Trust, Parcel: 411918226008, $3,800,000 SUTPHIN, John et al, HUD, Wyoming, $558,000 FH PROPERTIES X LLC, Mercantile Bank, Parcel: 411436160010, $2,730,000 OAK PARK APTS LLC, Sandia Area Federal Credit Union, Langdon Plat No. 1, $2,047,435 JOHNSON, David D. et al, Mortgage Center LLC, Lowell, $360,000 BOURASSA, Nathan et al, Northpointe Bank, Alpine Twp., $413,000 CHIKKA, Avanthi et al, United Wholesale Mortgage, Byron Twp., $354,500 NGUYEN, Donny et al, Huntington National Bank, Ada Twp., $767,030 WELLS, Robert L. et al, Fifth Third Bank, Grattan Twp., $450,000 FRIENDLY BAR INC., Stearns Bank, Parcel: 411701480043, $584,000 RALEY, James A., Meijer Credit Union, Gaines Twp., $350,540 WILLIAMS, Joshua, United Wholesale Mortgage, Cascade Twp., $488,000 HOLMAN, Harland T. et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Parcel: 411810177009, $350,000 ZYCK, Joseph et al, Lake Michigan Credit

Union, Caledonia, $377,919 RUDEL, RJ T. et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Kentwood, $351,963 FEDEWA, Benjamin et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, East Grand Rapids, $433,600 VANKAMPEN, Warren L. et al, T2 Financial et al, Algoma Twp., $500,250 TREBISH, Michael B. et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Gaines Twp., $466,660 GUSKE, Marc et al, Independent Bank, Cascade Twp., $1,072,444 JAH TRUST, Loandepot.com, Ada Twp., $369,000 ERTLE, Jonathan D. et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Cannon Twp., $440,000 RYBICKI, Michael A. et al, Old National Bank, Ada Twp., $513,000 DYKSTRA TRUST, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Parcel: 411424201007, $980,000 SHENG, Emily et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, East Grand Rapids, $647,000 HANCOCK, Kenneth C. et al, Heartland Home Mortgage, Byron Twp., $443,000 MILLER TRUST, Amerisave Mortgage Corp., Ada Twp., $548,250 WELKE, Louis C., Huntington National Bank, Plainfield Twp., $375,000 BAUMANN, Gabriel T. et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Algoma Twp., $463,053 MCGOOKEY, Michael et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Vergennes Twp., $481,000 FILLER, Andrew et al, Churchill Mortgage Corp., Vergennes Twp., $414,921 WHITE, Demetrious et al, Allen Edwin Home Builders, Kentwood, $365,050 POLMATEER, Brandyn et al, Mercantile Bank, Algoma Twp., $380,000 DUKSTRA, David et al, Horizon Bank,

Parcel: 411417351018, $520,000 OPOKU-AGYEMAN, Michael et al, Loandepot.com, Cannon Twp., $478,000 EDKINS, Mary E., HUD, East Grand Rapids, $390,000 BAAREMAN, William et al, Independent Bank, Caledonia, $399,200 MANG, Vung L. et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Ada Twp., $520,700 ADLER, David et al, Neighborhood Loans, Bowne Twp., $358,000 HOGAN, Brian J. et al, Union Home Mortgage Group, Cascade Twp., $428,000 WALTER. Jacob L. et al, United Wholesale Mortgage, Gaines Twp., $351,800 INTERRA HOMES LLC, Mercantile Bank, Plainfield Twp., $645,000 NEFF, Kirk P. et al, Embrace Home Loans, Walker, $372,000 NEMIC, Thomas E., ChoiceOne Bank, Parcel: 411701278007, $1,200,000 WEST, Todd et al, Independent Bank, Lowell, $371,250 FABIAN, Pavol et al, FirstBank, Parcel: 411309452031, $375,000 SNIDER, Jonathan D. et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Courtland Twp, $404,700 OWINGS TRUST, CitiBank, East Grand Rapids, $548,250 READ, Thomas W. Jr. et al, Independent Bank, Caledonia, $353,000 CHIODINI, Victor C. et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Ada Twp., $380,000 SIEREVELD, Michael et al, Macatawa Bank, Byron Twp., $500,000 LIVINGSTON, Amanda, Freedom Mortgage Corp., Nelson Twp., $366,195 FAZLIC PROPERTIES LLC, Horizon Bank,

How companies can ‘do the work’ of DEI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

expertise came about organically, as she found herself invited to the table and trusted to advise, both formally on committees and informally in conversation, on how the companies she worked for at the time could diversify their talent pools.

When her daughter entered kindergarten, she felt the time was right to start her own firm, and LaFuente Consulting was born.

“La Fuente” means “the fountain,” or “the source” in Spanish.

For Ramirez-Saenz, the source of her passion stems from her experience as an immigrant from Mexico to Holland, Michigan, as a child, and her sense that West Michigan had much room for improvement when it came to the equity and inclusion components of DEI — much like many companies did when she was starting her career in the 1980s and ’90s.

They were striving for diversity, the “D,” but not always understanding the equal importance of the “E” and “I.” Today, Ramirez-Saenz gets a front-row seat to the breakthroughs companies experience when they put in the work.

“I’m going through those moments right now with a company that I’ve been working with for four-and-a-half years,” she said.

“It is so exciting to see that they are engaging, that they have taken on building the capacity in turn with my recommendations, my structure, my guidance, and they’re following it in collaboration, and it’s really working. The comments that I get in our team meetings and in my follow-ups is, Ana, I tried that, and you wouldn’t believe it. It worked. People are engaged. There are so many ideas. People are so enthusiastic.

They’re on fire. They want to do this.”

Ramirez-Saenz said it’s crucial to de-mystify the idea of DEI work for her clients.

“It’s no different than running

a production line, understanding logistics, doing accounting — it’s no different because you have to invest in it, and you have to do the work. And so, putting it in a perspective where you see it as being part of your business, that you owe it to your business to create a culture that will attract talent and, more importantly, will keep them, is critical to your survival,” she said.

“Many times, people have been thinking about this as a side initiative, and that has to stop. People, hopefully, will begin to see that this is part of who they are. … People are looking now, and the way that we think about the guiding principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, we really need to (arrive) at the inclusion and belonging piece, because of where we are today in our economy, in our society, and how we want to move forward together.”

So, how does Ramirez-Saenz help companies begin this journey? She engages with them in an intensive, three-phase process.

1. Discovery Ramirez-Saenz said, as a consultant, she needs to understand what a business is facing — what some of the critical issues are that are impacting their business; how they view diversity, equity and inclusion within their organization; and what they need to do to become more competitive.

“The term used to be ‘employer of choice,’ but (it’s really about how) to be able to attract that talent, and what culture are they building, what culture they have now,” she said.

To assess this, the discovery phase includes listening to who the organization says it is versus who its employees perceive it to be and learning what work it does and how well it functions.

“I would say that 90% of the time, the discovery phase leads us do some type of climate assessment, some type of cultural assessment, some type of survey

to take a pulse of the organization and to gain some insights and sentiments and perceptions of the employees, relative to where the organization wants to go with diversity, equity and inclusion — to say, OK, where are we as a baseline?” Ramirez-Saenz said.

The discovery phase involves looking at the data gleaned with the executive leadership team in the room — a process that can bring surprises, particularly for organizations that are unaware of employee sentiment — then discussing what it will take to achieve the goals the leaders want to accomplish.

“Many of them have a good sense of where they truly are, but what they don’t have is a sense of how their employees feel and even their middle managers,” Ramirez-Saenz said, noting this could be because the leadership team has had those conversations but has not shared them with middle management. This disconnect or gap can then mean that goals aren’t being carried out like the leadership team desires.

2. Strategy The strategy phase is about using the knowledge of an organization’s gaps and disconnects to chart a new path forward, Ramirez-Saenz said. Only once you know the gaps and how they are putting you at a disadvantage can you begin to address them.

Some questions to answer in this phase might include, “Where do we want to go? Do we have what is necessary in place to be able to do that, whether it’s capacity, whether staff, whether budget, whether resources, whether understanding and clarity?”

Ramirez-Saenz said.

She said shortcuts cannot be taken during this strategy-building phase.

“It needs to be done to be able to understand an organization and then develop in conjunction with the broad spectrum of people across the organization to build

those strategies and action plans to then implement,” she said.

Ramirez-Saenz added different consultants have different approaches.

“Many of them might do the first two phases — the discovery, the strategic plan and recommendations — but not necessarily get into the implementation,” she said. “They will take the data, give it to the organization and say, here are recommendations for you to do this. … We do all three phases: discovery, strategy development and implementation.”

3. Implementation Ramirez-Saenz said LaFuente Consulting walks alongside clients to assist them on their path to improvement, however long it takes.

“This is not done in isolation; this is done with a cross-section of the organization, because diversity, equity and inclusion, and now belonging, as we are now moving forward into that phase of inclusivity to belonging, cannot be looked at as a side initiative. It really has to be part and parcel,” she said. “For the past 10, 15 years, I have been saying this is not an initiative. This is part of how you do business. This is part of your culture, and this is part of how you engage your employees, because without that, it’s not successful.”

Ramirez-Saenz said every company is at a different point in their journey, and it’s the consultant’s job to meet organizations where they are and assess whether they have the wherewithal to put the discovery and strategic plan into action.

“This is not a short-term situation,” she said.

It’s her job to act as a facilitator and trainer, helping companies through the process of motivating behavioral change when it’s needed to create organizational change.

For many reasons, some companies have had to put the implementation phase on hold, due to

MARCH 21, 2022

21

Parcel: 411835255027, $525,000 KOEHLER, Kevin J. et al, Fifth Third Bank, Cascade Twp., $460,000 ERBTER, Edward II et al, Rocket Mortgage, Caledonia, $423,900 ROE, Tyler et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Byron Twp., $412,000 BOWNER, Kenneth et al, Churchill Mortgage Corp., Grattan Twp., $439,375 STEWART, Donald J. et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, East Grand Rapids, $3,000,000 WENZEL, Douglas S. et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Plainfield Twp., $400,000 CROSSE TRUST, Wells Fargo Bank, Cascade Twp., $377,500 KOPKE, Joseph et al, Allen Edwin Home Builders, Lowell, $378,530 ROSS, Jane et al, Federal Savings Bank, Cascade Twp., $413,997 RUMSHLAG, Craig et al, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Cascade Twp., $351,500 GORSKI, Jeffrey et al, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Cascade Twp., $372,000 BAST, Jodi L. et al, Old National Bank, Cascade Twp., $488,800 BOHLINGER, Tavis A. et al, Team Mortgage Co., East Grand Rapids, $1,425,000 MACKEIGAN, Jeffrey P. et al, Neighborhood Loans, East Grand Rapids, $628,500 HARRISON, David K., Independent Bank, Ada Twp., $391,200

PUBLIC RECORD AVAILABLE ONLINE: For the full version of this week’s Public Record, visit the Grand Rapids Business Journal’s website at grbj.com.

the economy, due to the pandemic, supply chain challenges, the labor shortage — the list goes on.

“Many organizations are trying to figure out (how to) survive first.

‘I need to really get my operations in order, things are changing so fast that right now, this is all that I can do.’ I know that there are some issues … with talent acquisition/talent retention, and so a lot of organizations right now are trying to figure that out and also trying to bring some calm and a steady hand to their operation, and I think that is absolutely the right thing to do,” Ramirez-Saenz said.

“However, you cannot do it without thinking about the impact to your corporate culture. That’s one of the things that any organization, no matter who they are, no matter how big or small they are, has to ask themselves: ‘I am in this state of flux, and I need to understand what my culture is. Maybe I knew what it was pre-pandemic, but what is it now? What do I want it to be in the future?’”

Ramirez-Saenz said now is “the optimal time” for organizations to ask these questions, “because they have a phenomenal opportunity to change and/or build upon the strengths that they had pre-COVID” and because millennials who grew up with a more diverse workforce than ever before now are stepping into roles of power and leadership and are ready to make changes.

“It is an optimal time to be able to engage in these discussions and then take things in a phased progression,” Ramirez-Saenz said. “(People) want what is called cognitive diversity, meaning they want to work with people of different backgrounds, experiences and knowledge bases, bringing a whole new way of thinking about issues, which then drives innovation.”

Ramirez-Saenz said the best consultants pay attention and work to build bridges.

“I focus on those that are engaged and who want to move forward,” she said.

More information on LaFuente Consulting is at lafuenteconsulting.com.

22

GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS JOURNAL

MARCH 21, 2022

Spectrum, MSU fight back Far-reaching message.

S

pectrum Health will collaborate with Michigan State University researchers on their portion of an $18.5 million grant to collect and analyze genomic data to address emerging infectious disease threats and enhance the state of Michigan’s ability to respond to them.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) announced in January that $18.5 million in federal funds had been awarded over the next two years to four state universities.

Michigan Tech University, Michigan State University, University of Michigan and Wayne State University were awarded the funding to increase sequencing capacity in the state starting with SARS-CoV-2 and then other infectious disease threats with the potential for broad community spread.

Funding for the Michigan Sequencing Academic Partnership for Public Health Innovation and Response (MI-SAPPHIRE) is through a CDC Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity grant MDHHS received.

“Spectrum Health is proud to partner with Michigan State University in this statewide initiative to address not only the current

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challenge of the SARS-CoV-2 virus but other emerging public health threats as well,” said Adam J. Caulfield, Ph.D., director of microbiology, Spectrum Health Regional Laboratory. “Participating in the MI-SAPPHIRE program to further characterize future variants of the virus and map its transmission is an important contribution to further protect the health of the communities we serve across the state.”

MI-SAPPHIRE activities will include sequence generation and analysis, such as sample collection and sequencing; data processing, storage and sharing; and data interpretation and analytics.

Spectrum Health laboratories have performed more than 1.2 million COVID-19 tests since the start of the pandemic. This testing represents patients from 82 of the 83 counties and 859 of 979 ZIP codes in Michigan. Additionally, access to COVID-19 testing through Spectrum Health’s urgent care centers extends impact to 1,461 ZIP codes outside of Michigan and 39 outside of the United States.

Bioinformatics is a core component of the grant, which has Spectrum Health working with MSU. Part of this investment will bring Spectrum Health West

Michigan’s array of sequencing tools to bear in the fight against COVID-19.

“This project is essential as we focus on developing new computational tools for this pandemic and future viruses,” said Jeremy Prokop, Ph.D., assistant professor in the MSU College of Human Medicine, who is leading the bioinformatics initiative. “Through this collaboration with Spectrum Health, we will launch new tools that could one day be used by others to quickly take the sequence of a viral genome and not only correlate it to known strains of the virus, like omicron, but also detect new variants that could have major public health impact.”

Divine intervention What’s being billed as the largest ever national Christian ad campaign has its roots in West Michigan.

“He Gets Us,” an ad campaign that presents an unexpected and fresh take on Jesus’ life and experiences, launched nationally on March 14 and is believed to be the largest of its kind ever coordinated across TV, digital, radio, outdoor and experiential platforms, according to Bill McKendry, founder and chief creative officer of Grand Haven-based marketing

and branding firm HAVEN | a creative hub.

The exhaustively researched, carefully crafted and market-tested campaign was made under the direction of HAVEN. After completing a 10-market, multimillion-dollar test over the last few months, which included placement amid top primetime shows and NFL games, the test effort far exceeded expectations, he said.

The first round of ads garnered 32 million views on YouTube in 10 weeks and nearly half a million people visited HeGetsUs.com, a website where people can learn and interact if they so choose.

A spot called “Anxiety,” for example, shows suffering and anxiety across various walks of life, and culminates with a message that reads, “Jesus suffered anxiety too.” Another ad, “Wrongfully Judged,” follows a group of heavily tattooed youth as they roam the streets and, unexpectedly, bring food to the homeless. The spot is designed to address the tendency to judge others. Jesus, too, was wrongly judged, the spot points out.

The nationwide effort, backed by a coalition of Christian donors, is seeking to present Jesus' story that is not institutional, political or self-serving. It came about after three phases of nationwide research conducted last year revealed that a vast swath of the U.S. adults aren’t sure what they believe, and that many associate Christianity with judgmentalism, discrimination and hypocrisy.

Many feel Christians are against them, they witness politicians

STREET TALK weaponizing the Bible and see gaps between followers of the faith and the words and teachings of Jesus. As a result, they’re skeptical about Christianity and the church, McKendry said. “‘He Gets Us’ is disrupting misconceptions by pointing out how Jesus identified with the marginalized, how he didn’t favor the powerful, how he often offended the religious by associating with social outcasts, how he was wholly disinterested in political power as a means of furthering his movement, and how he actively challenged systems of oppression even though he knew it would cost him his life,” said McKendry, one of the leading architects for this initiative and the convener of multiple specialty agencies working on the campaign, including research, creative, media, interactive and public relations firms.

The campaign has 17 video ads, plus a slew of radio, outdoor and digital ads.

“Maybe the most surprising aspect of this campaign is that it makes no attempt to recruit or convert anyone to a particular denomination or belief,” said Jason Vanderground, president of HAVEN the chief strategist for the effort. “This initiative is designed simply to remind Americans that, no matter what they believe, no matter what religious beliefs they hold — or don’t — Jesus’ life and experiences can serve as inspiration as they navigate their own situations.”

Funds for the campaign are governed by Servant Foundation, a 501(c)3 with a 100/100 Charity Navigator rating.

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