DBusiness | May-June 2021

H AS

G O V.

W H I T M E R

T U R N E D H E R B AC K O N

M I C H I G A N B U S I N E S S E S? 30 IN THEIR THIRTIES

The 2021 class pivots and grows to outlast COVID-19.

ACG M&A ALL-STARS

The top VC deals that help drive the state economy.

POPULATION CHALLENGE

How can Michigan attract more residents?

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May - June 2021 || Volume 16 • Issue 3

30 IN THEIR THIRTIES Features 45 30 IN THEIR THIRTIES This year’s 30 in Their Thirties class is a diverse group representing a wide variety of professions and industries. Profiles by Dan Calabrese, Tim Keenan, R.J. King, Tom Murray, and Grace Turner

62 CAPITOL RETURNS Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s tenure as Michigan’s elected leader has come amid thousands of job losses and business closings since the outbreak of COVID-19.

By R.J. King and Tim Keenan

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ALWAYS OPEN FOR MICHIGAN BUSINESSES. As we move through 2021, Michigan businesses will continue to adapt. And the Michigan Economic Development Corporation will be here, helping to connect businesses to new resources, meet new partners and access the additional capital they need from the start. If your business needs support to reach its new potential, the MEDC is available to help in any way we can.

Find customized business assistance at michiganbusiness.org/pure-partnership

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Contents || May - June 2021

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SUBATOMIC SOLUTIONS Exlterra in Hazel Park has developed a revolutionary series of products, one of which makes it possible to clean up polluted sites without the traditional removal of soil or the use of chemicals.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Educational Roots LOGISTICS: Pony Express COMPENDIUM How outsiders view Detroit.

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SHIP AHOY The Freedom Boat Club flourished in 2020 and is bracing for continued growth in 2021.

By Tim Keenan BOWLING BONANZA : Local entrepreneur launches the “world’s first mobile bowling alley” in response to the pandemic. By Tim Keenan CAPITAL GAINS: Detroit dog-treat manufacturer Happy Howie’s has seen sales explode since being featured in a national advertising campaign for Capital One bank. By Tim Keenan FORWARD DESIGN The new visitor center at the Ford House, Edsel & Eleanor in Grosse Pointe Shores balances classic architecture with green technology.

By Tim Keenan PDAQ&A: Lorron James, president, James Group International in Detroit.

By R.J. King

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Focus 32

The Ticker 26

TEXTILE TURNAROUND Detroit artist thinks big to survive COVID-19.

By Grace Turner GREEN HUB: The Accenture Detroit Innovation Hub in Livonia is running on 100 percent clean energy.

By Jacob Bekemeyer

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ACG M&A ALL-STARS The region’s top dealmakers, as selected by the Association for Corporate Growth Detroit Chapter, advanced the local economy with new investment and jobs. Profiles by R.J. King

Perspectives 38

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Etc. 16 16 86

TROUBLE AHEAD Unless business, educational, and political leaders develop a long-term plan for boosting the population, Michigan’s economy will sputter and contract. By Bill Dow

Exec Life SUMMER VIBES Michigan’s resort and tourism market is eyeing a strong year, coming off a second half of 2020 that saw golf rounds, hotel bookings, boat rentals, and state park visits soar. By Norm Sinclair RETURN ON INVESTMENT Pursuit of Passion: Randy Kaplan overcame a stutter and bullying while growing up in Detroit and launched several successful businesses.

By Tom Murray

PRODUCTION RUN Sailing to Success: Offshore Spars in New Baltimore is among the few mast-makers left in the world.

By Tim Keenan OPINION Lend it Forward: If bankers took the time to better understand how owners operate their small- to middle-market businesses, they would be more confident in extending loans.

By Larry Gardner

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR LETTERS FROM READERS FROM THE TOP Chambers of Commerce in Metro Detroit, Largest Accident and Health Insurance Firms, Top Hotels Outside Metro Detroit, Largest Business Insurance Agencies, Metro Detroit’s Largest Contractors, Metro Detroit’s Largest Law Firms, CLOSING BELL William Burt found metal ores in the U.P. that contributed to Detroit’s industrial development.

By Ronald Ahrens

ON THE COVER Illustration by Jason Raish

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: JOSH SCOTT; JOSH SCOTT; COURTESY OF MAWBY VINEYARDS AND WINERY

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Contributors || May - June 2021

CONTRIBUTORS

VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 3 PUBLISHER John Balardo

EDITORIAL

EDITOR R.J. King MANAGING EDITOR Tim Keenan ASSOCIATE EDITOR Grace Turner COPY EDITOR Anne Berry Daugherty EDITORIAL INTERNS Jake Bekemeyer, Alex Harring

DESIGN

ART DIRECTOR Austin Phillips ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Alexander Shammami

ADVERTISING SALES CONTRIBUTION: Cover story illustrator SEE IT HERE: Cover, page 62

CONTRIBUTION: Trouble Ahead writer SEE IT HERE: Page 38

CONTRIBUTION: DBusiness Daily News, cover story timeline SEE IT HERE: Page 62

JASON RAISH is a freelance illustrator based in New York City who illustrated the cover and the images accompanying the cover story in this issue of DBusiness. He was born in Seoul, South Korea, and came to the U.S. at the age of 3. After being raised in the forests of upstate New York, he studied at SUNY Albany, spent a year abroad at Yonsei University in South Korea, and completed four years at the Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.) in New York.

He moved to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics and stayed until 2014. Since then, he has lived in Tokyo, Seoul, Barcelona, London, and Paris, all while freelancing with clients from around the world. These days you can find him at Park Slope Brooklyn, jogging around the park with his rescue dog, Husky, brewing beer, tending to his rooftop vegetable garden, and, of course, drawing at his desk.

He also teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

BILL DOW is a Detroit-area freelance writer based in Birmingham whose work has appeared in DBusiness, Hour Detroit, Metro Parent, Detroit Home, The Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press, USA Today, Baseball Digest, and the New York Daily News. His writing covers sports history, business, and health. He’s co-author of the book “Tiger Stadium, Essays and Memories of Detroit’s Historic Ballpark, 1912-2009,” and is a guest curator/writer for the “Year of the Tiger 1968” (2018) and “Lindell AC: America’s First Sports Bar” (2019-2020) exhibits at the Detroit Historical Museum. Dow also has written for the Wayne State University Press, the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, and Easton Press. In this issue, he tackles the economic problems Michigan faces as its population decreases, and what business, educational, and political leaders can do to develop a long-term plan for attracting residents.

JAKE BEKEMEYER is an intern with DBusiness who recently graduated from Northern Michigan University in Marquette with a bachelor’s degree in English writing. As an intern, he writes articles for the DBusiness Daily News, and he compiled the timeline for the cover story. Previously, his work has appeared in Marquette Monthly, a community-based arts and culture magazine and the largest independent and locally owned publication in the Upper Peninsula, and The North Wind, Northern Michigan’s student newspaper. His time in the Upper Peninsula sparked an appreciation for nature and, subsequently, environmental issues. He spends his free time gardening, writing, camping, cooking, baking, and eating what he bakes. He shares his creations with a large family located mostly in metro Detroit, and with his chihuahua, Bubba, who enjoys sunbathing while Bekemeyer grills.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ronald Ahrens, Dan Calabrese, Bill Dow, Larry Gardner, Tom Murray, Norm Sinclair CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Nick Hagen, Matthew LaVere, Jason Raish, Josh Scott, James Yang

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Jason Hosko AD & SALES COORDINATOR Danielle Szatkowski ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Cynthia Barnhart, Karli Brown, Lauren DeBano, Donna Kassab, Mary Pantely and Associates, Angela Tisch

PRODUCTION

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Jenine Rhoades SENIOR PRODUCTION ARTIST Robert Gorczyca PRODUCTION ARTIST Stephanie Daniel AD & SALES COORDINATOR Danielle Szatkowski PRS GRAPHIC ARTIST Jim Bibart ADVERTISING DESIGNERS Daniel Moen, Amanda Zwiren

WEB

DIGITAL DIRECTOR Nick Britsky WEB PROJECT LEAD Matt Cappo WEB PROJECT ASSISTANTS Mariah Knott, Luanne Lim, Bart Woinski SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Travis Cleveland

IT

IT DIRECTOR Jeremy Leland

CIRCULATION

DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Michelle VanArman CIRCULATION MANAGER Riley Meyers CIRCULATION COORDINATORS Barbie Baldwin, Elise Coyle, Cathy Krajenke, Rachel Moulden

MARKETING AND EVENTS

MARKETING AND EVENTS DIRECTOR Mary Sutton MARKETING RESEARCH MANAGER Ana Potter MARKETING RESEARCH COORDINATOR Georgia Iden MARKETING RESEARCH SALES COORDINATOR Hannah Thomas MARKETING RESEARCH ASSISTANT Gabrielle Hejnar MARKETING AND EVENTS INTERNS Madison Henson, Megan Kusulas, Benjamin Nicol MARKETING AND RESEARCH INTERNS Alexis Boeskool, Maggie Floyd, Keely Hinchen, Isabella Mitchell

BUSINESS

CEO Stefan Wanczyk PRESIDENT John Balardo PUBLISHING ASSISTANT Kristin Mingo DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS Kathie Gorecki ACCOUNTING ASSOCIATES Natasha Bajju, Andrew Kotzian, Katie West DISTRIBUTION Target Distribution, Troy Postmaster: Send address changes to DBusiness, 5750 New King Drive, Ste. 100, Troy, MI 48098 For advertising inquiries: 248-691-1800, ext. 126 To sell DBusiness magazine or for subscription inquiries: 248-588-1851 DBusiness is published by Hour Media. Copyright © 2021 Hour Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. DBusiness is a registered trademark of Hour Media.

WEBEXTRA Check out DBusiness Daily News for exclusive business news, blogs, podcasts, and videos, available for free at DBusiness.com/daily-news.

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Letters || May - June 2021

Rogue Data

T

he rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, and potentially more, is good news for seniors, people with pre-existing medical conditions, and those on the front lines of health care, emergency response, and vital industries.

In researching the history of vaccine development, including the latest offerings, consider the following facts. Since the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, along with the PREP Act, became law starting in 1986, vaccine makers have been immune from liability, even if they’re negligent. In other words, they can’t be sued if something goes wrong.

There’s also been a huge public relations campaign to encourage people to get a vaccine. The effort cites the high number of deaths due to COVID-19 as compared to other viruses. But the comparisons aren’t equal as it relates to past outbreaks of Ebola, the 1918 influenza, SARS, H1N1, and more.

Before COVID-19 came along, coronaviruses such as common colds were never reported as the primary cause of death when a person passed from an illness — but the federal government changed the rules last year. In addition, the CDC and WHO have issued new guidelines that state a person who dies and is suspected of having COVID-19, even though the virus was never confirmed, may be included in death counts.

The vaccines generally last at least six months, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. No one knows what will happen after the medication wears off. Will there be a booster shot that prevents people from spreading the virus? Today, people, whether they’re vaccinated or not, can spread the pathogen.

According to Johns Hopkins University CSSE COVID-19 Data, the death rate for the virus is 2.97 percent (April 10), and close to 3 million people have died from the pathogen. By comparison, H1N1 had a mortality rate of 0.02 percent with 12,500 deaths, according to UT Health East Texas. Ebola caused 28,652 illnesses and led to 11,325 deaths, while SARS infected 8,100 people and 744 died.

The current strain of coronavirus has largely infected older adults and people who have severe

underlying medical conditions. Given each virus varies and impacts people in different ways, sharing consistent outcomes to glean important trends as a pandemic emerges allows medical officials and the general public to enact swifter countermeasures.

In Michigan, with early data showing older people were highly susceptible to being infected, why did Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Dr. Joneigh S. Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive, send sick senior residents who had been admitted to hospitals back to their nursing homes?

Did their decision contribute to the nearly onethird of people who died from COVID-19 inside senior care facilities?

As we learned, the field hospitals set up soon after the crisis emerged handled just a few dozen patients, at a cost of millions of dollars. Given Whitmer and Khaldun had access to all of the data, which they refused to share publicly, were field hospitals considered as an alternative to housing infected seniors? How about all of the empty hotels and other hospitality facilities?

We may never know. As a legislator who long called for public transparency of government operations, Whitmer has refused to share information that is vital to the health and welfare of every citizen. For someone who was elected to serve the people of Michigan, her actions prevent public scrutiny and honest debate on how to improve outcomes. What a “damn” shame.

R.J. King

rjking@dbusiness.com

21ST CENTURY BUSINESS FORUM

I loved the 21st Century Business Forum podcast!

I’m a big fan of Jon Gordon (if you haven’t read “The Energy Bus,” it’s a quick read and such an awesome book). I wasn’t as familiar with John Maxwell, but really resonated with his positive approach and outlook. Like me, he has found many gifts as he and his companies have navigated through the past 11 months.

Thank you, DBusiness, for sponsoring these online events.

Carolyn Krieger Farmington Hills

LIQUID RETURN

On behalf of everyone at Stone Soap Co. Inc., I wish to thank you for the wonderful article, “Liquid Return,” written about our company in your November/December 2020 magazine. The writer, Tim Keenan, along with photographer Josh Scott, in our opinion captured nicely the “can-do” spirit the company and its employees had during the recent COVID-19 crisis, when so many businesses were forced to close and furlough employees. We’re very appreciative of the good press.

Steve Stone Sylvan Lake

CORRECTION In the March/April 2021 edition of DBusiness, the wrong photograph was used for Judge Edward Ewell Jr. of Wayne County’s 3rd Circuit Court (above).

EMAIL US AT: editorial@dbusiness.com SEND MAIL TO: Letters, DBusiness magazine, 5750 New King Drive, Ste. 100, Troy, MI 48098 Please include your city of residence and daytime phone number.

We reserve the right to edit letters for length and content.

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INSIDE || SUBATOMIC SOLUTIONS | EDUCATIONAL ROOTS | PONY EXPRESS | COMPENDIUM

THE PATH TO THE CEO’S OFFICE SHOULD NOT BE THROUGH THE CFO’S OFFICE, AND IT SHOULD NOT BE THROUGH THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT. IT NEEDS TO BE THROUGH ENGINEERING AND DESIGN. — ELON MUSK, FOUNDER AND CEO, TESLA AND SPACEX

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

ILLUSTRATION BY JAMES YANG

SUBATOMIC SOLUTIONS

EVERY SO OFTEN, A NEW TECHNOLOGY COMES along that changes the world for the better.

From Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity to Elon Musk’s advances in electric vehicles and reusable rockets, the human race has benefited mightily from seemingly simple, yet highly sophisticated, innovations.

One of the next major discoveries set to benefit humankind — namely in the green energy,

agriculture, and heavy equipment industries — comes from Exlterra, a sustainable technological solutions firm in Hazel Park. Inventor Andrew Niemczyk, chairman and chief technology officer of Exlterra, has developed a revolutionary series of products, one of which makes it possible to clean up polluted sites, including those impacted by nuclear accidents, without the traditional removal of soil or the

use of chemicals.

To prove out the technology, and to mark the 35th anniversary of the accidental explosion of the No. 4 reactor at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine on April 26, Exlterra announced that its NSPS system, coupled with its BSTR network, was successfully deployed at a 2.5acre test site located a few miles from the nuclear reactor.

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Commentary || May - June 2021

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

0.07%

Death rate from nuclear production per unit of energy generated (per terawatt-hour).

57.34% Death rate from coal production per unit of energy generated (per terawatt-hour).

20%

Percentage of U.S. electricity produced by nuclear energy.

Sources: DOE, Our World in Data, Exlterra

Working with Ukraine’s SSE Ecocentre, a world-renowned research institute which evaluated and validated the results, more than 4,800 different polyethylene tubes were installed in the ground. The project was completed in early September 2020. By harnessing forces and renewable energy sources present in nature, the cylinders accelerate the natural decomposition process of different contaminants in the soil.

Since last fall, according to SSE Ecocentre, the results show more than 50 percent of the radioactivity in the ground at the test site has been eliminated through natural means. Once the technology is installed (each site is unique and requires a specific placement of the tubes), Niemczyk predicts his “de-reactor” system will clean up the contaminated land at Chernobyl and similarly affected areas within five years, meaning the ground will be restored to its natural state.

The system accelerates radioactive decay by harnessing existing energy within the ground. The invention, in short, uses science, physics, and nuclear energy concepts to eliminate radiation contamination naturally. The BSTRs, or boosters, act as a network to collect and redirect the energy of positrons collected in the NSPS tubes toward the surface of the soil.

Once all of the energy is harnessed and redirected, an “energy beam of positrons” collides with the nuclei of the radioactive isotope that are attracted by the BSTR tubes and breaks it down into safe forms of uranium and plutonium. The resulting energy is released to rebind with its original form.

With the nuclear energy industry receiving federal support to encourage the next generation of reactors for urban and rural uses — which, if successful, would help the government meet its goal of zero carbon emissions — Michigan has an opportunity to further diversify its clean energy sources. It also could further attract environmental businesses, institutions, and publicly supported research efforts to enhance our natural resources.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

ECONOMIC ROOTS TO GENERATE MORE AND VARIED CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN DETROIT, business, education, and civic leaders should support greater access to neighborhood training programs. Given that more than 80 percent of the city’s residents are minorities, based on census data, the ability to launch a business or take on a career that’s sustainable is paramount to increasing economic activity and enhancing quality of life.

Among the main barriers to boosting entrepreneurialism in the city is access to capital — and the fact that a disproportionate share of minority businesses are more prone to be affected by economic shocks like COVID-19, according to an analysis by McKinsey. A 2019 U.S. Census Bureau survey shows the top percentage of minority-owned companies operate in the hospitality, food services, retail trade, health care, and transportation and warehousing sectors.

Wealth creation, which is lower among minority households, also is a concern. It hampers the ability to support and sustain a new enterprise outside traditional lending offerings. Consider Black Americans make up 12 percent of the U.S. population, but represent 3 percent of the startup businesses, while Hispanics of any race represent 18 percent of the population and 7 percent of startup owners.

Another factor holding Detroit back is literacy. The Detroit Public Schools Community District, working with Beyond Basics, a nonprofit literacy center in the city, is providing one-on-one tutoring to raise the reading levels of thousands of students. If more businesses, donors, and foundations support the effort, students would have a much greater chance of being successful in school — and in life.

LOGISTICS

PONY EXPRESS THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE IS IN NEED OF A MAKEOVER. HIT WITH A DOUBLE whammy at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic — a decline in first-class mail that impacted revenue, and growth in the package business that it was ill-prepared to handle due to older equipment — the postal service will need new investments to account for a dynamic shift in the delivery sector.

Most everyone has been impacted by mail delays, especially as the recent election season, unlike any other, saw a huge increase in the use of absentee ballots. As it stands, the postal service is well equipped to handle flat letters, but dealing with varying sizes of boxes has been another issue.

New investments in packaging equipment will help the postal service better compete with Amazon, FedEx, and UPS, while a greater use of trucks, rather than high-cost air transportation, will help reduce costs. According to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, better management of the department’s logistics operations will boost efficiency. He notes the agency’s network of trucks is currently running at 35 percent of capacity.

To further reduce costs and help cut into a $160-billion deficit that’s projected over the next decade, the postal service is asking Congress to integrate its retiree health plans with Medicare and remove a rule that requires the agency to prefund its employee retirement benefits decades into the future. The measures should be approved so the postal service can better compete with its for-profit bretheran.

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HOW OUTSIDERS VIEW DETROIT New York Times | March 23, 2021 | By Joshua Barone

A MALCOLM X OPERA WILL GET A RARE REVIVAL IN DETROIT

WHEN ANTHONY DAVIS’S SPRAWLING, GENREblending biographical opera “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” premiered in 1986 at New York City Opera, it drew a notably diverse audience and was considered a commercial success. Yet it has rarely been revived.

A new production is coming, though, as part of Michigan Opera Theatre’s 2021-22 season — the first under its new artistic director, Yuval Sharon.

Opening in May 2022, “X” will be directed by Robert O’Hara (“Slave Play”) and star the bass-baritone Davóne Tines, who will also be the

season’s artist in residence.

“My first interview for this job was shortly after the murder of George Floyd,” Sharon, who is also an innovative stage director, said in an interview. “I thought: This is a moment for change. Casting singers of color is really easy, but my focus has been on composers, librettists, conductors. I’m thinking about this season as a statement of principles, and that’s what I hope for going forward.”

As part of the season announcement, on Tuesday, Michigan Opera Theatre also said that Christine Goerke, a reigning Wagnerian soprano who sang the role of Brünnhilde last fall in “Twilight: Gods” — Sharon’s drive-through abridgment of “Götterdämmerung” in a Detroit parking garage — would join next season as associate artistic director.

In an interview, Goerke said that her family would be moving from New Jersey to Detroit. ...

Fast Company | March 25, 2021 | By Nate Berg

FORD IS MOVING INTO ONE OF DETROIT’S OLDEST NEIGHBORHOODS. CAN IT PREVENT DISPLACEMENT? ONE OF DETROIT’S OLDEST NEIGHBORHOODS IS ABOUT to change dramatically, and a new plan is being put in place to make sure the people who’ve long called it home aren’t displaced in the process.

The new development on the way is centered around one of the city’s most symbolic icons, the long-abandoned Michigan Central train station, which was purchased in the summer of 2018 by another Detroit icon, the Ford Motor Co. The company is in the midst of a multiyear $740 million restoration that will transform the 13-story Beaux Arts building into the centerpiece of a 30-acre “mobility campus” that aims to bring a 1.2-millionsquare-foot innovation hub, an autonomous vehicle corridor, and 5,000 jobs to the Corktown neighborhood. With its central location, the train station’s

large and untapped potential, and several other large adaptable buildings nearby, Corktown offers a neighborhood-scale canvas for a corporate entity like Ford. Work on the train station building is expected to finish by the end of 2022. ...

Ford’s purchase of the building was an undeniable catalyst. …

Wall Street Journal | March 18, 2021 | By Ben Eisen

IN BATTLE OF MORTGAGE TITANS, WINNER IS MICHIGAN STATE CALL IT A DIFFERENT KIND OF MARCH MADNESS. Michigan State University’s Spartans are seeing millions of dollars come through the door, the money flowing from two mortgage titans long locked in a battle for loan volume and name recognition. A key beneficiary is the men’s basketball team.

On one side of the off-court feud is Detroit-based Rocket Cos., the parent company of Quicken Loans.

Founded in the 1980s by MSU alum Dan Gilbert, Rocket is now the biggest mortgage lender in the U.S. and Mr. Gilbert is the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

On the other side is Pontiac, Mich.-based United Wholesale Mortgage, which has been hot on Rocket’s tail. CEO Mat Ishbia, a former walk-on to the MSU basketball team, has grown the company by issuing loans through an army of brokers. It was the No. 4 mortgage lender in the U.S. last year, according to industry research group Inside Mortgage Finance.

Both say their recent commitments to the university were motivated by nothing more than their loyalty to MSU and its athletics. Still, the optics are a reminder of their brawl outside the arena.

In February, Mr. Ishbia made a $32 million donation to the athletics department. “When you’re successful in life and you can give to people who helped you do it, you do it,” he said in a recent interview.

A few weeks later, he caused a stir in the mortgage world when he publicly accused Rocket and another company of trying to put mortgage brokers out of business. Mr. Ishbia told the thousands of brokers who work with United Wholesale that they couldn’t also work with Rocket, and asked them to sign a document saying so.

Rocket fired back in a letter, saying its success was putting United Wholesale on defense and urging brokers not to be “bullied.” ...

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GolfWeek | March 16, 2021 | By Greg Johnson

VOLUNTEER COACH BRINGING BACK GOLF IN DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS MARTIN SIML LOVES GOLF AND HE WANTS THE KIDS OF Detroit to love it too.

“I want them to learn how to play, how to love it and bring to them a lifetime sport, a passion they can enjoy for the rest of their lives,” he said.

Siml, a 50-year-old Southfield resident who grew up in Taylor, has for three years been building a grassroots high school golf program largely with players who had never played the game before at a school that had not fielded a team for several years.

He has developed a team of girls over three years and a team of boys the last two years at Renaissance High School, one of Detroit’s public schools where high school golf teams have disappeared in recent decades because of funding shortages.

His efforts have not been limited to Renaissance students. He has golfers from Cass Tech, Cody and Henry Ford involved, too, and the Michigan High School Athletic Association has allowed those golfers from other schools to compete in the state

tournament structure as individuals.

The Renaissance girls’ team even hosted an MHSAA regional golf tournament last fall at historic Rackham Golf Course, which the school believes might have been a first for a Detroit public school.

“It’s building slowly,” Siml says. “COVID has killed me with recruiting players and raising funds this year, but we have teams and we’re trying to make progress.”

Siml, who also coaches tennis at Renaissance, doesn’t draw a salary. Funds are not available for golf or tennis coaches. He is the very definition of a volunteer coach when he isn’t working the midnight shift at his real job as a surgery technician at Henry Ford Hospital.

He coached baseball and then soccer first, games of choice in his youth. He didn’t play high school golf, opting for baseball instead. The game, however, was slowly introduced to him by his grandmother who he would visit each summer, and who belonged to the fabled Chicago Golf Club.

Travel + Leisure | March 19, 2021 | By Andrea Romano

THIS MICHIGAN HIKING TRAIL TAKES YOU FROM WINERY TO WINERY — AND TO-GO DRINKS ARE ENCOURAGED IT'S TIME TO HIT THE TRAIL. BUT FIRST, YOU'LL NEED THE perfect refreshment.

Hiking, and generally getting out into nature, is a fun, safe way to travel this spring. And whether you're an experienced hiker or not, you can still enjoy this four-mile trail that connects two wineries in southwest Michigan.

The Mount Tabor Trail is a 3.6-mile, pet-friendly hiking trail that connects the Round Barn and Tabor Hill wineries. Hikers can enter the trailhead at either winery, where they can purchase wine, beer, spirits, and food selections from both establishments to take with them on the trail.

If you're traveling with children, pets, or are just not an experienced hiker, have no fear. The trail has several options that allow you to choose how difficult you would like the walk to be. Trails take hikers through fields and wooded areas, as well as actual vineyards (which are luckily the easiest parts of the trail). And if you’re short on time, you can choose an easy-to-moderate path that takes you to both vineyards across only 1.15 miles round trip.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both establishments have new health and safety guidelines to ensure guests are having the safest experience, as dictated by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Indoor capacity is set at 25 percent, with tables of no more than six at a time.

Masks must also be worn and guests are asked to practice social distancing. Luckily, with to-go refreshments and snacks, it’s easy to social distance while on the trail.

Kids are also allowed on the trail as long as they are with an adult...

“I want to give these kids a special experience in golf like I’ve had,” he says. “I want them to experience a great course like Rackham with Donald Ross history, I want them to experience the nature, the birds, the sunshine while playing golf.” …

The Guardian | March 27, 2021 | By Bill McKibben

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DIVESTING FROM FOSSIL FUELS SHOWS THAT CHANGE IS HERE

IF YOU WANT PROOF OF HOW DECISIVELY THE CLIMATE zeitgeist has begun to shift, you could look to Washington and the transition between the Trump and Biden eras.

But you could also look farther west, to Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan, which routinely tops the rankings of America’s best public universities. It’s a massive institution whose faculty and graduates have collected scores of Nobel, Pulitzer and MacArthur prizes; somewhere on the surface of the moon there’s a plaque marking its first extraterrestrial alumni chapter, because all the astronauts on Apollo 15 had studied there. It couldn’t be more middle-American, with deep ties to, among other things, the state’s world-leading automotive industry.

And so, in 2015, it came as no great shock when the university’s president, Mark Schlissel, rejected student calls for divestment from fossil fuel companies. …

But students never gave up pushing for change, and to the university’s great credit it kept lines of dialogue open. …

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The Ticker

INSIDE || SHIP AHOY | BOWLING BONANZA | CAPITAL GAINS | FORWARD DESIGN | PLUS PDA Q&A AND MORE ...

TEXTILE TURNAROUND

Detroit artist thinks big to survive COVID-19.

JOSH SCOTT

BY GRACE TURNER

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Ticker || May - June 2021

DBUSINESSDIRECT Gilbert Family Foundation, Rocket Community Fund Announce $500M Gift in Detroit The Gilbert Family Foundation and the Rocket Community Fund have announced a $500 million philanthropic investment over the next 10 years, to be accomplished through strategic contributions to community organizations that will build economic opportunity in Detroit neighborhoods. The Gilbert Family Foundation will contribute $350 million, and the Rocket Community Fund will invest $150 million.

Huntington, TCF Move Closer to Merger Huntington Bancshares and TCF Financial Corp. have announced that each company’s shareholders have approved the proposed merger of TCF into Huntington. The companies will have dual headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, and Detroit.

Ship Ahoy

Millendo Therapeutics in Ann Arbor to Merge with Tempest Therapeutics in $30M Deal

Electric Last Mile in Troy Partners with Geotab to Connect Vehicles Troy-based Electric Last Mile has partnered with Canada’s Geotab to deliver a factory-installed connectivity solution that will equip Electric Last Mile customers with data to help them manage their vehicles.

Aspen Surgical Acquires Canadian Medical Supply Company Aspen Surgical, based in Caledonia (south of Grand Rapids) has acquired BlueMed Medical Supplies in Montreal, Canada. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

BlueMed manufactures disposable shoe covers and other personal protection products.

For full stories and more, visit dbusiness.com/daily-news to get daily news sent directly to your email.

Freedom Boat Club expands during pandemic and is charting continued growth in 2021.

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BY TIM KEENAN

he boating business boomed last summer as the COVID-19 pandemic canceled most other activities. As a result, the Freedom Boat Club in Harrison Township grew to 200 members and more than doubled its fleet of pleasure craft.

Operated by attorney Steven Dobreff, who left the law business to make boating available to people without the investment of ownership, the Freedom Boat Club is a national boat-sharing franchise that came to metro Detroit in 2016.

Dobreff is a lifelong boater who practiced law in Commerce Township before moving to Tampa, Fla., in 2013, where he joined the local Freedom Boat Club.

“The club had been looking for someone to open a location in metro Detroit because of the area’s monstrous boating population,” says Dobreff, who spends most of the summer in Michigan, overseeing the business.

Dobreff and a partner started the Michigan club with four boats at Hideaway Harbor in Harrison Township.

He later bought out his partner and started last season with 10 boats and 83 members at two locations, including Sindbad’s Restaurant and Marina in Detroit. At the close of the 2020 boating season, the local Freedom Boat Club had a fleet of 22 boats and 200 members.

“As of May (2020), the only things people could do

HIGH WATER MARK Freedom Boat Club operates out of Markley Marine in Harrison Township, Sindbad’s in Detroit, and Jefferson Beach Marina in St. Clair Shores.

were go boating or play golf,” Dobreff says. “All of the family activities had come to a standstill. Sports were shut down and people weren’t vacationing. So many people were just looking for ways to spend time with their families outside of the house. In mid-June we saw a tremendous increase in membership.”

Although the pandemic is expected to subside somewhat by the coming boating season, Dobreff is expecting to add 150 to 200 new members. The club offers all of the benefits of boat ownership and very few of the negatives. Members can reserve a boat for a morning, an afternoon, a whole day, or just a few hours.

“The whole concept — pulling up to the dock and (knowing that) a brand-new, clean boat is waiting for you; (it’s) filled up with gas; (and) you can take it out for the day, come back, hand over the keys to a dockhand, and you’re done — is contrary to the whole boat ownership process,” Dobreff explains.

Prospective boaters can join for a one-time fee of up to $7,000, and monthly dues of $299 for a weekday membership or $369 for a standard membership with boat access seven days a week. By contrast, the cost of owning a new boat can run about $30,000 per year.

COURTESY OF FREEDOM BOAT CLUB

Tempest Therapeutics Inc., a privately held clinical-stage oncology company developing potentially first-in-class therapeutics that combine both targeted and immune-mediated mechanisms, and Millendo Therapeutics Inc. in Ann Arbor announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Millendo will merge with Tempest in an all-stock transaction.

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Bowling Bonanza Local entrepreneur launches ‘world’s first mobile bowling alley’ during pandemic.

E

BY TIM KEENAN ver wish you had a bowling alley at your house or in the parking lot of your business? Entrepreneur Terence Jackson can make it happen with Luxury Strike Bowling, a mobile bowling alley.

Jackson invested his life savings — about $350,000 — into the concept of a mobile bowling alley and quickly doubled his investment, thanks in no small part to the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered many entertainment and recreation activities in the spring and summer of 2020.

“When we launched, there wasn’t any entertainment available,” Jackson says. “There were so many restrictions. It propelled my business and opened a new lane for entertainment.”

Jackson filled that empty lane with a pair of scaled-down bowling alleys made to fit inside a 53-foot-long semitrailer. All that’s required of the customer is a reasonably level surface. The lanes, pins, and balls are custom-made and smaller than regulation, in order to fit in the trailer. Other features include automatic pin setting, ball return, and scoring.

In addition, the trailer features a sky loft for entertaining up to 15 people. The space is equipped with top-of-the-line Harmon Kardon sound and multimedia systems, a big screen, and lighting specifically designed to supply nearly any environment a customer desires.

In all, Luxury Strike Bowling offers 500

square feet of temperature-controlled space set up to provide comfortable entertainment all year long.

“It took a lot of planning to do something like this,” Jackson says. “I sold all my property (including a couple of condos), and cashed in my life savings to make it happen.”

Jackson is no stranger to vehicle conversions.

His previous enterprise, Prolific Customs, did custom conversions of party buses, tool trucks, and other vehicles.

“It’s all about exclusivity and the convenience of having our services at your home or desired location,” Jackson says of the success of his mobile bowling alley. “The audience has been really receptive. We did awesome last year and actually had to turn people away

LANE-CHANGER Terence Jackson’s idea of a mobile bowling alley outfitted inside an 18-wheeler truck bed began in 2019. He started hosting parties lastJune and plans to add a second truck,

because we were so booked.”

Customers within a 30-mile radius of Luxury Strike’s Southfield home base pay from $500 for two hours to $1,800 for eight hours for the mobile lanes. Although most of his customers are hosting home parties and birthday celebrations, Jackson says “we even did a wedding where the couple wanted the novelty factor.”

Jackson is so convinced that the popularity of the Luxury Strike Bowling concept will continue post-pandemic, he says he plans to have a second mobile bowling alley come online this year.

COURTESY OF LUXURY STRIKE BOWLING

Capital Gains || By Tim Keenan SINCE BEING FEATURED IN A NATIONAL advertising campaign for Capital One bank that began airing in December 2020, Happy Howie’s — an all-natural dog-treat manufacturer on Detroit’s west side — has seen its sales explode.

Online sales have more than doubled, and distributor sales are up

more than 30 percent compared to the previous year.

“A few years ago, the Capital One small business team was looking for customers to feature and they came across our story, which we had submitted to a customer contest,” explains David Collado, owner of Happy Howie’s. “They

connected with us to learn more, and the rest is history. Filming the ad was a lot of fun for me and my team, and we’ve gotten a lot of great feedback since it began airing on TV late last year.”

Collado’s online sales team can trace orders to the Capital One campaign via the ordering system’s

referral box.

As a result of the increase in business, the company, named after Collado’s dog, has made numerous improvements to its plant. “We have a lot more plans to continue expanding our production capacity through new equipment and by adding floor space,” Collado says.

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Forward Design The new visitor center at the Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores balances classic architecture with green technology.

BY TIM KEENAN

Eleanor Ford, maintaining the architectural style and interior design, (and ensuring) that it’s high-quality and done thoughtfully,” says Mark Heppner, president and CEO of the Ford House.

Although the cost of the project, which is near the main Ford House, is kept close to the vest, it’s obvious to any visitor that no corners were cut, and no cost was spared. Guests will be able to walk or take a shuttle to the main house.

“Our (previous) visitor center was designed in the ’90s and didn’t meet the needs of a growing 21st century historic site. The amenities just weren’t there,” Heppner says.

The new facility includes a lobby with a ticketing and information desk, a gift shop, and the Continental restaurant, which will seat 80 people indoors and another 40 on the patio overlooking neighboring Ford Cove. The menu will consist of American bistro-type cuisine.

AUTOMOTIVE ARCADE The new visitor center at the Ford House, set to open by June, will offer a restaurant, event and exhibit space, and a gift shop.

In addition, visitors can explore interactive, multimedia, and hands-on displays that detail the Ford family legacy, Edsel Ford’s role at Ford Motor Co., and the design of the Ford House.

The new center has three flexible meeting rooms for public rental, with overall seating for 240 people, or 176 people for dining. Another feature is an exhibition gallery that will initially showcase three vehicles designed by Edsel Ford: a 1932 boat-tail Speedster, a 1943 Model 40 Speedster, and a 1939 Lincoln Continental prototype.

“One of the things that was really important to all of us was to make sure we’re able to tell the family story,” Heppner says. “Nobody is going to look at Edsel the same after they visit this building.”

PDA Q&A: The E-Interview || By R.J. King

LORRON JAMES

CEO James Group Inc. Detroit

DB: WHERE ARE YOU? LJ: In Scottsdale. I’m a graduate of Arizona State University, and I’m here working remotely on this trip and nurturing my relationships with the W.P. Carey School of Business. Our company does assembly and logistics work with the global automotive industry, and we’re looking to expand our real estate and geographic footprint more in the southeast, West Coast, and Mexico.

DB: HOW’S IT GOING?

LJ: Very well. Last year we launched a new company (in Detroit), Five Crowns Trucking, where we do dedicated shuttling of auto parts across short distances.

We just earned a contract from Spencer/Butcher Group, which is a Tier 1 to FCA, and we’re the Tier 2.

We’ll be transporting truck frames for FCA between their Jefferson North Assembly Plant (in Detroit) and Sterling Heights Assembly Plant. Five Crowns helps round out our

logistics and assembly work.

DB: WHAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR GLOBAL MARKETS? LJ: We export Ford parts to 16 different countries and 25 different shipping destinations. Those parts go on Ford vehicles in Belgium, China, and other markets. We consolidate the parts and ship them from our Renaissance Global Logistics facility in Detroit, where we have our headquarters.

Those parts are shipped via trucks, rail, and, at times, via

air freight.

DB: WHERE ELSE ARE YOU GROWING? LJ: Our Magnolia Automotive Services work is doing well.

We do tire and wheel assembly for Toyota in Mississippi, and for a Toyota and Mazda joint venture in Huntsville, Ala. The Alabama facility is the largest automotive manufacturing plant in North America, and we work on the Toyota Corolla. There’s a lot of growth in front of us.

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: COURTESY OF FORD HOUSE; COURTESY OF JAMES GROUP INC.

B

eginning in late May, guests of the Ford House, Edsel & Eleanor, in Grosse Pointe Shores, will be greeted by a new visitor center that balances the classic Albert Kahn architecture of the main manor with the latest green technology.

The 40,000-square-foot visitor center (the Ford House itself is 31,000 square feet) and a 17,000-square-foot administration building were designed to reflect the architectural principles of the Cotswold style of the main house.

The new structures, which feature a limestone exterior and a slate roof with steep arch gables and prominent chimney features, hide solar panels from view. High-efficiency, smart windows imported from Germany — designed to keep birds from flying into them — will contribute to the buildings’ energy-efficiency.

Between the solar electric power and the geothermal heating and cooling system in the new buildings, the facility expects to save $30,000 per year on energy costs.

“The board of directors’ goals for the project include a commitment to sustainability, the environment, respect for the legacy of Edsel and

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Ticker || May - June 2021

DBUSINESSDIRECT Hagerty Acquires Concours d’Elegance, July Event Set for Inn at St. John’s Hagerty, a provider of specialty insurance for enthusiast vehicles in Traverse City, has announced its acquisition of, and partnership with, the Concours d’Elegance of America.

The Concours, conducted annually in Plymouth Township, is one of the premier classic car shows in the world. The 2021 event will take place at the Inn at St. John’s on July 23-25.

Auto Supplier Lear Corp. Buys M&N Plastics in Sterling Heights Lear Corp., a global automotive technology company based in Southfield, announced that it has acquired Sterling Heights’ M&N Plastics, a privately owned injection molding specialist and manufacturer of engineered plastic components for automotive electrical distribution applications. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Ford and HP Will Recycle 3-D Printed Waste into Vehicle Parts Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn has teamed up with California-based HP to reuse spent 3-D printed powders and parts in order to turn them into injection-molded vehicle parts. The innovation closes the loop and increases sustainability, keeping waste materials out of landfills. The resulting injection-molded parts are better for the environment and don’t compromise Ford’s durability and quality standards, the automaker states.

Southfield’s Eaton and Tenneco Partner to Produce Exhaust Thermal Management System Eaton and Tenneco, both in Southfield, have announced a joint development agreement between Eaton’s Vehicle Group and Tenneco’s Clean Air business group to produce an integrated exhaust thermal management system that will enable commercial truck and light vehicle manufacturers to meet upcoming emissions regulations.

Detroit’s Fisher Theatre to be Acquired by U.K. Company The Fisher Theatre in Detroit, which has long been owned by The Nederlander Co., will be acquired by International Entertainment Holdings Ltd. in London, the parent company of The Ambassador Theatre Group, also in the United Kingdom. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

For full stories and more, visit dbusiness.com/daily-news to get daily news sent directly to your email.

Textile Turnaround Detroit artist thinks big to survive COVID-19.

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BY GRACE TURNER |

hen retail sales for Scarlet Crane Creations, a silk-screening company in Detroit that makes tea towels, bags, fabric bucket organizers, and pillows, fell due to COVID-19, Shayla Johnson took the lull as an opportunity to pivot. The owner and artist now paints motifs in watercolor and sells the licensing of her designs to manufacturing companies, which can then print them on their own goods. She also creates, sells, and licenses digital art.

With each license, Johnson establishes how long the customer can use the design, as well as which types of products it can be printed on. She says she looks for manufacturers that offer sustainable products, in an effort to minimize the industry’s overall carbon footprint.

With a larger potential client base, Johnson says she hopes to add the new, more expressive style typical of her paintings to her silk-screen retail line, creating a unified aesthetic across Scarlet Crane products. “It’s very important for my audience, so they know what they’re getting consistently,” she says. “(Adding designs for manufacturers) allowed me to explore more of a distinct signature style, and it’s still coming together,” Johnson adds. “I’ve had to ask myself a lot of questions about what’s important to me in terms of subject matter and ideas that I represent in my work.

Aside from the architecture of Detroit — a lot of my patterns are inspired by architecture — I just love florals.”

She took her flower designs to the next level in 2018 when Tracy Reese, a New York-based fashion designer, tapped Johnson to create patterns for her Hope for Flowers line of sustainable apparel. The line launched in 2019.

Scarlet Crane is based in Post, a former post office that’s now a retail, studio, and art class space located in the Riverbend neighborhood of Detroit, just west of

JOSH SCOTT

SCREEN ART Shayla Johnson, an artist and owner of Scarlet Crane Creations in Detroit, has designed prints inspired by landmark buildings in the city.

Grosse Pointe Park. Vendors at the facility, which opened in October 2017, sell a variety of handmade goods. Before moving to Post, Johnson sold her work at The Rust Belt Market in Ferndale.

Johnson’s products are available at Post, Urbanum, and City Bird in Detroit; Tru Blue Boutique in St. Clair; and at scarletcrane.com.

Green Hub || By Jake Bekemeyer THE ACCENTURE DETROIT INNOVATION Hub in Livonia, a multinational professional services firm, is now running on 100 percent clean energy.

Overall, the company’s goal is to target net-zero carbon emissions and zero waste at all of its sites, where possible.

Accenture also is developing plans to reduce water risk in areas experiencing scarcity, flooding, and drought. Horace Tiggs, director of the Detroit Innovation Hub, says it’s essential that companies lead from

the front, and making the switch to clean energy in Livonia was the equivalent of taking 200,000 miles of vehicle emissions out of the atmosphere every year.

Accenture’s dedication to sustainability, Tiggs notes, can be taken up by any company or individual. To boost its green attributes in Livonia, the company switched to DTE Energy’s MIGreenPower program.

This option is available to all DTE customers at different price ranges.

The power is generated in Michigan by the Pinnebog Wind Park in Bad Axe, which fuels the Innovation Hub, as well as solar farms in Detroit and Lapeer.

The move to zero waste also encompasses using single-use plastics in company facilities, in addition to ensuring proper recycling of e-waste such as computers, servers, printers, and older office furniture.

“I challenge (everyone) to lean into sustainability,” Tiggs says.

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Thank You to Our Supporters and Sponsors

Diamond Sponsor: Ruby Sponsor: Emerald Sponsors:

ACG Detroit Congratulates This Year’s All Stars Alta Equipment Group Inc.’s IPO SPAC Merger All Star Deal of the Year Over $50 Million Jeffrey A. Hoover, Howard and Howard Attorneys All Star Advisor of the Year Alexis J. Schostak, Dykema All Star Advisor of the Year Alex J. Conti, UHY Corporate Finance All Star Investment Banker of the Year

Matthew B. Feldman, Cascade Partners Rising Star O2 Investment Partners All Star Dealmaker of the Year Justin G. Klimko, Butzel Long Lifetime Achievement Peninsula Fund VI Limited Partnership’s acquisitions of Center for Computer Resources and Business Communications Systems All Star Deal of the Year Under $50 Million

Join us for a virtual awards ceremony on June 15 at 5:00 p.m To register, and for more information, visit www.acg.org/detroit

Founded in 1954, ACG is the premier M&A dealmaking community with 59 chapters worldwide. ACG’s global network comprises more than 100,000 middle market professionals who invest, own and advise growing companies. ACG Detroit, which was established in 1984, facilitates a variety of business meetings and networking events for members across the metro Detroit area to drive middle-market growth.

ACG Detroit was named Chapter of the Year in 2015 and 2016. To learn more, visit www.acg.org/detroit.

Driving Middle Market Growth® ACG_FP_DB0521.indd 1

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Focus || ACG M&A ALL-STARS

ACG MA &

ALL-STARS The Association for Corporate Growth Detroit Chapter and DBusiness magazine honor the 6th annual winners.

BY R.J. KING |

NICK HAGEN

DBusiness magazine partnered with the Association for Corporate Growth Detroit Chapter to honor its recipients of the 6th annual M&A All-Star Awards for 2020 activity. Winners will be recognized during a virtual event, filmed at the Detroit Golf Club, on June 15 at 5 p.m.

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ACG M&A ALL-STARS || Focus

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: TODD FINK, JAY HANSEN, LUKE PLUMPTON

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: RYAN GREENAWALT, TONY COLUCCI

DEALMAKER OF THE YEAR

DEAL OF THE YEAR OVER $50M

O2 Investment Partners • Bloomfield Hills Todd Fink • Managing Partner | Jay Hansen • Managing Partner Luke Plumpton • Partner

Alta Equipment Group Inc. · Livonia Ryan Greenawalt · CEO | Tony Colucci · CFO

WHY O2 INVESTMENT PARTNERS IS THE ACG DEALMAKER OF THE YEAR When O2 Investment Partners in Bloomfield Hills sold its portfolio company, Vessco Holdings, to Gryphon Investors last November, it represented two years of growth that saw Vessco become a national leader in the municipal water and wastewater treatment distribution market. To raise the company’s value prior to the sale, O2 Investment Partners acquired Kennedy Industries Inc., a provider of municipal and industrial water and wastewater equipment and services in Wixom.

The deals were part of seven transactions last year that had their share of twists and turns, COVID-19 or otherwise. While the firm was able to navigate virtual negotiations, due diligence, and filings, it also had good timing.

In January 2020, O2 Investment Partners closed on one of two new platform investments, First Class Air Support in Louisville, Ky. “They’re an aftermarket distributor of components to cargo airlines, and they also provide maintenance and repairs,” says Luke Plumpton, a partner at O2 Investment Partners, which works with founders and family-owned businesses in the lower middle market with $4 million to $15 million in annual EDITDA. “During the pandemic, the demand for air cargo increased, (while) Kennedy was a significant deal because it was done locally, with 90 percent of (the) shareholders and investors in southeast Michigan, along with the work by UHY Corporate Finance (in Farmington Hills).”

The other platform investment was SIB Fixed Cost Reduction in Charleston, S.C., which offers invoice analysis, cost monitoring, and vendor negotiations. As part of four add-on acquisitions, the Kennedy deal was joined by Crenshaw Consulting Group, an engineering services company in Dallas/Fort Worth; Cost Control Associates, a utility expense management firm in Queensbury, N.Y.; and Potomac Abatement Inc., a specialty construction contractor in Jessup, Md. Along the way, O2 Investment Partners closed Fund III with $270 million in investments (the first two funds raised a combined $160 million). The Vessco exit was a home run for the firm and its investors. The deal team included Pat Corden, a partner; managing partners Todd Fink and Jay Hansen; and Jim Frye, a senior associate.

“We formed strong bonds with the owners of Kennedy because it was in our backyard (Wixom),” Fink says. “Every deal is different, and you learn a lot working with family-owned businesses. As for the overall VC sector in Michigan, we are all focused on growing and drawing businesses here.”

WHY ALTA EQUIPMENT WAS THE ACG DEAL OF THE YEAR OVER $50M Two years ago, Alta Equipment Group Inc. in Livonia was eyeing an expansion to neighboring states like Indiana and Illinois, along with undertaking strategic acquisitions — but access to capital to finance the endeavors was limited. After researching several options, the company and its advisers dusted off a little-used financial tool known as a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Since then, there’s been a run on SPAC deals.

The offering, where a shell corporation is listed on a stock exchange with the goal of acquiring a private company, sometimes referred to as a SPAC IPO, traces its roots to the early 1990s when entrepreneurs found it difficult to attract mid-market capital to expand their respective businesses. As SPAC deals ebbed and flowed, the number of annual transactions remained low. For example, in 2019 there were 59 SPAC IPOs that had combined capital of $13.6 billion.

Last year, due to a number of factors, SPAC transactions quadrupled to 248 deals that overall accounted for $83.3 billion in capital. Driving demand for more public companies — there are around 4,000 public entities today, as compared to some 8,000 20 years ago — was the ability to generate fees across myriad service providers such as lawyers, accountants, and advisers.

At the same time, the amount of money flowing into investment markets was on the rise, while the SEC became more involved in regulating the transactions — which had the effect of raising the reputation of such deals in the marketplace. “We were at the leading edge of the SPAC wave,” says Ryan, Greenawalt, CEO of Alta Equipment Group, which traces its roots to 1984 when his father, Steven, started the business.

A provider of heavy machinery used in the construction, utility, and logistics market, Alta Equipment Group put its financial advisory team to the test leading up to the closing on Feb. 14, 2020. In addition to the SPAC IPO, the company acquired two other companies as part of the transaction: Liftech Equipment Cos. in Syracuse, N.Y., and FlaglerCE Holdings in Tampa, Fla. “Following our listing on the New York Stock Exchange, we acquired five other companies that have provided us a strong presence in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Florida, Virginia, Maine, Massachusetts, and New York,” says Greenawalt, who worked closely with CFO Tony Colucci in consummating the SPAC. “We more than doubled our revenue from $350 million in 2017 to proforma revenue today of just under $900 million. Plus, we doubled the number of employees (to 2,000) and we kept the company in Michigan.”

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Focus || ACG M&A ALL-STARS

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: JEFF NEWSON, ANDREW MICHALAK, JIM GATT, JOHN BAMBERGER, KARL LAPEER, CURT HICKS

DEAL OF THE YEAR UNDER $50M

INVESTMENT BANKER OF THE YEAR

Peninsula Capital Partners · Detroit Karl Lapeer · Partner

UHY Corporate Finance · Farmington Hills Alex J. Conti · Partner and Managing Director

WHY THE FORMATION OF CENTARIS IS THE ACG DEAL OF THE YEAR UNDER $50M Launching 130 platforms over 26 years, Karl Lapeer, a partner at Peninsula Capital Partners in Detroit, has never closed a deal in which two firms are acquired and merged at the same time. “I tried a few times, and this is the only time we got two transactions to the finish line simultaneously,” Lapeer says. “It all got started two years ago, when the prospective seller approached a potential buyer who said no. And then, a year later, they said yes.”

Seeking a sale, Business Communication Systems Inc., a telecommunications equipment supplier, didn’t need to travel far — just two miles — to approach a possible buyer, Center for Computer Resources. Both companies are located in Sterling Heights, and they’re in the same industry. Forty years ago, tucked inside the Doll and Toy Soldier Shop in Berkley, Family Computer Center Inc., the forerunner to Center for Computer Resources, got its start. It quickly earned acclaim, and was recognized by Atari Inc. as its largest-volume U.S. independent sales outlet in the 1980s.

The combined company, Centaris, is now part of the Peninsula Fund VI Limited Partnership.

Providing services to dozens of small- and medium-sized businesses, today Centaris is a single source for managed IT, voice, internet connectivity, and computer network needs. Prior to the acquisitions and merger, the two enterprises each engaged BeaconView Capital in Rochester to explore a sale of the respective businesses. “We were introduced to the deal by Jack DiFranco from BeaconView in early April 2020, and apart from what came to be a friendship that formed between the two companies prior to the sale, almost every part of the deal was local,” Lapeer says.

Other than Cohen & Co. in Cleveland, which provided accounting services for the deal, the local team included Honigman Miller in Detroit, Reiber Group in Detroit, Comerica Bank (Birmingham office), Kerr Russell Weber in Detroit, Cuthbertson Law in Rochester, Clayton McKervey in Southfield, and BeaconView (seller investment banker).

Lapeer, who worked with his colleagues Dave Hiemstra, a partner, and Andrew Michalak, a vice president, says the deal has plenty of upside. The deal “represented a new platform for us, so down the road if we can collectively grow the business, there may be a sale in three to five years and everyone involved could get a second bite of the apple, or a second exit.”

WHY ALEX J. CONTI IS THE ACG INVESTMENT BANKER OF THE YEAR When it comes to M&A transactions, few deals extend to Reykjavik, Iceland, and involve the FTC. Alex J. Conti, a partner and managing director of UHY Corporate Finance in Farmington Hills, was able to balance multiple factors in the sale of College Park Industries Inc., a manufacturer of upper and lower limb prosthetics in Warren, to Ossur in Iceland, which develops, produces, and sells noninvasive orthopedic equipment.

“There were several shareholders with College Park, and none were family and friends,” Conti says. “On top of that, the prosthetic industry is very sparse. There also was an anti-competitive part of the deal. The FTC determined there was a product line, Espire Elbow, that was deemed anti-competitive, so we had to divest that part of the business for College Park during the process of the negotiations. The FTC could have blocked the deal, so we didn’t want that to happen.

“It was almost like a deal within the deal. For College Park, the sale allowed them to pay off the shareholders. For management, they could focus more on the day-to-day business. They needed stable leadership and a dedicated shareholder group to invest in the business. We accomplished all of that. Now there’s one boss, one strategy, and Ossur has deep pockets.”

Overall, Conti and his team oversaw seven sell-side transactions last year.

The deals varied in size, location, and industry, in addition to the cross-border College Park deal that required a divesture. To complete that transaction, Steeper Group in England acquired Espire Elbow. The wrinkle in the deal meant the transaction closed in June 2020, rather than the previous year.

Another highlight in 2020 for Conti and his team was the sale of Kennedy Industries Inc., a provider of municipal and industrial water and wastewater equipment and services in Wixom, to Vessco Holdings, a portfolio company of O2 Investment Partners in Bloomfield Hills. In a separate deal, O2 subsequently sold Vessco Holdings. While Kennedy Industries had a few dozen offers, Conti says the company’s management team wanted to remain.

“We had more than 65 bids for Kennedy, so there was a ton of interest,” Conti says. “Kennedy had been operating independently and they wanted to stay in Michigan, and preferably be acquired by another Michigan company.

We were able to find a local investor, and now Kennedy really likes being with Vessco, given they have a national reach within the water and wastewater treatment distribution market. It was a win-win deal.”

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ACG M&A ALL-STARS || Focus

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

ADVISER OF THE YEAR

Justin G. Klimko · Shareholder and President Butzel Long · Detroit

Howard & Howard Attorneys · Royal Oak Jeffrey A. Hoover · Member

WHY JUSTIN G. KLIMKO EARNED ACG’S LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Over the course of 41 years with Butzel Long, Justin G. Klimko has never seen the same deal twice. Joining the firm fresh out of Duke University Law School, Klimko says he appreciates today “how every deal is different, how different the deal process is now in the way deals get done, and what’s included in those deals. There’s been an enormous evolution. And along the way, I got involved with the Association for Corporate Growth.

“It’s a quality organization — and chapter — that highlights and connects the depth and talent of the M&A community in metro Detroit and around the world. The members go beyond lawyers to include bankers, accountants, and advisers. It connects the entire M&A ecosphere.”

Reflecting on his career — as president, a board member, and a shareholder of Butzel Long — Klimko says every skill set, whether refined or limited, can contribute to a successful outcome. “We were doing a deal where a European company was buying an American company, and we worked through everything, including various antitrust issues. At the closing in New York City, we learned at the last minute there were some Italian bonds that could represent a major issue.

“Well, I speak some Italian, and I was able to figure out what it meant. It was just my interest in language that helped get the deal done. We had to call the Italian counsel to confirm everything. As I read the documents and confirmed our understanding with all of the parties, the deal did close. We determined the bonds didn’t pose a threat to the company.”

That was 15 years ago. More recently, Klimko and his team discovered a potential product liability claim may have posed an impediment to closing a deal for a buyer. Facing an unknown impact on the company’s finances, the deal was restructured with insurance solutions and a letter of credit, among other protections.

“When I look back, you went into a room and there were boxes and boxes of files and papers, and you went through everything and took lots of notes,” he says. “Now it’s all on the internet. In the old days, there were no cellphones.

If you received documents in the mail, you would mark them up and send them back in the mail. I remember in mid-1985, when Gannett bought the Evening News Association (The Detroit News); it was prior to the JOA. At the end, we had all of these documents with multiple changes, and we had a heck of a time trying to figure it out and put it into readable form.”

WHY JEFFREY A. HOOVER IS AN ACG ADVISER OF THE YEAR Jeffrey A. Hoover was like a football coach directing multiple players on and off the field as the outcome of the game unfolded. But in his case, the competition went into overtime. A member of Howard & Howard Attorneys in Royal Oak, Hoover was the lead lawyer for Livonia-based Alta Equipment Group Inc.’s SPAC IPO, which involved listing the company on the New York Stock Exchange, along with closing two M&A transactions.

“Our core group was 10 to 12 attorneys, and another 40 lawyers from our office worked on the deal,” Hoover says. “For the SPAC, it was long nights (and working on the) weekends from November 2019 to Feb. 14, 2020, to close the deal. It was challenging, especially when you add in the acquisition of two companies in Florida and New York (respectively). It was like handling three major transactions all at once.”

In addition to managing a refinancing of Alta Equipment Group’s existing credit facilities, Hoover negotiated the resolution of other credit facilities held by OEM captive finance partners. To close on the two M&A deals, several dozen legal advisers came into the picture, representing some of the largest law firms in the country. The list included Jones Day, Winston Strawn, Vincent & Elkins, White & Case, Morgan Lewis, and Dickinson Wright.

With negotiating sessions crossing several time zones, there were plenty of deadlines to track and complete. “SPAC allows a different profile of company to become public,” Hoover says. “After the initial deal, there were five other transactions we worked on for Alta, for a total of seven in 2020. Alta really is growing fast, and the SPAC brought them to another level in terms of getting better access to capital that private companies don’t have.”

To complement his legal expertise, Hoover has a degree in accounting and an MBA. He says his understanding of business operations, including the dynamics of operating within a competitive marketplace, allows him to rapidly evaluate and advise his clients on dozens of legal matters, including structuring and negotiating acquisitions and mergers, as well as guiding companies through bankruptcy proceedings.

“The Alta deal was probably the most challenging and rewarding transaction I’ve been a part of,” Hoover says. “Last year was the busiest in my career, and the value of those seven deals is now more than $1 billion. They’ve really been on a growth trajectory over the last five years. As for SPAC deals, we’ll see more of them as long as everything lines up.”

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Focus || ACG M&A ALL-STARS

ADVISER OF THE YEAR

RISING STAR

Dykema · Bloomfield Hills Alexis Schostak · Member

Cascade Partners · Southfield Matthew B. Feldman · Director

WHY ALEXIS SCHOSTAK IS AN ACG ADVISER OF THE YEAR Before COVID-19, Alexis Schostak might have reasoned PPP stood for Practice, Parenting, and Patience. As a member of Dykema, a large law firm in Detroit with offices in Bloomfield Hills and elsewhere, Schostak moved to the region 13 years ago from New York. Now, with two children, she’s found her legal skills are rubbing off.

As co-lead of the firm’s Paycheck Protection Program work, Schostak says the loans that began to be facilitated and administered last summer and fall by the Small Business Administration 7(a) loan program didn’t come with a rigid rulebook. The initial guidance from the SBA, which wasn’t staffed properly to handle the flood of work, was fairly broad. It was followed by a stream of changes and counter-changes. Through it all, she provided advice to buyers and sellers regarding PPP loans on more than 50 M&A transactions.

“My two children probably know more about PPP than most lawyers know,” Schostak says. “The craziest part was that pre-COVID-19, I didn’t answer my cell phone if I didn’t know who it was. After the pandemic broke out, I took every call. At one point, there was a waiting list to talk to me. I was on the other line and people would hold because they didn’t want to lose an opportunity to advance their client’s interest.”

As an assistant practice group leader in Dykema’s corporate finance group, Schostak’s work focuses on advising private equity clients and their portfolio companies on the complex, customized leveraged finance aspects of acquisition and refinancing transactions. Those skill sets came in handy when the PPP effort began to be facilitated.

From the third quarter onward, Schostak says she’s never been busier. In addition to advising a range of buyers, sellers, and advisers on the SBA guidelines, she participated in webinars; co-authored client alerts; and took the lead on multiple fronts, including negotiating representations and warranties, covenants, specific indemnities, and escrow arrangements.

“The PPP loans were very important to metro Detroit’s business community, as well as the rest of the country,” Schostak says. “It helped keep people employed during the lockdown, and they helped position companies to have a successful second half of the year. One of the biggest challenges was making sure any M&D deal didn’t jeopardize the forgiveness of a given loan. Initially, I thought PPP loans would be a few weeks, but here we are a year later and we’re still working on it.”

WHY MATTHEW B. FELDMAN IS AN ACG RISING STAR In years past, closing a deal — let alone two — on New Year’s Eve would mean missing out on a celebration. But with one of the biggest nights of the year now a private affair due to COVID-19, Matthew B. Feldman, director of Cascade Partners in Southfield, says closing the transactions was a good way to end what was a dismal 2020 for most everyone.

In one deal, Feldman helped BullsEye Telecom, a mid-market telecommunications firm in Southfield, complete its first buy-side transaction when it acquired Bandwave Systems in New Jersey. The move was ambitious; BullsEye Telecom set a goal of doubling in size. Before Bandwave, which delivers broadband internet connectivity, was identified, Feldman and his team sought out dozens of likely acquisition targets.

“For BullsEye, it was their first acquisition of hopefully many, and when we got engaged, we strategized,” says Feldman, who served as the exclusive buy-side adviser. “You can’t do it organically; you have to do it through M&A. We sat down with the company leaders many times to strategize what part of their business would benefit most from an M&A. While broadband was a smaller part of the business, there were a lot of growth opportunities.

“The goal was to find something straight down the fairway for BullsEye with a company that has a similar product line. It makes it much easier, and it sets them up for what comes next. When we were engaged (in January 2020), we cast a wide net and identified 200 potential companies that fit our client’s buying criteria. We whittled that down to 10 to 12 firms, did the due diligence, and it turned out Bandwave was thinking of selling. It all worked out nicely, and the success came about because of all the strategy work.”

The other deal, in which Feldman served as the exclusive sell-side adviser, was the formation of the Digestive Health Institute from the merger of the Michigan Gastroenterology Institute and Capitol Colorectal Surgery, both of which are located in Lansing. Following the merger in December 2019, the Digestive Health Institute was sold last year to a private equity firm.

Feldman joined Cascade Partners in 2019 following 10 years of investment banking experience, where he led corporate finance transactions across such industries as consumer products, retail, health care, and building products. Overall, he has been involved in transactions that total more than $30 billion in enterprise value. “The key to any deal is to get it done in a way that maximizes value for your client,” Feldman says.

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Perspectives || Economic Development

Trouble Ahead Unless business, educational, and political leaders develop a long-term plan for boosting the population level, especially among college graduates and well-educated immigrants, Michigan’s economy will sputter and contract. economist and researcher with the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “Even if we don’t have a population decline and we grew slightly, Michigan is in deep trouble on the demographics going forward.”

He adds that “for years, Michigan has witnessed negative domestic migration.” That is, there are more college-educated and other workers leaving the state than are coming in. “We’re also seeing more baby boomers retiring and leaving the state for warmer climates,” he says.

If, in fact, the state’s population trend is heading in the wrong direction, the ramifications are concerning, according to demographers and economic development specialists.

Demographer Kurt Metzger, a consensus consultant to the Lansing-based Michigan Non-Profit Association who co-founded Data Driven Detroit, agrees with the University of Michigan Population Studies Center and state demographer Eric Guthrie that Michigan could lose a congressional seat based upon the 2020 census results.

“It’s not only about losing political representation in Washington, D.C.,” Metzger says. “The level of federal funding is at risk because part of the formula is based upon population. In addition, businesses use population data to locate stores and determine whether they want to expand or move their operations to Michigan.”

GRAND ENTRY A popular city in Michigan, Grand Rapids consistently draws new residents year after year, but a growth rate of less than 1 percent in recent years leaves room for improvement.

In February the U.S. Census Bureau announced that due to COVID-19-related delays, it will deliver redistricting data — information the states need to redraw or “redistrict” their legislative boundaries — to all states by Sept. 30.

According to experts, the three factors that determine population are births, deaths, and inbound and outbound migration, both domestically and internationally. Based on past trends and projections, there’s growing concern over a “perfect storm” brewing on the horizon.

“In 2019 we had the lowest number of births since 1941, and 61 out of our 83 counties had more deaths than births,” says Metzger, who, along with Guthrie, the state’s demographer at the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget, acknowledges that it’s a disturbing fact.

“Over the next decade, as our baby boomer population experiences increased mortality, for a period of time we’ll probably see more deaths than births,” says Guthrie, who, as state demographer, serves as a liaison between the state and the U.S. Census Bureau while also assisting state, county, and local government officials,

COURTESY OF THE CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS

W

hen the U.S. Census Bureau recently released its annual population estimate for Michigan, it revealed an alarming trend.

Between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020, the state lost 18,240 residents — the first year-overyear drop in more than a decade.

Although Michigan was the only state in the nation to have lost population between 2000 and 2010, U.S. Census Bureau estimates since 2010 indicate a growth of slightly less than 1 percent, whereas the nation as a whole grew more than 6 percent. Michigan’s population peaked in 2004 at 10,055,315 people, but it hasn’t broken the 10 million mark since 2007.

The most recent estimate shows Michigan with a population of 9,966,555.

Formulated mainly from birth/death records and migration projections while using the 2010 census as a base, the 2020 census results due sometime this year will reveal the true state of Michigan’s population. The results have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s possible that the two-year estimated decline is a data error that will be corrected with the 2020 census, but I’m surprised to see the year-to-year loss, as I was expecting the population to slightly increase,” says Donald Grimes, an

BY BILL DOW

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Economic Development || Perspectives

MASS MIGRATION These states experienced sustained negative migration over the last five years, with New York and Illinois seeing the largest drop in population.

Annual estimates of the resident population for the United States: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2020. Year-over-year migration is rounded to the nearest thousand. Latest figures available.

INFOGRAPHIC BY ALEX SHAMMAMI

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division

nonprofits, businesses, and the general public with demographic data needs.

Meanwhile, the fertility rate in the U.S. and Michigan continues to drop, says Reynolds Farley, a retired University of Michigan professor of U.S. population trends who teaches a course about Detroit and the census in a census year.

“There’s been a persistent decline in the fertility rate,” Farley says. “In the 1960s, women averaged about three children in their lifetime, and now it’s down to 1.7. In 1980 there were about 70,000 more births than deaths in Michigan, and now there are about 20,000 more births than deaths.”

A smaller workforce also presents challenges to growing Michigan’s economy.

“It’s not just about the population numbers, it’s also the issue of workforce size,” Grimes says.

“I think Michigan’s economy will continue to perform at the national average for a while, but unless we can retain and attract more well-educated workers in the knowledge economy, we’re going to run into a limit where our labor market is going to be tighter than the rest of the nation

and we won’t have the people to fill the jobs.”

The counterbalancing factor to the birth/ death ratio and negative domestic migration has been immigration.

Prior to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Michigan had seen positive net migration for the past seven or eight years, according to Guthrie. “Looking at the components, the reason for that is because we had sufficient international migration that offset outgoing domestic migration,” he says. “Retaining young people and increasing migration to the state will be the key to stemming population loss and promoting growth.”

Experts say no one should overlook the importance immigration plays in the state’s overall economy.

“One advantage Michigan has is the influx of international migrants,” Grimes says. “They’re typically from Asia, Arab countries, and Europe; tend to be better educated than our aggregate population; and have been attracted to our strong universities and opportunities in the automotive and medical fields.

“Immigration of talent has been our savior in some sense, so I was surprised by the estimated loss of Michigan’s population because I thought we would have seen continued slight growth.

Perhaps it’s due to a decline of immigration because the Trump administration had policies that discouraged it.”

Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, the third largest chamber in the country, also emphasizes the importance of immigration to Michigan.

“It’s always been a key component to our nation’s success, and Michigan’s, not just because it adds economic actors. It also brings fresh energy and innovation into our economy,” Baruah says. “The challenge for the state is that immigration policies are set at the federal level; however, I think it will be allowed to flow more under the Biden administration. That will be great for our businesses, as they want access to the best talent.”

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Perspectives || Economic Development

SUSTAINED MOVEMENT These states saw consistent growth in population over the last decade. The largest growth rates go to Texas and Arizona.

Annual estimates of the resident population for the United States: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2020. Year-over-year migration rounded to the nearest thousand.

Latest figures available.

aging population. Experts believe stemming the exodus of young talent and increasing domestic and international inward migration hold the key.

“I work with data, so being alarmed is really not a part of that work, but I can say that if the goal is to increase Michigan’s population, then we need to make sure we’re laser-focused on the migration component and that Michigan becomes a place where people can work, live, and be successful,” Guthrie says. “Migration is always the hardest component in a projection series, because of a lack of data and the variability in migration decision-making.”

For years, policymakers and economic development specialists have tried to address the ageold problem of young graduates leaving Michigan at a rate that far exceeds the number of young people who relocate to Michigan.

Lou Glaser, president of Michigan Future Inc., a nonpartisan organization whose mission is to be a source of new ideas on how Michigan can succeed as a world class community, says the state is falling further and further behind.

“Everybody is still assuming that the way you

attract companies is by subsidizing businesses rather than creating places where people want to live,” says Glaser, who points to the Downtown Denver Project as the most successful model for creating a high-wage economy.

“We need to completely change our approach to economic development to one where talent attracts capital. A lot of our graduates are still going to Chicago, New York, Boston, L.A., Seattle, San Francisco, and Denver because they’re talent magnets. Those places all have high density, high amenities, and great mass transit, where you don’t have to own a car. Metro Detroit has been lacking that for decades.

Unless we turn that around, we’re not going to be competitive for the Amazons of the world going forward.”

Metzger says e-commerce giant Amazon, which three years ago turned down Detroit for a second headquarters following a national search, passed on the Motor City for a number of reasons. “We didn’t have enough of a concentrated talent workforce, no regional transit, and low education levels,” he reports.

Due to the concentration and buildup of the automotive industry more than a century ago, Michigan has world-renowned colleges and universities that conduct billions of dollars in research each year. “We do a really good job sending people to college, but we don’t get as many who finish and graduate,” Grimes notes.

“We need to make sure people complete their four-year degree.”

Grimes agrees that for the higher-paying 21st century economy, there needs to be more focus on providing a place where people want to live and work, in order to encourage and secure a greater concentration of well-educated talent.

“Grand Rapids is a great model and has certainly taken that approach successfully,” Grimes says. “Ann Arbor has seen job growth, and in Detroit we’re seeing a glimmer of a turnaround.

However, Michigan still needs to compete with other states in trying to encourage business relocation and expansion through traditional tax incentives. You have to do it, because all the other states are still doing it. We can’t be the only one to disarm.”

INFOGRAPHIC BY ALEX SHAMMAMI

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division

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COURTESY OF THE CITY OF ANN ARBOR

Economic Development || Perspectives

Baruah says the Detroit Regional Chamber continues to bring elected officials from different localities and businesses together to help grow Michigan’s economy. Although he says the current and past two Michigan governors — Gretchen Whitmer, Rick Snyder, and Jennifer Granholm — all pushed major economic development initiatives beyond business incentives, “we haven’t necessarily had the clear and concise statewide development approach that some other states do.”

One challenge in developing such an approach is consistency. “The problem is, we’ve had a lot of initiatives that make a lot of noise, then (they) disappear,” Metzger says.

Still, Baruah believes regional cooperation has dramatically increased over the last decade.

“Coming out of the Great Recession, I believe businesses and individuals in the region and across the state realized we’re in this together,” he says.

“We’ve seen more regional cooperation, with examples such as the TCF Center, transit and service infrastructure initiatives, and the Detroit Institute of Arts and Detroit Zoo regional millages.

“If we aren’t able to make the appropriate public investments, we’ll end up accelerating the population decline because people don’t want to live in a place that isn’t investing in itself. We need initiatives that make the business environment conducive to our existing companies, (where most of the job growth comes from), and those that will retain and attract people, new businesses, and entrepreneurs.”

Some envision that Michigan may have additional opportunities to grow and attract talent surrounding health care, research and development in the vehicle mobility sector, and renewable energy. “One industry that will likely boom is medical care, because we’ll have a great increase in the 60-and-over population,” Farley says. “We’ll need more elder care facilities, and physicians and caregivers who specialize in older populations.”

Grimes and others also see growth opportunities and an attraction of young talent within the electric and autonomous vehicle sector. “I’m not sure all those jobs will be in Michigan and I’m not sure the Big Three will win that race, but anything our state government can do to help our companies win, they should,” Grimes says.

Some wonder if the phenomenon of working remotely that has occurred due to the coronavirus pandemic may play a meaningful role in population migration. A study released last June

by Stanford University found about 42 percent of U.S. employees are working from home full time. It’s a trend that’s projected to continue beyond the pandemic.

“The acceleration of remote working could potentially have a noticeable impact on how

businesses locate and hire, so we have to watch this very carefully,” Baruah says. “If I have headquarters in Detroit and have an employee in Troy, does it really matter if he or she is in Denver or Troy? At the same time, the cost of living is a factor, and we’re already seeing people fleeing high-cost areas such as the Bay Area to lower-cost, higher quality of life areas. I think Michigan has a real opportunity to capitalize on that.”

There has been some talk that because of COVID-19 and the ability to work remotely, more people will be moving out of central cities and into suburbs and rural areas. “Maybe there will be some evidence of that, but I’m not sure that it’s going to be overwhelming,” Grimes says.

Surveys released in the past year by the Harris Poll reveal conflicting information. In April 2020, soon after the pandemic began, one survey found nearly one-third of Americans were considering moving to less densely populated areas. That same month, the Brookings Institution’s William Frey wrote that his analysis of census estimates found that “after people flocked to the big cities in the early 2010s, major metro areas with populations of more than 1 million have seen growth slowdowns and even losses over the past four years.”

However, in February the Harris Poll issued a new report that revealed that seven out of 10 people surveyed in metro New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, and Philadelphia said they preferred to live in a big city — suggesting that despite some dire predictions, the “urban revival” trend hasn’t been derailed.

In an effort to capture remote workers who may consider a move, several U.S. cities, including Topeka, Kan., Tulsa, Okla., and Savannah, Ga., have offered varying relocation financial incentives to workers — including helping to pay

for the down payment on a home.

Last October, Cornerstone Alliance in Benton Harbor, a nonprofit, investor-governed economic development organization primarily focused on increasing employment opportunities, private sector capital investments, and the local tax base, along with a number of its partners in southwest Michigan, announced a “Move to Michigan” campaign geared toward Chicago workers that offered up to $15,000 on a new home and a choice of more than $5,000 in additional perks including annual memberships to an athletic club, car service to and from the regional airport for one year, and annual passes to Berrien County Parks and St. Joseph and Benton Harbor beaches.

The goal was to attract 25 new households — singles, couples, and families with children — that would total 75 new residents in Berrien County. As of March 1, more than 1,000 applications were received from 19 states, with around 70 percent coming from the Chicago region, according to Rob Cleveland, president and CEO of Cornerstone Alliance.

Meanwhile, when Michigan — and the rest of the country — receives the 2020 census results, the race will continue, perhaps with even more determination in trying to enact initiatives to retain and attract workers and businesses in the hopes of implementing sustained growth.

“If we want to grow and not just age in place, like we’re doing pretty quickly, the time to act is now,” Metzger says. “We can’t just sit back and hope that because we have all this fresh water and don’t have severe weather, that’s enough of a sell.”

FOUR SEASONS Michigan offers multiple recreational options, and while some say it’s more difficult to attract residents due to cold winters, cities like Montreal and Toronto report annual population gains.

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CONGRATS TO THE 2021 30 IN THEIR THIRTIES HONOREES FROM DBUSINESS AND OUR SPONSORS

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CONGRATULATIONS 2021 DBUSINESS ‘30 IN THEIR THIRTIES

Increasing postsecondary attainment rate to %

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equates to

$42 billion in increased income Melanie D’Evelyn D i r e c t o r, Detroit Drives Degrees

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30 in Their Thirties

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30 IN THEIR THIRTIES From owners and CEOs to presidents and directors, the 2021 Class of 30 in Their Thirties share a common trait — learning how to pivot their operations, often multiple times, to account for market upheavels brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

PROFILES BY DAN CALABRESE, TIM KEENAN, R.J. KING, TOM MURRAY, AND GRACE TURNER MATTHEW LAVERE

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Feature || 30 in Their Thirties 36 • CO-FOUNDER/MANAGING PARTNER • EQUALSIGN, DETROIT • EMPLOYEES: 5 • REVENUE: $500,000+ COLLEGE: MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

38 • COO • MARYGROVE CONSERVANCY, DETROIT EMPLOYEES: 3 • REVENUE: NA • COLLEGE: MARYGROVE COLLEGE

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CANDICE BOWMAN

RACHEAL ALLEN

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acheal Allen has come a long way from the start of her college career in 2001 when, as the single mother of a 6-month-old son, she took a three-hour, three-transfer bus ride each way from her home on Detroit’s east side to and from her classes at Marygrove College.

Allen worked her way through college in work-study programs, often leaving campus after midnight. She was also an entrepreneur while still a student, operating a Farmers Insurance office. She earned her undergraduate degree in English in 2006.

Her journey came full circle in December 2019, when she became COO of the Marygrove Conservancy in northwest Detroit.

Prior to her appointment, she worked in nonprofit and education facility operations throughout the city.

While Marygrove College closed in 2019, the Marygrove Conservancy, a nonprofit, was formed in 2018 to take over the 53-acre campus. When fully operational, it will offer an early childhood education center run by Starfish Family Services, a K-12 school (part of the Detroit Public Schools Community District), and wellness and recreation services for community members. The University of Michigan is helping develop curricula.

“I never imagined that I would actually be part of (Marygrove’s) transformation,” Allen says. “Having the opportunity to do this work continues to be a really great honor, because it’s a place that not only meant so much to me growing up, but (it also meant a lot) to so many people in the community.”

As COO, Allen manages the daily operations of the campus and helps with outreach and engagement, including a new Community Impact Incubator and broadcasting live theater.

“We really want this campus to reflect the programming that this community needs,” Allen says. “Whether that’s educational or extracurricular, we work really closely with our partners to make sure that type of programming lives at Marygrove.”

— Grace Turner

andice Bowman heard it herself, in the C-suite, from top executives of various companies. They were looking for a way to master the challenges of diversity and inclusion, and they knew they needed help to get it right.

Bowman, with a wide range of experience in publishing and marketing, sensed that the moment had arrived when the greatest strength she could bring to the market would be something else. “I got strong connectivity with CEOs and executives in the C-suite,” she says, “and it was very apparent over the course of dealings and interactions with this group that they were trying to find ways to fill the gap that was diversity and inclusion.”

Believing she could help firms navigate the challenge, Bowman joined with Kelly Coleman to establish Equalsign. The company opened its doors late in 2019 with one client on board and big ambitions. Three months later, COVID-19 came along.

“Companies were diverting their marketing spending, thinking they needed to hold back because the world was shutting (the economy) down, and the first thing to go was how we communicate to different audiences — because we didn’t necessarily know what’s going to happen with this virus,” she says. “So that was a little bit of a scare.”

The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis proved a turning point for Equalsign, as the incident brought a new focus to corporate diversity efforts. Bowman and Coleman were poised and ready. “We haven’t really had to do much of an announcement because the phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” Bowman says.

An engagement with Equalsign often starts with an audit, since Bowman says companies usually have to identify their starting point. “It’s OK not to know what you don’t know,” Bowman says, “but it’s not OK to not understand that you may need to consult or bring in diverse voices of all types.” Bowman is seeking to establish herself as a leader among those voices.

— Dan Calabrese

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30 in Their Thirties 30 • SENIOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER • DETROIT REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP, DETROIT • EMPLOYEES: 20+ REVENUE: TC • COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

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37 • EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR • BUILDING COMMUNITY VALUE, DETROIT • EMPLOYEES: 3 • REVENUE: $192,420 COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

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CHASE L. CANTRELL

WILL BUTLER

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here was one thing Will Butler knew he did not want to do when he finished his political science degree at the University of Michigan: He didn’t want to leave. “Someone has to be here to help Michigan and metro Detroit move into the future and help it prosper,” he recalls thinking at the time.

While Butler gained experience with civic involvement by volunteering for political campaigns during college, he wanted to do something different following graduation. In 2014, he landed a job in the communication department at the Detroit Regional Chamber. He transferred to the economic development team in 2015, then transitioned with the rest of his department when it was spun off as the freestanding Detroit Regional Partnership.

The nonprofit DRP is supported by local units of government and corporate contributions. Its purpose is to attract jobs and economic development activity to the region — something Butler found to be both an art and a science.

“You have to have the technical knowledge,” he says. “You have to know your community facts, know your tax rates, and as an economic developer you have to know about every industry.

If you can’t articulate an appropriate business case, you’re not doing your job.”

That’s the science part. As for the art, he says it’s all about “planting seeds and building relationships. These location decisions about where facilities go are data-driven, but they’re also a lot about relationships. It might be a year or two later before a relationship pans out.”

He’s already seen success, particularly in the form of Clearcover, a Chicago-based insurance technology company that last year relocated a 300-employee operations center to Detroit. To speed up the process, he and his team are creating a database of verified industrial properties for prospective companies. “Our work can absolutely change the narrative of this region,” he says.

— Dan Calabrese

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ather than pursue a likely lucrative legal career, Chase L. Cantrell chose to help rebuild the city he’s passionate about — Detroit.

After starting his journey at the Dykema law firm in 2008, Cantrell founded Building Community Value, a nonprofit group dedicated to assisting people in the basics of locating, acquiring, financing, and implementing a project management strategy for small-scale residential and commercial real estate rehabilitation projects in Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck.

So far, about 300 people have enlisted in the program, and Cantrell says nearly a quarter of those individuals have either completed or are in the midst of a project. What prompted a budding jurist to eschew corporate America in favor of neighborhood America?

At Dykema, he was “seeing how capital is flowing. I’m seeing how development is unfolding around the city. I realized that I had the skill set that would allow me to share my knowledge with residents of the city.”

He started Building Community Value in 2016. “We have some people doing this for sales and some for rental (income),” he says. “Most of it is residential, but we’re seeing more and more commercial. Many of (the participants) are motivated to improve their community.”

Cantrell says that at the outset, operating a nonprofit was challenging. Once he landed his first grant, though, things took off. “It took about a year to get those first dollars in the door, but when you get one funder and prove you’re doing good work, you get another funder to follow suit,” he says.

Today, the nonprofit is hiring more staff and expanding, while the philanthropic partners keep investing. “It’s difficult to get a loan from a lender in what some may see as a risky neighborhood,” Cantrell says of the issue facing many of the people with whom he works. “What folks who come to our program have shown by doing the economic analysis is that it can be done.”

— Tim Keenan

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Feature || 30 in Their Thirties 32 • GLOBAL PROGRAM EXECUTIVE • STEFANINI GROUP, SOUTHFIELD • EMPLOYEES: 25,000 • REVENUE: $1B • COLLEGE: KENT INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY, AUSTRALIA

37 • PRESIDENT • CHARLTON INC., ST. CLAIR SHORES EMPLOYEES: 1,800 • REVENUE: NA • COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER

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CAROLINA DE PAULA CORREA

C.T. CHARLTON

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eaving Michigan to pursue a business management degree at the University of Colorado Boulder, C.T. Charlton knew that one day he’d return. Today, as president of Charlton Inc. in St. Clair Shores, a global outsource sales agent for automakers and suppliers, he leads the industrial group that includes some of the largest players in commercial vehicles, agriculture, construction, aerospace, powersports, and motorcycles.

“It opened a vital new line of business for us coming out of the 2008 recession,” says Charlton, whose father, Chris, launched the business in 1978 with a handshake deal with AMG Industries. “We came across untapped OEMs — not in automotive, but in the mobility space. I brought the idea to my father (in 2011). It made sense not to have all of our eggs in automotive.”

Returning to the region with his family last summer — he grew up in Grosse Pointe Farms — Charlton’s circuitous journey included five years in the Wealth Strategy Group at Northern Trust Corp. in Chicago. After moving over to the family business while in Chicago, Charlton made plans to open a West Coast sales office to support the start of the industrial group and decided to oversee it himself. “We hired people to do what I was doing in Chicago, and I moved to Seattle,” he says.

During high school, Charlton launched a valet parking company with a friend, while another buddy detailed cars. “The typical summer jobs weren’t that interesting,” he says. “We wanted to do more fun things that we liked. Anything with an engine, we were all over it.”

Today, running a one-stop sales office in 20 countries on five continents, Charlton says the company still operates on handshake deals. “We want to maintain a family feel (to the business),” he says. “My father got started by driving around and knocking on the doors of suppliers, and his office was in our basement. Today, we still have that same spirit of family service.”

— R.J. King

t’s been a relatively short trip in years, but long in miles, for Carolina de Paula Correa, who’s gone from the countryside in her native Brazil to a position as global program executive at the Stefanini Group in Southfield.

Stefanini provides IT consulting, marketing, mobility, personalized campaigns, and artificial intelligence. It also offers traditional services such as a service desk, field service, and outsourcing to clients in industries including automotive, chemical, banking, retail, education, and manufacturing.

Correa left Brazil to pursue higher education in Australia, and returned to Brazil to begin her Stefanini career as a quality analyst before her globe-trotting adventures kicked into high gear.

After four years as a quality analyst and coordinator at Stefanini in Brazil, she was sent to Mexico for a six-month stint working with all of the countries in Latin America.

Her road to Southfield was interrupted by a pit stop in Florida, where she began her global program executive activities.

Her job at the time included overseeing the entire relationship between Stefanini and its customers. Correa was transferred to Michigan a year ago to take over the relations between the company and its largest client, an enterprise in the chemical industry.

Working in the IT universe took some getting used to for Correa. “When I started to work with IT, I didn’t think I fit in because I’m more of a people person than a technical person,” she says.

“Then I discovered you can do a lot within IT other than just the technical part. I enjoy having a role where my biggest concern is people. I talk to the customer every day, as their partner.”

Correa’s team, which numbers more than 500 people worldwide, provides all of the services Stefanini has to offer.

“It’s a big challenge and I feel accomplished because there’s a lot going on in my day-to-day,” she says. “I really do like Michigan. I hope to be here long-term.”

— Tim Keenan

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30 in Their Thirties 37 • DIRECTOR, DETROIT DRIVES DEGREES • DETROIT REGIONAL CHAMBER, DETROIT • EMPLOYEES: 80 2020 REVENUE: $6M • COLLEGE: PRINCIPIA COLLEGE, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

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KATELYN SHELBY DAVIS

MELANIE D’EVELYN

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33 • DIRECTOR, MOBILITY • ANTENNA: DETROIT BRANCH EMPLOYEES: 80+ • REVENUE: $12M+ • COLLEGE: GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY

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elanie D’Evelyn is the daughter of two teachers. She credits her parents with igniting her passion for improving the educational standing of Detroiters, which she is doing today as director of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Detroit Drives Degrees program.

D’Evelyn came to Detroit in 2015 after working at a think tank and as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and joined the chamber as a part-time consultant. In that role, she helped create Detroit Drives Degrees; a year later, she was named its director. Program goals include increasing the region’s level of postsecondary attainment as a means to promote economic prosperity, and addressing the racial equity gap in the college graduation rate between white students and those of color.

“I’ve found, working in Detroit, some of the most meaningful work I’ve done in my career,” D’Evelyn says, “because of the need and opportunity to really change trajectory and benefit so many people who are deserving of greater educational opportunity.

I wanted to have a more hands-on opportunity to really make change, and work in a city and regional context rather than a national one, because I thought it would be easier to effect change.”

Her greatest accomplishment was putting together the Detroit Regional Talent Compact, a coalition of about 30 regional leaders from corporations, academia, and philanthropy who share the common goal of improving education attainment and racial inequity in the region.

“One of the great privileges of working at the Detroit Chamber is the power that comes when a business constituency stands for change on the education front. I’m grateful to be situated where I am, doing this work, because business is the primary consumer of talent to make their businesses thrive. It’s been rewarding to make sure the educational institutions that we work with are responsive to the needs businesses have.”

— Tim Keenan

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atelyn Shelby Davis has been interested in cars for as long as she can remember, and has worked in communications in the automotive and mobility industries since earning her degree in advertising and public relations. Her work has taken a more specific turn since she has become an advocate for gender equality in the sector.

As director of mobility for Antenna, a strategic communications and marketing firm in Hackensack, N.J., Davis is part of the team that founded the company’s Detroit branch, which works with clean technology and mobility firms, in January 2021.

“A lot of these companies are startups that have been spending a lot of their time and energy focused on the actual technology, so we do a lot of branding and messaging around who they are and what their differentiators are in the industry,” says Davis, who is co-authoring a book with Kristin Shaw, a public involvement coordinator at WSP, an engineering professional services consulting firm. “Women Driven Mobility,” which will be published by SAE International and be available late this summer, offers 35 case studies showcasing female-led mobility projects across the U.S. According to Davis, the automotive industry is still male-dominated — so much so, she says, that women are more likely to be seriously injured and killed in car accidents. To back up her claim, she references data from multiple studies and an article in The Guardian that discusses, among other things, the fact that vehicles are designed around a male physique. While leadership positions in the mobility industry are more evenly split among men and women, Davis says, most speakers at mobility events are male.

“This is an industry that really does touch everyone,” Davis says. “At some point, either people move (in) some sort of vehicle, or goods are brought to them on some sort of vehicle.”

— Grace Turner

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Feature || 30 in Their Thirties 35 • PRESIDENT/VICE PRESIDENT • JEFFREY AUTOMOTIVE GROUP, ROSEVILLE/TAMAROFF MOTORS AND CAPTURE AUTOMOTIVE, SOUTHFIELD • EMPLOYEES: 185 REVENUE: $125M • COLLEGE: MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

30 • CEO AND CO-OWNER • NATIONAL COMPOSITES, TROY EMPLOYEES: 215 • REVENUE: $20M • COLLEGE: CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

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ERIC FREHSÉE

ADAM FENTON

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dam Fenton, a four-year starter as a fullback at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, hired a trainer in 2014 with a specific goal in mind: to improve his remote chances of getting a training camp invite from an NFL team. “I had some nibbles,” Fenton says wryly, “but no bites.”

But the trainer, who had previously done some work with the U.S. bobsled team, suggested Fenton give bobsled racing a try.

“I ended up making the team, which was an incredible amount of fun, but being a newbie there were a lot of crashes and those sleds got pretty messed up. So actually, my first interaction with composites was repairing our crashed-up practice bobsleds.”

Fenton didn’t know it at the time, but that experience turned out to be prescient — today he’s co-owner and CEO of Troybased National Composites, a multi-facility OEM supplier to more than 80 customers of custom fiber-reinforced plastic and thermoformed products.

“The composite industry is pretty unique in that it’s incredibly fragmented,” Fenton says. “The vast majority of parts go to John Deere and GE, but there’s all these household names (made up of) mom-and-pop, small family-owned composites plants. Our business strategy is obviously organic growth, but also growth through acquisition.”

The strategy has been successful; in the past year, National Composites has expanded to four plants from one facility. “We have a goal of acquiring a new plant every year,” Fenton boldly proclaims. The growth led to employing 200 workers, up from 70, and the company is in the process of hiring 40 more people.

Sales exceeded $20 million last year, and Fenton is targeting $100 million-plus in sales by 2030. “We already have $5 million of organic growth projected out for 2021,” he says. “We should be closing on our fifth plant in the coming months, which is going to be a pretty big game-changer for us.”

— Tom Murray

ric Frehsée, president of the Jeffrey Automotive Group in Roseville and vice president of Tamaroff Motors in Southfield, had an inside track to upper management at the dealership organization founded by his grandfather. But he chose the more difficult road.

He started working at the Jeffrey maintenance department when he was 14, pulling weeds, painting curbs, and cleaning bathrooms. In high school and college, he was a service porter, an oil changer, a service writer, and a car salesman.

“My dad was a very strict product of Eastern European Holocaust survivors who came to this country as immigrants with $7 in their pocket,” Frehsée says. “He grew up working very hard for everything he had, and he wanted me to grow up the same way. The most valuable thing he taught me was to be successful on my own. It makes you appreciate things more, as well.”

Today, Frehsée owns the dealership in Roseville, which sells Acura, Honda, Nissan, and Kia, and is part owner of the dealership in Southfield, which sells Honda and Nissan.

He’s also vice president of Capture Automotive in Southfield, which acquires and delivers competitive vehicles for automakers for benchmarking purposes. Ever since he’s been in the business, Frehsée says he’s often the youngest person in the room at national dealer meetings.

“That gave me the courage and the confidence to know I would be successful,” he says. “I would sit in these meetings with my uncle and dealers who were twice my age, and when the subjects of digital and advertising and transparency came up, they would laugh about it, but I was thinking, ‘This is the future and they don’t see it.’

“I decided to go against the grain and embrace the future,” he says.

— Tim Keenan

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30 in Their Thirties

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DAVID HINES JR.

CHRISTINA HINES

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32 • CO-OWNER AND CREATIVE PRODUCER/DESIGN FABRICATION PROJECT LEAD • VALIANT FILMS/GENERAL MOTORS CO., WARREN/DETROIT • EMPLOYEES: 2/164,000+ • REVENUE: NA/$137.2B (2019) • COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

31 • FIRST ASSISTANT PROSECUTING ATTORNEY WASHTENAW COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, ANN ARBOR • EMPLOYEES: 55 • BUDGET: $6.674M (EST.) COLLEGE: WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

victim of bullying in middle school, Christina Hines has dedicated her career to helping “the little guy,” a calling that led to her role as first assistant prosecuting attorney in the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office.

Part of that assignment is leading the county prosecutor’s Appeals, Training, and Forfeiture Unit and the Special Victims Unit, which focuses on sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and child pornography cases.

“It’s a really stressful job,” says Hines, the mother of three young children. “It’s very hard emotionally. It’s challenging for anyone involved in that field of work. While it does affect me, I have the benefit of having had a blessed upbringing. I love working with kids. They’re so resilient and they’re so strong.”

Hines draws strength from her father, who introduced her to meditation when she was a teenager, and her husband, fellow 30 In Their Thirties honoree David Hines Jr. “I have the best husband in the world,” Hines says. “He and my father are my rocks.”

While attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, she met her husband in the U-M Marching Band. “Music is a huge part of my life story,” says Hines, who played tuba while David Hines was drum major. “It was love at first sight.”

Hines earned her juris doctor at Wayne State University Law School, then worked in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.

“I’ve always wanted to work to protect women and children,” she says. “Once I got into the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, I saw that the real need was in the child sexual abuse unit. There’s just not a lot of people who can do that. It’s such an emotionally demanding job.

“Music and learning history gave me the confidence to move forward, believe in myself, and try to help other people who were less fortunate than myself,” Hines says. “I think that’s really what being a lawyer is about.”

— Tim Keenan

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avid Hines Jr. divides his time between his roles as co-owner and creative producer of Valiant Films in Warren, and his job as design fabrication project lead at General Motors Co. in Detroit. He says his work at each business is similar — he oversees behind-the-scenes activities so the respective creative teams can keep the juices flowing.

Hines and J.B. Armstrong, co-owner and creative director of Valiant Films, launched the company in 2014 and released their first movie, “Solomon,” in April. Most of the film was shot in Detroit. “I’m the glue guy,” Hines says of his work at Valiant. “I need to know a little bit about everything. Not necessarily be an expert at anything, but know a little bit about everything to make sure it all flows in the right direction.”

The film follows the story of a young white writer and an elderly black psychiatrist who both live in Detroit and form a friendship. It examines the role of culture and relationships among different groups in Detroit and the effects of gentrification.

At GM, Hines coordinates the creation of show vehicles — those that are prototypes, shown in commercials, or are concept vehicles. He joined GM in October 2019.

While attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Hines played the euphonium before serving as drum major in the Michigan Marching Band. He met his wife, Christina Hines — who’s featured in this year’s 30 In Their Thirties class — at U-M; she played tuba.

Hines says he likes the balance between his jobs, and says his wife “is just the best.” He says their strong relationship is the reason he can juggle Valiant, GM, and family life. The couple has three children ages 5, 3, and 7 months. “You just kind of find the nooks and crannies in life to pack it in,” Hines says.

— Grace Turner

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Feature || 30 in Their Thirties 36 • VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE/TREASURER ZIEBART INTERNATIONAL CORP., TROY • EMPLOYEES: 105 REVENUE: NA • COLLEGE: ADRIAN COLLEGE

39 • PLANT MANAGER • BRIDGEWATER INTERIORS/ADIENT, DETROIT • EMPLOYEES: 196 • REVENUE: $27M • COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, U.K.

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ELENA JACOB

BRIAN JACKMAN

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iebart International Corp. in Troy is the only place Brian Jackman has worked, and his goal is to retire from the company when the time is right.

Today, Jackman is vice president and treasurer of the worldwide franchisor of the Ziebart brand of automotive aftermarket stores, which is famous for its rustproofing service but has expanded to include other offerings since its founding in 1959.

Jackman credits his success to a mentor he had at the company when he was first hired in as a branch accountant in 2008, immediately after graduating from Adrian College.

“If I could narrow it down to one thing,” Jackman says of his meteoric rise up the Ziebart corporate ladder, “I’d say it’s what my mentor told me about building relationships. Whether I was at the bottom or the top, I’ve always built relationships. It’s really amazing how people will go out of their way to help you if you build those relationships.”

Those connections have come in handy as Ziebart has locations in 34 countries and 20 states.

It’s also safe to say that Jackman is all in with Ziebart. “My vehicle (Cadillac Xt6) is completely Ziebarted (minus the rustproofing, since it’s a lease), and pretty much all of my family and friends’ (vehicles) are, as well,” he says. “I believe in all the products we sell, and I’m passionate about them.”

In addition to the original rustproofing, Ziebart’s services now include interior and exterior auto detailing, paint correction and protection, window tinting, films, auto glass, and spray-on pickup truck bed liners.

“We do anything to make your car feel like new longer,” Jackman says. “I hope to be at Ziebart for the rest of my life. All of the employees are owners of the company. The culture here would be tough to beat; everyone has the same goals. I’ve never had a goal of working at a huge company.”

— Tim Keenan

s the manager of the Detroit-based plant for Bridgewater Interiors/Adient, Elena Jacob oversees all aspects of one part of a massive global company that delivers 19 million sets of complete automobile seats every year to virtually every automaker around the world.

“I have 196 full-time employees right now, and that typically grows if (we) have contract employees, or vendors who come in and do projects for us,” Jacob says. “At any given time, we usually have two major customers in this particular plant. Right now I only have Dodge Ram, but next year we’ll also have the (Ford) Mustang lines here, which we’re in the process of launching.”

Jacob’s daily responsibilities are wide-ranging, and she generally starts each morning on the production floor.

“I do a plant walk. We have a lot of team-based activities with visual boards, where we review our key performance indicators and major projects,” she says. “And then, on the flip side, I start looking at the delivery aspect to the customer. How many trailers do you need? How many drivers?”

Jacob handles everything in stride. She emigrated from Soviet Russia to Canada at age 14, and went on to earn a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto. She then pursued an MBA at the University of Manchester before beginning her career with Bridgewater at its Warren plant in 2014.

Multiple team awards and promotions followed before she was elevated to her current post in 2020. It’s clearly a high-pressure job, but Jacob relishes the responsibility.

“We know by the hour what we have to produce,” she says bluntly. “I have to produce and sell X number of products to make myself profitable. If my production rates fall below a certain level, I start losing money. So if you’re losing money on one particular day, you’d better figure out how you can make it back the next day.”

— Tom Murray

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30 in Their Thirties

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JOHN KOHL

LAURA JOHNSON

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39 • CEO • ATLAS WHOLESALE FOOD CO., DETROIT EMPLOYEES: 41 • REVENUE: $75M • COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

37 • SHAREHOLDER • BUTZEL LONG, DETROIT EMPLOYEES: 200+ • REVENUE: NA • COLLEGE: MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW

rom a very early age Laura Johnson had an inkling she wanted to be an attorney, but she was also intrigued with the idea of pursuing psychology as her profession — all of which led to an easy decision when she enrolled at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor as a freshman.

“I decided to do a psychology undergrad degree thinking if I went to law school, I’d have to do my undergrad in something,” she reasoned. “Then I got some internships that exposed me to different areas of the law. I really enjoyed it.”

Johnson went on to attend the Michigan State University College of Law in East Lansing, where she was a member and executive editor of the Law Review. Following graduation, she joined the law offices of Butzel Long in Bloomfield Hills, where for the last nearly dozen years she’s practiced business and corporate law. She’s also found that some of the knowledge gleaned from her psychology degree has been invaluable.

“When you’re working with a client who’s selling their business, and they’ve been involved with it for a long period of time, it’s helpful to take a step back and just realize this is a bittersweet moment for them, and think of all the different things going through their minds and the emotions they’re feeling,” she says. “If I was a psychologist, that’s what I would enjoy doing, and I guess in a little bit of a way I get to do that now.”

To advance at the firm and be named an equity shareholder, she’s had to adjust on the fly to COVID-19. “Sometimes there were as many as 17 people on a Zoom call,” Johnson says, laughing. “It’s always interesting; you have the group of people who want to know everything, be on every single call, and involved in every decision. Then there are the kind of middle group who like to know the big things, but don’t need to know all the details. And then you have the few who trust their advisers and just want to be protected and get their money at the end of the day.”

— Tom Murray

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agic has been a part of John Kohl’s life since he was 5 years old. At first, he performed card tricks. He soon upgraded his skills and pulled off such acts as placing a girl in a box and sawing her in half, sticking a sword through his head, and concealing himself on stage, only to turn up an instant later in the audience. “Through high school, I was a magician at restaurants, and I did gigs in college,” says Kohl. “It was always something different. I got to see the best of people. Really, it was therapeutic more than anything else.”

But Kohl likely pulled his greatest trick by figuring out a way to get through the freeze of COVID-19. A third-generation food distributor in Detroit — his grandfather, Pete Kotsis, started the supply side of the business as an offshoot of the grocery store run by his father, Athas, in Greektown — Kohl joined the company in 2007, as sales slowed leading up to the Great Recession.

“The business was in rough shape, and it needed help,” he says. “We got things turned around with our restaurant and casino clients, and then COVID-19 hit and everything closed.

We had a lot of inventory, including meat, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer. So we changed our business and developed an online portal, along with contactless delivery.”

From there, the company began working with the USDA to distribute food to food banks, and delivered 1 million boxes. It also figured out new ways to support restaurant clients.

“We developed the hashtag #RescueMiRestaurant and we matched, dollar for dollar, every receipt put on Facebook,” Kohl says. “We encouraged people to go to restaurants, and for the receipts posted online, we gave an equal credit to a restaurant on their food orders. We also believe in radical transparency.”

That is, except for a secret room Kohl set up in the basement of his home. “I have my tricks and books in there,” he says of his magic space. “It’s an active passion of mine.”

— R.J. King

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Feature || 30 in Their Thirties 37 • COO/ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT • TECHTOWN/WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY, DETROIT • EMPLOYEES: NA • REVENUE: NA COLLEGE: OAKLAND UNIVERSITY

35 • CO-FOUNDER • PARKER GRANT, ROCHESTER EMPLOYEES: 15-20 • REVENUE: $850,000 COLLEGE: WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

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KELLY KOZLOWSKI

GRANT GORDON KOSCH

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hen Grant Gordon Kosch and David Parker formed the Rochester-based Parker Grant hospitality company in 2019, it was because Kosch believed their personalities and skill sets complemented one another.

“I’m a bit of an introvert, and David’s a little more of an extrovert and is really good with face-to-face (conversations) with the customers,” Kosch explains. “I’m more of a back-of-thehouse guy. I like the process and the systems, and putting things together behind the scenes.”

They’ve put together catering projects or consulted on programs for customers including 313 Presents in Detroit, Bay Harbor in Traverse City, Jimmy John’s Field in Utica, Midland Brewing Co., and Montana State University’s football program.

Parker Grant’s newest project is Kudos Tap Room and Fieldhouse on Pardee Road in Taylor, which is set to open in May. Kudos will feature axe-throwing, among other activities.

“We have a strategy of embracing all the technology available and working with our partners on training in technologies,” Kosch says. “We have touchless registration systems, touchless doors, and self-standing temperature readers, and all of our customers will be ordering directly from their phones. We’ve fully embraced the new world of hospitality.”

Part of that new world, Kosch says, includes what he calls “hospitality at home.” With this service, Parker Grant sends a private chef and a server to the customer’s house to prepare a meal. Another variation is the P/G Signature Items program, where food is shipped to the customer ready to heat.

Kosch and Parker also have a Victorian-era home in the heart of downtown Rochester called The Social Space, which doubles as an event space and an R&D lab for Parker Grant. “Our goal is to be the gold standard for progressive hospitality solutions,” Kosch says.

— Tim Keenan

elly Kozlowski, COO of TechTown Detroit, has found her place in operations. After working as COO of Automation Alley in Troy and COO for the Downtown Detroit Partnership, Kozlowski moved into the same position with TechTown. “I love the work of a COO,” she says. “I love the work of someone who’s working very closely with a leader, in support of that leader, and in partnership with that leader.”

TechTown is a nonprofit entrepreneurship hub that supports businesses in and around Detroit by offering funding, workspaces, and programming. According to Kozlowski, finding startup capital can be a big hurdle. Many people who start a business first attempt what’s referred to as a “friends and family round,” asking loved ones for funds. It’s a route that typically isn’t an option in communities where generational wealth is scarce.

TechTown partners with Wayne State University, which has resources and networks that TechTown wouldn’t be able to curate alone. In turn, TechTown can quickly change programming when necessary. Kozlowski’s role is dual-purpose; she’s also assistant vice president of economic development for Wayne State. In this role, she guides the development and execution of the university’s economic impact strategy, serving as a bridge between TechTown, Wayne State, and the community.

Kozlowski, who oversees policy, resources, and strategy, was hired in November 2019, “just long enough to figure out where the coffee was” before being sent home due to COVID-19. The Tech Town team has worked with hundreds of business owners and entrepreneurs, hosting meetings and events.

As the programming moved online in March 2020 due to the pandemic, the organization worked to get resources to the businesses it assists. Since those busy first weeks, “We’ve found a pace that’s sustainable,” Kozlowski says. “I wouldn’t say we mellowed; that’s not really the TechTown way.”

— Grace Turner

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34 • PRESIDENT AND CEO • IMPACT LOGISTICS, HAZEL PARK EMPLOYEES: 96 • REVENUE: $5M • COLLEGE: WALSH COLLEGE

33 • SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF ASSET MANAGEMENT FARBMAN GROUP, SOUTHFIELD • EMPLOYEES: 200 REVENUE: NA • UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

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J

everal years ago Adrian Williams Kuhn and her husband, William, were fledgling entrepreneurs exploring various industries for an investment opportunity. One promising endeavor was the last mile logistics industry, in which deliveries were made within 50 miles of a distribution center. “We knew the e-commerce industry was booming and that it would stand the test of time,” Kuhn says.

Soon after, the couple launched Impact Logistics, along with enticements that quickly separated them from a congested pack of competitors. “We want to change people’s lives and lead a great group of people,” Kuhn says. “If we invest in our employees by offering a great wage of $15 an hour, minimum, the best health coverage, and additional things, we’ll get a better caliber employee. We’ll also get loyalty from our employees, because they know we want the best for them and their families.”

That approach enabled the business to get off to a fast start in 2019. “Within a year we had over 100 employees,” Kuhn says.

But then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived on the scene. “All of a sudden we became essential, and on one end we’re hearing, ‘Can you do even more business?’ and on the other end we had employees who didn’t come to work because they were too afraid. So we had to create a healthy work environment (and) keep morale going, in order to do the essential work of getting customers their packages.”

The Kuhns not only survived the crisis, but have expanded their entrepreneurial portfolio; they’re in the process of launching a delivery company in Taylor that offers driving opportunities for nonviolent former felons.

“We can help returning convicts and the community so they can have a livable wage and still have a career path,” Kuhn says, adding: “We also have two properties in Warren where we want to be able to offer affordable housing for people.”

— Tom Murray

JONATHON MARGOLIS

ADRIAN WILLIAMS KUHN

30 in Their Thirties

onathon Margolis has spent his entire 11-year career at Farbman Group’s real estate management company in Southfield and plans to stay there for the foreseeable future. “I was pretty fortunate to find a job in 2010 in real estate in Detroit,” Margolis says, recalling his hiring in the midst of an economic downturn. “It’s been an unbelievable place to be to build a career ever since, and I see my future at Farbman Group.”

The company offers multiple services in commercial real estate, including brokerage, construction, property management, and accounting. As senior vice president of asset management, Margolis describes his role as a bridge between the building’s owner and Farbman’s “boots on the ground” team.

Margolis grew up in West Bloomfield Township and had a grandfather who was a residential builder. “I grew up hearing his stories about construction, so it was always kind of around me. I just took a liking to it.”

Today, he’s actively involved in all aspects of Farbman Group’s more than 25 million square feet of commercial real estate. Margolis says he takes a very hands-on approach in establishing annual property budgets, implementing cost-cutting measures, and refining investment strategies. He’s also involved in capital events related to the properties, including the placement of debt, recapitalization of equity, and final disposition, as well as overseeing insurance and risk mitigation.

“I’ve always had a business-type mindset, but to me real estate is something tangible,” he says. “It’s not just trading paper stock certificates. You see it. You can feel it. I love hearing the dings of elevators and seeing tower cranes. Knowing that whether you acquire a piece of real estate and improve it, or build something from the ground up, leaving an impact on the community is something very powerful that you don’t get in other areas of the financial world.”

— Tim Keenan

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Feature || 30 in Their Thirties 39 • SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF AGENCY OPERATIONS MEADOWBROOK INSURANCE AGENCY, SOUTHFIELD EMPLOYEES: 100 • REVENUE: NA • COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

33 • PRESIDENT • MARINO’S LANDSCAPE, SHELBY TOWNSHIP EMPLOYEES: 50 • REVENUE: $5.7M

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MATTHEW M McGRAIL

SAM MARINO

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n 2004, soon after 17-year-old Sam Marino graduated from Eisenhower High School in Shelby Township, he made two major decisions: First, he wasn’t going to go to college; second, he wasn’t going to take the first job that came his way.

“My family was actually in the pizza business at the time,” Marino recalls, “and I didn’t want to make pizzas. I wanted to do my own thing. So I bought a little lawnmower, I had a little pickup truck, and I borrowed $1,200 from my dad to buy my first trailer.

The money I made in one day was better than people my age could make in two weeks.”

From those humble beginnings, what is now Marino’s Landscape has grown exponentially into a design, construction, and maintenance business that grossed $5.7 million in sales last year. With more than 50 employees and 20-plus trucks servicing clients daily in Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne counties, many of the company’s design clients are now serviced remotely.

“We can be much more efficient doing things virtually,” Marino says.

Business is so good, in fact, that Marino is in the process of relocating his company to a much larger facility in Washington Township, about 10 minutes from his current location.

“The person I bought the building from was my largest competitor. He sold the business about five years ago, and he called me and said he didn’t want to hold on to the building as an investment any longer,” Marino says. “The new building is 15,000 square feet, about three times the size of where we are.”

Marino expects to move his business by late summer. He’s also excited about an upcoming job, priced at around $500,000, to landscape a new distribution center near Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus. It’s just one of the many reasons why he confidently anticipates that sales growth this year will exceed the 26 percent jump the business experienced in 2020.

— Tom Murray

ew people earn an engineering degree, it would seem, in order to pursue a career in insurance. But despite the vast difference between the two industries, Matthew McGrail made the transition look easy.

Following graduation from the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering, he encountered an interesting career-day development: Insurance carriers wanted engineers, particularly Mutual of Wausau Insurance Corp. in Wisconsin.

The insurer wanted to fill a risk control consultant position, and it was interested in technical expertise beyond the ins and outs of the insurance industry. “They went out on a limb and started talking to engineers because of (our) problem-solving ability,” McGrail says.

McGrail joined Mutual of Wausau, and later accepted a position with Liberty Mutual Insurance that required him travel throughout the country before eventually getting an opportunity to move back to his native metro Detroit. The move back to Detroit involved a change: McGrail would be employed by Southfield-based Meadowbrook Insurance Agency — his first time working for an agency and not a carrier — as the senior vice president of agency operations. “As an agent, you’re definitely more responsible for that client’s insurance program,” McGrail says. “And if something goes wrong with that insurance program, you feel it (because of the relationship you’ve built.)”

That’s the approach McGrail believes will lead Meadowbrook to be the single agency of choice in Michigan. Having applied his engineering acumen to field work for carriers, he now applies his strategic thinking and drive to the pursuit of the company’s goals.

“We want them to think of Meadowbrook just as they think of the auto industry or U-M,” McGrail says. “That’s the kind of culture we’re trying to build here internally.”

— Dan Calabrese

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30 in Their Thirties 36 • VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS, CFO THE HENRY FORD, DEARBORN • EMPLOYEES: 617 • REVENUE: $43.5M • COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN–DEARBORN

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VISHAL RUNGTA

BRENT OTT

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35 • PRESIDENT AND CFO • C3 INDUSTRIES INC., ANN ARBOR EMPLOYEES: 230 • REVENUE: NA • COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

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f you ate at the Eagle Tavern in Dearborn’s Greenfield Village in the summer of 2000, your table may have been bussed by Brent Ott, now CFO and vice president of business operations for The Henry Ford.

Ott, who started clearing tables as a 16-year-old high schooler from Allen Park, now oversees the historic complex’s operating budget — a balance sheet of more than $500 million that includes short-term investments, endowment and pension assets, and retirement plans. He was appointed to the position in 2013.

Soon after, he took on the role of vice president of business operations, in which he’s responsible for facilities management, security, guest operations information, technology services, and food service and catering operations, an area where he has firsthand knowledge. “(That experience) kind of grounds me for the decisions we make at the executive level, to know the real-world impact of how the decisions are implemented with our staff,” Ott says. “It’s a lot of work, but I have a full understanding of our operations and that helps me. And I like a challenge where I can push myself.”

Ott’s interest in accounting and finance began while he was studying at the University of Michigan Dearborn. During his collegiate years, he took a part-time job in the office of The Henry Ford’s CFO. When he graduated, he went back to The Henry Ford as a financial and investment analyst. Once he earned his MBA from U-M Dearborn, he was made a manager.

“My interest has been accounting and finance, but I’ve developed an appreciation for history with The Henry Ford,” Ott says.

“It’s also a great place because you don’t have to have a history background to have a job there. There are a lot of functions that are needed to support the museum.”

Ott’s current goal is to “make sure we’re laying a foundation for our 100th anniversary in October 2029.”

— Tim Keenan

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hinking back and reflecting on a few meetings he had with Larry Page and Sergey Brin during a two-year period with search engine giant Google Inc., Vishal Rungta says what he learned was that the two founders were a few steps ahead of everyone else. “I was working there in business operations and strategy,” he says. “They both are bona fide geniuses; I didn’t understand a third of what they were saying.”

Two years has proved to be a fortuitous pattern with Rungta.

Prior to joining Google in 2012, he spent a couple of years at investment banker Moelis and Co., before joining TPG Capital in San Francisco — where he completed a six-year run.

In 2016, with his older brother, Ankur, and a longtime friend, Joel Ruggiero, Rungta started C3 Industries, a cannabis production and retail operator that today has operations in Michigan, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Missouri. It was just a handful of people out of the gate; now there are 230 employees and the company, which has its headquarters in Ann Arbor, plans to grow to 450 workers by the end of the year.

“We began in Oregon with an eye to coming to Michigan if the laws ever changed,” he says. “Ankur and I were born in Ohio, grew up in Buffalo, and moved to Ann Arbor and went to U-M. Now Michigan is our largest market, between our growing operations and our retail stores. We’re planning even more growth here.”

Next door to the company’s 37,000-square-foot growing facility in Webberville, near Lansing, a 90,000-square-foot complex will come online later this year. On the retail side, C3 operates High Profile stores in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Grant, and Buchannan, with more in the pipeline.

“We’re adding capacity in Massachusetts and Missouri, both on the supply and retail side,” Rungta says. “On the growth side, when we’re done building everything out in the current pipeline, we’ll have 250,000 square feet of production space.”

— R.J. King

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30 • SENIOR CONSULTANT AND VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS • CHOICETEL, CLARKSTON • EMPLOYEES: 15 REVENUE: $3.2M • COLLEGE: OAKLAND UNIVERSITY

38 • REAL ESTATE AGENT • THE MONZO GROUP, MOUNT CLEMENS • EMPLOYEES: 30 • VOLUME: $80M COLLEGE: FOOTHILL COLLEGE

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A

he ever-evolving information technology industry is keeping life interesting for Aaron Smith, senior consultant and vice president of operations at ChoiceTel IT, a telecommunications consulting firm in Clarkston.

The company provides managed telecom and IT, cybersecurity, cloud communications, network infrastructure, voice-over internet protocol, and educational workshops on industry trends and best practices for multiple IT categories. It specializes in technology adoption, change management, engineering design and support, project management, and help desk support.

“I really enjoy that in IT, things are constantly changing,” Smith says. “It’s never stagnant. There’s always something new, something to improve on, and analyzing new technology that’s becoming commercially available. (We’re) looking at business problems that we can solve with technology that’s in place currently, but not being fully utilized.”

To help the company grow, Smith transitioned to advising ChoiceTel’s medium-size and large corporate clients about their technological needs. “When I started working with ChoiceTel 10 years ago, I was helping them with marketing materials and contract review analysis, more so on the writing, marketing, and storytelling side of things,” he says.

Smith joined the company full time after graduating from Oakland University in Rochester Hills in 2013, and ventured into client support by earning certification on a variety of phone systems, IT systems, cloud architecture, and Lean Six Sigma.

“I moved into account management in 2016, when I started being the main interface with the customer,” says Smith, who was appointed to his current role three years ago. “I took over a lot of the operations, and how we look at data after we implement technology for our customers, in order to optimize and improve their environment with that technology.”

— Tim Keenan

ANTHONY SMITH

AARON SMITH

Feature || 30 in Their Thirties

nthony Smith says he was born with a silver tongue, and it’s a talent that has served him well in the residential housing market — he’s the top-selling real estate agent at The Monzo Group in Mount Clemens. His talent, though, wasn’t encouraged at home.

“I was an orphan and grew up in foster care (in California),” Smith says. “When I was 26 years old (in 2009), I found my parents through an internet search. I actually found out I was the oldest of four boys, and my parents had me when they were 17 years old. They weren’t really able to care for me at that time.”

Living in a series of foster care group homes until he became a legal adult, Smith struck out on his own and took classes in musical engineering while doing sales for a telemarketing company. He came to Detroit, where his brothers were real estate property investors, in 2014, and met his parents. After getting his real estate salesperson’s license, Smith started selling homes.

“When I came in, The Monzo Group didn’t sell homes in Detroit, but I kept working at it and now the city is our largest market (by volume),” Smith says. “From there, I met Glenn Prentice in 2017, and now we’re co-founders of a residential property management company we call TLC in Detroit.”

The business got its start last October. At the time, Smith and Prentice, who has long renovated and sold homes throughout the region, shared their ideas for better serving clients. “Anthony sells homes, and I renovate them, and for large investors we now manage their assets under TLC,” says Prentice, president of Woodlands Initiative and TLC. Prentice is currently renovating 43 homes in the Hantz Woodlands area on the city’s east side. TLC, meanwhile, has 200 homes it manages and is renovating another 20 more in the city that have a combined value of $10 million.

“We work hard, but we always try to work smarter,” Smith says.

— R.J. King

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30 in Their Thirties

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RAM VASUDEVAN

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RYAN SULLIVAN

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36 • ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR • EMPLOYEES: 25 REVENUE: NA • COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

37 • CEO • XENITH, DETROIT • EMPLOYEES: 100 • REVENUE: NA COLLEGE: MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

yan Sullivan, CEO of Xenith, has been spearheading the transformation of the football gear company. The company’s products are on the field at youth, college-level, and NFL games.

Xenith was founded as a helmet developer in Boston in 2006

by Vin Ferrara, a former quarterback at Harvard University and a graduate of Columbia University’s medical school. The first helmets were sold in 2009. Ferrara left the company in 2013, and Dan Gilbert, who has a majority stake in Xenith and is founder and chairman of the Rock Family of Cos., moved the headquarters to Detroit in 2015. Sullivan was hired as CEO in March 2016.

Sullivan has led the company in three areas of change. The first was shifting the company’s long-term direction by expanding the product line from helmet design to offering gear “from head to ankle” for football athletes.

Building off of the first goal, the second looks to invest in product development. Since December 2018, Xenith has introduced 43 products including helmets, shoulder pads, apparel, gloves, team uniforms, and gear for nontackle and women’s football.

“When you come at it from the point of view of being in service of the athlete and the team and elevating their pursuit, as we say — spending a lot of time with athletes and teams, and understanding their needs — we’ve come to identify all these different opportunities in the marketplace,” Sullivan says.

Third, the company, which operates from Renaissance Global Logistics at Fort and Clark streets, dropped its wholesale model in 2018 and started to sell directly to teams and leagues.

In addition, the company publishes peer-reviewed articles based on its research. “This wasn’t just a couple of people going out to a game with a clipboard and tallying things up,” Sullivan says. “This was very sophisticated, academic-grade research.”

— Grace Turner

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hy go out to buy groceries or takeout food when a robot can deliver them to your home or office?

That’s the thinking of Ram Vasudevan, co-founder of Refraction AI in Ann Arbor. He and his business partner, Matthew Johnson-Roberson, launched the robot delivery platform in 2018; today it’s on a straight growth trajectory.

“We’re on track to hire new engineers, and add to our sales staff and operations team,” says Vasudevan, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “We have a record number of orders, we’ll be adding cities, we just raised another (funding) round, and we’re doing more deliveries all the time.”

With 25 robots performing hundreds of deliveries each week, Refraction AI hopes to expand its last-mile delivery service to a second city by the end of the year.

The battery-powered robots have a top speed of 15 miles per hour and operate mainly in available bike lanes or by traveling parallel with street curbs or on sidewalks. The batteries, which are hot-swappable, last for several hours — even when the units are fully loaded with 100 pounds of cargo.

“We map the routes to maximize right turns, as it’s safer and easier,” Vasudevan says. “There’s also more potential for fuel-efficiency. Their low speed enables them to use inexpensive camera-based navigation systems, which makes their cost feasible for a delivery service.”

He says the operation is fairly straightforward.

“We have tele-operators drive the robots through some of the routes, and we have people virtually monitoring all of the vehicles,” Vasudevan explains. “Some portions (of a route) are done autonomously, while some areas can be very difficult, given human behavior can be uncertain or difficult to predict. A good example would be at a busy intersection.”

— R.J. King

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39 • DIVISIONAL VICE PRESIDENT OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION • SAKS OFF 5TH, NEW YORK • EMPLOYEES: 4,000+ REVENUE: TC • COLLEGE: UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY

39 • CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER • UNITED WHOLESALE MORTGAGE, PONTIAC • EMPLOYEES: 9,000+ • REVENUE: $3.4B • COLLEGE: MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW

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A

tefen Welch is a product of his environment, but it’s what he learned in that environment that’s driving him to make an impact at one of New York’s well-known retailers — all from a vantage point right here in Detroit.

Welch, who grew up on Detroit’s northwest side and graduated in 2000 from St. Martin DePorres High School, has always been around people who advocated for the best interests of minorities. His grandmother worked in an NAACP office in Highland Park, and during his years at Oakland University, Welch was president of the Association of Black Students.

For Welch, his current role as divisional vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion for New York-based Saks OFF 5th — a job Welch took in September 2020 after several years in a similar position with Quicken Loans — was a natural fit.

But he had to let go of another passion first.

“I remember being in my grandparents’ home and turning on ESPN, and seeing this dude who talked about sports and sounded like someone in my barbershop,” Welch says. “Stuart Scott was amazing and extremely special. I’m not amazing and special when it comes to broadcasting, so I shifted my focus and started to think differently about understanding and uniting communities, as well as leaning on my own experiences. I wanted to change the narratives of Black males.”

First at Quicken Loans, and now at Saks OFF 5th, Welch has focused on creating strategic affiliations, pushing for supplier diversity, and building a partnership with the National Minority Supplier Development Council. He also has achieved mandates within the company to ensure that high-level positions aren’t filled without qualified minority candidates getting a real shot.

“We want people to thrive in a place where they can be their true, authentic selves,” Welch says. “My job, at the end of the day, is to create an opportunity.”

— Dan Calabrese

ADAM WOLFE

STEFEN WELCH

Feature || 30 in Their Thirties

dam Wolfe knows how innovators think. When someone has an interesting idea, especially if it’s unconventional, the last people anyone wants to get involved in the startup discussions are lawyers.

“A lot of legal departments are where dreams go to die,” says Wolfe, who has served as chief legal officer for United Wholesale Mortgage since 2016. “It’s like, ‘We do not want to go talk to the lawyers.’ That’s the way most companies run.”

When Wolfe was recruited by UWM CEO Matt Ishbia — who was Wolfe’s teammate on the 2000 Michigan State University national basketball championship team — it was with the idea that UWM’s legal department should work differently.

“There are a lot of attorneys who are in-house who don’t view legal risk the same way I do,” says Wolfe, who helped oversee the company’s IPO earlier this year, as well as the acquisition of property in Pontiac for the company’s headquarters. “There are ways to view risk that can help make a business successful. I’m a businessperson first and a lawyer second.”

Wolfe and his team consider it their job to take bold ideas and, rather than shoot them down, find ways to make them work. The attorney developed his entrepreneurial mindset during a career that started with the law firm Trautman Pepper (formerly Pepper Hamilton), followed by Rock Gaming in Detroit, which later became Jack Entertainment.

During his three years with Rock/Jack, Wolfe worked in the litigation group, but he ventured into various areas of law. He valued the experience of being an in-house counsel because of the perspective it offers.

“As an outside lawyer you have different types of clients and you have lots of issues you work with,” Wolfe says, “but you never really get deep to the core of what the business is about, which is what I like to do.”

— Dan Calabrese

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Senior Vice President of Asset Management

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Cover Story || Government

CAP I TOL

R E T UR N S

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Government || Cover Story

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER’S TENURE AS MICHIGAN’S ELECTED LEADER HAS BEEN MARKED BY AN ELASTIC LOCKDOWN OF THE STATE ECONOMY, A STEADY STREAM OF POLITICAL ATTACKS, AND AN AUTOCRATIC MANAGEMENT STYLE. COMBINED, IT’S LED TO THOUSANDS OF JOB LOSSES AND BUSINESS CLOSINGS SINCE THE OUTBREAK OF COVID-19.

WRITTEN BY R.J. KING AND TIM KEENAN ILLUSTRATIONS BY JASON RAISH

THE LAST EDITS TO THIS FEATURE WERE MADE ON APRIL 16.

062.CT.Whitmer.May.21.indd 63

n an inaugural address, every elected president, governor, or mayor seeks to offer a list of their numerous goals while detailing a first-term agenda.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ran on a promise to “fix the damn roads,” vowed bipartisan cooperation, and committed to dealing with a host of other issues in her first State of the State address in February 2019.

“I pledge to continue the new culture that Gov. Rick Snyder created in Lansing over the last eight years,” Whitmer said to a joint session of the state Legislature. “Some will doubt our ability to find common ground; to make the bold choices needed to ensure Michigan will always be a home for opportunity.

“It’s important for us to remember that the enemy

is not the person across the aisle,” she continued.

“The enemy is apathy. The enemy is extreme partisanship. The enemy is self-interest. When we stand together as Michiganders … we can get the job done for the people of our state. We can build bridges and ensure that Michigan is the home for opportunity for generations to come.”

More than two years later, how has Whitmer done? In recent months, the state has led the country in job losses and business closings, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The poor results, based on media accounts, stem from Whitmer’s continued lockdown of the state’s economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic that began in March 2020.

The measures, many of which were instituted

by Whitmer early last summer when she took “emergency control” of the state government and refused to work directly with the Legislature — in October 2020 the Michigan Supreme Court ruled her actions were unconstitutional — have since lost much of their luster. With many of her lockdown rules still in place 14 months later, public opinion has changed.

While Whitmer said her far-reaching orders were needed to curtail the spread of COVID-19, it doesn’t appear to have worked well. As of midApril, seven Michigan cities had made the list of the top 10 worst COVID-19 locations in the country; in fact, they took the first six spots — Jackson, Detroit, Flint, Monroe, Lansing, and Owosso, respectively. The No. 8 spot went to Battle Creek.

Soon after, Whitmer appealed to President Joe Biden to release more vaccine doses to help counteract the surge in the state, but the request was denied. According to an April 10 article in The Washington Post, Michigan “appeared not to have ordered 360,000 doses then available — a single-day snapshot that nonetheless puzzled federal officials.”

After being contacted by the newspaper, a state official said “the doses were almost all quickly drawn down” following the White House discussion. The CDC director also called on Whitmer to “shut things down,” but the governor asked citizens to voluntarily adhere to safety measures while extending workplace restrictions to October.

On the jobs front, the state’s unemployment rate, based on BLS data, was 3.8 percent in January

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Cover Story || Government

2020. By April, amid the throes of COVID-19, it had skyrocketed to 24 percent. At the start of 2021, the jobless rate was at 7.5 percent. But it was no time to cheer; Michigan led the nation with 64,400 job losses in December (Whitmer instituted a second shutdown of businesses and schools in mid-November that lasted roughly three months).

The same federal data shows her pandemic restrictions closed, either permanently or temporarily, thousands of businesses — representing an estimated one-third of the 222,000 companies in the state. Many of the hardest hit sectors were restaurants, hotels, event venues, theaters, retailers, and personal services.

Based on a DBusiness survey in mid-March of the top business leaders in Michigan, as listed in Detroit 500, Whitmer, whose office declined a request for an interview, received an overall grade of C (from a selection of A, B, C, D, F) among six questions that centered on her performance since taking office. The survey covered her oversight of the economy, the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and her relationship with the Legislature, among other factors.

“I think this governor hasn’t worked with the business community,” says Joe Vicari, president of the Joe Vicari Restaurant Group in Warren, which operates more than a dozen dining establishments in Michigan including Andiamo, Joe Muer Seafood, Brownie’s on the Lake, the Birmingham Pub, and Barleycorn’s Public House.

“I’m one of the largest independent restauranteurs in the state, and I reached out to her three different times to meet with a group of restaurant owners and myself to (talk about) how we could work together to open restaurants up safely.

“She refused to meet with us. She doesn’t listen to the Legislature. She’s just a one-woman show up in Lansing. She seems like a vindictive person who punishes anyone who tries to challenge her. If I were to give her a grade, based on how she dealt with the restaurant industry, I would give her a D.” Vicari joins a chorus of business leaders across the state who point to the governor’s management style and often-unchallenged decision-making as holding back the economy. It doesn’t help that since the pandemic broke, Whitmer has refused to release the data she’s using to make her decisions. And it’s unclear if the

GOV. WHITMER REPORT CARD DBusiness asked members of its Detroit 500 list of corporate and community leaders to grade Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on the following questions, based on her performance in office (A, B, C, D, F). The survey, taken in mid-March, of 440 people drew 105 responses. Below are the results : How would you grade Gov. Whitmer’s COVID-19 response?

C How well has Gov. Whitmer handled Michigan’s economy?

B What grade would you give Gov. Whitmer in working with the Michigan Legislature?

C Has Gov. Whitmer been transparent in operating her office?

C Has Gov. Whitmer delivered on her campaign promises?

C How has Gov. Whitmer done in calling for putting “partisanship aside” in her first inaugural address?

C

OVERALL GRADE:

information is being compared on an “apples to apples” basis with past outbreaks of Ebola, the 1918 influenza, SARS, and H1N1.

Prior to the latest pandemic, coronaviruses such as common colds were never reported as the primary cause of death when a person passed from an illness or disease such as chronic low blood pressure, diabetes, or cancer. What’s more, both the CDC and WHO issued new guidelines in 2020 that state that a person who dies and is suspected of having COVID-19, even though the virus was never confirmed, may be included in death counts.

“I believe the governor’s response to the business issues around COVID-19 has been terrible,” says Thom Lipari, president and CEO of Lipari Foods in Warren, one of the state’s largest food distributors. “(She) and her staff should not (have been) receiving a paycheck until all the business owners that were shut down had an opportunity to create paychecks for themselves and their employees. Then we would see how necessary they feel the lockdown is, if their livelihoods were at stake.”

When Whitmer first took office on Jan. 1, 2019, many business leaders were hopeful she would work closely with the Legislature to improve the overall state economy. But the results since that time have been mixed. For example, her campaign pledge to “fix the damn roads” has yet to materialize in full.

Within a few weeks of taking office, she announced plans for a .45-cent tax on gas and diesel fuel, but the effort failed. The initiative — poorly considered and lacking bipartisan support — was a harbinger of a take-it-or-leave-it management style that emerged and came to dominate Whitmer’s oversight of the state’s $62.8-billion annual budget.

Consider her proposal for the fuel tax, which many state legislators only learned of when it was announced. It also lacked support from likely voters. According to a statewide poll by Marketing Resource Group in Lansing, taken in April 2019, soon after the governor’s announcement, 75 percent of 600 likely voters opposed the nearly-triple tax on fuel.

The effort to reform Michigan’s auto insurance laws, on the other hand, generally received bipartisan praise. The measure was signed on the porch of the Grand Hotel during the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual Mackinac Policy Conference following the 2019 Memorial Day weekend. That’s

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Government || Cover Story

MAIN STREET Following the March 2020 outbreak of COVID-19, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered most businesses closed. The lockdown was lifted last June, but a second shutdown was instituted in November, with some of the restrictions ending in February.

took effect last July, and residents and businesses are still working through all of the changes.

Since that victory splash, other successes have been fleeting.

Auto insurance reform “was a huge bipartisan win and compromise that was supported by (everyone from) the Republican leadership in Lansing to the mayor of Detroit,” says Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber. “That was one of (the governor’s) early wins, and we were hoping that would set the tone for a collaborative, less-partisan approach in Lansing. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.”

By September 2019, Whitmer’s pledge “to continue the culture that Gov. Snyder created in Lansing” was out the window. Snyder inherited an economic mess when he took office in 2011, both from the Great Recession of 2008 and the policies of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, now U.S. Energy Secretary.

To be fair, Granholm also inherited a troubled economy, and while she had some success in generating green energy jobs (via subsidies) and creating the No Worker Left Behind program, which provided some 150,000 unemployed and underemployed workers with free community college training, she left a budget shortfall of more than $1 billion, in addition to her stifling Michigan Business Tax. In turn, the cost to attend state universities doubled on her watch.

Snyder, meanwhile, worked across both political aisles, eliminated the Michigan Business Tax, cut numerous other levies and regulations, and provided annual budget surpluses that were the result of working closely with the Legislature to reach agreements months before the start of each fiscal year (Oct. 1).

His one major shortfall was the Flint water crisis, where he was slow to recognize the severity of the problem. The disaster was compounded by the fact that some staff members misled him about the after-effects resulting from the City of Flint’s decision to disconnect from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and restart an existing water treatment plant along the Flint River, as it waited for a pipeline to be built from Lake Huron.

By all accounts, Whitmer had it much easier than her predecessors. She started with a budget surplus, an economy that had expanded for eight straight years under Snyder’s watch, and a lean government operation. During her campaign, Whitmer pinned her greatest objective to fixing the state’s aging roads and infrastructure. Snyder had tried to address the same challenge, and in April 2015 he signed a long-term road funding package into law that raised fuel taxes by $600 million a year. It also would draw another $600 million in state spending.

By September 2019, after her tax hike proposal was soundly rejected among legislators and likely voters, Whitmer reversed course. Rather than follow her own pledge to work with Republicans, she went into attack mode. She refused to meet with the Legislature following that Labor Day. By month’s end, lawmakers delivered to her desk a balanced budget. But five hours before the start of the 2020 fiscal year, and without warning, Whitmer vetoed 147 line items totaling $947 million in the state budget, including $375 million in proposed spending on roads (while calling for tax hikes via a $3.5-billion, five-year bonding program that didn’t require Legislative approval. The first $800 million in bonds were sold in September 2020). The move, believed to be the most aggressive use of veto power by a governor, came after she seemingly agreed to the new spending plan.

Whitmer repeatedly said she wouldn’t sign a

2020 budget that didn’t include a comprehensive road funding plan, but she abandoned that position Sept. 9 in the face of a looming state government shutdown. At that time, she and Republican leaders agreed to focus on finalizing the budget first, and return to road funding talks later.

GOP leaders said Whitmer walked away from budget negotiations on Sept. 11. She denied that and accused them of wasting time during their summer break. Fast-forward to her second State of the State address on Jan. 29, 2020. Rather than continue taking the lead on finding a solution to road and infrastructure funding, Whitmer abandoned the negotiating tactics of her predecessor and called out lawmakers.

“We still need the Legislature to come up with a real, long-term solution to fix the roads,” she said. “So next time you’re driving down your local street and hit a pothole or see a bridge closed, call up the Republican leaders in the Legislature and encourage them to act.” Still, she added she was “ready to work with anyone who’s interested in solving problems.”

That spirit of cooperation was missing, though, when she signed off on her midnight vetoes on Sept. 30, 2019. Among thousands of jobs and essential services affected were K-12 schools (more than $128 million from the School Aid Fund), higher education, tourism, agriculture, transportation, and health care (hospitals, autism, pediatric psychiatrists, neonatologists, and nurses).

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Cover Story || Government MARCH 24, 2020 MARCH 10, 2020 First two cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Michigan.

MAR. 2020

Gov. Whitmer issues shelter in place order until April 13, 2020, which includes extending the closure of schools.

APR. 2020

APRIL 2, 2020

JUNE 1, 2020

Gov. Whitmer closes schools for remainder of 2019-2020 academic year.

Restaurants and bars are allowed to reopen at 50 percent capacity.

JUNE 17, 2020

AUG. 2020

GOV. WHITMER AND COVID-19

JUNE 8, 2020

Gov. Whitmer announces state entering phase 4 of reopening plan.

JUL. 2020

Confirmed COVID-19 cases jump to 12.

Gov. Whitmer orders closing of schools until April 5, 2020.

0 02 .2 N JU

MARCH 12, 2020

MAY 2020

Gov. Whitmer says schools can resume in-person learning during phase 4 of her reopening plan.

JUNE 30, 2020

SEPT. 2020 OCT. 2020

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Gov. Whitmer signs “Return to Learn” package of three bills securing funding for schools to reopen with safety measures.

DEC. 2020

Gov. Whitmer closes high schools for three weeks, as well as indoor dining at bars and restaurants.

The ban was since extended.

AUGUST 20, 2020

NOV. 2020

Many of the vetoes have since been restored by the Legislature, even as Whitmer continued to berate Republicans who hold majorities in the state house and senate. Had she followed through on maintaining a good working relationship with lawmakers, such a cooperative spirit would have been welcomed in light of what was to come.

As soon as Michigan reported its first two cases of COVID-19 on March 10, 2020, Whitmer declared a state of emergency. Three days later, she began announcing orders restricting activities like in-person learning and large gatherings while closing bars, restaurants, gyms, theaters, hair salons, and other businesses. On March 23, she issued a stay-at-home order for nonessential workers that would last until June 19. Businesses started to reopen in the fall, but some were closed again as cases spiked. Most businesses still are operating under capacity restrictions that negatively affect revenue.

The closures were joined by missteps and misadventures, such as seemingly working full-time for the Democratic Party to prevent the re-election of President Donald Trump last November.

Among dozens of appearances on national news shows, she had a small “8645” sign in view of the camera during a Sunday morning interview on “Meet the Press” last October. The numbers are a reference to getting rid of something (86) and the 45th president.

In the weeks that followed the state shutdown, “Her administration neglected to request FEMA assistance, which delayed aid to Michiganders,” says Laura Cox, former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, critiquing the governor’s response to the virus. “Whitmer waited until 44 other states had already requested a waiver from the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services before

Gov. Whitmer release “MI Safe Schools Return to School Roadmap,” detailing recommendations and requirements for the start of the 2020-2021 academic year.

FEBRUARY 1, 2021

DECEMBER 18, 2020 Gov. Whitmer announces K-12 schools can choose to open, and university restrictions are lifted, although she urges waiting until mid-January for move-in.

doing so herself, once again delaying aid.

“Worst of all, her overreaching stay-at-home order led to Michiganders being banned from buying paint, gardening supplies, visiting family, and caring for their properties. Meanwhile, over 1 million Michiganders have now lost their jobs.”

Cox also called for Whitmer to testify about the nursing home policies she instituted following the virus outbreak, including sending infected residents from hospitals back to their nursing homes rather than setting up safe satellite facilities. Consider that nearly a third of COVID-19 deaths in the state, according to information released to date, came from nursing homes.

During the same period, the state’s first field hospital at the TCF Center in downtown Detroit was shut down on May 1, 2020, after treating just 39 patients over a three-week span. The facility could have been converted to handle infected seniors, but Whitmer passed on the opportunity.

The $9 million TCF Regional Care Center was set up to handle as many as 1,000 patients. A similar facility, which rented for as high as $1.1 million a month at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, treated a total of 16 patients.

In spite of such a low number of patients, Whitmer extended the lease at Suburban Showplace through the end of 2020.

“Gov. Whitmer has, time and time again, gone at it alone, and Michiganders have suffered. Instead of working with the Legislature to get through this crisis, Whitmer put her own executive power before our seniors,” Cox says. “The people will not look back kindly on this mistake and will remember Gretchen Whitmer chose her own political career over them.”

Leaders of businesses affected by the lockdowns also took a dim view of Whitmer’s orders.

Paul Glantz, co-founder and chairman of Emagine Entertainment in Troy, which operates 13 movie theaters in Michigan and several more in Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin, concedes that early in the pandemic there were a lot of unknowns, but since then there have been opportunities to learn from larger states such as Florida and Texas.

Indoor dining reopens at 25 percent capacity, must close by 10 p.m.

JAN. 2021

FEB. 2021

MAR. 2021

MARCH 5, 2021 Restaurants and bars can expand capacity to 50 percent, open until 11 p.m.

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Government || Cover Story

“In fairness, a year ago, none of us knew what we were facing,” Glantz says. “But there was ample opportunity to learn and to collaborate, which is one thing that’s been poignantly missing in the state of Michigan.

“I would simply contrast it to Gov. (Ron) DeSantis in Florida, who has an older population and didn’t apply the serious lockdowns, and the facts show that they have a lower death rate per 100,000 from COVID-19 than Michigan,” he adds.

According to Statista, Florida recorded 157 deaths from COVID-19 per 100,000 people as of April 8, 2021, compared to Michigan’s 174 deaths. The argument remains that Florida has fewer COVID-19 deaths than many states, with far fewer lockdowns and less damage to its economy. The same scenario occurred in Texas, another state that has a much higher population than Michigan — the April 8 figures showed 169 deaths per 100,000 people from the virus.

Glantz also objects to Whitmer’s more recent vetoes of legislation that would have abated property taxes for businesses that have suffered because of her orders. “We had to pay both our property taxes while being deprived of the right to use those assets in a productive fashion,” Glantz says. “That would have provided some relief to those (from whom) she has taken away the right to do business.”

Brian Calley, president of the Small Business Association of Michigan and the former Republican lieutenant governor, also objected to Whitmer’s numerous vetoes.

“Small businesses have taken an extraordinary toll because of this pandemic and the state’s response to it,” Calley says. “The overwhelming majority of small business owners have sacrificed their economic health willingly, with a high degree of fidelity to government rules and restrictions. They have faced a public health crisis and an economic crisis. The State of Michigan’s approach has been extraordinarily detrimental to small businesses, usually far exceeding national norms in pandemic responses.

“We worked hard to ensure that small business support wasn’t tied to (the) curtailment of any emergency powers because we didn’t want the governor to have to pick between emergency powers and supporting small business,” Calley continues. “She could have done both, because small business support wasn’t tied to emergency power reductions.”

Others in the business community are more charitable in their assessment of Whitmer.

“Overall, I think you have to give the governor

PAY NOW OR PAY LATER Literacy has long been a problem in Michigan and the nation. If state leaders could get every child to read at the third grade, rather than pass them on, it would save billions of dollars in social costs that non-literate children may require as adults.

strong marks on (the) COVID-19 response,” Baruah says. “Do I disagree with some of the decisions she made? Absolutely. Clearly, she took a big swing with the .45-cent gas tax and missed, and I would say pretty spectacularly.”

Baruah, who before overseeing the Detroit Regional Chamber worked in the George W. Bush administration for eight years, including serving as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce and acting administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, compares Bush’s response to 9-11 with Whitmer’s response to COVID-19.

“After 9-11, President Bush said to the nation that his priority was keeping America safe,” Baruah explains. “In the course of that, there were a lot of decisions made to protect American lives that were very controversial, ranging from having to take off our shoes at the airport to various surveillance programs. Gov. Whitmer kind of took a similar approach; no one else in the state has this job of keeping all Michiganders safe.”

Eric Lupher, president of the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, an advocacy group in Livonia that promotes sound governmental policy through factual research, notes that the road funding issue still remains.

“There are some roads getting fixed on her watch, which she can control, but that’s only 10 percent of the entire system,” Lupher says. “So we have 90 percent of the roads under county or city control, and those are no better off than before she was elected.”

As Whitmer approaches re-election next year, she has a long to-do list to accomplish. In her third State of the State address on Jan. 27, 2021, she took a more conciliatory approach to seeking cooperation. “To the Legislative leaders tuning in: our job now is to fix the damn road ahead — together,” she said.

“Let’s commit to the strong bipartisan action we took last year and focus that same energy to end the pandemic, grow our economy, and get our kids back on track.”

A few weeks later, though, she was back in attack mode. On March 9, she signed into law several COVID-19 relief and response measures but vetoed $652 million in spending for unemployment assistance, property tax relief, and non-public school and summer school funding because, she said, it was co-joined with limiting her authority to issue virus-related orders without working with the Legislature. Of the $652 million effort, she said it was “a reckless idea, poorly executed, and poorly timed.”

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Exec Life INSIDE || SUMMER VIBES | RETURN ON INVESTMENT | PRODUCTION RUN | OPINION

COURTESY OF AMERICAN DUNES GOLF CLUB

EMERALD SALUTE The American Dunes Golf Club, designed

by Jack Nicklaus, will open this summer in Grand Haven. Course revenue will support the Folds of Honor Foundation.

SUMMER VIBES

Michigan’s resort and tourism market is eyeing a strong year, coming off a second half of 2020 that saw golf rounds, hotel bookings, boat rentals, and state park visits soar.

BY NORM SINCLAIR

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Exec Life || Resorts and Tourism

A sign of those good vibes is reflected in American Airlines scheduling three new daily nonstop routes this summer into Traverse City’s Cherry Capital Airport. New arriving and departing flights from Boston, Philadelphia, and Charlotte, N.C., will bring 17 nonstop daily passenger shuttles per day (both inbound and outbound) to Traverse City.

On Mackinac Island, fudge shop and hospitality baron Bob Benser Jr. isn’t ready to predict a return to pre-pandemic years, when 1 million visitors normally showed up in the summer season, but he, too, is enthused about this year’s prospects. “Our advance booking on the hotel side is pretty good,” he says. “People still want to come here and experience our fresh air, fresh water, and open spaces.”

Benser and his family own the Original Murdick’s Fudge shop and its five spinoff stores, all or part of the Chippewa, Lilac Tree, and Mackinac House hotels, the Cottage Inn B&B, the Pink Pony restaurant and store, the Good Day Café, and the Island Slice Pizzeria.

Those businesses and others, like the Grand Hotel, should see a further return to normalcy with the restoration of a seasonal guest worker program that for decades brought hundreds of mostly Jamaican workers to the island. The Trump administration canceled the program last year, forcing Benser to keep one fudge shop closed, reduce hours on others, and offer $200

HEMINGWAY HAVEN Pennsylvania Park in downtown Petoskey is one of numerous attractions in northern Michigan. The park, a popular setting for festivals, special events, concerts, and other community gatherings, is also known for a statue of Ernest Hemingway.

bonuses to employees for each friend they recruited to fill a job.

Andrew Doud and his partner, Veronica Bobrowolski, who operate the popular Sip n’ Sail cruises along the straits under the Mackinac Bridge on the 81-foot Isle Royale Queen III, are optimistically gearing up for normalcy by adding a daily evening cruise to a lineup that includes sunset, craft beer, and Sunday morning mimosa cruises. “Mackinac is a great outdoor venue,” Doud says. “While some businesses struggle, others thrive.”

Beachnau says Gaylord-area merchants reported off-the-chart sales for outdoor equipment — bicycles, kayaks, standup paddleboards, hunting and fishing gear, hiking shoes, and more.

“You couldn’t buy any of that equipment anywhere, they were all sold out. Plus, state hunting and fishing license issuances were up double digits, as was trail use, and parking lots for state parks and campgrounds were filled.”

The midsummer influx of vehicle traffic kept Gaylord’s overall business losses last year at around 25 percent, a decline Beachnau says wasn’t horrible under the circumstances. This year’s prospects look even better, with a number

COURTESY OF AMERICAN DUNES GOLF CLUB

E

ven as the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 devastated Michigan’s business sector, the state’s tourism and golf industry received an unexpected shot in the arm, courtesy of the deadly virus.

As government-mandated stay-at-home orders were loosened early last summer, cabin-fevered shut-ins, including local residents and people from neighboring states, hit the roads and headed to northern Michigan.

That stampede to the outdoors showed up in unexpected surges in tee times at golf courses, sold-out apparel and equipment in sporting goods stores, and overflowing parking lots at state parks and campgrounds. Seemingly every available boat was put to work, from sailing ships and powerboats to Wave Runners and covered pontoons.

“It was crazy,” says Paul Beachnau, executive director of the Gaylord Area Tourism Bureau.

“We saw people (who wanted) to get outside coming here in record numbers. As we started opening up, June was OK, July was pretty good, August was really, really good, and September and October were fantastic.”

As virus infection rates subside and the pace of vaccinations accelerates, tourism industry officials are optimistic that last year’s surge in firsttime visitors to the state bodes well for this coming season.

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COURTESY OF MAWBY VINEYARDS

Resorts and Tourism || Exec Life

of new projects coming on line. In July, a Comfort Inn and Suites hotel will open in the central business district. Of the 87 rooms, 27 will be Gaylord’s first extended stay offerings.

Visitors this season will also be able to enjoy the completed $1.1 million Gaylord Gateway Trailhead project, which includes a pavilion with outdoor seating, restrooms, a parking area, and bike racks. Part of the all-season Iron Belle Trail is really two tracks; one covers 1,204 miles for hiking, while a biking pathway runs 828 miles and extends from the western Upper Peninsula into the Lower Peninsula, through Otsego County, and ends on Belle Isle in Detroit.

Meanwhile, five of northern Michigan’s largest resorts — Boyne, Grand Traverse, Crystal Mountain, Manistee National, and Treetops, which market their combined 23 golf courses as America’s Summer Golf Capital — say the boom in vehicle traffic drove up rounds played at those courses between 20 percent and 30 percent over 2019. “We saw a huge boost in drive traffic from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, so hopefully we’ll retain those folks and get a boost from markets (that are farther away), as well,” says Charlie Olson, a spokesman for the resorts.

“We’re expecting a really strong summer.”

Bernie Friedrich, senior vice president for golf operations and resort sales, who oversees the 10 golf courses at Boyne Resort properties in Boyne Falls, Harbor Springs, and Petoskey, says it was gratifying to see the renewed interest in golf, especially coming off an uncertain year and a decade-long decline in rounds played. The downhill momentum left resort owners scrambling to grow the game. “The pandemic created an environment in which golf thrived,” he says. “Our courses benefited, and local golf courses also did very well.”

Players who might have given up on the game, beginners who had put off learning to play golf, or duffers who just wanted to get some fresh air and move around boosted tee-time sales and blunted revenue losses, he adds.

Boyne’s sharp uptick in golf reflects national trends. The National Golf Foundation reported more than 500 million rounds were played last year, a 14 percent increase. That’s 60 million more rounds than were recorded in 2019.

The surge in tee times helped soften the negative impact on Boyne’s bottom line due to the closing of the U.S.-Canadian border. “Despite losing our Canadian business, which accounts for 10 percent to 14 percent of our annual revenue, the second half of the summer and the fall was so strong we came out about the same as 2019,” Friedrich says.

To keep the momentum going, Boyne will bring back another outdoor wrinkle introduced last year that proved popular with

Rosé Revenue THE 2021 SUMMER TOURIST SEASON GOT OFF TO A FLYING START THIS PAST WINTER AT THE MAWBY Vineyard and Winery in Suttons Bay on the Leelanau Peninsula. Mike Laing, who with his brother, Peter, operates the 48-year-old winery that specializes in sparkling wines, says weekend customers were showing up in their tasting room in record numbers starting as early as February.

“People were itching to get out,” Laing says. “Four Saturdays in a row we had 250 people visiting in the tasting room — the most we’ve ever had. More and more people are visiting this area, and I think wine has a huge part to do with that. The Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore is a major draw, Traverse City is a beach town and a major draw, but wine has to rank in the top three reasons why people visit this area.”

In the past two decades the state’s wine industry has seen phenomenal growth, from some two dozen wineries in 2000 to more than 140 today. Across the state, grape vineyards span 3,050 acres; riesling is the No. 1 planted grape variety.

With the wine industry complementing the tourism sector, cross-promotions like Michigan Wine Month every May go a long way toward spreading economic activity. In Traverse City, that means a month-long campaign called “Traverse City Uncorked.”

“It’s a fun play on a month-long celebration of the fruits of our labor here in the state — (there’s) wine-tasting at the wineries, while some restaurants will put on events to raise awareness of the level of quality and excellence the wineries in Michigan offer, and Traverse City exemplifies that,” says Trevor Tkach, president and CEO of Traverse City Tourism.

A recent Michigan Farm Bureau impact study showed Michigan’s wine industry annually generates $5.4 billion, including $253 million in tourism spending by 1.7 million winery visitors. The state ranks in the top 10 in the U.S. for wine grape-growing, and is No. 6 as a wine region, just behind Texas.

The state’s northernmost region of grape-growing straddles the 45th parallel, the same latitude as France’s Bordeaux region. The cooler climate is ideal for varietals such as riesling, pinot grigio, and gewürztraminer.

Blessed with excellent weather last year — no frost last spring, and a warm, sunny summer that extended well into fall — industry insiders say the 2020 vintages were the best in recent years.

In the Traverse City area, 30 wineries on the Leelanau Peninsula and 10 wineries on Old Mission Peninsula collaborate as the Traverse Wine Coast. From Black Star Farms to Chateau Grand Traverse Winery to Chateau Chantal Winery and Inn, many tasting rooms are complemented by winery tours, stunning scenery, resort-like accommodations, and fine dining.

In turn, the Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail’s 21 wineries and vineyards stretch from New Buffalo to Holland — often referred to as the cradle of the industry, with commercial vineyards dating back to 1867. One of the best known is St. Julian Winery in Paw Paw, the state’s largest winery, which celebrates its 100th year this summer.

“I have high hopes for this summer,” Tkach says. “It ties back to the quality golf, quality wine, and quality dining that the region is known for. That hasn’t changed. It’s all still there, just as it was before the pandemic, and people want to get back after it.”

— Norm Sinclair

IN VINO VERITAS Michigan’s wine industry has been expanding, with 3,375 wine grape acres, up 10 percent from 2016.

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Exec Life || Resorts and Tourism

STARBOARD STARLIGHT The Isle Royal Queen III, owned by Sip n’ Sail Cruises, offers multiple themed excurions on the Straits of Mackinac throughout the season.

the property’s environmental infrastructure is now getting a $2.9-million makeover.

“Some guests will see it, and some will feel it,” Owens says of the improvements that will update heating, cooling, and ventilation systems; improve control systems for interior and exterior lighting, and plumbing and water systems; put a new roof on the convention center; and make other upgrades designed to drastically reduce the resort’s carbon footprint.

In turn, a cluster of older chalets will be gutted this year and rebuilt into six, two-bedroom units.

Another half-dozen three-bedroom units, each designed to accommodate families, couples, or groups who want to play and stay together, will also be added.

In a nod to nostalgia, in July a celebration will mark the 20th anniversary of PGA Tour player Lee Trevino making what is believed to be the most valuable single swing ever in golf: a hole-inone with a $1 million prize made during a nationally televised match on the so-called Threetops Par-3 course. Trevino is expected to return to the resort for a charity event, and he’ll hit shots with players on the same seventh hole of the Threetops course where he made the million-dollar shot.

Headlining the state’s golf scene this summer, the new American Dunes Golf Club in Grand Haven is a tribute to the United States’ military servicemen and women, and the sacrifices they’ve made for their country. The club is the brainchild of Dan Rooney, a PGA professional, Iraq war veteran, and an F-16 fighter pilot who holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve.

Rooney took over the dated, tree-lined, 56-year-old Grand Haven Golf Club from his parents in 2018, and decided to renovate it into a revenue-generator for the Folds of Honor

Foundation he started in 2007. The foundation provides higher education scholarships to the children and spouses of military members killed in action. To date, the group has raised more than $20 million and awarded 4,000 scholarships.

When Rooney approached Jack Nicklaus about the project, he signed on, waived his customary $3 million fee, and designed a signature course less than a mile from Lake Michigan.

After removing more than 1,000 trees and exposing the rolling sandy dunes landscape, Nicklaus produced a stunning 18-hole course that received rave reviews from people who played it during an early preview last fall. A military-themed lodge with 16 suites is scheduled to open next year.

Rooney pledges that all profits from the club will go to the foundation, and active or retired service members can play at a discount.

Other major public course renovations and additions on display this season can be found at the Saskatoon Golf Club near Grand Rapids and the Washtenaw Golf Club, west of downtown Ypsilanti, which is one of the state’s oldest layouts, dating to 1899.

Michigan architect Ray Hearn used a 1937 aerial image of the Washtenaw course to restore some of its original design features, which made the layout more playable. At Saskatoon, Paul Albanese, and his mentor, Jerry Matthews, designed a new nine-hole course, the Silver Nine, which will complement the club’s current 36 holes.

At age 80, and with dozens of golf courses on his resume, Nicklaus says the American Dunes Golf Club stands out. “It was fun, a really fun project,” he says. “And the real fun of the project is knowing that what you’re doing is going to benefit a lot of families (and) a lot of kids.”

COURTESY OF SIP N’ SAIL CRUISES

parents and younger children. “We closed a range on Sundays last year and let the kids play games around the flags while the parents could sit, relax and have a drink, and still keep track of everyone,” Friedrich says.

Embracing technology, this summer Boyne will install a TrackMan golf simulator at the Highlands resort. The simulator allows players to practice shots with instant pinpoint accuracy and data feedback. It also allows participants to virtually play world-famous courses that appear in stunning detail on digital screens. “We’ll have 35 to 40 hitting bays for players to come out and have fun,” Friedrich says. “They can have closest to the pin contests, longest drive, and other games on the TrackMan program.”

With the pandemic picture improving in the state, Friedrich is looking for a more normal golf and tourism season ahead. “We’ll book golf all summer and fall, and so far our sales for this year are even with previous years,” he says.

Barry Owens, general manager of Treetops Resort in Gaylord, shares Friedrich’s optimism.

“It was really exciting seeing all that traffic we had later in the summer and fall, especially since we started with such uncertainty. We lost a month and a half off the books,” Owens says. “Our rounds were down about 10 percent in 2020, but we feel good about our early bookings this year.”

Like Friedrich, Owens is encouraged by feedback from provisional early bookings. “With vaccinations and the elimination of the spread of the virus, we have every reason to feel good about where we’re going this season,” he says, especially given the latest round of capital improvement renovations now underway at the resort. After a $4.5-million face-lift three years ago transformed 98 hotel rooms, lobbies, and swimming pools,

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2020 Was the Year of Holding On to Clients

2021 WILL EMERGE AS THE YEAR OF THE HUNT

HOW DOES YOUR TEAM STACK UP IN THE HUNT FOR NEW CLIENTS? Learn How Competitor Organizations Are Finding New Clients!

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1/29/21 1:21 PM

Exec Life || Return on Investment

Pursuit of Passion

Randy Kaplan overcame a stutter and bullying while growing up in Detroit and launched several successful businesses, including one that aims to catalog every beach in the world. this big desk, I’m looking out at this beautiful view, and I said to myself, I’m going to be a CEO one day and run a big company — and that was another seminal moment for me.”

He graduated from Country Day with honors and headed to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he continued to excel as a student and launched his entrepreneurial career.

“I thought, I’m going try my hand at T-shirts,” Kaplan says. “I took $400 of my bar mitzvah money, came up with a design, and ordered 100 shirts. Cost me five bucks each, and I was selling them for $12. Doing door-to-door soliciting isn’t permitted in the dorms, so I’d get kicked out and leave through the front door, go right back in through the back door, and go to another floor.”

Northwestern Law School was the next stop for Kaplan, where his grades were excellent, as usual, but his focus was significantly compromised. “I never wanted to be a lawyer,” he admits, “and I never wanted to go to law school.”

Which explains, in large part, why Kaplan spent his first year out of law school cycling

through two jobs in Los Angeles before landing a third as a tax associate for a law firm. “It was the last thing I wanted to do,” he concedes, but the experience proved to be a catalyst for his next big idea.

“When my law career got off to a terrible start, I decided to try to make the transition into business, and I came up with something very different and very unique — writing incredibly detailed and unique letters to CEOs, asking for informational interviews, not a job. I knew that writing a letter asking for a job, the CEO would never get it.”

Kaplan wrote 300 letters, and says each took five hours to compose.

“There was no Google then, so I used LexisNexis,” he says. “I would do this late at night at my office. I printed out every article going back 20 years on everyone I wanted to meet. I highlighted all of the jobs they’d had and all of the quotes they’d given, so each letter was unique. I had stacks of paper 5 to 6 inches high, (and) 15 to 20 piles at one time. I was very persistent with these letters, and I got 80 meetings with (people like)

COURTESY OF RANDY KAPLAN

I

t’s a well-worn cliche, but the “serial entrepreneur” moniker is truly fitting for Randy Kaplan, whose most current venture is his role as founder and CEO of Sandee, a startup focused on cataloging and rating every beach in the world. It’s not a modest goal, but it’s typical for Kaplan.

“It’s been an enormous undertaking,” he says matter-of-factly, “but I like tackling and trying to solve large problems. And there was no definitive resource for the billion people a year who go to the beach.”

The business is the latest in a string of entrepreneurial pursuits driving the restless and peripatetic Kaplan, who readily concedes he’s been highly motivated since he was a small boy, growing up first in Southfield, and then Birmingham, where he attended Covington Middle School.

“There was a stuttering issue and a bullying issue and, you know, that’s tough,” he reveals. “Many kids were just cruel the entire way through. I didn’t have a lot of friends. I couldn’t speak for a while. I couldn’t even go into a restaurant and order. I would ask my parents to order for me.”

Kaplan eventually overcame his stuttering with the help of a speech therapist — and a steely promise he made to himself. “All those kids who made fun of me, in my own mind I’d say it’s not going to impede me, and one day I’ll show them,” he says resolutely. “I was incredibly motivated. I think I was just born with a drive to be curious, identify problems, and try to solve them. And I’ve learned, over the years, to pursue things you’re passionate about.”

Kaplan moved on to Detroit Country Day for the ninth grade. “I wasn’t a great athlete there, and the athletes were the most popular kids, and it bothered me,” he admits. “Again, I just didn’t have the confidence. I mean, a lot of sports is skill and confidence, and I certainly didn’t have those.”

But he excelled in the classroom, and an economics course Kaplan took during his sophomore year proved to be a significant milestone.

“Don Corwin taught the class, and I loved Mr. Corwin and the class, got 100 percent, and it changed my life,” he says. “Was that a seminal moment for me to know that I wanted a career in business? The answer is yes.”

One day the class took a field trip to a large public company, ending their tour in the office of the CEO. “I asked if I could sit in his chair,” Kaplan remembers, laughing. “So, I sat down at

BY TOM MURRAY

LIFE’S A BEACH A serial entrepreneur, Randy Kaplan grew up in Southfield and Birmingham before heading west to make his mark in multiple industries.

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Return on Investment || Exec Life

the CEOs of Disney, Marriott, every studio in town, and others.”

That total includes the one that changed his life — with fellow Detroit native Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist who was at the helm of Sun America, his second Fortune 500 company.

“I did all the research on him and actually made a cheat sheet,” Kaplan says. “I had it laminated. Eli was scribbling the entire time during the meeting, and I wanted to make sure he saw the sheet. When he did, you could see his eyes widen. And then he basically said, We have this assistant to the chairman job here and it’s open.”

Not for long.

“On my 27th birthday I had an offer to be the assistant to the chairman, and now I was no longer practicing law,” Kaplan says. “I was basically an investment banker, the junior guy on a very senior team. I was there to put my head down and learn. (It was) very demanding, 80 hours a week, (but it was the) best job in the world that I could have.”

He left “the best job” before he turned 30, launching Akamai Technologies, a content delivery and security software company, with three partners. The dream of running his own business had finally been achieved, but Kaplan admits the timing of his departure from Sun America could have been better.

“Three months after I left,” he says sheepishly, “Eli sold the company for $18 billion and I lost

LETTER CAMPAIGN Kaplan has met hundreds of famous people and politicians, including former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin.

out on a little over $2 million in stock options.”

Kaplan never looked back.

Akamai was a huge success, and went public in 1999. On its first day of trading on the Nasdaq exchange, the stock closed with an astounding 458 percent increase from its initial offering price — the fourth-largest first-day jump ever.

With Wall Street still abuzz over Akamai, he quickly pivoted and started JUMP Investors, an entrepreneurial investment firm that has made more than 60 early to late-stage venture capital investments in the last 20-plus years. Ever the multitasker, he asserts Sandee is the main focus of his attention these days.

“It’s been my full-time job for seven years,” Kaplan says. “We’ve cataloged 94 categories with data for every beach in the world, with more than 50,000 beaches and 212 countries. Our trademark is (telling people) choose your beach, and you can go on our website and filter through all the categories that are important to you, whether you have young kids and you want food, a bathroom, and a shower, or you’re going on a romantic vacation and you want something quieter and less popular.”

While Kaplan is certainly busy enough with his current ventures, including Thrive Properties, a real estate investment firm, he’s perpetually on the lookout for fresh opportunities.

“I love learning about new companies, and it’s a great job to meet with all kinds of people who come in with new ideas and pitch me,” he says. “I learn a lot about things I know nothing about — technology and new products — and it’s fascinating and mentally stimulating.”

Kaplan, 52, who lives in Los Angeles with his family, is also finalizing the details of a podcast, with plans to interview guests from a wide array of diverse backgrounds.

“The podcast is really the culmination of 18

years of our summer intern program at JUMP, providing an incredible teaching experience for young, hardworking, and motivated students,” he says. “We advertise the opportunity to work in a venture capital firm and learn from somebody who’s been a successful entrepreneur. A lot of students want that on their resume, and now we get over 1,000 applications per year.”

Less than a quarter of the applicants qualify for an interview, and 36 end up getting a job.

“It’s a teaching internship, which is very important,” Kaplan says. “It means I spend 60 to 90 minutes a day with the interns, giving lessons on venture capital, entrepreneurship, private equity, (and) real estate. It’s a 12-week program.

We have guest speakers every week — wellknown CEOs, venture capitalists, (and) private equity people. We spend a tremendous amount of time on the intangibles — which I stress are, in many cases, equally or more important than the tangibles you learn.”

Near the very top of Kaplan’s intangibles list, not surprisingly, is the art of making an indelible impression in a job interview, which harkens back to the scorched-earth approach he took in the letter-writing campaign that led to his career-making job with Eli Broad at Sun America.

“I prepared for those interviews like it was a final exam,” he says proudly. “We’re hiring people now, and one of the first questions I ask in the interview or meeting is, What’s my dog’s name?

Some people know it. Some people don’t.”

Kaplan pauses here, seeming to relish what feels like a well-rehearsed kicker: “For people who don’t know the answer, the interview is over,” he remarks. “No chance at a job.”

On the other hand, laminated cheat sheets are most assuredly allowed, even encouraged. And they may well assure the gig is a lock.

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Exec Life || Production Run

CARBON SUPPORT Masts, or spars, are made from carbon fiber materials that are both rigid and lightweight.

Sailing to Success

Offshore Spars in New Baltimore is among the few mast-makers left in the world.

I

ndustry consolidation and the COVID-19 pandemic has put Offshore Spars in New Baltimore in the driver’s seat — or captain’s chair — among the world’s sailboat mast-makers and rigging suppliers.

Masts, also known as spars, are the main support for sails on a sailboat, and Offshore Spars is one of four manufacturers of its kind left in the world.

“A lot of the growth is a result of what’s going on in our industry,” says Steven King, owner of Offshore Spars since 2013. “There’s a lot of consolidation of spar-makers in the world. A decade ago, there were probably 12 (companies). Now there’s maybe four.”

Two of the largest competitors, according to King, are owned by a private equity company that is making what King calls “questionable business decisions” that are improving the outlook for Offshore. “The marine market is extremely strong right now,” he says. “Ever since COVID-19 hit, people are spending more money on boats and our market is just exploding.”

BY TIM KEENAN |

JOSH SCOTT

Offshore Spars increased its revenue to $4.5 million last year, from $4 million in 2019 and $2.8 million in 2017. It has 35 employees, up from 20 workers in 2017.

The company specializes in the design and manufacture of custom, carbon-fiber spars for large sailing yachts. Its products include masts for cruising and racing; electric, hydraulic, and manual furling booms; spinnaker poles; and boom spirits.

“We’re very strong in the custom market,” King says. “We dabble in a couple of production jobs here and there, but for the most part our strength is the custom market — refitting a boat or a new build (where we) custom-design and build the spar to fit the boat perfectly. There are so many options we can build in.

“Working with private customers is pretty nice when it comes to ordering and cash flow,” King adds, explaining that with his customers, money tends to be an afterthought. “The money just shows up,” he says.

Offshore Spars started in 1976 as Motor City

Electric, which was owned by Mike Feldman. Over time, the company started making aluminum rigs for sailboats built in Michigan and Canada, and its name changed. The company crafted aluminum rigs for several years, then expanded from rigs for small, mass-produced sailboats to larger, custom projects.

In 1992, the America’s Cup team contracted with Offshore Spars to help its crew build masts for its winning vessel, called America3. This marked the introduction of carbon fiber not only to the America’s Cup competition, but to the Offshore Spars shop, as well — including the purchase of a 110-by-3-foot autoclave to cure the composite spars.

“That’s what got the carbon fiber spar manufacturing off the ground here,” King says. “Sailors are always looking to go faster. It’s part of the nature of the sport. Anytime you can make something lighter, it helps them go faster.”

That capability led to Finland’s Nautor’s Swan, maker of some of the most eye-catching sailing yachts in the world, becoming Offshore

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Production Run || Exec Life

Spars’ primary customer. “In about the late 1990s, we were building carbon masts for all of (Swan’s) bigger boats, and they were still building smaller masts for some of their smaller boats.”

Swan eventually sold its mast-making business to Offshore Spars, which purchased another autoclave for the shop in Finland. That facility closed during the 2008 economic downturn.

King bought the business from Feldman in 2013.

“In the first five years that I had the company, business was steady with U.S. work,” King says.

“We weren’t doing much with Europe. We’ve seen a lot of growth over the last two years.”

In 2020, Offshore Spars delivered 40 spars to customers worldwide. There are 28 masts currently in production. The company operates out of a 38,000-square-foot facility at 22 Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue in New Baltimore. It includes a small machine shop with manual machines, a CNC carbon cutter, a waterjet cutter, two autoclaves, and five spar-turning stations. The shop also features two spray booths: 150 feet and 80 feet long, respectively.

According to King, work on a mast begins once a naval architect presents a plan for a craft.

“You start with the spec and make sure that’s what the client wants,” King explains. “You’re working with a naval architect and their vision for the boat. Once you get the order, you go to design, working with the rigger to make sure we have all the measurements correct. We coordinate with the shipyard from start to finish.”

The company creates production drawings, works with the raw material, creates the spars, and helps install the completed masts in the boat.

“We do all our own machining, our own paint,” King says. “We fabricate, we build rigging — we pretty much do everything from start to finish in our facility.”

While New Baltimore isn’t a traditional maritime production hub, King says metro Detroit’s industrial heritage and its growing aerospace presence makes it “a great city to manufacture in.”

In addition to supplying new sailboat-makers with carbon fiber offerings, the Offshore Spars crew is working on replacing the masts of an older wood boat with composite masts that will be painted to look like wood.

A year ago, Offshore Spars assisted the America’s Magic 2021 America’s Cup team manufacture spars for its entry in this year’s race. Rather than actually make the spars, Offshore Spars lent its shop, equipment, and manufacturing experience to an America’s Cup team, which moved into the spar-maker’s facility and did the work on the spar itself. Beyond helping the 1992 and 2021 U.S. America’s Cup entries, Offshore Spars also assisted the 1995 all-female America3 team.

Peering ahead, King is looking off the bow rather than the stern. “We have a lot of potential future growth,” he says. “We’re definitely in a growth period that’s going to continue for a while. It’ll be interesting to see if the market cools down a bit. But we don’t have a lot of competition. Once you get to a 70-foot boat, there’s really only two or three other companies worldwide (to fill an order). There’s a lot of potential to sell to the entire world.”

The company’s expertise in carbon composite manufacturing will help drive future growth.

“There’s not really much place for aluminum anymore,” King says. “Cheaper production boats still use aluminum, but once you get to a 50-foot boat, it’s pretty rare to have aluminum.

“Carbon is the wave of the future. Even the budget boats are trying to figure out how to use it. The raw materials are more expensive and it’s more labor-intensive, but it’s a far superior material. It’s lighter, stiffer, and it doesn’t corrode.”

THE RUNDOWN

Custom Carbon Spars Delivered Per Year

Employees

2020 Revenue

SMOOTH SAILING The raw materials and labor needed to produce carbon fiber masts can be costly, but the end result is a lighter, faster sailboat.

Shop Size

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Exec Life || Opinion

Lend It Forward If bankers took the time to better understand how owners operate their small- to middle-market businesses, they would be more confident in extending loans.

hen earlier this year a and hence was declined. The decision came as headline in The Wall the restaurant owner had underlying real estate Street Journal called (the three restaurants) that was owned free and for bankers to pick up clear; the only outstanding debt was two PPP their lending activi- loans granted on two of the restaurants collecties, it reminded me tively, not exceeding $100,000.

A second reason for the “risk” assessment was that the message wasn’t aimed at smaller, closely held companies applying for loans. While many that the owner had “drained cash out of the business” to purchase a home, which businesses have been able to off“BUSINESS LOANS AND my firm helped arrange via a set the faltering economy with RELATED FUNDING mortgage through Troy-based PPP government-backed loans, OPPORTUNITIES ARE THE Flagstar, which required a future lending among traditionLIFEBLOOD OF OUR 20-percent deposit. The husal institutions is less certain.

ECONOMY, AND, IN MY band-and-wife owner/operators Business loans and related OPINION, BANKS AND led a fairly frugal life, and getfunding opportunities are the FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ting out of their existing lifeblood of our economy, and, NEED TO DO A BETTER JOB cramped residence was somein my opinion, banks and finanOF EXTENDING CREDIT TO thing they were planning for. As cial institutions need to do a betLONG-STANDING, WELLa result, we were told by the ter job of extending credit to RUN COMPANIES.” bank it was a negative turndown long-standing, well-run companies. Our future success in Michigan and the for approving the line of credit.

The second commercial bank in the Detroit country depends on it.

Consider the case of three recent local banks I area we approached was looking for qualified dealt with in seeking out capital loans for our cli- loans to extend to small- to middle-market ents. The one thing that stood out at the outset firms. At the outset, the loan officer was optimiswas that banks were content to settle for “low- tic about getting a $50,000 to $75,000 line of credit approved with no interest for 18 months. er-risk portfolios.”

After the bank received extensive financial inOne local community-oriented bank (name not released) was looking for secured commer- formation on the three restaurants, personal tax cial loans with good collateral, demonstrated returns, and real estate collateral values collectively available cash flow, and adequate debt service exceeding $800,000, the loan officer with years of ability, along with active, hands-on management commercial lending experience actively with good credit history. I had, early on, pointed supported its approval to the bank’s credout to this bank’s senior vice president and head it committee (for up to $100,000).

After several weeks of answering of credit that this request involved lending to three owned restaurants under the same corpo- requests for financial information, inrate name — because banks, in general, can be cluding actual pay stubs to verify wages to support their already submitted leery of lending to a single-eatery operator.

In turn, I was told that if the $50,000- W-2s, bank statements of the three $75,000 line of credit request met the bank’s restaurants, etc., the credit request underwriting criteria, lending to the owner-op- was declined because the bank’s unerator of the three restaurants shouldn’t be a derwriting group decided lending to problem. What followed was a handoff to a ju- restaurants was just too risky.

This came as the business, through nior loan officer who, in the credit evaluation process, asked for literally reams of historical a simplified menu, generates 98 percent of its revenue via takeout, and the and current financial information.

A short time later, I was informed by the ju- bottom line actually increased following nior loan officer’s underwriting group that the the end of Q2 2020. The owner also had loan application presented “a high industry risk,” a FICO score of 750.

LARRY GARDNER is president of Lawrence Gardner Associates, a financial managerial consulting firm in Troy. He is a former president of First Citizens Bank of Troy.

At a third bank, which had been approached earlier, the recommended loan officer’s knowledge of banking practices proved helpful. Rather than a line of credit, Flagstar offered three bank-issued credit cards, one for each restaurant.

We effectively obtained, collectively, a $39,000 line of credit with no interest for 20 months (via a bank credit card promotion as a backstop for originally requested working capital).

From my consulting perspective, and in dealing with prospective lenders, the “not too big to fail bank lenders” need to look at actual data and facts when reviewing and analyzing well-constructed and documented small business credit requests, rather than grouping them into a perceived “high industry risk” category.

In this way, more businesses would have a real opportunity to grow their operations, add workers, and further support their communities.

AUSTIN PHILLIPS

W

BY LARRY GARDNER

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Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month May 2021

20th Anniversary

In recognition of the Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce’s (APACC) 20th Anniversary, we celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month during the month of May 2021. APACC celebrates 20 years of facilitating business relationships among Asian-owned and U.S.-based companies and promoting the economic advancement of Asian American Pacific Islanders. Thank you to our sponsors for supporting us and the Asian American Pacific Islander business community.

Signature Sponsor

Diamond Sponsor DENSO International America, Inc

Ford Motor Company

Jade Sponsor Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Chrysan Industries Inc Magna International

Rocket Mortgage Roy Smith Company Stellantis

Opal Sponsor Comerica Bank Faurecia Nissan North America, Inc

Rush Group/Dakkota TCF Bank Warner Norcross + Judd LLP

APACC.net APACC_FP_DB_0521.indd 1

4/19/21 2:55 PM

SPONSORED BY STARTUPNATION

A Life of Purpose Cory Tincher discovered his career path after a friend suggested he interview with a recruiter at Rocket Cos. in Detroit.

D

etroit’s future is in the hands of young, dynamic doers who embrace the opportunity to achieve their personal goals and contribute to the greater good of the local community.

One such rising star in our region is 31-yearold Cory Tincher, a senior associate at Detroit Venture Partners. His story is both exhilarating and exemplary. Tincher’s story exemplifies the magic that occurs in a young person’s life when he or she is given the opportunity to blossom.

Tincher’s story starts in Trenton, where he grew up in a self-described middle-class family.

He went on to study accounting at Grand Valley State University, with aspirations of working for the FBI doing investigative work.

After studying accounting, however, Tincher realized he didn’t want to work full time as a bookkeeper. He also questioned whether he wanted to start his career in the Detroit area. A chance meeting with a friend would change everything and set Tincher on a course that provided him with a clear direction, along with a purpose.

Tincher recounts his friend mentioning how much she loved working at Rocket Cos. and being part of the Dan Gilbert family of companies. Admittedly, at the time he wasn’t entirely familiar with Rocket Cos. or Gilbert.

Nonetheless, Tincher’s friend set up a meeting for him with a Rocket Cos. recruiter, who offered him a data and analytics internship. The role involved working closely with Gilbert, who owns the Cleveland Cavaliers, and a colleague, to analyze and pitch what they felt were the best trades the professional basketball team could possibly make to improve their odds of winning.

Following the internship, Tincher worked closely with Gilbert on various strategic projects of interest. In one such effort, which began in January 2015, Gilbert shared an idea with Tincher that had been sparked as a result of a passion of one of Gilbert’s sons: buying and selling collectible sneakers.

According to Tincher, “Dan pitched the idea of taking his son’s passion and creating a business out of it, leveraging stock market model efficiencies — maybe a stock market of things — and asked me, ‘What do you think? Is there something we can do with this?’ ”

By February of 2016, StockX, one of our region’s most notable unicorns, was launched

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BY JEFF SLOAN

with Tincher as a key member of the founding team. And yet, as much as Tincher was enamored with the idea of staying with the StockX team, Gilbert put him on another project.

Soon, Tincher was named the project lead of the Quicken Loans-led effort to bring a headquarters for Amazon to Detroit in 2017 (Quicken Loans became Rockets Cos. in 2020).

Working closely with Gilbert and other business and civic leaders, Tincher remembers working 20-hour days to pull together the proposal in a few weeks to meet the application deadline.

While Detroit didn’t succeed in winning the bid, Tincher recalls that it was this defining effort that was his most transformative. The project cemented his career path in business, contributing not only to his own future, but also to the community in which he lives and works.

Since taking a position as a senior associate with Detroit Venture Partners in the spring of 2019, Tincher is now focused on facilitating the

growth of startups in the company’s venture capital portfolio, as well as identifying and vetting investment opportunities.

It’s clear Tincher is going places in life, and no matter where it all leads him, he says one thing is certain: “Regardless of where my path takes me, I’ll remain firmly rooted in the city I love and to which I am forever dedicated — Detroit.”

JEFF SLOAN is founder and CEO of StartupNation and Aria Ventures, both in Birmingham.

4/15/21 1:25 PM

P R O M OT I O N A L CO N T E N T

MERGERS & AQUISITIONS Q&A

An M&A Primer, with Tips from

Planning to Execution

At some point, most business owners will be contemplating the direction of their companies, whether it’s how they will be passed on to a successor or how to enable more growth. There are a number of implications to consider on the purchasing and selling sides. An increase in corporate and capital gains tax rates may affect timing of such an event, meanwhile a post-pandemic market shift may

create a surge in transaction activity.

No matter the circumstances or motivations, industry professionals agree that planning is key and assembling a competent team at the first signals of an M&A event is crucial to success.

Experienced tax advisors and legal representatives for either an acquisition or sale of a business entity can evaluate and manage the process from start to

finish, ensuring a smooth transition.

From a financing and capital standpoint, business owners may wish to engage with a private equity partner that is skilled in growth strategies, deal sourcing, due diligence, and integration.

This experts in this section weigh in on the many aspects of mergers and acquisitions, offering timely advice to what is often a complex and nuanced endeavor.

Q: When should a company engage in an M&A and how do they select the correct partner?

A: A company that has reached a revenue plateau and is looking to grow may consider the possibility of a merger and acquisition to expand. One idea to increase revenue is through organic strategies such as expanding geographically, add new products, or broaden service offerings. Another option is to acquire an existing company — through an M&A transaction — that serves a different geography or has complementary products or services.

The main challenges with M&A are

appropriately valuing the target, raising the necessary capital, and managing integration.

If a business owner doesn’t have the capital, is risk averse with their personal wealth, or lacks experience in M&A, partnering with a private equity firm, such as Huron Capital, is a valued option. Many of the professionals at Huron Capital have substantial expertise in M&As with more than 20 years of experience adding worth through their operational knowledge, partnership approach, and their know-how on integrating acquisitions to accelerate growth.

Huron Capital Partners, LLC James Mahoney Managing Partner 500 Griswold St., Ste. 2700 Detroit, MI 48226 313-962-5800 huroncapital.com info@huroncapital.com Advertisement on page 29

Q: I have a trust. That means none of my assets will go through probate, correct?

A: A trust alone does not avoid probate. Creating your trust is the first step. Once your trust is created, it must be funded to avoid probate. Here are general guideposts for funding your trust: • For life insurance and retirement plans, update your beneficiary designation to list individuals or your trust as the beneficiary.

• For investment accounts, change the account ownership to the name of your trust.

• For real estate, execute a deed either transfer-

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ring your real estate to your trust now or at death.

A transfer at death is commonly referred to as a Lady Bird Deed.

• For ordinary, individual bank accounts, visit your bank and complete “transfer on death” forms, naming individuals or your trust as the recipient at your death.

Take-away tip: It’s important to work with your attorney to fund your trust once it’s created, to avoid probate.

Plunkett Cooney

Scott K. Lites Partner 38505 Woodward Ave., Ste. 100 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304 248- 901-4074 slites@plunkettcooney.com plunkettcooney.com Advertisement on page 17

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P R O M OT I O N A L CO N T E N T

MERGERS & AQUISITIONS Q&A Q: What are some key things business owners need to consider when thinking about a liquidity event?

A: This is a timely question. Over the past year, the M&A market has evolved and momentum continues to build. After months of waiting on the sidelines, buyer appetite has grown across private equity firms and corporates alike. Today, financial sponsors have trillions of dollars waiting to be put to work. Corporates are seeking opportunities to gain share as their businesses return to more normalized conditions. The market is as “seller-friendly” as it’s ever been.

There are foundational elements of completing a liquidity event successfully: • Plan early and often.

• Select your internal execution team.

• Identify professional support from trusted advisers.

• Decide upon your ideal transaction (full sale, partnership with equity rollover, minority sale).

• Identify what success looks like post-transaction (transaction proceeds, is my business in good hands?, plans for my future, et cetera).

This decision is often the most important and challenging in one’s career. As such, it’s never too early to start planning accordingly.

In doing so, it’s critical to build a hand-selected team to help lead you through the process.

KeyBank

John Ebert john.ebert@keybank.com key.com Advertisement on page 2

Q: How will the M&A market react to the expected tax rate hikes?

A: The Biden administration has signaled its intention to follow through on campaign promises to raise taxes on personal, corporate and capital gains tax rates.

Of these, the capital gains rate changes are potentially the most impactful on M&A markets. The Biden tax plan proposes to raise the capital gains rate to the ordinary income rate for individuals earnings over $1 million, as well as return the top ordinary income rate to 39.6%. One can safely assume there will be a surge of deal activity to avoid the higher rates, assuming the changes are not retroactively applied.

The $1 million earnings threshold provides only minimal protection to business owners, as M&A transactions involving mid-sized businesses routinely provide proceeds to sellers in excess of this figure, and if the seller’s other income sources, such as salary, are also included in the calculation, exceeding this threshold is even more likely. Therefore, if this tax plan appears headed toward enactment, we expect to see a steep increase in tax avoidance-driven M&A activity, likely followed by a temporary decline in M&A activity as business owners are less incentivized to monetize their equity interests.

Peninsula Capital Partners, LLC

Scott A. Reilly, CFA President & Chief Investment Officer 500 Woodward Ave., Ste. 2800 Detroit, MI 48226 313-237-5100 peninsulafunds.com reilly@peninsulafunds.com Advertisement on Cover 3

Q: How does a family-owned, privately held business close down successfully?

A: For many business owners, a merger or acquisition is likely a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, but for the experienced professionals at UHY Corporate Finance, these situations are commonplace. When considering a sale, it is highly recommended that business owners seek the professional help of a seasoned and trusted adviser who can establish a disciplined process designed to maintain confidentiality, yet maximize value.

When an owner gets ready to sell or close down the business — and there’s not a succession plan or a next generation to take the reins —

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the next logical step is to monetize that asset and continue on to the next chapter of life. To do that, they will want to find the best custodian for their business to carry on their legacy as an owner.

At UHY, we’ll help position the business in the most favorable light, by creating materials that support the marketing and outreach phase of the transaction. In addition, we’ll define a universe of relevant acquirers or majority partners, and create competition amongst them for the benefit of the seller; and most importantly, we’ll control the release of sensitive information so that we do not compromise confidentiality.

UHY Corporate Finance Alex Conti Managing Director 27725 Stansbury Blvd., Ste. 200 Farmington Hills, MI 48334 248-290-8412 uhy-us.com/services/corporate-finance Advertisement on page 4-5

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From the Top || Chambers of Commerce

Chambers of Commerce in Metro Detroit (alphabetical order) AMERICAN ARAB CHAMBER OF COMMERCE* 12740 W. Warren Ave., Ste. 300 Dearborn 48126 313-945-1700 americanarab.com Members: 1,500 Focus: Local, national, and international Meetings: Networking events, monthly seminars, annual Celebrating Success Dinner, Arab-American Golf Open, Building Economic Bridges Banquet, quarterly Business Builder series, international delegations Dues: $250-$5,000 Employees: 21 Founded: 1992 Contact: Fay Beydoun, executive director ANN ARBOR/YPSILANTI REGIONAL CHAMBER 2010 Hogback Rd., Ste. 4 Ann Arbor 48105 734-665-4433 a2ychamber.org Members: 1,300 Focus: Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti region Meetings: Monthly networking meetings, Foundation Gala Dues: $395-$5,000 Employees: 9 Founded: 1919 Contact: Diane Keller, president and CEO ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE P.O. Box 54 Clawson 48017 248-430-5855 apacc.net Members: 4,500+ in Michigan and U.S. Focus: Asian/Pacific Islander American and U.S. businesses Meetings: Networking, personal, and professional development Dues: $200-$1,200 Employees: 3 Founded: 2000 Contact: Duc Nguyen Abrahamson, executive director AUBURN HILLS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE P.O. Box 214083 3395A Auburn Rd. Auburn Hills 48321 248-853-7862 auburnhillschamber.com Members: 370 Focus: To be a catalyst for growth in our world-class business community Meetings: Nearly 50 educational

and networking events per year; several scheduled each month Dues: $250-$1,950 Employees: 6 Founded: 1991 Contact: Jean Jernigan, president BERKLEY AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE P.O. Box 72-1253 Berkley 48072 248-414-9157 berkleychamber.com Members: 155 Focus: Berkley, Huntington Woods, Oak Park, Royal Oak, Southfield Meetings: Monthly networking events, State of the City, Berkley Art Bash, Berkley Pub Crawl, Berkley Street Art Fest Dues: $120-$500 Employees: 2 Founded: 1984 Contact: Darlene Rothman, executive director BIRMINGHAM BLOOMFIELD CHAMBER 725 S. Adams Rd., Ste. 130 Birmingham 48009 248-644-1700 bbcc.com Members: 730 Focus: Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Franklin Meetings: Vine and Dine, Village Fair, Forecast Breakfast Series, Professional Edge Workshop, Business After Hours, member coffees, Community Leadership Luncheon, Legislative Reception Dues: $330-$945 Employees: 4 Founded: 1947 Contact: Joe Bauman, president BRITISH-AMERICAN BUSINESS COUNCIL OF MICHIGAN 150 W. Jefferson Ave., Ste. 100 Detroit 48226 248-825-7075 babcmichigan.org Members: 40 Platinum, Gold, and Silver members Focus: Providing Midwest businesses and organizations opportunities to extend their reach into the UK, and for UK companies to deliver their products, services, and messages to the entire Michigan region Meetings: Local events and seminars, annual transatlantic business conferences Dues: $30-$750 Founded: 2006 Contact: Helen French, executive director

CHALDEAN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 30095 Northwestern Hwy., Ste. 101 Farmington Hills 48334 248-851-1200 chaldeanchamber.com Members: 975 Focus: Advocacy, economic development, community development, cultural preservation Meetings: Quarterly networking meetings, educational forums, annual awards dinner, annual meeting and board election, annual business luncheon, annual golf outing, seminars, and cultural events Dues: $100-$1,500 Employees: 6 Founded: 2003 Contact: Paul Jonna, chief operating officer CLARKSTON AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 5856 S. Main St. Clarkston 48346 248-625-8055 clarkston.org Members: 450 Focus: Clarkston, Davisburg, Independence Township, Springfield Township Meetings: Lunch mixers, breakfasts, after hours, young professionals, women’s group Dues: $265-$565 Employees: 2 Founded: 1987 Contact: Shaun Hayes, executive director CLAWSON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 425 North Main St. Clawson 48017 248-435-6500 clawsonchamber.org Members: 200 Focus: Clawson Meetings: Morning and after-hours networking events, quarterly Oakland County network mixers, seminars Dues: $65-$200 Employees: 1 Founded: 1939 Contact: Char Larson, president DEARBORN AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 22100 Michigan Ave. Dearborn 48124 313-584-6100 dearbornareachamber.org Members: 590 Focus: Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Detroit, Garden City Meetings: Thirty-nine annual

events including 15 complimentary monthly morning and after-hours networking events, Meet the Candidates, small business luncheons, two golf outings, Taste of Dearborn, 20+ Teacher of the Year celebrations, holiday gala Dues: $295 and up Employees: 4 Founded: 1944 Contact: Jacqueline Lovejoy, president DETROIT CHINESE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION* 3250 W. Big Beaver Rd., Ste. 430 Troy 48084 248-918-0391 dcba.com Members: 3,100 Focus: Michigan Meetings: Quarterly networking events, annual China Forum, U.S.-China business forum, Chinese New Year gala, DCBA International Golf Open Dues: $300-$10,000 Employees: 3 Founded: 1995 Contact: Brian Gao, president DETROIT REGIONAL CHAMBER 1 Woodward Ave., Ste. 1900 Detroit 48226 313-964-4000 detroitchamber.com Members: 1,700 Focus: Ten counties in southeast Michigan Meetings: More than 80 programs and events, including the Mackinac Policy Conference; meetings with local, state, and national government officials; small business events; leadership and talent development programs Dues: Vary Employees: 80 Founded: 1903 Contact: Lori Ostrow, senior director, engagement DOWNRIVER BUSINESS ASSOCIATION 3200 Greenfield Rd., Ste. 300 Dearborn 48120 313-595-2624 dadba.org Members: 300+ Focus: Twenty-one downriver communities from Allen Park to Wyandotte Meetings: Monthly breakfast, lunch, and evening networking events; quarterly business expos; DBA Spring Expo Dues: $250-$1,500 Employees: 3 Founded: 2005 Contact: Laura Fennell, director

GREATER FARMINGTON AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 32780 Grand River Ave. Farmington 48336 248-919-6917 gfachamber.com Members: 460 Focus: Farmington, Farmington Hills Meetings: Two to three monthly networking/professional development events, annual Business Expo, business development luncheons, Taste of Two Cities, Founders Festival (July), Bunkers and Bogies golf outing, annual dinner and awards program Dues: $290-$5,000 Employees: 5 Founded: 2009 Contact: Connor Osborn, executive director FERNDALE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 1938 Burdette St. Ferndale 48220 248-542-2160 ferndaleareachamber.com Members: 300 Focus: Ferndale, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge Meetings: Networking events (two morning, one lunch, and one after-hours), annual awards gala, annual Rainbow Run, annual Artist in You event Dues: $250-$450 Employees: 1 Founded: 1936 Contact: Joy R. Weis, director of operations FRENCH AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE – MICHIGAN CHAPTER 2000 Town Center, Ste. 1800 Southfield 48075 248-365-0535 faccmi.org Members: 5,000+ Focus: To contribute to the improvement of economic, commercial, and financial relations between France and the United States Meetings: Business seminars and round-table events with high-level speakers, networking receptions, annual meeting, annual gala and awards ceremony Dues: NA Employees: 5 Founded: 1992 Contact: Lisa Roland, executive director GERMAN-AMERICAN BUSINESS COUNCIL OF MICHIGAN P.O. Box 1448

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Chambers of Commerce || From the Top

Chambers of Commerce in Metro Detroit (alphabetical order) Brighton 48116 248-826-8806 gabcmi.org Members: 255 Focus: Foster investment and trade relations while cultivating business between Germany and the state of Michigan Meetings: Networking events, speaker event series, dinners, annual gala Dues: $25-$300 Employees: 1 Founded: 1994 Contact: Janina Luomala, administrative director/event manager GREATER WEST BLOOMFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 5745 W. Maple Rd., Ste. 206 West Bloomfield 48322 248-626-3636 westbloomfieldchamber.com Members: 350 Focus: Keego Harbor, Orchard Lake, Sylvan Lake, West Bloomfield Meetings: Weekly networking events, business matchmaking, Connect with an Expert, V.I.B.E (Virtual Innovative Business Event), leadership luncheon, holiday party, officer installation, health and wellness fair, annual awards dinner, W.I.N. (Women’s Inspiration Network), B.I.G. (Business Innovation Generator), Senior Resource group, Y.E.N. (Young Entrepreneur group) Dues: $185-$5,000 Employees: 1 Founded: 1976 Contact: Suzanne Levine, executive director GROSSE POINTE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 106 Kercheval Ave. Grosse Pointe Farms 48236 313-881-4722 grossepointechamber.com Members: 650 Focus: The Grosse Pointe Chamber of Commerce promotes businesses and engages residents for a thriving community Meetings: Monthly Business Before Hours and Business After Hours, Learn at Lunch, annual membership dinner and Pointer of Distinction Awards, committee meetings, Chamber Foundation Dues: $100-$2,500 Employees: 3 Founded: 2006 Contact: Jennifer Boettcher, president and executive director

HOLLY AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 300 East St. Holly 48442 248-215-7099 hollyareachamber.com Members: 156 Focus: Groveland Township, Holly Township, Rose Township, Springfield Township, Village of Holly Meetings: Monthly board meeting, monthly networking breakfast, periodic after-hours networking events Dues: $150 (nonprofit), $225 (business) Employees: Volunteer board of directors, 1 paid director Founded: 1918 Contact: Richard Kinnamon, executive director HURON VALLEY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 317 Union St. Milford 48381 248-685-7129 huronvcc.com Members: 450 Focus: Commerce Township, Highland and Highland Township, Milford and Milford Township, White Lake Township Meetings: Monthly and bimonthly networking events, Milford Memories summer festival, Brewed in Michigan, coffee clubs, networking events Dues: $75 to $525 Employees: 4 Founded: 1962 Contact: Joell Beether, executive director INDO-AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE* IACC-USA, P.O. Box 250125 Franklin 48025 248-506-7555 iaccusa.org Members: 150 Focus: Networking opportunities for business professionals to develop economic, commercial, and financial relationships; business-related education; advocacy of issues pertinent to business owners in Michigan and across the country Meetings: Six to eight meetings per year, golf outing, annual banquet Dues: $100 (individual), $250+ (business) Employees: 2 Founded: 2003 Contact: Nandita Bhattiprolu, executive director

ITALIAN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF MICHIGAN 51194 Romeo Plank Rd., Ste. 354 Macomb 48044 586-925-2020 iaccm.net Members: 165 Focus: Business and professional growth, inclusive of the organization’s Italian history and culture; commercial, educational, and charitable forums to inspire pride throughout the Italian community; establish a relationship of trust and service Meetings: 10 meetings per year Dues: $400 Employees: 1 Founded: 1919 Contact: Daniel Galli, president KENSINGTON VALLEY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Formerly the Chamber of Commerce for the South Lyon Area P.O. Box 69 New Hudson 48165 248-444-2420 kensingtonvalleychamber.com Members: 250 Focus: Charter Township of Lyon, Green Oak Township, New Hudson, Northfield Township, Salem Township, South Lyon Meetings: Bimonthly breakfast, one after-hours monthly mixer, networking group, ribbon-cuttings, special events Dues: $195-$480 (based on size of business) Founded: 1965 Contact: Andrea Meyer, executive director LAKES AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 305 N. Pontiac Trail, Ste. A Walled Lake 48390 248-624-2826 lakesareachamber.com Members: 450 Focus: Commerce Township, Union Lake, Walled Lake, Waterford, White Lake, Wixom, Wolverine Lake Meetings: Monthly business “spotlight” lunches, annual State of the Lakes luncheon, annual awards breakfast, 1st Friday and 3rd Thursday networking breakfasts, annual golf outing, Rockin’ Under the Stars Summer Concert Dues: $195-$550 Employees: 3 Founded: 1950 Contact: Laura Bolyard, executive director LIVONIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 33300 Five Mile Rd., Ste. 212

Livonia 48154 734-427-2122 livonia.org Members: 940 Focus: Livonia and surrounding communities Meetings: Two to three monthly networking events, annual golf outing, annual home improvement show, diversity and inclusion training, Livonia State of the City Luncheon, Western Wayne Business Leadership Banquet Dues: $289-$1,000 Employees: 4 Founded: 1950 Contact: Dan West, president MACOMB COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 28 First St., Ste. B Mount Clemens 48043 586-493-7600 macombcountychamber.com Members: 1,000 Focus: Macomb County Meetings: Monthly networking/ economic development/public policy meetings, Lake St. Clair Appreciation Day, Macomb County Hall of Fame, Athena Awards, military and defense meetings Dues: $324 to $565 Employees: 7 Founded: 1897 Contact: Kelley Lovati, CEO MADISON HEIGHTS/HAZEL PARK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 300 E. 13 Mile Rd. Madison Heights 48071 248-542-5010 madisonheightschamber.com Members: 300 Focus: Hazel Park, Madison Heights Meetings: Three networking events per month, auction, State of the Cities annual address, golf outing, BRAND referral group Dues: $10-$1,000 Employees: 1 Founded: 1969 Contact: Nancy Smith, executive director MICHIGAN HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE* 1938 Burdette St. Ferndale 48220 248-792-2763 mhcc.org Members: 200+ Focus: Hispanic business enterprises, supplier diversity, automotive, professionals, financial, and more Meetings: Monthly third

Thursdays, Economic Forum Breakfast, Minority Businesses Matchmaker, annual golf outing, annual Fiesta Gala Dues: $25-$3,000 Employees: 4 Founded: 1989 Contacts: Mark A. Moreno, executive director; Barbara Lange, office manager MICHIGAN IRISH-AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE* Beverly Hills 48025 231-590-0003 michiganirishchamber.com Members: 70 Focus: Individuals, businesspeople, and other community members working together to advance the business, culture, education, and civic welfare of the residents of Michigan who are of Irish descent Meetings: Vary Dues: $100 (full-time students under 25), $200 (business and professional level), $500 (Business Bronze), $800 (Business Platinum), $1,200 (Chairman’s Circle) Founded: 2012 Contact: Dave O’Connor, president NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS – GREATER DETROIT CHAPTER 26677 W. 12 Mile Rd. Southfield 48034 313-961-4748 nawbogdc.org Members: 200 Focus: Southeast Michigan; some out-of-state membership Meetings: Monthly networking events, annual Top 10 Michigan Businesswomen’s Awards, Women on Board, Circle of Learning education program, golf outing, holiday reception Dues: $239-$479 Employees: 1 Founded: 1975 Contacts: Charmaine Brown, chapter president NATIONAL BUSINESS LEAGUE INC. Formerly Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce 1001 Woodward Ave., Ste. 910 Detroit 48226 313-818-3017 nationalbusinessleague.org Members: 3,500 Focus: To economically empower and sustain African-American businesses as enterprises by advocating for economic development through

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From the Top || Chambers of Commerce

Chambers of Commerce in Metro Detroit (alphabetical order) entrepreneurship, procurement, community reinvestment, programmatic and professional development, and capitalistic activity throughout the United States and Black Diaspora Meetings: To be determined Dues: $19 and up Employees: 3 Founded: 1900 Contact: Ken Harris, president NORTHVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 195 S. Main St. Northville 48167 248-349-7640 northville.org Members: 400 Focus: Northville and surrounding communities Meetings: Rise and Shine mixers, New Member Coffee, FUEL Young Professionals, First Friday networking, State of Community Luncheon, Veteran Banner Program, Farmers Market, Flower Sale, Tapped in the ‘Ville Craft Beer Festival, Fourth of July Parade, Heritage Festival, Streets of Treats, Holiday Lighted Parade, Greens Market Dues: $85-$650 Employees: 2 Founded: 1964 Contact: Jody Humphries, executive director NOVI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 41875 W. 11 Mile Rd., Ste. 201 Novi 48375 248-349-3743 novichamber.com Members: 372 Focus: Greater Novi area Meetings: Various networking events/month, educational seminars, sales leads, young professionals, golf outing, Novi Dinner Tour, Holiday Luncheon Dues: $150-$720 Employees: 2 Founded: 1967 Contact: Farah Shammami, executive director ORION AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 1335 Joslyn Rd., Ste. 100 Lake Orion 48360 248-693-6300 orionareachamber.com Members: 300+ Focus: Auburn Hills, Clarkston, Lake Orion, Orion Township, Oxford Meetings: Monthly morning and evening networking meetings, monthly luncheons, two annual community expos, Women in Business Conference, annual golf

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outing Dues: $35-$1,800 Employees: 3 Founded: 1950 Contact: Noelle Champagne, executive director OXFORD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE P.O. Box 142 22 W. Burdick St. Oxford 48371 248-628-0410 oxfordchamber.net Members: 170 Focus: Addison Oaks, Clarkston, Lake Orion, Lapeer, Metamora, Oxford Meetings: Mixers with neighboring chambers, annual Women’s Expo, annual Chamber Challenge 5K and 10K Dues: $150 Employees: 1 Founded: 1950 Contacts: Nicole Stirrett, executive director; Amy Desotell, administrative assistant PHILIPPINE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE – MICHIGAN* 17356 Northland Park Ct.,Ste. 200 Southfield 48075 586-774-1800 Members: 90 Focus: Michigan Meetings: Monthly board meetings; networking and educational events; leadership, management, and organizational events Dues: $200-$1,200 Employees: Volunteer officers and board Founded: 2008 Contact: Betsy Henry, president PLYMOUTH COMMUNITY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 850 W. Ann Arbor Trail Plymouth 48170 734-453-1540 plymouthmich.org Members: 670 Focus: To stimulate growth and prosperity for a healthy business community Meetings: January and November Dues: $255-$1,300 Employees: 5 Founded: 1949 Contact: Wes Graff, president PONTIAC REGIONAL CHAMBER 402 N. Telegraph Rd. Pontiac 48341 248-335-9600 pontiacrc.com Members: 250 Focus: Pontiac and surrounding

communities Meetings: Weekly, monthly, and quarterly networking, professional development events and, speakers Dues: Varies by company size (minimum $99/year, maximum $5,000/year) Employees: 1 Founded: 1904 Contact: Damany Head, president and board chair ROCHESTER REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 71 Walnut St., Ste. 110 Rochester 48307 248-651-6700 rrc-mi.com Members: 1,000 Focus: Oakland Township, Rochester, Rochester Hills Meetings: Community Outlook Breakfast, Legislative Affairs Committee, Sunrise Pinnacle Awards Ceremony, Coffee Talk Networking, Ambassador Network, Preferred Client networking groups, Peer Solution groups, Women in Business Luncheon, Rochester Area Hometown Christmas Parade, Leadership Greater Rochester, Youth Leadership of Greater Rochester Dues: $275-$1,500 Employees: 6 Founded: 1955 Contact: Alaina Campbell, president ROYAL OAK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 200 S. Washington Ave. Royal Oak 48067 248-547-4000 royaloakchamber.com Members: 550 Focus: Royal Oak and surrounding communities Meetings: Three monthly networking events; three community events each year: Royal Oak in Bloom, Art of Fire, Barktoberfest; four networking groups that meet bimonthly Dues: $275-$465 Employees: 4 Founded: 1936 Contact: Shelly Kemp, executive director SOUTHERN WAYNE COUNTY REGIONAL CHAMBER 20904 Northline Rd. Taylor 48180 734-284-6000 swcrc.com Members: 500+ Focus: Twenty-one southern Wayne County communities Meetings: Monthly morning and

evening networking events, legislative and business forums, Young Professional group, Chamber Connection groups, Black Tie Gala and Expo, golf outing, Taste of Downriver, Women of Achievement Awards, and more Dues: $250 Employees: 4 Founded: 1967 Contact: Ron Hinrichs, president SOUTHFIELD AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 20300 Civic Center Dr., Ste. 1102 Southfield 48076 248-557-6661 southfieldchamber.com Members: 300 Focus: Lathrup Village, Oak Park, Southfield Meetings: Monthly networking events, golf outing, State of the City, education series, Taste of Southfield Dues: $285-$2,100 Employees: 3 Founded: 1953 Contact: Jasmine Patton, interim executive director STERLING HEIGHTS REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 12900 Hall Rd., Ste. 100 Sterling Heights 48313 586-731-5400 shrcci.com Members: 1,200 Focus: Clinton Township, Fraser, Macomb Township, Shelby Township, Sterling Heights, Utica, Warren Meetings: Weekly Business Resource Alliance Group (leads groups) networking, ambassadors, Public Policy Committee, Tourism and Hospitality group, Health and Wellness group, Nonprofit Network Dues: $285 (different rates for nonprofits, certain industries) Employees: 6 Founded: 1961 Contact: Stacy Ziarko, president and CEO SWEDISH-AMERICAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE DETROIT 2000 Town Center, Ste. 1800 Southfield 48075 saccdetroit.org Members: Around 100 Focus: Enhance trade, commerce, and investment between the Detroit region and Sweden Meetings: Three major events per year, virtual pub nights Dues: $50-$1,000 Employees: 0 Founded: 1988 Contact: Roger Lidgren, president

TAIWANESE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF GREATER DETROIT* 6636 Maple Creek Blvd.

West Bloomfield 48322 248-681-4068 apacc.org Members: 75 Focus: Southeast Michigan Meetings: Chinese New Year Banquet, annual professional development seminars, picnic, golf outing, and banquet Dues: $200 Employees: Volunteer board Founded: 1996 Contact: Duc Nyugen Abramson, executive director TROY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 2125 Butterfield, Ste. 100N Troy 48084 248-641-8151 troychamber.com Members: 670 Focus: Troy Meetings: Monthly morning, afternoon, and evening networking events; Tee Off Fore Troy golf outing; Women in Leadership event; annual Holiday Luncheon; CEO Series speakers; TC Business Excellence Awards; economic development forums; Diversity Summit; Nonprofit Management Conference; Grillin’ with the Pres. Outdoor Summer Series; Troy Restaurant Week Dues: $325-$3,045 Employees: 5 Founded: 1959 Contact: Sheila Denstaedt, vice president WATERFORD AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 2309 Airport Rd. Waterford 48327 248-666-8600 waterfordchamber.org Members: 650 Focus: Clarkston, Waterford, White Lake Meetings: Monthly and bimonthly networking events, periodic luncheons, annual State of the Township breakfast, annual Business and Home Expo, Business Success Conference, annual dinner and awards, annual golf classic, Young Professionals Dues: $225 Employees: 5 Founded: 1998 Contact: Marie Hauswirth, executive director *Member of the Council of Ethnic Chambers of Commerce Source: DBusiness

Largest Accident and Health Insurance Companies || From the Top

Largest Accident and Health Insurance Companies in Michigan* 1. BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MICHIGAN MUTUAL INSURANCE CO. 600 E. Lafayette Blvd.

Detroit 48226 313-225-9000 bcbsm.com Assets: $8,997,776 Surplus: $5,332,119 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $9,360,899 Michigan Market Share: 27.56% Type: LH-MUT 2. BLUE CARE NETWORK OF MICHIGAN 20500 Civic Center Dr. Southfield 48076 248-799-6400 mibcn.com Assets: $2,649,229 Surplus: $1,728,923 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $4,285,314 Michigan Market Share: 12.61% Type: HMO-NP 3. PRIORITY HEALTH 1231 E. Beltline Ave. NE Grand Rapids 49525 833-489-5443 priorityhealth.com/aboutus Assets: $1,400,394 Surplus: $878,726 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $3,407,398 Michigan Market Share: 10.03% Type: HMO-NP 4. MERIDIAN HEALTH PLAN OF MICHIGAN INC. 1 Campus Martius, Ste. 700 Detroit 48226 313-324-3700 mhplan.com Assets: $553,471 Surplus: $230,500 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $1,954,271 Michigan Market Share: 5.75% Type: HMO-P 5. MOLINA HEALTHCARE OF MICHIGAN INC. 880 W. Long Lake Rd. Troy 48098 248-925-1700 molinahealthcare.com Assets: $470,475 Surplus: $210,253 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $1,694,947 Michigan Market Share: 4.99% Type: HMO-P 6. HEALTH ALLIANCE PLAN OF MICHIGAN 2850 W. Grand Blvd.

Detroit 48202 313-872-8100 hap.org Assets: $494,436 Surplus: $278,770 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $1,496,709 Michigan Market Share: 4.41% Type: HMO-NP 7. UNITED HEALTHCARE COMMUNITY PLAN INC. 26957 Northwestern Hwy., Ste. 400 Southfield 48034 800-903-5253 uhccommunityplan.com Assets: $290,326 Surplus: $139,044 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $945,948 Michigan Market Share: 2.78% Type: HMO-P 8. HUMANA INSURANCE CO. 26600 Telegraph Rd., Ste. 220 Southfield 48033 800-486-2620 humana.com Assets: $7,990,534 Surplus: $4,129,405 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $899,727 Michigan Market Share: 2.65% Type: LH-STK 9. BLUE CROSS COMPLETE OF MICHIGAN 100 Galleria Officentre, Ste. 210 Southfield 48034 800-228-8554 mibluecrosscomplete.com Assets: $306,329 Surplus: $123,098 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $818,927 Michigan Market Share: 2.41% Type: HMO-NP 10. UNITED HEALTHCARE INSURANCE CO. 26957 Northwestern Hwy., Ste. 400 Southfield 48034 877-832-7734 uhc.com Assets: $20,997,101 Surplus: $8,535,479 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $818,505 Michigan Market Share: 2.4% Type: LH-STK 11. MCLAREN HEALTH PLAN INC. G-3245 Beecher Rd. Flint 48532 888-327-0671 mclarenhealthplan.org Assets: $258,187 Surplus: $115,891

Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $734,877 Michigan Market Share: 2.33% Type: HMO-NP 12. DELTA DENTAL PLAN OF MICHIGAN 4100 Okemos Rd. Okemos 48864 800-524-0149 deltadentalmi.com Assets: $639,491 Surplus: $465,529 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $765,832 Michigan Market Share: 1.99% Type: HMDI 13. AETNA LIFE INSURANCE CO. 28588 Northwestern Hwy. Southfield 48034 248-208-8600 aetna.com Assets: $22,016,494 Surplus: $3,852,489 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $481,931 Michigan Market Share: 1.42% Type: LH-STK 14. PRIORITY HEALTH CHOICE INC. 1231 E. Beltline Ave. NE Grand Rapids 49525 833-489-5443 priorityhealth.com/about-us Assets: $199,833 Surplus: $117,284 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $406,979 Michigan Market Share: 1.2% Type: HMO-NP 15. AETNA BETTER HEALTH OF MICHIGAN INC. 1333 Gratiot Ave., Ste. 400 Detroit 48207 313-465-1500 aetnabetterhealth.com/ michigan/ Assets: $131,261 Surplus: $57,923 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $218,428 Michigan Market Share: 0.94% Type: HMO-P 16. PRIORITY HEALTH INSURANCE CO. 1231 E. Beltline Ave. NE Grand Rapids 49525 833-489-5443 priorityhealth.com/about-us Assets: $137,250 Surplus: $62,531 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $297,481 Michigan Market Share: 0.88% Type: LH-STK

17. ALLIANCE HEALTH AND LIFE INSURANCE CO. (Part of Health Alliance Plan of Michigan) 2850 W. Grand Blvd.

Detroit 48202 313-872-8100 hap.org Assets: $139,578 Surplus: $61,155 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $294,792 Michigan Market Share: 0.87% Type: LH-STK

contracted providers.

LH-STK (Life and Health – Stock Companies): Stockholder-owned companies authorized to sell life insurance and/or health insurance.

Assets: Investments, cash on hand, items of value.

Surplus: Assets minus obligations.

Michigan Direct Premiums Written: Premiums written directly to Michigan consumers from insurance companies.

18. UPPER PENINSULA HEALTH PLAN 853 W. Washington St. Marquette 49855 906-225-7500 uphp.com Assets: $117,055 Surplus: $68,295 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $254,522 Michigan Market Share: 0.75% Type: HMO-P

*Ranked by Michigan Market Share (amounts in thousands of dollars) Source: Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services, 2020 Annual Report (for 2019 activity)

19. SIERRA HEALTH AND LIFE INSURANCE CO. 2716 N. Tenaya Way Las Vegas 89128 855-531-9155 sierrahealthandlife.com Assets: $5,301,100 Surplus: $2,956,837 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $201,661 Michigan Market Share: 0.59% Type: LH-STK 20. TOTAL HEALTH CARE INC. 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Ste. 1600 Detroit 48202 800-826-2862 thcmi.com Assets: $81,593 Surplus: $35,753 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $193,435 Michigan Market Share: 0.57% Type: HMO-NP SUBTOTALS Assets: $73,171,911 Surplus: $29,414,146 Michigan Direct Premiums Written: $29,596,175 Michigan Market Share: 87.12% Key/Definitions: HMDI (Health, Medical, Dental Indemnity): Nonprofit insurance carriers governed under specific Michigan laws.

HMO-P, NP (Health Maintenance Organization – For Profit/Not for Profit): Deliver health care through

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From the Top || Top Hotels Outside Metro Detroit

Top Hotels Outside Metro Detroit* EAST LANSING EAST LANSING MARRIOTT AT UNIVERSITY PLACE 300 M.A.C. Ave. East Lansing 48823 517-337-4440 marriott.com/lanea Rooms: 182 Meeting Rooms: 9 Dining: Bistro 43; Great Room lunch, dinner, and lounge service Meeting Capacity: 12,927 sq. ft.

GRAND RAPIDS AMWAY GRAND PLAZA HOTEL, CURIO COLLECTION BY HILTON 187 Monroe Ave. Grand Rapids 49503 616-774-2000 amwaygrand.com Rooms: 664 Meeting Rooms: 42 Dining: Ruth’s Chris Steak House, MDRD, IDC, Lumber Baron, Rendezvous, The Kitchen

by Wolfgang Puck, The Kitchen Counter by Wolfgang Puck, Starbucks Meeting Capacity: 47,000 sq. ft.

CITYFLATSHOTEL 83 Monroe Center St. NW Grand Rapids 49503 616-608-1720 cityflatshotel.com Rooms: 48 Meeting Rooms: 4 Dining: CitySen Lounge Meeting Capacity: 6,000 sq. ft.

EMBASSY SUITES BY HILTON GRAND RAPIDS DOWNTOWN 710 Monroe Ave. NW Grand Rapids 49503 616-512-5700 hilton.com/en/embassy/ Rooms: 250 Meeting Rooms: 6 Dining: Whitewater Café, Whitewater Lounge Meeting Capacity: 6,176 sq. ft.

JW MARRIOTT GRAND RAPIDS 235 Louis St. NW Grand Rapids 49503 616-242-1500 ilovethejw.com Rooms: 337 Meeting Rooms: 15 Dining: Margaux, Jdek at Margaux, The Lounge at Margaux, Starbucks Meeting Capacity: 15,369 sq. ft.

RADISSON HOTEL GRAND RAPIDS RIVERFRONT 270 Ann St. NW Grand Rapids 49504

616-363-9001 radissonhotel.com Rooms: 162 Meeting Rooms: 3 Dining: River Rock Restaurant and Lounge Meeting Capacity: 2,585 sq. ft.

HOLLAND CITYFLATSHOTEL 61 E. 7th St. Holland 49423 616-796-2100 cityflatshotel.com Rooms: 56 Meeting Rooms: 3 Dining: CitySen Lounge Meeting Capacity: 3,165 sq. ft.

HOSPITALITY HAVEN The view above the atrium at the J.W. Marriott Grand Rapids.

KALAMAZOO RADISSON PLAZA HOTEL & SUITES AT KALAMAZOO CENTER 100 W. Michigan Ave. Kalamazoo 49007 269-343-3333 radisson.com Rooms: 340 Meeting Rooms: 22 Dining: Old Burdick’s Bar & Grill, Webster’s Prime, The Morning Dish, Starbucks, room service, new restaurant concept opening in the fall of 2021 Meeting Capacity: 44,000 sq. ft.

MACKINAC ISLAND GRAND HOTEL 286 Grand Ave. P.O. Box 286 Mackinac Island 49757 800-334-7263 grandhotel.com Rooms: 388 Meeting Rooms: 17 Dining: Grand Hotel Main Dining Room, Grand Luncheon Experience, Grand Coffee & Provisions, Esther Williams Pool Bar, The Jockey Club, Woods Restaurant, The Gate House, Fort Mackinac Tea Room, Sadie’s Ice Cream Parlor, and Sushi Grand.

Cocktails available at Audubon Wine Bar, Cupola Bar, Geranium Bar, and Bobb’s Bar at Woods Meeting Capacity: 23,000 sq. ft.

MISSION POINT RESORT One Lakeshore Dr. Mackinac Island 49757 906-847-3000 missionpoint.com Rooms: 241 Meeting Rooms: 20 indoor, 5 exterior Dining: Chianti, Round Island Kitchen, Bistro on the Greens,

Boxwood Coffeeshop & Café, Lily’s Lemonade, Strait UP Coffee Meeting Capacity: 38,000 sq. ft.

Awards: Named one of the Top 10 Resort Hotels in the Midwest

by Travel + Leisure’s 2020 World’s Best Awards; Certified COVID-19 Workplace Safety Ambassadors by the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration

MIDLAND THE H HOTEL 111 W. Main St. Midland 48640 989-839-0500 thehhotel.com Rooms: 130 Meeting Rooms: 11 Dining: ONe eighteen, Café Zinc, Oxygen Lounge, and 24-hour room service Meeting Capacity: 8,000 sq. ft.

MOUNT PLEASANT SOARING EAGLE CASINO & RESORT 6800 Soaring Eagle Blvd.

Mount Pleasant 48858 GPS address: 2395 South Leaton Rd. 989-775-5777 soaringeaglecasino.com Rooms: 516 Meeting Rooms: 17 Casino Tables: 70 Dining: Native Grind Coffee Shop and Bakery, Central Deli & SLICE! Pizzeria, Little Eagle Café, Legends 24-hour diner, Siniikaung Steak and Chop House, Ascend Sports Bar and Lounge Amenities: Cyber Quest arcade,

Kids Quest child care services, full-service spa and salon Meeting Capacity: 70,000 sq. ft.

ST. JOSEPH THE INN AT HARBOR SHORES 800 Whitwam Dr. St. Joseph 49085 269-983-1111 innatharborshores.com Rooms: 92 Meeting Rooms: 5 Dining: Plank’s Tavern on the Water, Rise and Vine, Torch and Tapas Meeting Capacity: 13,000 sq. ft.

TRAVERSE CITY GRAND TRAVERSE RESORT AND SPA 100 Grand Traverse Village Blvd.

P.O. Box 404 Acme 49610 231-534-6000 grandtraverseresort.com Rooms: 585 Meeting Rooms: More than 20 indoor and outdoor venues Dining: Aerie Restaurant & Lounge, Sweetwater American Bistro, The Grille, Jack’s Taproom, Grand Lobby Bar, Marketplace, Bourbons 72 Meeting Capacity: 86,500 sq. ft.

INN AT BAY HARBOR 3600 Village Harbor Dr. Bay Harbor 49770 855-811-4402 innatbayharbor.com Rooms: 108 Lakeside Cottages: 21 Cottages at Crooked Tree: 10 Meeting Rooms: 8 Dining: The Sagamore Room, Inn Café, Vintage Chophouse and

Wine Bar, Cabana Bar (summer only), The Links Grille (summer only), Afternoon Tea Meeting Capacity: 6,600 sq. ft.

WALLOON LAKE HOTEL WALLOON 4127 N. M-75 Walloon Lake 49796 231-535-5000 hotelwalloon.com Rooms: 32 Meeting Rooms: 4 Dining: Lakeside dining at Barrel Back and Walloon Lake Inn Meeting Capacity: 3,700 sq. ft. of customizable space

WINDSOR CAESARS WINDSOR CASINO & HOTEL (temporarily closed due to COVID-19, information is from 2020) 377 Riverside Dr. E. Windsor, Ontario 800-991-7777 caesarswindsor.com Rooms: 758 Meeting Rooms: 7 Casino Tables: 95 Dining: Neros Steakhouse, Market Buffet, Legends Sports Bar, Spago Trattoria, Pronto Café, Johnny Rockets, Tim Horton’s, room service Meeting Capacity: 100,000 sq. ft.

*Ranked by AAA and DBusiness for hospitality excellence.

Source: DBusiness

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Largest Business Insurance Agencies — Largest Contractors || From the Top

Largest Business Insurance Agencies in Metro Detroit (by 2020 revenue*) 1. AMERISURE 26777 Halsted Rd. Farmington Hills 48331 800-257-1900 amerisure.com 2020 Revenue: $754.9M 2019 Revenue: $840M 2020 Premium Volume: $754.9M Local Employees: 3,042.

2. BROWN AND BROWN OF DETROIT 35735 Mound Rd. Sterling Heights 48310 586-977-6300 bbdetroit.com 2020 Revenue: $72.6M 2019 Revenue: $71M 2020 Premium Volume: $435M Employees: 554 3. MARSH AND MCLENNAN AGENCY 755 W. Big Beaver Rd., Ste. 2300 Troy 48084 248-822-8000 mma-mi.com 2020 Revenue: $47.1M 2019 Revenue: $46.5M 2020 Premium Volume: $1.9B Employees: 154 4. KAPNICK INSURANCE GROUP 769 Chicago Rd., Third Floor Troy 48083 248-352-4455

kapnick.com 2020 Revenue: $35.7M 2019 Revenue: $34.1M 2020 Premium Volume: $372.1M Employees: 85 5. HYLANT GROUP 24 Frank Lloyd Wright Dr., Ste. J4100 Ann Arbor 48105 734-741-0044 2401 W. Big Beaver Rd., Ste. 400 Troy 48084 248-643-8750 hylant.com 2020 Revenue: $31.4M 2019 Revenue: $32.8M 2020 Premium Volume: $31.4M Employees: 152 6. ASSURED PARTNERS INC./ MICHIGAN 3099 Biddle Ave. Wyandotte 48192 734-283-1400 assuredpartners.com 2020 Revenue: $24M 2019 Revenue: $22.885M 2020 Premium Volume: $364M Employees: 100 7. MICHIGAN FINANCIAL COS. INC. 28411 Northwestern Hwy.,

Ste. 1300 Southfield 48034 248-663-4700 michiganfinancial.com 2020 Revenue: $22.8M 2019 Revenue: $20.5M 2020 Premium Volume: $2.1M Employees: 108 8. THE HUTTENLOCHER GROUP** 1007 W. Huron Waterford Twp. 48328 248-681-2100 hgway.com 2020 Revenue: NA 2018 Revenue: $17.5M 2020 Premium Volume: NA Employees: 108 9. RALPH C. WILSON AGENCY INC. 26026 Telegraph Rd., Ste. 100 P.O. Box 5069 Southfield 48086 800-638-1174 rcwa.net 2020 Revenue: $8.2M 2019 Revenue: $8.6M 2020 Premium Volume: $150M Employees: 5,110.

10. KOROTKIN 26877 Northwestern Hwy., Ste. 400 Southfield 48033 248-350-5801 korotkin.com

2020 Revenue: $7.5M 2019 Revenue: $8.0M 2020 Premium Volume: $65M Employees: 51 11. CAPITAL INSURANCE GROUP 1263 W. Square Lake Rd. Bloomfield Hills 48302 248-333-2500 capitalinsuranceagent.com 2020 Revenue: $6.3M 2019 Revenue: $6.3M 2020 Premium Volume: NA Employees: 27 12. GOODMAN VENEGAS 2800 Livernois Rd., Ste. 170 Troy 48083 248-740-9090 goodmanvenegas.com 2020 Revenue: $4M 2019 Revenue: $4M 2020 Premium Volume: NA Employees: 15 13. ALLIANT INSURANCE SERVICES 1050 Wilshire Dr., Ste. 210 Troy 48084 248-540-3131 alliant.com 2020 Revenue: $4.2M 2019 Revenue: $3.9M 2020 Premium Volume: $53.7M Employees: 22

14. INSURANCE ADVISORS An ACRICURE Agency Partner 8884 Commerce Rd. Commerce Twp. 48382 248-363-5746 ins-advisors.com 2020 Revenue: $3M 2019 Revenue: $2.6M 2020 Premium Volume: $20.9M Employees: 24 * This list, the most comprehensive available, was compiled through individual interviews with each of the respective business insurance agencies.

The agencies located in the region — Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, and Livingston counties — are ranked by total 2020 revenue. For agencies with headquarters located outside the region, revenue and employment are based on area activity. Many did not respond due to the COVID-19 situation. ** Did not respond to requests for information.

Source: DBusiness research

Largest Contractors in Metro Detroit (by 2020 revenue) 1. WALBRIDGE 777 Woodward Ave., Ste. 300 Detroit 48226 313-963-8000 walbridge.com 2020 Revenue: $1.91B 2019 Revenue: $1.81B Regional Employees: 1,500 Top Local Executive: John Rakolta Jr., chairman and CEO 2. BARTON MALOW CO. 26500 American Dr. Southfield 48034 248-436-5000 bartonmalow.com 2020 Revenue: NA (not available until end of FY) 2019 Revenue: $1.9B Regional Employees: 2,200 Top Local Executive: Ryan Maibach, president and CEO 3. BELFOR HOLDINGS INC.* 185 Oakland Ave., Ste. 150 Birmingham 48009 248-594-1144 belfor.com 2020 Revenue: NA

2018 Revenue: $1.5B Regional Employees: 1,950 Top Local Executive: Sheldon Yellen, CEO 4. COMMERCIAL CONTRACTING GROUP INC. 4260 N. Atlantic Blvd.

Auburn Hills 48439 248-209-0500 cccnetwork.com 2020 Revenue: $390.8M 2019 Revenue: $280.1M Regional Employees: 185 Top Local Executive: Stephen Fragnoli, president and CEO 5. AUCH CONSTRUCTION 65 University Dr. Pontiac 48342 248-334-2000 auchconstruction.com 2020 Revenue: $279.76M 2019 Revenue: $213.8M Regional Employees: 120 Top Local Executives: Vincent DeLeonardis, CEO; Jeffrey Hamilton, president

6. TURNER CONSTRUCTION CO. 535 Griswold, Ste. 1525 Detroit 48226 313-596-0500 turnerconstruction.com/ office-network/detroit 2020 Revenue:$207.6M 2019 Revenue: $247M Regional Employees: 88 Top Local Executive: David J. Kelly, vice president and general manager 7. IDEAL CONTRACTING 2525 Clark St. Detroit 48209 313-843-8000 idealcontracting.com 2020 Revenue: $186M 2019 Revenue: NA Employees: 376 Top Local Executive: Frank Venegas Jr., chairman and CEO 8. ALBERICI CONSTRUCTORS INC. 26711 Northwestern Hwy., Ste. 255 Southfield 48033 734-367-2500

alberici.com 2020 Revenue: $127.3M 2019 Revenue: $71.3M Local Employees: 19 Top Local Executive: Aaron Walsh, general manager

*Did not respond to requests for information Source: DBusiness research

9. SACHSE CONSTRUCTION 3663 Woodward Ave., Ste. 500 Detroit 48201 313-481-8200 sachseconstruction.com 2020 Revenue: $122M 2019 Revenue: $208M Regional Employees: 150 Top Local Executive: Todd Sachse, CEO and founder 10. DEMARIA* 3031 W. Grand Blvd., Ste. 540 Detroit 48202 248-348-8710 demariabuild.com 2020 Revenue: NA 2018 Revenue: $145.7M Regional Employees: 120 Top Local Executives: Joseph DeMaria Jr., CEO; Anthony DeMaria, president

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From the Top || Largest Law Firms in Metro Detroit

Largest Law Firms in Metro Detroit*

WELCOME CENTER The Detroit law firm of Bodman is third on the 2021 DBusiness law firm list.

1. HONIGMAN 2290 First National Building 660 Woodward Ave. Detroit 48226 313-465-7000 honigman.com Total Attorneys: 325 Specialty: 60+ practice areas 2. DICKINSON WRIGHT 500 Woodward Ave., Ste. 4000 Detroit 48226 313-223-3500 dickinson-wright.com Total Attorneys: 191 Specialty: 40+ practices 3. BODMAN 1901 St. Antoine St. 6th Floor at Ford Field Detroit 48226 313-259-7777 bodmanlaw.com Total Attorneys: 152 Specialty: 40+ practices and industries 4. BUTZEL LONG 150 W. Jefferson, Ste. 100 Detroit 48226 313-225-7000 butzel.com Total Attorneys: 147 Specialty: 67 practices, 24 specialty groups 5. MILLER CANFIELD 150 W. Jefferson, Ste. 2500 Detroit 48226 313-963-6420

millercanfield.com Total Attorneys: 129 (metro Detroit), 165 (Michigan), 214 (firmwide) Specialty: 100+ practices 6. DYKEMA 400 Renaissance Center Detroit 48243 313-568-6800 dykema.com Total Attorneys: 127 (metro Detroit), 154 (Michigan), 377 (firmwide) Specialty: 100+ practices within five departments 7. JAFFE RAITT 27777 Franklin Rd., Ste. 2500 Southfield 48034 248-351-3000 jaffelaw.com Total Attorneys: 110 Specialty: 25 practices 8. KITCH DRUTCHAS WAGNER VALITUTTI & SHERBROOK 1 Woodward Ave., Ste. 2400 Detroit 48226 313-965-7900 kitch.com Total Attorneys: 109 Specialty: 104 practice areas 9. CANTOR COLBURN 201 W. Big Beaver Rd., Ste. 1101 Troy 48084 248-524-2300 cantorcolburn.com Total Attorneys: 100

Specialty: Intellectual property, patent, trademark, copyright, litigation, transactions, post grant 10. PLUNKETT COONEY 38505 Woodward Ave., Ste. 100 Bloomfield Hills 48304 248-901-4000 plunkettcooney.com Total Attorneys: 98 (metro Detroit), 142 (firmwide) Specialty: 28 practices in business, 33 practices in litigation (metro Detroit); 27 practices in business, 33 practices in litigation (firmwide) 11. HOWARD & HOWARD ATTORNEYS 450 W. Fourth St. Royal Oak 48067 248-645-1483 howardandhoward.com Total Attorneys: 85 Specialty: 15 in practice expertise, 11 in industry expertise 12. CLARK HILL 500 Woodward Ave., Ste. 3500 Detroit 48226 313-965-8300 clarkhill.com Total Attorneys: 78 (metro Detroit), 159 (Michigan), 649 (firmwide) Specialty: 20 practice areas, 24 industries (metro Detroit); 26 practice areas, 27 industries (firmwide)

13. GARAN LUCOW MILLER 1155 Brewery Park, Ste. 200 Detroit 48207 313-446-1530 garanlucow.com Total Attorneys: 78 Specialty: 24 practice areas 14. BROOKS KUSHMAN 1000 Town Center, 22nd Floor Southfield 48075 248-358-4400 brookskushman.com Total Attorneys: 74 Specialty: 10 practice areas 15. KERR, RUSSELL AND WEBER 500 Woodward Ave., Ste. 2500 Detroit 48226 313-961-0200 kerr-russell.com Total Attorneys: 60 Specialty: 38 practice areas 16. COLLINS EINHORN FARRELL 4000 Town Center, 9th Floor Southfield 48075 248-355-4141 ceflawyers.com Total Attorneys: 54 (metro Detroit/Michigan), 58 (firmwide) Specialty: 11 practice areas 17. GIARMARCO, MULLINS & HORTON 101 W. Big Beaver Rd. Troy 48084 248-457-7000 gmhlaw.com Total Attorneys: 52 Specialty: 16 practice areas

18. SECREST, WARDLE, LYNCH, HAMPTON, TRUEX AND MORLEY 2600 Troy Center Dr. Troy 48007 248-851-9500 secrestwardle.com Total Attorneys: 49 (metro Detroit), 62 (firmwide), 77 (firmwide including of counsel) Specialty: 20 practice areas 19. HARNESS DICKEY & PIERCE 5445 Corporate Dr., Ste. 200 Troy 48098 248-641-1600 hdp.com Total Attorneys: 48 (metro Detroit), 95 (firmwide) Specialty: Intellectual property law 20. MADDIN HAUSER 28400 Northwestern Hwy., 2nd Floor Southfield 48034 248-354-4030 maddinhauser.com Total Attorneys: 41 Specialty: 18 practice areas *Based on numbers of lawyers in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, and Livingston counties as of March 2021 Source: DBusiness research

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EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES SPONSORED BY DBUSINESS

3RD ANNUAL SWING INTO SPRING CHARITY GOLF OUTING Professional Golf Planners of America (PGPA) invites you to lend your support for our chosen local charity Canine Companions Rescue Center by registering for our upcoming golf outing on May 10th at Greystone Golf Club in Washington Twp.. Canine Companions is a local 501c3 nonprofit founded in 2004 promoting the adoption of dogs and “bringing great people and great dogs together for life!” PGPA is proud to partner with and support the fundraising efforts of this outstanding organization. There are golfer and sponsor opportunities still available. Why not sign up today for a fun day of golf, supporting our local non-profit and take advantage of our early birdie discount pricing? Deadline to register is May 8th. Register online at www.progolfplanners.com/swingintospring or call 855.711.PGPA.

THE PURPOSE SUMMIT 2021 The streets of Downtown Mt. Clemens will be closed from May 11th-13th to host the Purpose Summit 2021. The Purpose Summit will feature over 30 speakers, authors, and thought leaders from across the country, with general sessions taking place in the 100-year-old Emerald Theatre and breakout sessions held at the Oakland University Anton/Frankel Center. This event is ideal for individuals and organizations who are looking to reconnect and realign with their purpose and their people. The Purpose Summit will include an outdoor sponsor and exhibitor walk through, along with food tents to support lunch provided by various restaurants in and around Macomb Place. The Purpose Summit also offers a virtual livestream and On-Demand attendance option. 50% of net proceeds from The Purpose Summit will be donated to various local non-profit organizations. For exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities, please email info@PurposePoint.com. Tickets range from $225-$375 and can be purchased at ThePurposeSummit.com.

PGPA GOLF CLINICS Come out and meet celebrity NFL guest Eddie Murray, former Detroit Lion Kicker (1980-1990), and a member of the NFL Alumni Detroit Chapter. Professional Golf Planners of America is proud to support this organization by donating a portion of the proceeds from the May 22nd Golf Clinic, held at Fieldstone Golf Course in Auburn Hills. The NFL Alumni Detroit Chapter supports scholarships for high school student athletes and believes that these students should be recognized for their academic achievements and encouraged to pursue career goals beyond. Join us for 3 hours of rotational training with 3 of Michigan’s finest amateur golfers working on your driving, chipping, and putting! All levels of play and all ages are welcome. Spots are limited! Register today at www.progolfplanners.com/golfclinic or call 855.711.PGPA.

GODFATHERS CHARITY GOLF OUTING SPRING GOLF!!! Come join us for our 1st Godfathers Charity Golf Outing on Monday, May 24th at Cherry Creek Golf Club in Shelby Twp.. A portion of our proceeds will be donated to the Yellow Ribbon Fund, Inc. This 501c3 non-profit is a national organization whose primary mission is to assist US Military Service Members, Veterans and their families welcoming injured service members home!

Godfathers Bistro Cigar Bar of Shelby Twp. is a full service bar with a steakhouse-style menu in a classic American setting with a fine selection of cigars. Why not sign up for a fun day of golf, help support this amazing organization, and take a shot at our $10K Hole In One Contest! Registration is open through May 20th at www.progolfplanners.com/godfathers or call 855.711.PGPA.

NATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM 3RD ANNUAL CHARITY GOLF OUTING Professional Golf Planners of America (PGPA) invites you to lend your support for this outstanding nonprofit organization. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Washington D.C., The National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum is dedicated to telling the story of American Law Enforcement and making it safer for those who serve, while remembering those killed in the line of duty throughout American history. PGPA is proud to partner with and support the fundraising efforts of NLEOMF. Join us at our charity golf outing on June 14th at Paint Creek Country Club, where a portion of our proceeds will be donated to this nonprofit organization. Registration is open through June 10th at www.progolfplanners.com/nleomf or call 855.711.PGPA.

M&A ALL-STAR AWARDS The Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Detroit Chapter — a 350-member nonprofit business organization of private equity firms, investment bankers, attorneys, accountants, consultants, corporations, lenders and middle market professionals that invest and advise in middle-market companies—will host a virtual event recognizing the winners of the annual M&A All-Star Awards. The event recognizes Dealmaker of the Year, Advisor of the Year, Deal of the Year and Rising Star, as well as honors an outstanding M&A professional with a lifetime achievement award. The virtual ceremony will take place on June 15, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. Visit acg.org/detroit for more information and to register for this signature event.

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Closing Bell || Surveying

TYPEFACE William Burt introduced the “typographer,” a forerunner of the typewriter, in 1829.

Ore Fathers

Precise, inventive, and politically well-connected, William Burt and his sons surveyed the Upper Peninsula and discovered mineral deposits to fuel Detroit’s industrial development.

1817. Seven years later, when — as the Detroit Free Press put it — Michigan “was then little else than a howling wilderness,” he settled with his young family at Mount Vernon in Macomb County.

He established himself as a brilliant inventor in 1829 by patenting the “typographer,” America’s first typewriting machine. Work on the compass culminated with Burt’s Improved Solar Compass, which was exhibited at the 1851 London World’s Fair and became a standard instrument worldwide.

Meanwhile, Burt applied himself to the problem of moving large quantities of ore out of the U.P. Joining the Michigan Legislature in 1852, he advocated for construction of the Sault Ste. Marie ship canal, through which millions of tons would pass. A devout Baptist with a clean-shaven face, Burt next applied himself to creating the equatorial sextant for more precise maritime navigation, and demonstrated its effectiveness in 1855 aboard the first ship to pass through the canal. He was in Detroit three years later, teaching lake captains how to use his device, when he died of a heart attack.

All of Burt’s five sons acquired surveying skills and, in particular, Wells and John carried on and extended their father’s work. Wells Burt,

the fourth son, launched the Union Iron Co. of Detroit in 1872, serving as president for 10 years. He had interests in the Peninsular Iron Co. of Detroit and the Lake Superior Iron Co. of Ishpeming, as well as in banking. He built an elaborate, three-story house in the Queen Anne style at 1077 Woodward Ave. John Burt, the oldest son, acquired ore lands for $1.25 per acre. In 1851 he dammed the Carp River in Marquette and built the first sawmill there. Next, he had a hand in starting the Iron Mountain Railroad, and served as its president.

He went to Washington, D.C., and lobbied for support of the ship canal. In 1855, after it was completed for $1 million, Burt himself became the canal’s first superintendent. When a larger lock was needed he created a patented design, which was finished in 1881.

Pursuing further technical innovations, John Burt was awarded at least five patents for refinements in iron production. His Detroit house was at 1073 Woodward Ave. A few months after celebrating his golden wedding anniversary at home with his wife, Julia, he was “taken down with rheumatism” and passed away. The Free Press said the death “closed the career of one of the oldest, most successful, and best known of the early settlers in Michigan.”

ALAMY

A

s deputy surveyor for the Northwest Territory, which in 1833 included all the lands north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River, William Burt kept running into the same problem with his magnetic compass.

“The aberrations of the needle are truly perplexing,” Burt wrote. With assistance from his five sons, he started work on a solar compass to calculate a given location based on the sun’s direction. It was a timely invention, as he became the first to survey township lines in the Upper Peninsula, where iron deposits rendered the magnetic compass next to useless.

The 10-year surveying project started in January 1840. Douglas Houghton, state geologist, was already doing geological work, and the two men linked efforts. Alas, Houghton drowned in 1845 after his boat capsized, but Burt continued the work. He told his wife, Phoebe, “We have found five very extensive beds of iron ore, of an excellent quality, enough, I think, if worked, to build a railroad around the world.”

Born in Massachusetts in 1792, Burt grew up studying stenography, navigation, land surveying, and music. He first visited Detroit in

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