TCBN Dec 2022

SWEET PEA OWNERS

RECOGNIZED

Michele and Jeff Joubran, owners of Sweet Pea, are the recipients of this year’s Lyle DeYoung Award. The Downtown Traverse City Association’s award is given annually to a community member or members who have made a significant contribution to the vitality of downtown. It is named in honor of long-time busi ness owner and downtown leader Lyle DeYoung, who passed away in 1992. The Joubrans, both natives of Traverse City, opened the children’s clothing and accessories store on Front Street in 2009.

Schmuckal, vice president; Christie Dompierre, secretary; Chet Simonelli, treasurer; and Randy Sprague, past president. It also honored the following members: Mike Brown, corporate duck race sales; Keith Bonomo, yellow duck race sales; Chet Simonelli, length of service and treasurer services for the club; and Randy Sprague, past president recognition.

SUN COUNTRY COMES TO TVC

Sun Country Airlines is coming to Cherry Capital Airport (TVC). The low-cost air carrier will fly a Boeing 737800 aircraft with 186 passenger seats on direct flights between Traverse City and the Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport starting in June.The seasonal ser vice will operate on Friday and Monday every week through September 1. Sun Country has previously provided charter service for Operation Northern Strike, Camp Grayling, and the Detroit Red Wings Prospect Camp.

NEW TC OFFICE FOR STATE SAVINGS

State Savings Bank has broken ground on a new Traverse City office at the corner of Garfield Avenue and Centre Street. The 17,575-square-foot, three-level facility will serve as the bank’s principal office and will be home to more than 50 employees. “We’ve always been a commu nity bank,” said Dan Druskovich, regional president. “While we continue to invest in the digital banking solutions customers expect, we know a lot of our customers still want a physical location.”

GRANT SUPPORTS SAFER

MED DISPENSING

The Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation’s Anchor and Heart Endowment recently awarded a $101,890 grant to Munson Healthcare Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital in Frankfort. The grant supports a transition to a new medication dispensing system, which will help doctors and nurses dispense the right medications to the right patients at the right time. These platforms will also help reduce the risk of potential errors from its previous manual sign-out process.

TC OPTIMISTS NAME OFFICERS

The Traverse City Optimist Club recently announced the new year’s officers. They are: Gail Chambers, president; Don

LOCAL HOTEL EMPLOYEES RECOGNIZED BY STATE

Two Traverse City hotel employees were recently honored with “Stars of the Indus try” awards by the Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association. Scott Firman, direc tor of rooms administration at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa, was awarded the North Star: Employee of the Year. Firman started at the resort as an intern and 14 years later has filled a variety of positions, including overseeing five associations connected to the resort. Frank Silsbee of Sleep Inn & Suites received the Guest Relations Hotel Star of the Year. Silsbee was praised for stepping up during the peak of the pandemic when the Sleep Inn hosted first responders as well as homeless individuals.

SEASONAL POPULATION STUDY AVAILABLE

Networks Northwest has released the 2022 Northwest Michigan Seasonal Population, Seasonal Workforce, and Short-Term Rental study. The large fluctuations in the population depending on the season bring challenging questions and tasks for the

region’s local units of government, business es, schools, and the general population. The study provides accurate and recent data to help inform community decision-makers, business owners and developers. Find it here: nwm.org/SeasonalPopulation.

SURGERY CENTER TOPS IN STATE

Copper Ridge Surgery Center (CRSC) was recently selected by News week for the 2023 Best Ambulatory Sur gery Center (ASC) award in Michigan. Ten ASCs in Michigan were considered and Copper Ridge Surgery Center earned the top coveted designation in the state for the second year in a row and was one of the top three ASCs rec ognized for the past three years. There are more than 5,000 Medicare-certified ambulatory surgery centers in the Unit ed States and Statista Inc. partnered with Newsweek to analyze the data for this award based on the 25 states with the highest number of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). The award is based on the quality of care, perfor mance data, and peer recommendations relative to the in-state competition.

ECONOMIC CLUB OPEN TO NEW MEMBERS

The Economic Club of Traverse City (ECTC) is now accepting members for the 2023 season. In previous years, there has been a waiting list to join the club but due to the disruption of the pandemic there are now openings. Club mem bers meet at the Traverse City Golf & Country Club for lunch and a speaker program, and hold an annual dinner in September. The ECTC mission is to encourage discussion and understanding of economic issues. Past speakers have addressed the economic aspects of energy and climate change, the growing influ ence of China, the national debt, and crypto currency. Memberships will be accepted into January; tceconclub.com.

COMMON GOOD’S 2ND LOCATION OPENING SOON

Common Good Bakery is putting the final touches on its second location (1115 E. Eighth) in Traverse City, with a grand opening anticipated in early January. In addition to offering the same menu as its original location on Fourteenth Street, the bakery will also offer weekend brunch and a pizza & pasta wine bar menu to go along with its liquor license allowing for take-out alcoholic beverages.

COLLABORATION HELPS WITH CAREER EXPLORATION

Northwest Michigan Works! in Traverse City is adopting Newton’s Road Career Investigator as its primary career pathway exploration platform to support individuals as they learn about in-demand careers across the region. This collaboration creates one regional tool supporting youth and adults in exploring careers and reduces cost and confusion caused by duplicative efforts. The platform also allows local business es to reach students and adults, and possibly identify strong candidates they could eventually hire. Lean more and check out the platform here: nwm.org/ careerinvestigator.

$10M FACELIFT FOR RESORT UNDERWAY

Work has begun on a $10 million renovation of the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa’s original six-story hotel, following the completion of a $3 million renovation of the resort’s meeting space. The hotel renovation includes transformation of 242 guest rooms, including two junior suites, four hospitality suites, and all corridors. The interior will be modern and all rooms filled with updat ed amenities. The resort has partnered with several local companies on the project, including Bouma Corporation, D&W Mechanical, Denoyer Brothers Moving, Northern Michigan Glass, and TC Millworks. The renovation is expected to be complete in spring 2023.

NOMI POLICY CONFERENCE: JAN. 20

The 2023 Northern Michigan Policy Conference will be held January 20 at the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Acme. Now in its fifth year, the regional economic development conference is led by the Northern Michigan Chamber Alliance - a coalition of 16 chambers and economic development organizations, along with more than 7,000 member businesses, from across northern Michigan. This year’s conference will address chronic issues surrounding business de velopment, talent, housing and childcare, and discuss innovative approaches to these challenges. Lean more and register at traverseconnect.com.

“Bay Area Contracting has developed a strong team of pro fessionals who allow us to exceed our customer expectations. Old Mission Windows plays a key role on our team providing years of experience, knowledge and a never-ending desire to create a once in a lifetime experience for our clients. It is a true partnership built on trust and respect”

-Dean Adams, President Bay Area Contracting

Philanthropia

Since the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation’s start in 1992, we’ve been committed to investing in the people and places of Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska and Leelanau counties, stewarding community assets for lasting impact.

But our work today looks different from what it was in the early ‘90s, in large part because of the generosity of our com munity, the dedication of our nonprofit partners, and the thriving vision many of us hold for this region.

For many years, the Community Foun dation was focused on donor service – doing what we could to match an individual’s passion for a particular cause or project with a philanthropic, namely financial, purpose. This approach has supported many wonderful community projects and improvements, from the Benzie Shores District Library and the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA to Herman Community Park in Suttons Bay and Rail road Square in Kalkaska.

Yet over time, as our region has grown and evolved, so too have we as an organization.

Over the last few years, several trends have emerged in the ways that community foundations function, including:

1. Maximizing impact through col laborative leadership, bringing partners and resources together to address complex issues and emerging opportunities.

2. Reckoning with long-embedded inequities and how to uplift diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

3. Being more flexible, responsive and

EDITORIAL & BUSINESS OFFICE

P.O. Box 4020 Traverse City, MI 49685 231-947-8787

ON THE WEB tcbusinessnews.com

PUBLISHER

Luke W. Haase lhaase@tcbusinessnews.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Gayle Neu gneu@tcbusinessnews.com

MAXIMUM IMPACT

strategic in addressing community needs.

While our organization is still proud to support the passions of our donor part ners, we’re progressively moving into these dynamic roles. In doing so, we are working toward filling gaps that have existed in funding and in addressing pressing community needs, both emergent and ongoing.

Convening the Northwest Michigan Community Development Coalition, for example, is one way we are flexing our collaborative leadership muscle. Com posed of more than 30 partners from the business, nonprofit and governmental sectors, together we are aiming for trans formational change across the region in the areas of economic, societal and environmental improvements.

As a coalition, we are chasing this bold vision by organizing advocacy efforts around core policy issues, pursuing funding resources from outside the region and building partnerships among cross-sector organizations. Our most recent efforts have included advocating for early childhood ed ucation, workforce housing and child care bills in the Michigan legislature; supporting BATA and the Grand Traverse Housing Commission’s innovative transportation and housing project, Flats at Carriage Commons; and helping to raise funds for a consultant to develop a business plan for a new mental health crisis center.

In addition to these efforts, the Community Foundation is committing our resources to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion both internally as an orga

nization and across the region. One way we’re doing this is through our Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) Fund, which we established last summer.

To date, our DEI Fund has awarded more than $58,000 to 30 organizations, including Autism Alliance of Michigan, Discovery Center Great Lakes, Michigan Indian Legal Services, Northwest Michi gan Arts and Culture Network, Up North Pride and Women’s Resource Center. Projects supported have ranged from Anishinaabe culture educational programs to artist stipends for Black, Indigenous and people of color artists.

In conjunction, we’re dedicated to our own internal DEI learning journey. This has included becoming the first community foundation in Michigan to sign onto the Disability Inclusion Pledge, which has us pursuing action steps such as examining our grant-making process to be more inclusive of people with disabilities and improving accessibility options at hosted events.

In addition, we’re reviewing our in ternal policies through a DEI lens and are involved in a DEI audit – both of which are helping us reduce inequities in everything we do, from our hiring practices to our own personal interactions. We have a long road ahead, but we’re committed to this critical work and being here to support a thriving region for all, now and forever.

Our DEI efforts are developing along side our increased focus on growing commu nity fund assets. As I mentioned before, the

SERVING:

AD SALES

Lisa Gillespie lisa@northernexpress.com Jill Hayes jill@northernexpress.com

Kathy Johnson kathy@northernexpress.com Kaitlyn Nance knance@northernexpress.com Todd Norris tnorris@tcbusinessnews.com

Michele Young myoung@tcbusinessnews.com

Community Foundation has long supported specific causes and organizations.

While we continue to hold this im portant role, we also see that flexible funding is needed to help develop solutions for myriad community issues – from the lack of available and attainable housing to gaps in early childhood supports.

That’s where our community funds can come in.

Community funds are a collection of funds that are not designated for a specific organization or cause, provide grants di rected by the foundation’s board and staff, and allow us to be flexible and responsive to local needs and opportunities as they emerge over time.

These funds also help us address complex problems, which may need multi-year and multi-partner solutions, that many of our other funds cannot. Already this year –through $111,000 in community fund grants – we’ve supported efforts to increase access to housing solutions in Leelanau County; an ambitious project to make barrier-free access to our Great Lakes a reality; and start-up costs for a community-centric early childhood program, among other partners and initiatives. There’s so much potential in our community funds to help transform our five-county region forever and for everyone.

While we’re leaning into our evolu tion as a community foundation, we are doing this work in collaboration with our donor and community partners. We’re grateful to supporters like you that are pushing us to grow for the benefit of our local communities.

Thank you.

The Traverse City Business News

Published monthly by Eyes Only Media, LLC

P.O. Box 4020 Traverse City, MI 49685 231-947-8787

Periodical postage qualification pending at Traverse City, MI.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Traverse City Business News, PO Box 1810, Traverse City, MI 49685-1810.

The Traverse City Business News is not responsible for unsolicited contributions.

Content ©2022 Eyes Only Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

is an ancient Greek word meaning “love of mankind.” This idea inspires us to make a difference, whether by giving our time, expertise, or a financial gift.

David Mengebier is the president and CEO of the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foun dation, a role he’s held since January 2018.

The evolution of your regional community foundation

We’re

‘Moving the Needle for Good’

10 nonprofit leaders on benefits, challenges of their work

By Ross Boissoneau

This region is known for many things. Clean, bountiful waters. The appeal of the cities and towns that dot the countryside. Its rolling hills and opportunities for recreation. Its culture. Last but not least: Its giving spirit. That last is engendered in large part by the many people working in the nonprof

JILL SILL Executive director, Norte Youth Cycling

I have the privilege of leading our growing staff using the Norte mission as our guide: to help build a stronger, better con nected and more walk/bike-friendly Traverse City by inspiring the young and young-at-heart through bicycles. I’m also responsi ble for empowering and engaging people of all ages and abilities in our region to be physically active and connected to their communities. This is a col laborative effort that requires several hundred volunteers and coaches, a steady staff and board, and the generosity of individuals and business owners in our region. As we look toward 2023, our partnerships with partner nonprofits are promising achievements. Happy, healthy, strong communities are intentional, and we each have an opportunity to play an important role.

Other work inside/outside the nonprofit world:

My professional positions have been within environmental education centers, public schools and charter schools. As a former at-risk high school teacher, I know the value and potential for inclusive programming. We are striving to make Norte’s programs more inclusive every season. The Norte ‘Bikes For All’ program provides opportunities for people with physical and cognitive differences to enjoy the benefits of riding a bicy cle using our growing adaptive bike fleet. In addition, our scholarship program ensures Norte camps are accessible for those regardless of financial status. Finally, our bike library guarantees children access to bicycles within our programs or at home at no cost to the family. We check them out just like books!

Why nonprofits?

I am drawn to the nonprofit world because nonprofits are essential to supporting healthy communities, and I find great value in contributing to that work. In addi tion, nonprofits naturally attract people who enjoy collaboration, innovation, and personal connections — traits that fuel my drive. Finally, although nonprofit work is not always easy or clear-cut, working alongside others with shared values and visions and placing those at the center of everything we do is quite empowering. I want to live in a community that is thriving.

Best part of the job:

On the surface, Norte Youth Cycling may appear merely about bicycles. But bicycles are a vehicle to independence, community connections, confidence, physical activity, adventure, friendships and joy. The best part of my job is helping create the platform for these intangibles to flourish. I have a front-row seat to watch the flash of pride when our littlest riders master balancing on a bike. I see new friend ships form during summer camp. I witness the sense of empowerment and accom plishment when Norte summer campers realize they can ride to numerous city and county parks under their own power. We have named these ‘Norte magic moments’ and they occur daily. The pandemic illuminated the need for social connections and the importance of physical activity – and Norte provides both.

it world, from food banks to tech, from foundations to the arts, from the outdoors to serving and protecting our youth. Numerous people of talent and drive commit ted to helping those in need buoy nonprofit organizations across the region and across virtually all walks of life.

We spoke with some of the leaders who are up and coming and asked them to tell us about their responsibilities and achievements, as well as their other work, what attracts them to working with nonprofits, and why they enjoy their jobs.

BEKAH TENBRINK

Founder and executive director, LIFT Teen Center and The Center of Suttons Bay

This was never on my radar. My degree is in social work and I thought I’d be working in an agency. LIFT dates back to 2011, when my hus band Gerald saw some teens playing ice hockey at the local rink down the road and asked if they needed an extra player. After a few hours on the ice, he invited them back to our house for some pizza. That started the ball rolling, and we incorporated the organization in 2017. We are in the business of building relationships with teens and providing connections where they can be seen, heard and loved. I became executive director of The Center (formerly the Friendship Community Center) in 2020. It provides a gathering space that enriches and strengthens multi-generational and multicultural relationships in the community. Lots of different organi zations use it for Pilates, tai chi, art classes. We merge different generations together.

Other work inside/outside the nonprofit world:

I am a photographer for families and seniors; photography was my original major in college. I found out that social work and photography fit nicely together. I use my time with each client to get to know them, hear their stories, and find the best way to capture them. It’s always a bonus when I capture keepsake senior pictures for my high school teens because as I already know them, I get to celebrate this remarkable new chapter of life with them.

Why nonprofits?

Nonprofits are fundamentally about moving the needle for good. Areas of society that are often overlooked and neglected are generally at the core of the mission of nonprofits. Through the diligent work of those working in this sector, this life-changing work would otherwise go unaddressed.

Best part of the job:

Every day has a purpose and every day is different. My schedule never looks the same from week to week. I find it thrilling to be able to have a job that is moving forward and is constantly shifting. Working to en hance other people’s lives does not allow you to stay stagnant. I would be remiss if I didn’t also say I work with the absolute best people! Their hearts for others and the mission of our work is humbling and the stuff of heroes’ tales.

MEGAN HOLTREY Operations manager, Dennos Museum Center

I manage the budget for the museum, coordinate the volunteers, maintain memberships, and manage museum and rental events. I was a member of the 2019-20 Michigan Arts & Culture Council Rising Leaders cohort and recently co-presented at the 2022 Association of Academ ic Museums & Galleries conference.

Other work inside/outside the nonprofit world:

I’m currently the vice president of the Northwest Michigan Arts & Culture Network board, the treasurer for the Friends of the Traverse Area District Library, and serve on the Community Advisory Council for Interlochen Public Radio. I enjoy serving on committees at NMC, such as some of the various search committees, as well as the Commencement Planning Committee. I also review grants every year for the Michigan Arts & Culture Council.

Why nonprofits?

I really enjoy using my time and expertise to further the arts in the community. I’m not an artist or creative myself, so I love being able to use my skills as an admin to help facilitate art and the connections it fosters in our region.

Best part of the job:

The best part of my job is getting to do something different every day. Being a part of a small museum team and being on NMC’s campus presents tons of opportunities for learning new skills and exploring new collaborations with the campus and greater community.

CAITLIN EARLY Campaign and development officer, TART Trails

At TART I focus on fundraising strategies, donor relations, and managing our Art on the TART program. My daily work supports linking philanthropically minded individuals and organizations to our non-motorized infrastructure projects, with the goal of making our region happier, healthier and more connected. Recently we celebrated the opening of the Acme Connector, a two-mile trail that connects the eastern side of TART Trail and Acme, providing safe access to businesses, existing trails and recreation opportunities. I had the privilege of managing the public phase of the capital campaign, successfully securing funds for trail construction. This season we also cut the ribbon on three separate art installations along the Boardman Lake Loop, including sculptures by Lois Teicher and TJ Carroll, and a mural by Rufus Snoddy, Glenn Wolff, Kiah Ander son and Logan Hudson.

Other work inside/outside the nonprofit world:

I spent the better part of a decade working in arts and culture-based nonprofit organi zations before I joined the team at TART Trails. I worked primarily in fundraising and communications, and learned the critical importance of building relationships and focusing on interaction rather than transaction. In addition to my responsibilities at TART, I am a member of the Traverse City Arts Commission and volunteer at the Old Town Playhouse.

Why nonprofits?

At this point in my career, I can’t imagine not working in the nonprofit sector. The why, which also happens to be the best part, is two-fold: collaboration and impact. I have the opportunity every day to work with my team to make a positive, tangible impact. In addition to working with a strong team at TART, I frequently get to engage with a wide range of partners who offer important varying perspectives on projects. Ultimately, these diverse perspectives consistently lead to a more successful end result for all. We have so many nonprofit organi zations doing good work in our region, making it a more vibrant place, and I’m fortunate to reap the rewards, both professionally and as a community member, of the fruits of our labor.

Best part of the job:

The best part of my job is getting to do something different every day. Being a part of a small museum team and being on NMC’s campus presents tons of opportunities for learn ing new skills and exploring new collaborations with the campus and greater community.

KATIE Executive

recreation campaign, on by Ander focusing Playhouse. why, opaddition to partners perspectives organi fortunate to labor. a learn

KATIE JONES

Executive director, Friends of the Garden Theater

The Garden Theater was once just a single-screen movie house, but we have now expanded into hosting performing arts events as well. My role consists of ongoing fundraising, donor and patron relations, overseeing operations of the theater, and scheduling yearround programming. Every day is different for a small nonprofit, and my job consists of wearing many hats. One day I act as creative director for a holiday concert, the next I scoop popcorn for weekend shows. We recently were the recipient of one of the Traverse City Impact 100 grants as well as two substantial grants from Michigan Arts and Culture Council.

Other work inside/outside the nonprofit world:

Prior to my role at The Garden I worked in film production. I was looking for that next step that would require me to travel less and provide more stability for my family. This position blends so many of my passions: film and all other forms of art, community, and my favorite place on Earth, Frankfort.

Why nonprofits?

Transitioning to work in the nonprofit world for me was the best decision. I am mo tivated not only for myself or by my own creativity, but for a cause that benefits many others. I love working for a nonprofit that gives back to a community that has contributed to the betterment of my life.

Best part of the job:

The best part of my job is uniting community members through artistic experienc es. We often divide ourselves from one another and The Garden tries to break down those barriers by creating events that might allow for a little vulnerability. Watching the theater empty out and everyone leave with a smile on their face while sharing stories with one another is a moment I hope to create time and time again.

STEPHANIE RUSTEM Program and fundraising coordinator, Discovery Center & Pier

I have been in this position for just over a year. As with many small nonprofits, I wear many different hats, including working with local youth-centered organizations to provide Great Lakes-based opportunities, writing grants, and developing new programs. I feel incredibly proud and lucky to work for an organization that’s striving for equitable access to the Great Lakes. On Nov. 7, we broke ground on the Discovery Pier Project – a $2.2 million project to transform Traverse City’s old coal dock into a barrier-free public park. I feel so lucky to play a small role in making this dream a reality, and seeing it come to fruition is incredibly exciting.

Being recognized on this year’s TCBN 40Under40 list was incredibly humbling. There are so many amazing people that work to make our community a better place and I feel so honored to have received that recognition.

Other work inside/outside the nonprofit world:

In addition to my work at Discovery Center & Pier, I have the honor and privilege of serving on the board of the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communi ties. I am also a member of two service organizations: the Zonta Club of Traverse City and Traverse City Rotary Club, where I spend my time volunteering.

Why nonprofits?

I have spent my entire working career in the nonprofit sector. Each day, I wake up and feel like I’m playing a small part in making our community and the world a better place because of the work I do. Nonprofits provide many services that would otherwise be unavailable in communities across the country. Nonprofits do everything from protecting the environment to providing youth programming to offering social services and beyond. Without nonprofits, many of the things we know and love in our community wouldn’t exist.

Best part of the job:

The best part of my job is seeing the direct impact the work we’re doing has on our community and knowing that I’ve played a small part in making it happen.

LAUREN BRANDSTATTER Director of community engagement, Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center

I have been with TBCAC since March of 2021 when my family and I moved to Traverse City from Indianapolis. I began as the community outreach coordinator and transitioned to the director of community engagement in September of 2021. My role is to cultivate relationships in the community with both donors and other organizations, create and implement fundraising campaigns and strategies, and research and write grants that support our organization’s mission.

Other work inside/outside the nonprofit world:

This is my first position in the nonprofit sector, but it has been a goal of mine since I graduated from DePauw University with an edu cation degree. I taught for a few years, and then my path took me back to my first love: soccer. I have played my whole life, including college, and I was not ready to give it up, so I decided to coach collegiately. After a number of years doing so, I landed in the healthcare sector as a project manager for the innovation department of a hospital network in Indianapolis. My role was to scale ideas from inkling to implementation. I loved the fast-paced tech environment, so that took me to my working for a startup company, Upper Hand, on the implementation team. Fi nally, after a big leap of faith, my husband and I bought a house sight unseen and moved our two young kids to Traverse City. We have not looked back for a second. We love this city and this tightknit, innovative community.

Why nonprofits?

The answer here is simple: They make our community a better place for all. We are so fortu nate to have so many INCREDIBLE nonprofits in our region. The best part is they are all doing so much for our communities. The passion, the drive, the can-do attitudes are absolutely inspir ing. Not to mention, there are some super rad humans in this sector. I have learned so much about our community and myself as a person just from listening to the work that is being done right here in northwest Michigan. We are so lucky.

Best part of the job:

Truthfully, the best part of my job is working with true heroes on the front lines. It often makes me tear up hearing the stories that come through our center. Not the stories of child hood trauma, but the stories of resilience, hope, healing and justice. Listening to how passionate and incredible our staff and partners are, day in and day out, makes me have so much hope for our world. Being able to communicate that to our community, donors and grant reviewers is just the cherry on top. Not all heroes wear capes, and I truly believe that about our staff at TBCAC. I am in awe each and every day.

MICHELLE BIEN Executive director of art and connection, Elk Rapids

We just opened our doors this summer, so my responsibilities in clude planning our programs and growing them over time, ensuring that everything runs smoothly and consistently, assigning tasks to staff, recruiting teachers to lead workshops, networking with other organizations and local businesses, spreading the word about who we are and what we do, and assisting visitors, event guests, and work shop participants.

Other work inside/outside the nonprofit world:

I run the French language and culture group of Traverse City. We usually meet once or twice a month at a local café or restaurant to practice our French language skills, discuss French culture, and share updates with each other. I am also in this year’s Leadership Grand Traverse program and I feel very fortunate to be participating with a fantastic group of people. Previous ly I was the program manager at Arts for All of Northern Michigan.

Why nonprofits?

I find fulfillment in contributing to our communities in ways that are valuable, lasting and innovative. Being involved in a nonprofit is one of the best ways to make a direct impact where there is a specific need, with the potential for lasting change. I feel that the world will always need nonprofits, and the ways we can help our world through them are endless.

Best part of the job:

The best part of what I do is when I witness my work changing someone’s life for the better. When someone walks up to me at the end of one of our events and tells me how thankful they are that our space exists, or that one of our art workshops gave them something they needed at an important time in their life, this can make my day or even my week. I am also very grateful to work with a wonderful team in a beautiful space.

YARROW BROWN Executive director, Housing North

Housing North was formed in 2018 to address the barriers to housing through communications/ awareness, policy/ advocacy and capacity-building. We have expanded our programs over the last two years to include four housing-ready program staff in four of our 10 counties (Emmet, Charlevoix, Leelanau and Manistee). We launched a deed restric tion program in partnership with the City of Charlevoix to preserve year-round housing and an accessory dwelling unit program and are hoping to expand this to more communities. We recently received a $100,000 matching challenge grant from Consumers Energy Foun dation for a pilot rental preservation program where we hope to help local organizations such as Peninsula Housing preserve year-round rentals and build more housing.

Other work inside/outside the nonprofit world:

My background is in conservation biology. Prior to this job I worked at the Leelanau Con servancy, managing their conservation easement program and doing land protection and water shed planning. Many of the earlier years in my career outside of college were as a biological technician for the U.S. Forest Service, looking for rare plants, fungi or mushrooms in Oregon, California and Washington. I also spent two and a half years working for a small conservation district in Crook County (Devil’s Tower National Monument) in the Black Hills of Wyoming. I have also been on the planning commission for Cleveland Township in Leelanau County for two-and-a-half years. I am on the board of the Fair Housing Center for West Michigan, the Peninsula Housing board of directors and participate in the executive committee for the Northwest Coalition to End Homelessness.

Why nonprofits?

Good question. I have worked for nonprofits for over 15 years now and truly see the impact and value in the community. They are focused on the mission and are very community-driven. I feel fortunate to have learned so much from my years at the Leelanau Conservancy.

Best part of the job:

The best part of the job is working with all the various communities and the people, building relationships and collaborations. We could not have an impact without our connections in our communities and these relationships are invaluable. We rely on our local advocates and experts to make an impact. I love that we are a 10-county organization and we are having an impact both regionally and statewide, yet a lot of our work is very grassroots and locally making a difference.

ELIZABETH CALCUTT

Trail development director, TART Trails

I support trail planning and development with project man agement; coordinate and oversee work plans and budgets; develop strategies and tools to advance our short- and long-term trail develop ment and maintenance goals; and work with the TART team, local partners, and members of the com munity to advance TART Trails’ mission. My core active projects are the Nakwema Trailway, Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail and Three Mile Trail Extension.

Other work inside/outside the nonprofit world:

I’ve had the honor of serving on the board of the Northwest Michigan Arts & Culture Network since it was formed in 2018 as an arts and cultur al services organization dedicated to connecting, promoting and supporting the individuals, organizations and creative projects that create and further arts and culture in Northern Lower Michigan. During the winter months, I am a ski coach for the Holiday Race Team, a communi ty-based ski racing program operating at Mt. Holiday.

Why nonprofits?

I get to be part of solving local and regional problems, and while it takes years to implement proj ects that offer solutions, it’s very motivating to work hard and work strategically in order to someday see results. It’s more than just passion for the mission that makes the work interesting and motivating. I appreciate the variety in the work, the communication and ne gotiation, the opportunity to take on challenges and collaborate on innovative solutions. And I work alongside great people.

Best part of the job:

The people and places. I get to connect with individuals and communities across northwest lower Michigan. And can I add the Boardman Lake Loop? Every walk on that trail is rewarding and motivating.

By Eric Braund, columnist

If you’re like many of our clients, you want to secure a comfortable retirement – and give back to the community around you.

There are many ways to give back during retirement, but one way is to donate your required minimum distributions (RMDs) directly to a charity.

Let’s look at some benefits of donating your RMDs and why you might consider this charitable giving option.

Benefits of qualified charitable distributions

While removing yourself as a middle man saves you a lot of time, that’s not where the greatest benefit of a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) lies. If the distribution is donated directly to the nonprofit without you collecting it first and then donating it, you’ll also save a lot of money on taxes.

When you make a QCD, it is excluded from your taxable income because the amount you donate never shows up on your tax return. This leaves you with a lower taxable income and, therefore, a lower tax bill. And you don’t even have to itemize your deductions to get this tax break.

QCD eligibility

Not all retirement accounts are eligible to use the funds as a QCD. The funds need to be in a traditional IRA, rollover, inherited, inactive SEP, or inactive SIM PLE plan to be eligible. A SEP or SIMPLE plan is considered inactive if no employer contribution was made during the plan year ending during the tax year that the charitable contribution is made.

In addition to having the right kind of account, other requirements must be met:

• You must be age 70½ or older.

• To count toward the RMD for the year, the funds must come out of the IRA account by the RMD deadline, which is usually Dec. 31. Excess donations cannot count toward future-year RMDs.

• QCDs cannot be greater than the

GIVING BACK

amount that would otherwise be taxed as ordinary income (excluding non-deduct ible contributions).

• Total QCDs cannot exceed $100,000 per calendar year per taxpayer, regardless of the number of charities to receive donations.

• Funds must be distributed directly to the charity. If you take a distribution and then give it to charity, it does not count as a QCD.

Charitable eligibility

After establishing your eligibility, you need to ensure that your charity is eligible to receive a QCD. It must be a 501(c) (3) organization that is eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.

On top of that, certain types of organi zations are not eligible to receive QCDs. They are:

• Private foundations

• Supporting organizations (charities that only exist to help other exempt organizations, usually public charities)

• Donor-advised funds managed by public charities on behalf of individuals, families or organizations

Reporting a QCD

Unless it is an inherited IRA, QCDs are reported as normal distributions on Form 1099-R. For inherited IRAs, they are reported as death distributions. Therefore, it is critical to ensure your accountant is aware of your QCDs. If they are unaware, you may miss out on substantial tax ben efits! Though state rules vary, QCDs are not subject to federal tax withholding.

Keep this in your records to document that the QCD was qualified.

Plan for your retirement income

Qualified charitable distributions are a tax-efficient way to take advantage of your RMDs and give back to a charity that’s near and dear to your heart. There are some specific rules and requirements to consider, so it’s always best to run your dis tribution plan by a qualified professional.

Eric Braund, CFP®, CRPC®, is the founder and CFO at Black Walnut Wealth Man agement, a financial advisory firm providing counsel and fiduciary investment services to individuals, families and private foundations throughout Traverse City and northern Mich igan. Contact him at (231) 421-7711 or visit BlackWalnutWM.com.

Because it is already tax-free, you may not claim the QCD as a charitable tax deduction. You need the same acknowledgment of the donation you would need if you claimed it as a deduction.

Braund is an investment advisor representative with Dynamic Wealth Advisors d.b.a. Black Walnut Wealth Management; all invest ment advisory services are offered through Dynamic Wealth Advisors. This material is not intended to be used as tax advice. Each taxpayer should seek independent advice from a tax professional.

Know the benefits of sending your RMDs straight to a charity

DISCOVER NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR YOUR BUSINESS.

No matter what stage your business is in, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation is here to help you succeed. By connecting you to the resources your business needs, granting access to necessary capital and introducing you to the right partners, the MEDC helps your business reach new potential.

Find out how we can help propel your business forward with customized support at michiganbusiness.org/pure-partnership

LAW, INSURANCE ACCOUNTING

WHERE HAVE ALL THE LAWYERS GONE?

Inside northern Michigan’s growing dearth of legal professionals

By Craig Manning

Employers in the legal profession are struggling to fill positions almost across the board.

“I just got my license renewal for the Michigan State Bar for next year, and the paperwork said, ‘Serving over 46,000 at torneys,” said Anna Fiorvento, owner and founder of the Cadillac-based Fiorvento Law PLLC.

Michigan is a mandatory bar state, so to practice law in Michigan, attorneys have to be a part of the Michigan State Bar. Seeing those numbers gave Fiorvento pause.

“I thought, ‘Wait, there are only 46,000 attorneys in the state of Michigan?’” she said. “I know that number might seem like a lot, but you have to remember that a huge chunk of those lawyers are probably corporate, where their only client is the corporation they work for. And then another huge chunk of them are retired or semi-retired. And then we’ve also got a ton of patent attorneys in Michigan.”

Fiorvento estimates that the 46,000 breaks down to “...something like one attorney per 200 people.”

“I wonder what the actual numbers are if you take out all the people who you couldn’t actually walk into their office and hire them,” she said.

Local law offices are seeing just how small a number 46,000 really is when they try to hire new attorneys. Especially when it comes to recent law school grads and other younger attorneys, most of Michigan’s lawyers seem to be clustered downstate.

According to Ed Price, managing partner for Traverse City’s Alward Fisher Attorneys at Law, the primary issue there is that north ern Michigan’s lofty cost of living is a poor match for recent graduates who already have a mountain of student loan debt.

“It’s difficult to get young lawyers to relocate to Traverse City unless they have specific ties here,” Price explained. “If they grew up here and went to law school but want to move back home, that’s one thing.

But as the costs of college and law schools have increased, the amount of student loans that people have is through the roof.”

Price reports that younger lawyers feel like they need to work at larger firms in Detroit, Grand Rapids or Chicago for a few years to make some money to be able to pay off some of those loans.

“As a result, we’ve had trouble finding attorneys to relocate,” he said.

The expense of a legal degree, combined with the cost of living in northern Michi gan, is why Fiorvento says she chose Cadil-

factor behind a nationwide decline in the number of people pursuing legal degrees.

“It’s just it’s a lot different than when I went to law school,” she said. “When I went, you came out with debt, but it felt manageable.”

She says the amount of debt she sees re cent graduates emerging with is “incredible.”

“And maybe we’ll see some change with forgiveness on student loans and things like that, but right now, law school is just prohibitively expensive for a lot of people,” she said.

buy houses, start families, or pursue other major life milestones due to the career setbacks they saw because of the recession.

The wrinkle to that narrative in this particular case is that, for many years, the law profession was thought to be insulated from economic shifts, characterized as it was by extremely high salaries. Even with sub stantial debt, surely lawyers making the big bucks could pay off all that debt in no time?

But the story around lawyer salaries might actually be more complicated than most people think. It’s true that lawyers can make big money. According to ZipRecruiter, lawyers in New York earn an average of $123,571 per year. Other states have lower averages, though, and one of the lowest is Michigan, where the typical lawyer earns $86,429. Even within states, the numbers can fluctuate quite a bit, with rural areas (like northern Michigan) often trailing behind more urban spots (such as Detroit or Grand Rapids).

lac as the home base for her business.

“I was originally practicing and living in Traverse City,” she said. “But I made the move over to Cadillac because we could get triple the house for the same price that we were looking at in Traverse City. And I’m an attorney, and my husband is an engi neer. So we’re a dual-income professional household, and there’s still that struggle (to afford the local cost of living).”

According to the American Bar Associ ation (ABA), the average law student graduates from law school with $130,000 in student loan debt. That number has more than doubled since 2000, when average cumulative debt for loan school graduates was $57,500. Even figuring in inflation, today’s debt figure is dramatically higher than it was in the past. Adjusted for infla tion, $57,500 in 2000 would be $99,500 in 2022 dollars.

Noelle Moeggenberg, prosecuting attorney for Grand Traverse County, thinks the cost of law school – and the massive amount of debt that students must typically take on to become lawyers – is the primary

There’s no doubt that American law schools are producing fewer lawyers these days. Ever since the Great Recession, law school enrollment in the United States has been in a nosedive. Per ABA data, there were 147,525 students enrolled at Amer ican law schools and seeking a JD (Juris Doctor, the most common type of law degree) in 2010 – an all-time high.

That number dropped every year through 2017, when just 110,183 students were seeking JD degrees; you’d have to go all the way back to 1974 to find a year where fewer American students were pursu ing that particular credential. Things have rebounded slightly since the 2017 nadir –total JD enrollment at U.S. law schools was 117,305 last year – but the recession clearly dealt the legal profession a hefty blow.

Exorbitant education expenses and clouds of student debt are familiar road blocks to most people who came of age in the era of the Great Recession, regardless of profession. An oft-repeated part of the millennial story is that members of that generational cohort have been slower to

“When I moved to Traverse City in 2015, I was quickly informed of the saying in town of, ‘Half the pay for a view of the bay,’” says Agnes Jury, president of the Grand Traverse-Leelanau-Antrim Bar As sociation. “The truth is that the wages are ridiculously low for most of the attorneys here, so it’s hard for northern Michigan to compete with the salaries that attorneys get paid in bigger cities.”

Perhaps it’s no surprise that, statistical ly, northern Michigan is lagging behind downstate areas when it comes to attracting younger lawyers.

Each year, the State Bar of Michigan conducts a survey of the lawyers practicing law in the state. 2022 data shows that there are 7,524 members of the bar who would be classified as “young lawyers” – which is to say, they have joined the legal profession in the past 10 years. Only 74 of those, or 1.2%, are working in Grand Traverse County, while another 20 are practicing in the other parts of the five-county region (Antrim, Benzie, Leelanau, and Kalkaska). Comparatively, Oakland County is home to 2,058 young lawyers, or about a third

“It’s just it’s a lot different than when I went to law school. When I went, you came out with debt, but it felt manageable.”

- Noelle Moeggenberg, prosecuting attorney for Grand Traverse County

of the state’s total, while Wayne County boasts another 1,323.

Drawing younger attorneys – or any attorneys, for that matter – is especially hard for segments of the law that tend to pay on the lower end of the legal salary spectrum. According to a Reuters article from this past spring, district attorneys’ of fices throughout the U.S. are “experiencing vacancies of up to 16%.”

Moeggenberg said that trend is at play in Grand Traverse County and throughout Michigan as a whole.

“The Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan has a website where, each month, they put out all of the openings at different offices,” Moeggenberg said. “It used to be you’d see maybe three to four openings around the state at any given time. Now, it’s close to four pages of jobs for attorneys.”

When Moeggenberg started as chief assistant prosecutor (in Grand Traverse County) in 2013, the county would receive more than 100 applicants for one attorney opening.

“Right now, I have a position that’s opening up in January, and I put the application out at the end of September, and I’ve had two people apply so far,” she said. “It’s just super-hard to find people. And while I know it’s a statewide issue,

becoming palpable in more niche areas of legal practice. Her firm works in some of those niche areas, including criminal record expungements and court-appointed probate or family law work. In both of those areas, Fiorvento thinks northern Michigan already has fewer attorneys than it needs – an issue that could get worse if the area can’t draw younger lawyers to replace aging or retiring legal professionals.

On the expungement front, for instance, Fiorvento works with Networks Northwest to help people throughout the 10-county northwest Michigan region pursue expungements of certain non-violent criminal offenses. Michigan has seen a notable uptick in expungement petitions over the past few years, due largely to the legalization of marijuana. Networks Northwest is dealing with those increases in real time.

“We hit four times our anticipated num bers for the entire year by June,” Fiorvento said of the program. “And at that point we just had to cut it off, because we didn’t have the resources to service the number of people coming through the door.”

So, what does the lawyer shortage mean for northern Michigan in the long term? Fiorvento anticipates that rates for legal services in the region will increase, that more niche types of legal expertise will become more difficult to find, and that courts will

Jury, president, Grand Traverse-Leelanau-Antrim

Fiorvento also predicts some bigger transformations throughout the profession as a whole. Could those transformations help bring more lawyers back to northern Michigan? Only time will tell.

“For years, you’ve had a lot of cultural

tion in a lot of places that associate attorneys are going to work these insane 80-hour weeks. I think that part of the shift we’re seeing is that this newer generation of lawyers are saying, ‘No, I’m going to emphasize mental health. I’m going to emphasize my

“The truth is that the wages are ridiculously low for most of the attorneys here, so it’s hard for northern Michigan to compete with the salaries that attorneys get paid in bigger cities.”

- Agnes

Bar Association

Moeggenberg

Fiorvento

The team at McLaren Healthcare learned that inefficient lighting in their 14 hospitals was costing them. The incandescent and fluorescent bulbs were using far more energy and lasting a fraction as long as efficient LEDs. This meant wasted energy, frequent purchases of replacement bulbs, and a negative impact on staff and patient experience.

To find a way to reduce costs and create a brighter, more productive environment, they turned to our energy experts. Working together, McLaren earned $230,106 in rebates to change their lightbulbs to LED and install advanced lighting controls. These upgrades improved the healthcare experience of their patients and staff — all while saving $1.6M* in annual energy costs.

Are you ready to brighten up your energy budget? Learn more at ConsumersEnergy.com/startsaving

Inefficient lighting can leave you burnt out on energy costs.

$1.6 million in savings each year? That’ll brighten things up.

WITH A GRATEFUL HEART cele ating the season

231.883.3273 | shellykleinrealtor.com

Put your party planning in our hands and celebrate in grand style. With accommodations for groups of 50 or more, we’ll create a party that is effortless, elegant and best of all, memorable. Guestrooms start at only $129* for party attendees.

a party: 231-534-6212

LEGAL BRIEFS

Seven local law firms share their biggest 2022 news

By Craig Manning

Major cases, office relocations, succession plans and big growth: These are a few of the new developments currently playing out in Traverse City’s legal scene. We touched base with seven local law firms to get their biggest news from the past year or two.

The firm: Revision Legal is a multi-ju risdictional international law practice with three main business arms: intellectual property matters, mergers and acquisitions, and legal advice and services for businesses or individuals that make money online.

Biggest 2022 headline: Unsurprisingly for a firm whose “bread and butter” revolves around helping clients that do business on the internet, the past few years have been exceptionally busy for Revision Legal.

“We’ve always taken a bit of a re mote-first approach to being a law firm,” said Revision Legal Attorney Christo pher Carol, noting that firm co-found ers – John Di Giacomo and Eric Misterovich – have always operated the business from their respective homes in Traverse City and the Kalamazoo area.

That structure meant Revision Legal was not only ready for remote opera tions when the pandemic hit, but it also made the firm well-positioned to help clients who suddenly found themselves doing business online.

“The internet became a pretty big lifeline for people when they couldn’t necessarily leave their houses,” Carol said. “And then a lot of people also had to figure out what they might need to do differently for a living, so they’d form internet-based businesses and try to get those off the ground.”

Revision Legal became a go-to partner for those new entrepreneurs using the internet to start fledgling businesses, as well as for established businesses that suddenly wanted to diversify into more

web-centric lanes.

“We definitely saw a big influx of gen eral M&A and transactional work happening through those pandemic years,” Carol added. “Companies started to recognize that, ‘Hey, there’s several people making good livings selling through channels like Amazon or Shopify, and we could buy those businesses and add them to our portfolio.’”

As a result, Carol says that Revision Legal has handled over $100 million of M&A transactional work in 2022 alone.

Other notable news: In March, Revi sion Legal launched a new podcast, ti tled “May It Please the Internet,” which covers a variety of legal matters pertain ing to intellectual property, ecommerce, M&A, and more. While the podcast

sometimes works in an FAQ mode, answering common questions about, say, doing business on Amazon, it also engages with splashier topics of the moment, such as the 2022 fad of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) or the IP law dynamics of Taylor Swift re-recording her albums.

The firm: Jay Zelenock Law describes itself as “a civil justice law firm helping clients with wrongful death, personal injury, automobile accidents, insurance issues, employment issues, employee rights, wrongful termination, contract, property, and probate issues.”

Biggest 2022 headline: If you’ve read much local news lately, you’ve probably seen Jay Zelenock’s name. That’s due in large part to his role as counsel for Save Our Downtown, the nonprofit group at the center of numerous legal battles around building heights in Traverse City.

Mostly recently, Zelenock has been representing Save Our Downtown and Albert T. Quick as plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the City of Traverse City and development group Innovo over how building height is measured within city limits.

Save Our Downtown was instrumental in the 2016 passage of Proposal 3,

which amended the city charter to trig ger a public vote before the city commis sion can approve any new building with a height above 60 feet. The Innovo/ City of Traverse City lawsuit, in turn, emerged in relation to a new apartment complex that Innovo is seeking to build on Hall Street.

In March of 2022, city planning commissioners approved an 88-unit, six-story design for the Innovo Hall Street complex, including rooftop mechanical equipment that would put the building over the city’s 60-foot maximum. City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht argued at the time that city zoning code does not count rooftop mechanical equipment and that the Innovo project therefore did not require a public vote.

Zelenock, on behalf of his clients, countered that Proposal 3 had overruled the city’s existing zoning ordinance and that rooftop features do count toward

building height, which would put the Hall Street project up for a public vote to move forward as designed.

13th Circuit Court Judge Thomas Power ultimately sided with Save Our Downtown on the matter, but his ruling was later overruled by the Michigan Court of Appeals, which stated that Pro posal 3 “does not expressly address how to measure the height of a building.”

Zelenock and his clients have ap pealed that ruling with the state, em boldened by the fact that city residents voted this November to reject a proposal from Innovo to build the project as initially designed.

Other notable news: Zelenock says his firm is eyeing growth plans for 2023.

“We plan to expand and strengthen key relationships in the coming year to increase our ability to meet the needs of our clients, and help them solve their problems and meet their needs,” he said.

Jay Zelenock Law Firm

Revision Legal

Christopher Carol

Jay Zelenock

The firm: Previously affiliated with the Grand Rapids-based law firm Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge, Parker Harvey was born five years ago when the down state firm decided to close its satellite office in Traverse City. The TC office became Parker Harvey, which continues to offer legal service in northern Mich igan covering multiple areas of legal practice, including property and real estate, litigation, nonprofit, insurance, construction, business law, taxation, and more.

Biggest 2022 headline: According to Managing Partner Pete Boyles, one of the biggest priorities on the Parker Harvey todo list in 2022 was succession planning.

“We’re not necessarily looking to grow by adding lateral hires,” Boyles said. “What we’re really looking to do is fill in with younger attorneys and to get them ready to take over practices and clients for our attorneys that are nearing kind of the end of their careers. We want to have that plan in place.”

The challenge there, Boyles noted, is finding younger lawyers who want to relocate to Traverse City, work for Traverse City firms, and make Traverse City salaries.

“Even before the pandemic, I remem

ber interviewing a young lawyer from a big Chicago firm that was paying big Chicago salaries,” Boyles said. “He was looking to relocate, and we were talking to him, and I ended up telling him, ‘If I were you, I would see if that Chicago firm would let you work remotely.’ And they did. So, he was able to relocate here, continue to work for the big Chicago firm, and – I presume – continue at that very high salary.”

That trend – of big-city lawyers working remotely from places like Traverse City –has become more common since COVID, and Boyles thinks the situation is making it even harder for firms like Parker Harvey to recruit and hire younger attorneys.

“It used to be that in order to live in Traverse City and be a lawyer in Traverse City, you had to be with the Traverse City

firm. And clearly that is no longer the case.” Boyles said.

Parker Harvey is trying to stay competi tive by offering things that remote lawyers working for major big-city firms might not be getting – such as direct mentorship from experienced attorneys, face time with clients, and actual courtroom experience.

“It’s hard to compete with dollars, so we have to find other things that resonate with young attorneys,” he said.

Other notable news: Speaking of the pandemic, Boyles noted that Parker Har vey has dedicated itself this year to putting failsafe measures in place should future COVID shutdowns or other circumstances require law firms to pivot back to remote work.

“Everybody is on premises at this point, but we’re also prepared (to go remote) if

need be,” he explained. “We’ve invested quite a bit in hardware and technologies for everyone, including legal assistants, to be able to work remotely if we ever have to go that route again.”

Time for an upgrade?

Parker Harvey

Peter Boyles

“It used to be that in order to live in Traverse City and be a lawyer in Traverse City, you had to be with the Traverse City firm. And clearly that is no longer the case.” – Peter Boyles

The firm: A general practice law firm founded in Traverse City in 1974, Smith & Johnson describes itself as “one of the largest and most diversified” law firms in northern Michigan. The firm’s list of legal services includes municipal law, busi ness and corporate services, commercial litigation, criminal defense, family law, maritime law, and more.

Biggest 2022 headline: Tim Smith, a partner at Smith & Johnson, P.C., described 2022 as a big year in general for the business, thanks in large part to some major strides for a landmark opioid lawsuit the firm has been working on since 2017.

“The biggest litigation we’ve ever worked on has been this federal opioid litigation,” Smith explained.

The lawsuit, which has been brewing for five years, pitted counties and mu nicipalities from throughout the country against pharmaceutical manufacturers, dis tributors, and retailers. Plaintiffs argued that players at every level of the pharmaceutical helped create the opioid epidem ic, which in turn has ravaged communities throughout the United States.

Per Smith, Smith & Johnson was the counsel of record for 36 municipalities north of Clare and across the U.P., including Grand Traverse County and the City of Traverse City. This year, four of the de fendants in the case settled for $26 billion nationwide, with nearly $800 million of that money coming to Michigan. Smith &

“And it’s a huge, broad range of potential uses (of the money) for those counties, from addiction treatment services, to pub lic health departments, to court systems, to Narcan pens for the sheriff’s office,” Smith explained. “So, it’s a ton of money coming in for our clients here in north ern Michigan, including Grand Traverse County and the City of Traverse City.”

Smith added that, since several defen dants have yet to settle, this settlement should be “just the beginning of monies that will be coming into these munici palities that have been damaged by the opioid epidemic.”

Other notable news: Smith & John son bought the Northwestern Mutual building on East Front Street in the summer of 2021 and moved into the new space in August of this year. Smith told the TCBN that he and his partners were ready “to own a building and not be a tenant anymore.”

The firm: Alward Fisher works in a va riety of practice areas, including banking, business and corporate law, civil litigation, criminal defense, estate planning and probate, family law and real estate.

Biggest 2022 headline: According to Managing Partner Edward Price, Alward Fisher was just one of many Traverse City law firms involved in a “musical chairs” game of office relocations in 2022.

Alward Fisher is now doing business out of an office located at 412 South Union, where Kuhn Rogers used to be.

“It was one of those years where several of the larger firms in town were moving around and getting adjusted,” Price added.

Price said that these moves were largely out of necessity, due to the additional attorneys that have been hired in the past few years to accommodate the increase of legal work in the area.

“And that was definitely true for us,” he said.

In 2013, the firm started with about seven attorneys, but since then, Alward Fisher has been growing.

“We’re up to 11 attorneys now, and I just had an interview to hopefully add one more,” he said. “It’s just been a busy time for lawyers in town.”

Other notable news: On the subject of firm growth, Price told the TCBN that Alward Fisher has made two major addi tions to its legal practice team this year. The first is Anca Pop, who relocated to Traverse City and joined Alward Fisher as a partner after leaving her job as an assis tant prosecutor for the United States Attorney’s Office in Bay City. The second is Melissa Whitman, a local divorce attorney who joined Alward Fisher after nearly a decade as the owner and solo practitioner of her own firm, Whitman Family Law.

Alward Fisher

Johnson clients in northern Michigan will receive some $26 million.

Smith & Johnson

Peter Boyles

Tim Smith

Edward Price

The firm: Established in 1998 by father-daughter team Patrick Wilson and Shelley Kester, Wilson Kester is a leading divorce and family law firm for the northern Michigan area.

Biggest 2022 headline: Deliberate, intentional growth was the name of the game for Wilson Kester in 2022.

“I thought a lot this year about our mission, which is to empower our clients to find their voice and regain their strength for a better life,” Kester said. “I decided I wanted to communicate that goal more in my practice, so I decided this year to grow the practice.”

One part of that growth was a relo cation, from Wilson Kester’s longtime home at 457 Munson Ave. to a new office at 627 West Front St.

“We had outgrown our space at 457, so we leased out that space and moved into the West Short Bank building,” she said.

The other piece of that growth was the addition of a second office.

“I had an associate in the area, and I was looking to expand, and we were talking about Petoskey or Boyne City (for a potential new office),” Kester explained.

Boyne City won out, thanks to a cen tral location that opens up Wilson Kester to a new clientele from numerous northern Michigan towns – including not just

Boyne City itself, but also Charlevoix, Petoskey and Gaylord.

Kester also has designs on additional growth in the future, though she’s not sharing all the details on that just yet.

“I have a plan, but I’m not necessarily publishing that plan right now,” she said.

Other notable news: In addition to her work growing her own firm, Kester is also this year’s chair of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. She sees the job as an opportunity to give northern Michigan lawyers in general more of a seat at the table for statewide legal discussions.

“I really do want to join northern Michigan to the rest of the state,” she said. “I think sometimes the southern regions forget that we’re up here.”

Experience, Knowledge, Protection & Peace of Mind

231.947.8800 • www.LarkinGrp.com 13900 S. W. Bay Shore Dr.

ATTORNEYS

Robert W. Parker

Scott D. Harvey

Jeffrey R. Wonacott

Peter J. Boyles

Andrew J. Blodgett

Timothy M. White

Todd W. Millar

Stephen C. Chambers Emeritus

John R. Blakeslee Emeritus

Your legacy is our business. We help each client facilitate an efficient transfer of business, wealth and assets while reducing the risk of disputes among heirs and beneficiaries.

Traverse City • 231.929.4878 www.parkerharvey.com

Wilson Kester

Shelly Kester

LAW INSURANCE ACCOUNTING

By Anders Gillis, columnist

With the new year upon us, it’s a great time to take a look at some of the employ ment law trends and coming changes. In 2020 and 2021, employers were rightfully reactionary to the pandemic. In 2022, a lot of employers breathed a sigh of relief. Now 2023 needs to be the year that employers adjust to what appears to be the new normal. Here are a few employment law issues to consider in the new year:

Comply with pay transparency laws

In 2022, pay transparency laws took off. These laws require employers to put the pay range in the job posting. Michigan does not yet have a pay transparency law. However, 17 states – and too many cities to count – now require pay transparency. Even if you think of yourself as just a Michigan business, you should include the pay range. Here are three reasons why: First, you don’t want to waste your time looking at applications or setting up inter views for someone who would never work for you at what you’re willing to pay. Putting the pay in the job posting avoids wasting time. Second, if you don’t post the pay range, studies show that you create a higher risk of pay inequities. In other words, men will on average be paid more than women for the same work. This is a big problem. A reasonable pay range encourages employees – especially women – to avoid being underpaid. Third, while this issue needs to be sorted out more thoroughly by the courts, you should know that some regulators and attorneys argue that their state’s pay transpar ency law applies to Michigan employers. For example, if the job posting shows up online in California, Delaware, Connecticut, or Colorado, which of course it will, they will argue that’s enough to subject your company to that state’s jurisdiction. There are some creative ways you might try to get around this. But this can backfire. A better course of action is to just include the pay range. This is not a legal battle you need to fight.

Brush up your remote work policies

The worst of the pandemic appears to be behind us. But remote work is here to

Employment Law Updates You Should Consider in 2023

stay. You probably developed remote work policies in a pinch to deal with the crisis. Or perhaps you didn’t develop remote work policies at all. Either way, 2023 is a great year to dust off your policies and bring them up to speed. If some of your remote employees moved to a new state during the pandemic, you should have an extra level of urgency.

A stand-alone remote work policy allows you to have a cohesive message on what remote work looks like for your company while addressing certain key company culture and legal issues. You’ll want to make sure you have clear expec tations on work hours, availability, and moonlighting. With the growth of privacy laws, you need to address these issues. You should also consider whether you want a dispute resolution agreement in place with your remote employees. You probably do. You don’t want to get stuck litigating in California.

Change your leave, pay, and tip credit policies…again?

The Michigan Court of Claims struck

down some of Michigan’s leave laws and reinstated a November 2018 ballot initiative. The legalities are complex. There could be an appeal or changes be tween now and the law’s Feb. 19, 2023 effective date. But right now you need to make sure you’re ready for February of 2023. There are a few things you can do to get ready:

First, make sure your leave policies com ply with the new law’s leave accrual rate. If they don’t, make sure your policies will change when (and if) the law becomes effective. The new law is significantly more generous with employee leave than the prior law, so there’s a good chance your policies will be out of date if the courts or legislature fail to step in. Second, make sure you’re paying your employees at least $12 per hour to meet the new minimum wage obligations. Third – for almost all employers – you should stop using the tip credit to meet your minimum wage obligations. The tip credit to meet minimum wage goes away entirely in 2024 under the law. In 2023, the tip credit becomes overwhelmingly complex. It’s better to avoid the complexity.

Conclusion

There are plenty of other changes and issues to consider in 2023, especially if you have remote employees. If you have remote employees in different states, you need to consider the nuances of state wage and hour laws, privacy protections, off-duty cannabis protections, and bereavement leave. Remote work has provided many advantages to employers. Simplicity is not one of them.

With the right policies in place, you can make life a lot easier. Employers have an opportunity in 2023 to adjust to the new normal. The worst of the pandemic is (hopefully) behind us. Now is the right time to reassess your company, brush up the employee handbook, prepare a remote work policy, and consider cutting a few of those COVID-policies from your employee handbook and website. This is a great year to work on building your company’s culture with the right policies and practices.

Anders J. Gillis is an attorney practicing in Traverse City. Reach him at 231-313-9401.

THE MEDICARE MAZE

Three experts on decoding open enrollment

By Megan Kelto

Autumn may be time for political elections, but for people ages 65 and older, it’s also another important election season: Medicare Annual Election Period.

Also known as Medicare Open Enrollment, this annual window runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 and is an opportunity for beneficiaries to make changes and additions to their health coverage that will go into effect Jan. 1.

Medicare is the federal health insurance program for both people aged 65 and older and also younger people who receive Social Security Disability benefits. It consists of four main parts. Parts A and B are included in traditional Medicare and cover inpatient and outpatient care, doctors’ visits, and medical supplies. Medicare Part D is optional coverage for prescription drugs.

Medicare Part C, or Medicare Advantage, consists of plans offered by private insurers that follow Medicare’s coverage rules.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in August 2022 an estimated 64.5 million people were enrolled in Medicare parts A or B, and another 29.1 million had a private Medicare Advantage plan.

With so many different combinations of plans and options, it’s important to understand how to choose the right coverage for your needs. This month, we talked to three area agents who specialize in traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans to get their advice on making the most of the Medicare open enrollment period.

GREG LEWIS Principal, Greg Lewis Insurance

Greg Lewis’ job is to match each Medi care beneficiary to the plan that will work best for them. He’s been working in the insurance business for 40 years and with Medicare for a decade.

During the Medicare Open Enrollment period, Lewis says he is extremely busy.

“We are blessed to have a great base of clients who refer us to their friends who are becoming or are currently Medicare eligible,” he said. “Our business is growing steadily each year.”

Medicare beneficiaries can go in two directions with their coverage: original Medicare (with optional Part D prescription coverage and/or supplemental “Medigap” coverage from private insurers), or a wholly private Medicare Advantage plan, which Lewis said is “getting better and better” because of additional perks, like zero premiums.

“(Zero perks are) a very attractive situation, whereas if you go down the Medicare supplemental plan route, premiums can range from starting at $100, to $200 and above as the person gets older,” he said.

Still, some people may choose original Medicare for a variety of reasons.

“I have a number of clients who are sticking with the tried-and-true traditional Medicare and supplement plans,” Lewis said. “Maybe they travel and they don’t want to worry whether there are in-network doctors in Florida.”

Lewis advises seniors to do plenty of research online, talk with friends, and then visit with a reputable local agent who is a specialist in Medicare.

“There is no extra cost, and you will have someone to service your account over the years,” he said.

DAWN MCCONNELL Benefits account manager, Medicare and individual products, Ford Insurance

Dawn McConnell has been working with Medicare beneficiaries since 2019 and has used technology to help seniors navigate their Medicare options. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, she made a quick pivot to meeting with clients via Zoom.

“We learned how to utilize that plat form, and we have found that a lot of seniors prefer to meet via Zoom now, espe cially when the weather is bad. But we still do in-person meetings, because a lot of people love that as well,” said McConnell.

One of the biggest misconceptions people have when they enroll in Medi care at age 65 is that “their plan is good to go forever, and that’s not true,” McConnell said.

Plans and an individual’s health needs evolve over time.

“Medicare Advantage plans have changed so much in the past few years, and for people who were maybe initially averse to them, it’s definitely worth a conversation,” she said.

McConnell advises that seniors should be cautious about Medicare Advantage insur ers represented on national television. McConnell explained that Ford Insurance Agen cy only works with Blue Cross Blue Shield, Blue Care Network, and Priority Health.

“Those are the only plans that we feel confident offer widespread coverage here in northern Michigan,” she said.

One of the biggest pitfalls she sees is people not enrolling in Part D prescription drug coverage when they turn 65. That’s because the Medicare levies a late enrollment penalty if you sign up for prescription drug coverage later, a penalty that contin ues for life.

Her biggest tip for Medicare beneficiaries?

“Talk to a professional. There’s no fee for the client – the insurance companies pay us a direct commission,” she said. “And we can help direct traffic and put you in touch with the right people when questions arise.”

GEOFF HARRIS Vice president of Medicare Sales, Michigan Planners

Geoff Harris has seen a lot of changes take place in the Medicare sphere since he started working with Medicare beneficiaries in the mid-1980s.

In 2006, the federal government cre ated the public-private partnership that created Medicare Advantage. Behind the scenes, the government sends mon ey directly to the insurance companies to cover seniors’ claims – which is how insurers can offer Medicare Advantage plans with no premiums.

“The insurance companies are required to provide the same coverage the federal government does, but with the money they’re getting they can cover additional things, like over-the-counter credits, transportation assistance, companion care, gym memberships, and other perks,” Harris said. “It’s worth asking, ‘How can I get all this stuff and not have a monthly premium?’”

Harris’ guidance for Medicare beneficiaries? Follow the plan’s provisions.

“The insurance companies may have provisions that require preauthorization before certain services can be received (with Medicare Advantage). As the policy holder, you are ultimately responsible to make sure you follow the plan’s provisions,” he said. “It’s important to make sure you understand the plan you have so you can use it correctly, and it helps to work with someone who can tell you the real story.”

By Joshua Sullivan, columnist

Congratulations — you’ve built an orga nization where people are proud to work. You lead with integrity, your products or services are top-notch, your clients/ customers are happy, and your workplace culture feels like a functional family working toward a common goal.

So, why do you have that sinking feeling that someone might be stealing from you?

Simple: Because there’s a high likeli hood they are!

According to research compiled by Zippia in 2022, about 75% of U.S. businesses are affected by employee theft, with three out of every four employees admitting to stealing from their employer at least once.

Small and mid-size businesses — those with 150 employees or fewer — tend to be prime targets, according to more than one recent survey by specialty insurance company Hiscox. Findings revealed that those busi nesses are home to 80% of embezzlements, 30% of which lose more than $500,000.

If that kind of hit isn’t frightening enough, consider the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM’s) esti mate that employee theft is linked to 33% of corporate bankruptcies. Even business es that survive do not emerge unscathed.

Consider the collateral damage Hiscox’ survey-takers reported: a wrecked reputa tion, lost customers and business partners, and difficulty attracting new customers.

Clearly, whether you have a hunch someone is stealing from your organi zation, or you’re simply (and rightfully) worried there are opportunities to do so, acting quickly is imperative.

The typical fraud case lasts 12 months before detection, with a loss of $8,300 per month, or about 5% of revenue, accord ing to the Occupational Fraud 2022 report from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).

Daunting as it might seem, you’re not powerless to prevent and detect such ram pant dishonesty from taking down your company. How? By doing what ACFE states nearly one-third of companies affect ed by fraud don’t do: Put robust internal controls in place — and make certain controls you already have are effective and continuously monitored.

Theft, Fraud and Embezzlement

The importance of internal controls

Step One: Recognize where fraud and theft can happen

According to ACFE’s 2022 report, fraud cases most commonly occur in these four areas of an organization: operations, accounting, executive and upper management, and sales.

(Worth noting: ACFE finds that exec utives commit only 23% of occupational fraud but cause the most substantial losses — generally $337,000, as compared to management’s $125,000, and staff employees’ $50,000.)

A multitude of opportunities exist to exploit a business or an organization. Some common methods of embezzlement include: falsifying time cards; stealing cash, property, merchandise, or sensitive data; asset misappropriation; skimming customer credit cards or chunks of cash before the latter is entered in the books; tampering with checks and payments; fraudulent billing; and intentional ma terial misstatements or omissions in the company’s financial statements.

Step Two: Conduct a risk assessment

Unless you’re a fraud, accounting and cybersecurity pro, identifying every oppor-

tunity a bad actor could exploit within your organization isn’t likely something you can or should manage alone or in-house. By using control mechanisms, you can certainly manage risks and help identify potentially fraudulent activities by optimizing the fol lowing accounting functions:

Budgeting, accounting, and financial reporting

• Are ledgers reconciled with supporting documentation in a timely manner?

• Is the person reconciling transac tions the same person initiating and finalizing them?

• Who reviews (and documents their review of) all reconciled transactions and supporting documentation?

• Do the financial reports compare budgeted balances with actual financial activity, and are those generated and reviewed by appropriate management?

Cash, collections, and deposits

• Are the collection and deposit prepa ration functions segregated from other accounting functions, including accounts receivable and general bookkeeping?

• Are all types of cash (cash received

from customers, petty cash for day-to-day operations, change, etc.) accounted for and posted immediately, quickly deposited or physically stored in a safe place, and are receipts issued for collections received in person or through mail?

• How often are receipts and deposits reconciled — daily or when received, etc.?

Purchasing and disbursement

• Are at least two people dividing responsibility for making and receiving purchases, processing invoices for pay ment, and reconciling purchases with documentation?

• Who reviews the recorded charges?

• Does that individual regularly inquire about any charges that look unfamiliar and ascertain that all purchases — even those made at approved vendors — are actually used for their intended purposes?

• What controls are in place to ensure that returned purchases are refunded or credited back to the organization?

• Are controls in place to review and approve vendor invoices and employee expenses/reimbursements, as well as to prevent errant or duplicate payments?

• Is someone with sufficient knowledge

Why do you have that sinking feeling that someone might be stealing from you? Simple: Because there’s a high likelihood they are!

of the operations empowered with the authority to review and approve or deny purchasing card transactions?

In truth, the above areas and questions are just the beginning. Payroll schemes, billing schemes, understated revenues, fictitious revenues, improper disclosures or asset valuations, invoice kickbacks, false sales and shipping — there are dozens of ways a bad actor (or more seriously, several bad actors working together) can bilk your company or organization.

Step Three: Prevent

Ideally, you have in place a code of ethics or conduct outlining the company’s overall expectations, and one that is further strengthened by clear-cut policies outlining specific financial rules for each risk area within the company (e.g., what is and isn’t an appropriate business expense, what authorizations are required, how and when expense reports must be handled, and what should be included, etc.).

Policies should apply to all employees yet must be tailored to different roles and levels of authority, and any violation should be immediately addressed. The goal is not to create a culture of fear but to clearly communicate that mechanisms, processes, and monitoring are continuous ly at work in a concerted effort to prevent fraud and theft.

Perhaps no mechanism is as useful in preventing fraud and theft as the segrega

tion of duties. There are far more process es that would benefit from segregation than can be detailed here, but in general, the tasks that are most important to segregate are authorizations or approvals, custody of assets, recording transactions, and reconciliation of those transactions.

It’s imperative that you identify and implement segregation of duties in as many processes as possible. Obviously, for smalland even mid-sized companies already lack ing adequate manpower, that isn’t always feasible. If that’s the case in your company or organization, consider outsourcing to a third-party firm to handle, back up or over see your existing workflow (or portions of) in bookkeeping, accounting, HR, and/or IT so that you can confirm that no single employee has the ability to both commit and conceal theft or fraud as they fulfill their usual duties.

At the very least, work with a third party that’s adept at helping organizations incorporate or leverage technologies that can mimic the segregation of incompat ible duties and the checks and balances that a company with a larger staff could manage —ideally, a firm that is adept in accounting, IT/cybersecurity, and fraud prevention and response.

Step Four: Take Action

Unfortunately, many organizations don’t look for a reliable firm until it finds itself in an emergency situation where

theft or fraud has likely occurred. So, what to do if you sense or see potential opportunities, signs, or — worst case scenario — evidence of theft or fraud? To protect yourself, your organization and its data and customers, the most effective approach is hiring an experienced financial services and business advisory firm with expertise in risk management and forensic accounting to:

• Conduct a 360-degree evaluation of your operations

• Identify any vulnerabilities

• Offer recommendations to close the gaps

• Work with you to implement changes in processes, technology, etc. to mitigate risk and continuously monitor operations

When theft or fraud has most likely occurred, we recommend you do not confront or accuse anyone, under any circumstance. Instead, consult with a forensic accounting team to investigate, gather evidence, and report on findings. You will want to make sure the team is licensed and are fully credentialed professionals who can not only conduct a forensic review and perform a full in vestigation for fraud, embezzlement, and other related matters, but also provide the necessary reports suitable for litiga tion, as well as provide expert testimony in support of any findings.

If you’re comparing two or more firms, be sure to ask about their experience in

these types of cases and whether they have previously offered testimony. Bottom line: If you’re taking bids and there is a large discrepancy in the total between two or more, drill down into each estimate and press for details on the specific services provided; a firm should be able to provide a solid understanding of and be able to explain what kind of time is needed for your specific case.

With the implementation of a strong internal control environment, as well as some luck, you won’t need to make an urgent call for help after discovering a catastrophic theft or fraud, and you won’t ever be in a position where you have to doubt the honesty or intentions of your employees or business partners. You’ll have all the necessary policies, technologies, and internal controls at work and continuously monitored, preventing opportunities large and small, and protecting your organization — and the functional family that truly is work ing toward a common goal.

As a principal with the audit and assurance department of Rehmann, Joshua Sullivan, CPA, principal, serves as a business advisor for a variety of clients, helping them meet compliance requirements and implement new accounting standards while providing value added services and working with them to iden tify opportunities for growth. Contact him at joshua.sullivan@rehmann.com.

EARN A T ech MBA® IN GRAND TRAVERSE

Tomorrow needs STEM-savvy business leaders. As a working professional in the Traverse City area, you can earn a world-class, tech-focused Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Michigan Tech without leaving home.

The TechMBA® can be completed on your own schedule or you can meet in real-time with peers in MTU’s Grand Traverse Research Workspace for virtual evening courses. With the AACSB-accredited TechMBA®, you’ll develop your leadership, communication, teamwork, and project-management skills and be prepared for success in tomorrow’s high-tech environments with 100 percent job placement.

Use our free application today and gain the Tech edge.

DAVID ROUGHS UP GOLIATH

By Rick Haglund

After steadily increasing over the past few years, total bank deposits in Grand Traverse County fell this year as COVID-related federal stimulus payments to consumers and busi nesses ended and consumers dipped into their savings.

Deposits in the county dropped from $3.8 billion on June 30, 2021 to $3.7 billion on the same date this year, down 2.6%, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s annual bank deposit report.

The decline has affected two of the largest banks operating in the region – Huntington Bank and Fifth Third Bank. The nine other banks in the county all posted year-over-year deposit increases.

But while most banks and credit unions saw deposits rise for the 12 months ending June 30, their leaders say deposits started to soften in the spring as inflation accelerated, signaling a possible recession.

“We saw fantastic deposit growth through April 2022, but then it just came to a screech

Small banks and credit unions gain deposits at big banks’ expense

ing halt,” said Andy Kempf, chief executive officer at 4Front Credit Union. “Everybody had stimulus funds. But costs are going up and people have gone through their savings.”

4Front’s deposits grew from $754.7 mil lion on June 30 a year ago to $848.8 million last June 30, a 12.4% increase. But the cred it union added only $500,000 in deposits between March 31 and June 30, according to financial reports filed with the National Credit Union Administration.

Executives at some smaller institutions said they’re attracting consumers who have become increasingly annoyed with mergers and impersonal service at big banks.

“There is still a lot of dissatisfaction with the disruption forced on customers by merg ers and acquisitions,” said Doug Zernow, marketing director at State Savings Bank. “People are fed up with changes in bank names, products, account numbers and everything else that goes with that.”

State Savings Bank recently announced it will build a new “principal office” housing more than 50 bank employees at the corner of Garfield Avenue and Centre Street in Traverse City. Its deposits in Grand Traverse County rose from $48.1 million in June 2021 to $65 billion this June.

That increase boosted State Savings Bank from 10th largest last year to eighth largest in local deposits this year. Its market share rose from 1.28% in 2021 to 1.77% this year.

Despite losing more than $200 million in deposits over the past year, Huntington Bank remains by far the largest bank oper ating in Grand Traverse County. Hunting ton’s market share was 35.59% on June 30, down from 40.66% last year.

Huntington, which acquired TCF Bank in 2021, controlled $1.3 billion in local deposits as of June 30. That was nearly double the $688 million in deposits at Chase Bank, Huntington’s next-big gest competitor. Chase Bank this year surpassed Fifth Third, which had $667 million in deposits, for second place.

A Huntington Bank spokeswoman declined to comment on the bank’s perfor mance. Chase Bank, which saw deposits jump $51 million, did not respond to a

request for comment.

Autumn Gillow, Fifth Third’s market ex ecutive for northern Michigan, said consum er deposits at the bank are up about 3% this year. She attributed the overall $67.5 million dip in deposits to the commercial business side, where customers shifted from cash to higher returning investments and used deposits to fund business growth.

Big banks also move deposits around geographically to meet lending needs in specific areas.

“I’d attribute a fair amount of our new business (in consumer deposit growth) to clients looking for stability after experiencing bank mergers or personnel turnover at other banks,” she said.

Bank and credit union executives say they’ve been poaching talent from each other as the local market is becoming more competitive and as new entrants, including West Shore Bank and Michigan State Uni versity Federal Credit Union, have arrived over the past several years.

Marc Judge, first vice president of com munity business banking at Independent Bank, attributed his bank’s ability to capture seasoned loan officers and other talent to its deposit growth this year.

“The best lenders tend to move to the best banks,” said Judge, adding that Inde pendent’s new loan customers are bringing deposits with them.

Independent Bank’s local deposits rose from $237.5 million in 2021 to $275.4 mil lion this year in the FDIC reporting period, a 16% increase. Independent’s deposit market share in Grand Traverse County rose to 7.49% from 6.32% last year.

Honor Bank, another small community bank, saw deposits jump from $82.4 million last year to $104.6 million this year in Grand Traverse County, up 27%.

Norman Plumstead, Honor Bank’s president and CEO, attributed the growth, in part, to the bank’s aggressive pursuit of federal Paycheck Protection Program business loans during the COVID pandemic that attracted new business customers to the bank.

But like others, Plumstead said deposit growth has slowed in recent months.

“Inflation is starting to affect consum-

ers’ balance sheets. The record amount of personal savings during the pandemic has gone down,” he said. “I think the trend is going to continue into 2023. I think we’ll probably see deposits go down for the first time in a while.”

Rising inflation and interest rates are also prompting consumers to shop around for higher saving rates. That’s triggering competition among banks and credit unions for

deposits, although interest rates on deposits aren’t rising nearly as high or as quickly as interest rates on loans.

Karen Browne, president and CEO of TBA credit union, said members there are mostly parking money in regular deposit accounts, rather than tying up their cash in higher interest certificates of deposit to keep cash available in an uncertain economy.

TBA’s deposits rose from $270.2 million

Zernow

Gillow

Plumstead

on June 30, 2021 to $300.4 million on June 30 this year, an 11.2% increase.

“Our deposit growth in 2022 is a little more normalized, similar to pre-COVID numbers,” Browne said.

West Shore Bank has been focusing on building strong relationships with customers “so people don’t run down the street for five basis points (0.05%),” said Sid Van Slyke, West Shore Bank’s senior vice president

and Traverse City market leader. A bank committee also meets weekly to review loan and deposit rates, he said.

“If you’ve been in the business for 10 or 12 years, you’ve never worked in a rising interest rate environment,” Van Slyke said. “Those muscles haven’t worked in a while.”

While smaller banks are experiencing deposit and overall business growth local ly, the three largest banks – Huntington,

Chase and Fifth Third – still control nearly three-quarters, or 72.5%, of Grand Traverse County deposits.

But their combined deposit market share (including the former TCF Bank acquired by Huntington) has fallen by 4.62 percent age points since 2017. All three banks are headquartered outside of Michigan.

Independent Bank, which acquired Traverse City State Bank in 2018, will

become the biggest Michigan-based bank in the state once Troy-based Flagstar Bank completes its merger with New York Com munity Bank.

Independent Bank’s Judge said the 150-year-old bank intends to stay true to its community banking roots.

“The largest bank in the state of Michigan happens to be a community bank,” he said.

A VILLAGE

By Ross Boissoneau

At first, it was a vision for treating people suffering from mental illness. Then it became a victim of changing times and faced demolition. But like a phoenix, the grounds and collection of buildings once known as the Traverse City State Hospital weathered the ravages of time to find new life as the Village at Grand Traverse Commons.

The collection of living spaces, shops, restaurants, and other businesses is now celebrating its 20th year.

How did we get here? You have to go back to the mid-19th century, when psy chiatrist Thomas Kirkbride championed a new method for treating mental illness. He believed attributes such as plenty of sunlight and air ventilation and spacious patient rooms offered the best chance for recovery. The Kirkbride Plan – which included a central complex for offices, kitchens, public and reception areas –became a model for such facilities.

In the late 1880s the plan came to northern Michigan. The Northern Mich igan Asylum, later known as the Traverse City State Hospital, opened in 1895. Under the supervision of superintendent Dr. James Decker Munson, philosophies such as “beauty is therapy” and “work is therapy” resulted in the expansion of the facility to include greenhouses, beautiful grounds, and a farm with pigs, chickens, cows and vegetable fields. Patients were able to work on the farm as well as in furniture construction, fruit canning, and other trades, enabling the asylum to be fully self-sufficient.

But changing times and philosophies, as well as decreasing budgets, eventually doomed the facility. The hospital was closed in 1989, just over a century after being opened. It fell into disrepair, and in 1993, the property was transferred from the state to the Grand Traverse Commons Redevelopment Corporation.

Discussions on how to redevelop the property ensued. The buildings continued to decay with no plan in place – until downstate developer Ray Minervini stepped up to the plate. He was a trans plant from the Detroit area, where he’d seen many of that city’s historic buildings demolished.

He decided that wouldn’t be the case in Traverse City if he had anything to say about it.

“It was a giant risk, especially for my fa ther. He put his entire life savings on the line,” said Ray’s son Raymond, a partner at the Minervini Group.

They figured the cost even to demolish the buildings would have been in the millions, so why not invest in refurbishing and reusing them?

“New Jersey had a similar (situation): Greystone Park (another Kirkbride model hospital) cost $34 million to tear down. That’s a tremendous amount of money,” said Minervini.

The first challenge was to re-roof the

Ray and Raymond Minervini

388,000-square-foot Building 50. They pledged $1.5 million to do it. Raymond Minervini said they decided that even if it took all their money and they had to walk away from the project, at least that part of it would be saved, and hopefully someone else would come in to finish what they started.

“If it turned out wrong, if we failed – it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese,” he said.

Raymond Minervini grew up working for his father in construction, marketing and design. He soon grew to share his father’s vision – “I became a big fan of historic preservation by accident,” he said – eventually joining the business as a minority partner.

Of course, the Minervini Group was able to preserve the building and move on to restoration. But that was no easy task. From new wiring and plumbing to cutting through solid brick walls – all while remediating toxic elements such as lead paint and asbestos – the process was long and expensive. Minervini said it involved securing deposits from prospective pur chasers, funds from the state to help with the hazardous material abatement, and then bank financing for the first phase of redevelopment.

He said it’s important to keep in mind that for the first several years, the endeav or was an unproven redevelopment with a large amount of risk and uncertainty.

“There was no guarantee for the first purchasers that even Building 50 would be completed,” he said.

Early adopters helped them sell the vision. For Sandi Daley, the vision was en ticing. She’d opened her drive-thru coffee shop Cuppa Joe on Garfield in 1999, and found herself opening at the Village in 2002. “Seeing how amazing this building was and having the opportunity to talk to Ray and hear his vision, that’s what sold me,” she said.

She admitted that early on there wasn’t a lot of business, but as people discovered the appeal that began to change. “People were aware of the building, but it was hard to grasp things were happening. We were front row center, seeing everything develop around us.”

She’s since opened another location at U.S. 31 and Four Mile Road. And she’s so bullish on the Village she purchased Pleasanton Brick Oven Bakery. Former owner Devon Knechtel worked alongside Daley and her staff until last month. Daley said Knechtel lost several key staff members and it’s been a challenge to find employees, especially since the bakery uses a wood-fired oven. “People, even those in culinary school, don’t get trained on that,” Daley said.

She said she now has an excellent man ager and is hopeful that they will soon be able to produce the various breads the bakery was famed for in addition to cookies, pastries and other items, “when we can get it the size, shape and quality we want. I know Gerard (original owner Gerard Grabowski). It has to be worthy of the (Pleasanton) name.”

Minervini said Trattoria Stella was another selling point. “We reached a lease agreement with Trattoria Stella, which opened for business in 2004, and quickly became a reason for people to journey to the old state hospital campus,” he said.

The Minervini Group began to hear from other business owners who were interested in relocating or starting a business.

“We began working on some of the secondary buildings west of Building 50 to create places for neighborhood amenities, such as Pleasanton Bakery, Underground Cheesecake Company, Left Foot Charley Winery, Higher Grounds Trading Compa ny and others,” he said.

Through it all, the Minervini Group was guided by the tenets of the new urban ism design movement, creating a walkable community where areas for work, home and shopping are all located close to one another.

Asked if there is a sense of urgency to finish what they’ve started, Minervini allows that they’d like to be further ahead, but unanticipated delays such as the pan demic and related supply chain problems have slowed things down.

“When we started all of this, we figured the entire redevelopment would take 10 to 15 years,” he said. “Obviously, things like ups and downs in the market, approval

delays and pandemics have extended that timeline.”

Minervini said the company continues to explore opportunities regarding the long-rumored hotel, which he said has been another factor that has slowed down additional development.

“For years we’ve been working diligent ly to bring in a boutique hotel. Frankly, our desire to see three or four of the buildings repurposed as a boutique hotel has been the primary delay to complete the balance of the campus,” he said. “We feel an upscale lodging option would be very complementary for the neighborhood.”

He believes there’s a great likelihood that will come to fruition this coming year because of discussions with a “very capable” hotel development team.

“We are more hopeful than ever to see that project move forward in the months ahead,” he said.

And that’s not all. Plans are in the works with another prospective co-devel

opment partner to add a substantial num ber of apartments and condominiums south and west of the power plant.

“Hopefully 2023 will have some big news on these fronts for the Commons,” he said.

Ah yes, the power plant. The mas sive structure still stands watch from its location south of Building 50 – directly in Raymond Minervini’s sight line from his office desk.

“It’s a big box waiting for a big idea,” he said. “We’re still looking for ideas to activate that building.”

To date, Minervini said the redevel opment has cost in the range of $130 million. The entire campus is governed by historic easement, which “creates an extra burden,” he said.

But it’s not like they would do things differently if they could.

“We’re developers and want to make money, but we need to preserve and celebrate it,” he said.

“If it turned out wrong, if we failed – it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese.”

– Raymond Minervini II, partner, The Minervini Group LLC

Building 57 before Building 57 after

West Shore Bank offers a unique approach to delivering on your dreams. We celebrate your West Shore Bank offers a unique approach to delivering on your dreams We celebrate your successes We look out for your best interests And we work to give you the premier service that you successes. We look out for your best interests. And we work to give you the premier service that you deserve. deserve WE BELIEVE THAT LIFE IS FOR LIVING

S I D V A N S L Y K E

B u s i n e s s ( 2 3 1 ) 3 4 6 1 5 2 6 s i d v @ w e s t s h o r e b a n k c o m

N O A H W I N D B A C H E R B u s i n e s s ( 2 3 1 ) 3 4 6 4 2 1 6 n o a h w @ w e s t s h o r e b a n k c o m

e b a n k c o m

L

9 loriv@westshorebank com

O R I V A N A N T W E R P B u s i n e s s M L O # 2 4 1 5 6 9 2 ( 2 3 1 ) 2 5 2 8 9 2

P E R R Y A D A M S W e a l t h M a n a g e m e n t ( 2 3 1 ) 3 4 6 1 5 1 6 p e r r y a @ w e s t s h o r e b a n k c o m

B R I A N E G G L E S T O N W e a l t h M a

How a gift of money can help build investing habits

As a parent or grandparent, you likely want to teach children sound money habits and help them become financially successful adults.

There are a variety of ways to instill good financial habits. The following two ap proaches allow you to gift assets to children while providing them with hands-on investment experience that may prove useful in the future.

1. Custodial accounts

Custodial accounts can be opened for your children before they turn 18. They can be a useful vehicle to teach them about the principles of money and investing.

With these accounts, custodians control how investments are managed. Sharing account statements and the way you make decisions on your children’s behalf can be an opportunity to teach smart investment principles.

There are a couple of considerations you will want to think about as you determine whether such an approach is right for you and your family. First, when funding these accounts, keep in mind that control of these accounts transfers to the child when the custodianship ends. This generally happens when the child reaches age 18, 19 or 21, depending on state law. You may not want your child to have control of more financial assets than they can handle at that age.

It is also important to know that special tax rules, the “kiddie tax” rules, may also apply. The income or capital gains generated in these accounts could be taxed at trust income tax rates for children under age 19 (age 24 if a full-time student). This means your young child may have to file an income tax return of their own, and the tax bill could be higher than if you held the assets in your own name. Your tax advisor can help you determine how these rules would apply to your situation.

2. Gifting money in an IRA (Individual Retirement Account)

Helping fund an IRA can benefit adult children who are starting their career and can’t afford to contribute to a retirement account or don’t have a workplace retirement plan. Even teens with earned income can fund an IRA.

The earlier your children start investing for retirement, the more their investments may accumulate over time. There are two types of IRA, a Traditional and a Roth.

• Traditional IRA: If eligible, your child may receive a tax deduction when they contribute to a Traditional IRA, which will also offer tax-deferred growth poten tial. Any earnings from the account may grow tax free until the money is finally distributed.

• Roth IRA: This type of account is not eligible for tax relief on the contribu tions, but any earnings could be distributed tax-free if taken after the Roth has been opened for more than five years and your child is aged 59½ or older. In addition, your child may be able to tap into these funds if they need them due to a disability or for use in purchasing their first home.

If you are thinking of gifting money, be sure to talk to a tax professional. Any time you give money to a child — including to a custodial account or an IRA — IRS gift rules apply.

JULIAN | BLACK

Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors

Mark Hagan has long been one of Traverse City’s most successful real estate professionals. In 2018, he even topped the TCBN’s annual list of top-volume realtors, with over $50 million in sales for the previous year. Perhaps some of that success comes from the fact that, long before the market arrived at its current state, Hagan was thinking outside the box about north ern Michigan’s inventory quandary.

“I’ve been a licensed builder since the early 1980s and I have a construction com pany,” Hagan said. “So, while my primary focus is obviously selling real estate, I’ve also been involved in development for 20 years.”

Hagan’s development company – sim ply called Hagan Construction – focuses largely on building “high-end second homes or third homes.” Over the years, though, Hagan has tried to be responsive

By Craig Manning

What do you do when you’re a real estate agent and there aren’t any homes to sell? For a few local realtors, the answer is clear: You build your own inventory.

It’s no secret that Traverse City has faced an unprecedented real estate boom over the past few years. Nor is it a secret that feverish buying has created a low-inventory market.

Those challenges certainly aren’t lost on local real estate professionals, who have spent recent years navigating each hurdle right alongside their clients. Lower inventory has meant that realtors themselves are carrying fewer listings, while high prices and bidding wars mean that realtors are often working harder and longer to find the perfect house for each of their clients.

Four local real estate professionals are reshaping the conception of what a realtor can be and do. Faced with a market that, for a variety of reasons, is years behind in terms of inventory, each of these realtors is diving wholeheartedly into the world of real estate development. These are their stories.

to needs when and where he sees them.

“One thing that’s been a forte of mine has been coming to developments that have been stalled, and then we take them over and market all the properties,” he explained. “...(T)hat’s always been a fairly large part of my business...creating inventory.”

Most of Hagan’s development work involves collaborating with other build ers to bring new inventory online. For example, in the Kingsley area, he’s currently working with the construction company Boards N Bolts to create and sell a trio of spec homes “in the $375,000 to $400,000 range.”

He also does considerable work in bringing large swaths of vacant land to the market and selling that property to developers to be turned into subdi visions. Recently, he sold “the top of Morgan Farms” – a major housing de velopment near Greilickville – to project

developers who plan on turning the land into 66 new homes.

Overall, with approximately 60 real estate listings to his name right now –compared to the 300 listings he used to carry at any given time – Hagan is extremely cognizant of how important it is for real estate professionals such as him to do whatever they can to bring new inventory to market. The bigger question, he said, isn’t deciding whether or not to be involved in development, but deciding how that development can best impact the local community and real estate market.

“We actually sent our photographer to pilot school, so now she flies drones, which we do a lot of for these develop ments,” Hagan said. “A lot of these prop erties are pretty vast, so getting up there and looking at these large-acreage parcels that we have in Grand Traverse County is helpful for answering questions like, ‘What’s the best use for this property?’

and ‘What’s the most responsible way to develop it?’ Though, of course, our engi neers at Mansfield Land Use Consultants certainly help us with that, too.”

MARK HAGAN

Coldwell Banker Schmidt

Sam Flamont The Mitten Group

“It was a natural progression for me as a person,” Sam Flamont said when asked why he’s focused so much of his energy over the past few years on real estate development. “I’m an entrepreneur, so I like to be in charge of the process when I’m working.

“I’m hiring myself, and I like that.”

As the owner of The Mitten Group, Flamont’s primary job responsibility still revolves around the selling of real estate. But the above reasoning helps explain why he is also the face of multiple prominent developments currently underway in and around Traverse City – from the Eastside One multi-family complex nearing completion on Eighth Street, to a new 80-acre single-family devel opment to be built south of town off Rusch Road.

As he explains it, being a developer and a realtor on a project helps him “keep some rhythm” with his business and plan out his year in a way that simply selling listings for others doesn’t.

That’s not to say Flamont isn’t motivated by the same lack of inventory that is driving other local real estate professionals to the development sphere. Last year, when Flamont and his partners bought the 80 acres off Rusch Road, they were led to that decision in large part by the area’s “complete and utter lack of housing.” Even beyond the inventory piece, though, Flamont just deeply enjoys the unique challenges of investing in development projects and then having skin in the game as they get built.

“The first project that I invested in was East Side One, and I got to have some input on floor plans and layouts, and I also raised a bunch of money for the project,” Flamont noted.

Fast-forward about two years and Eastside One is nearing fruition – a 50-unit complex with a rooftop lounge and close proximity to downtown and East Bay Park. That project is slated to be completed and ready for move-in by February 2023, with more than half of the 50 units already under contract.

Flamont also has numerous other irons in the fire: The Rusch Road development, called Wildflower Acres, which will ultimately yield 127 single-family homes; the Shadowland Motel on Munson by the Cambria Hotel, which is presently being converted into 24 short-term rental units; a partnership with a friend to add 12 condo units above the old Little G’s building on West Front Street; and more.

Increasingly, Flamont is also bringing his em ployees at The Mitten Group along for the ride – and perhaps bringing the next generation of realtors into the world of property development and investment.

Matt Hodges Kultura Group

If Matt Hodges’ name sounds familiar, that could be because he’s a member of TCBN’s recent 40Under40 class of 2022. When we honored him there, Hodges spoke about opening his own real estate firm, Kultura Group, in 2021, and about the challenges and reward inherent in that milestone. What he didn’t talk about then was his work in the real estate development space – a type of work that, in his words, “fell into his lap” rather unexpectedly.

“I grew a relationship with somebody that was in the construction trades,” Hodges explained of his roots in the development side of real estate. “They took a risk and started a development, and broke ground on what is going to be 110 new homes in Blair Township. They hadn’t started building yet, and we ended up getting together and talking about what the project could look like in terms of price range, style of homes, that kind of stuff.”

That conversation led to two fateful decisions: First, the Blair Town

WE’VE DOUBLED OUR BUSINESS”

“

With Independent’s support and financial resources, we’ve doubled our business while at the same time dramatically reduced our debt to equity.”

Find out how Independent Bank could help grow your business, contact our local Commercial Banker today!

David Boeve SVP, Group

Manager

231.995.5521 | DBoeve@ibcp.com

ship development would focus on first-time home buyer homes, but with “middle-tohigher-end finishes for that price range.”

Second, Hodges would invest in and become a partner in the project, selling his first home in 2020.

“Our thought was that we’re going to build homes from about $199,000 to $265,000 as our price range. Then we ran into what everybody else ran into with COVID, and labor shortages and construc tion costs began to rise,” he said.

The prices rose to about $340,000 or $350,000.

“But now we’re building homes that start at $300,000 and go all the way up to just over $500,000,” he said.

The development, called Lakewood Trails, is described on its website as “an affordable luxury home development,” located near Blair Township Park. So far, Hodges and his partners have built about 60 homes in the neighborhood, with three phases left to go. Hodges estimated that the next phase will break ground in the spring.

In the meantime, Hodges and the development company he now co-owns – called Rock Creek Homes – have “bought and are developing several dozen other lots in other neighborhoods” throughout Blair Township, including in existing developments like Westfield Estates and Stafford Meadows.

Sue Kelly Real Estate One

Similar to Hagan, Real Estate One’s Sue Kelly is not new to the real estate development game. In 2000, Kelly and her late husband bought an apartment complex and some neighboring land west of town for an investment project. They converted the apartments to condominiums and sold them off “very quickly,” but were left with 18 acres of land south of the complex. Today, efforts are underway to turn that acreage into a development that Kelly said will break new ground for Traverse City in the realm of energy-efficient housing.

“I’ve been watching for this kind of market,” Kelly explained of the project and the land she’s held for all these years. “I was looking for a market where we really needed housing, and try ing to figure out the best way to maximize those 18 acres that I still have.”

It was the current market, plus talks with a pair of close confidantes, that convinced Kelly the time was right to flex her

development muscle once more.

“My partners are Dan Paulson, who is a very experienced local builder; and Max Strickland, who is our engineering advi sor,” Kelly said. “It’s been a longtime goal of Dan’s to provide a pocket neighborhood development for a lifestyle of people being outdoors. And it’s been a longtime goal of Max’s to have an energy-efficient development. And I have this land that’s close to Traverse City.”

Together, Kelly, Paulson, and Strickland cooked up the idea of Evergreen TC, a new “net zero energy multi-family residential development” to be built near the intersection of Gray and Barney roads. The development will bring a total of 126 units to the Traverse City area, laid out “so that it feels like a neigh borhood” with sizable outdoor common areas, and built with state-of-the-art technologies designed to improve the efficiency of everything from heating and cooling systems to septic/waste water treatment systems. Kelly is also hopeful that the units will be priced at “an attainable price point,” though she acknowl edged that COVID-19 and its disruptions to supply chain and labor variables are making that goal challenging to achieve.

Despite the difficulties of development in 2022, Kelly is glad she held onto her land and waited for a vision like the one Paulson and Strickland brought to the table.

“This isn’t just another residential development to satisfy current demand,” she said. “The market certainly is very demanding right now. Normally, I carry an inventory of 20-30 listings, and right now I have two. But we also want to build something different than the normal development that I’ve seen for the last 35 years.”

Kelly says she believes Evergreen TC could become the largest net zero development in the eastern United States.

“Traverse City is on the leading edge of so many topics, and I think that this housing development could put us on the leading edge of energy-efficient housing,” she said.

Our new building purchase is just our latest deal with Three West. Our law firm has worked with their team for 15 years and here’s why: We do a lot of property and development legal work with real estate professionals. The good ones look out for their client’s best interest, not their own. That’s why we choose to work with Three West straight shooters who know the business inside out. In our experience, the entire 3W team demonstrates this high integrity and expertise. We respect Three West’s singular focus on commercial properties. They know who they are and what they are good at. They are truly the real deal.

–Kuhn Rogers law firm

IN MEMORIAM

10 business leaders who left their mark on the region

By Ross Boissoneau

The TCBN pays homage to a few of the illustrious members of the business community who left us in the past 12 months, and who have left their mark on the region.

K. Ross Childs

Ross Childs was Grand Traverse County’s administrator from 1976 to 2002 and served on numerous leadership boards: Northwestern Michigan College; the Traverse City Convention and Visitors Bureau; Traverse City Rotary Club; Grand Traverse Commons; Grand Tra verse County Brownfield Redevelopment Au thority; Traverse Bay Economic Development Authority; and Leadership Grand Traverse. Even in later years he continued to work for his communities. In his last decade he ran for Grand Traverse County Commission (2016), filled an in terim post managing the Village of Kingsley (2017) and held his 19-year post as an NMC trustee through 2020. As a young man, Childs played hockey for the University of Michigan, making the 1957 NCAA all-star goalie roster, and was a lifelong U of M supporter. While alive, he received a number of leadership awards and was named an NMC fellow in 2021.

Pete Strom

A graduate of Traverse City High School (now Traverse City Central), Strom is perhaps best known as owner of Hamilton’s Menswear in downtown Traverse City from 1965 to 1992. During that time he served as president of the Michigan Retailers Association and on the board of directors of the National Menswear Association. He was a member of the noon Rotary Club for almost 50 years, serving as past president, chairing many committees, and participating in innumerable Rotary Shows. No stranger to politics, he was elected to the Grand Traverse Board of Commissioners and served as chair of the board in addition to the County’s Economic Development Corp. and the original County Brownfield Development board. He also was on the board of Community Mental Health. For his years of service to promote the growth and development of downtown Traverse City, he received the Lyle DeYoung Award in 2000.

Althea Petritz

Few people can claim to have left such a mark on the region and beyond as Althea Kraker Petritz. Her family opened and operated an outlet for the farm’s cherry products in 1922, which became the Cherry Hut, a popular restaurant in Beulah

Frank Walterhouse

From attending the one-room Drake School to working at Link’s Market (now Honor Family Market) for a decade before purchasing and running Honor Insurance for 40 years, Frank

Amon A lifelong resident of the Traverse City area, Dave Amon graduated from Traverse City High School before earning his degree in agricultural economics at Michigan State University.

Dave

John Peppler

Eagle Scout, avid skier, Realtor, veteran and community booster, John Peppler was all these and more.

In his free time, Peppler was a ski instructor at Sugar Loaf and ski coach at Glen Lake High School, Traverse City St. Francis, the Leelanau Ski Club and the Northern Michigan University Alpine Ski Team. For his efforts, includ ing level 3 certification with the Professional Ski Instructors of America and level 300 with the United States Ski Association, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award and lifetime membership. He joined the fam ily business, Peppler Realty in Glen Arbor, in 1973 and remained with the company when it merged with Coldwell Banker Schmidt Real tors in 1997. Active in civic organizations such as the Empire Lions Club and the Glen Lake Association, Peppler became a Glen Arbor Township Trustee in 2016, and served as a Glen Arbor Township Planning Commission member for many years.

Richard Robb

After working for Ford, Richard Robb founded R. Robb International (RRIA), an export man agement firm doing business in over 125 countries, and Herkules Equipment Corporation. The latter produced specialized equipment for the paint and body industry. For his innovative paint gun washer design, Robb received the State of Michigan Environmental Award for innovative new environmental process. After retirement, he devoted much of his time to addressing affordable housing and other programs to help enrich the lives of the people in his community. Robb served on several boards including Advocates for Benzie County; Frankfort Area Community Land Trust; Frankfort Housing Commission; Benzie County Democratic Party; Crystal Lake Art Center; and Elizabeth Lane Oliver Art Center. After a lifetime’s worth of work, in his late 70s he founded the Retired, Not Tired ski group, which attracted close to 60 regulars each week. Perhaps that was not unexpected for the lifelong skier, who was active as ski patrol director for Alpine Valley Ski Area, trainer and examiner for the National Ski Patrol and Northwood Ski and Spree Club. For his efforts, he was named 2016 Citizen of the Year by the Benzie County Record Patriot.

Though Jeanne Snow didn’t move to Traverse City until she was in her 50s, she made an indelible mark on the area as the first full-time executive director of the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation. During her 13 years in the position, the foundation became the largest grant maker in northern Michigan, received its largest individual donor gift, and developed the largest youth grant making program. The certified fundraising executive worked with two Big Ten universities (Illinois and Purdue) before moving to Traverse City. Throughout her career, Jeanne was an active member of Rotary Inter national, a member of the Chicago Rotary One Club and the Rotary Club in Traverse City. She served on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Women’s Association and its board of directors, and upon moving here likewise attended and supported the Traverse Symphony Orchestra.

Snow also competed in the Masters Swim pro gram from age 30 to 77.

Jeanne Snow

Mike Brown Owner, Burdco

Lisa Peacock, RN, MSN, WHNP-BC Health Officer, Health Department of Northwest Michigan

Jack Keyes

Jack Keyes, avid cross-country skier, self-taught naturalist and U.S. Navy submarine service veteran, was a fifth-generation native of Traverse City. The avid outdoorsman helped organize the Western Michigan Sierra Club and the Western Michigan Kayaking Association. A Region 8 Planning Commission Trail Advisor, he helped establish VASA, Tart and Leelanau trails. He facilitated his grandmother donating land at Hickory Hills for what became Jack’s Trail. Keyes instructed Nordic skiing at clubs, schools and businesses, lectured at Ball State University and consulted on human endurance research. Locally he initiated and managed sales at Sugar Loaf Resort where he was Nordic director and developed the Nordic program. He worked for Traverse City Parks and Recreation as a water safety instructor, lifeguard director and ski patrol director and at Twin Lakes 4-H Camp and Timberlee Ski Area. For 30 years he worked at Munson Hospital in environmental services and patient transport.

Sports and outdoors ran deep for Leo Hughes. He was among those who started a hockey program, beginning with an outdoor ice rink at the corner of State and Park streets where he spent time coaching young hockey players. In more temperate times it was tennis, which he played for years. He passed his love of the sport to his family, including his grandchil dren. Hughes was instrumental in providing the first corporate sponsorship for a weekly youth tennis tournament, which evolved into the Grand Traverse Tennis Camps. It wasn’t all sports, as he looked forward to outdoor activities such as deer, trout, and small game camps. The civic-minded Hughes served with countless organizations, including the National Cherry Festival; Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce; Grand Traverse Pavilions and the Social Service/Family Independence Agency; Munson Development Council and the Munson Foundation; and the Elks Lodge. Perhaps most notably Hughes was a member of the Traverse City Noon Rotary Club where he also served as president and on the board of directors, Rotary Camps and Services board, Rotary Center board and Rotary Charities board. Many remember him as Fr. Malarky at the annual Rotary Show.

Leo Hughes

IT IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN

SWITCH HITTER: Pressure switch manufacturer serves global market with quick turnaround times

By Clark Miller

It’s not by chance that Traverse City-based World Magnetics (WM) is successful.

Over the past 60 years – and especially during the past decade under the ownership of Martin Paul – the pressure switch manufac turer has learned to rely on customer service, quick turnaround, high quality products and a dependable workforce.

Pressure switches are important in countless settings. They help activate and deactivate air pressure and liquid flow, maintaining steady pneumatic and mechanical pressures in everything from coffee machines to a fighter jet pilot’s oxygen mask. Some of WM’s switches even play a role in “sip and puff” adaptive tech nology that enables quadriplegics to control wheelchair movement and other tasks.

WM makes three types of pressure switch es: Complex, high-end ones for things like submarines and other military applications can cost as much as $1,300. Mid-level switches typically go for around $300. Simpler, standard models account for the lion’s share of the nearly 400,000-plus switches WM produces each year. They sell for between $13 to $25 each.

A product with so many uses attracts plenty of competition, but WM has a clear plan for protecting its niche as a mid-size producer.

“When you look at top 10 companies, you notice their culture of service,” said Rob Living ston, sales and marketing manager.

“Everybody does customer service, but only a few make it their most important differentiator.”

WM’s commitment to customer service is a tool to help build its client base and then retain the accounts.

“If you’re known for excellent service, your customers notice it,” said Livingston.

“And your competitors, especially the larger ones, find it hard to recreate that.”

That level of responsiveness means that call ers (most of whom are engineers) quickly get the technical help they need, which is an important first step in realizing another hallmark of World Magnetics – its quick turnaround times. Projects are generally completed within two to three weeks. Expedited work is often even faster.

“It’s the nimbleness and size of our orga

nization that allow us to respond so quickly,” Livingston said.

Of course, none of that would count without quality products. On that count, WM has built a positive reputation not just in the states but with foreign clients.

“One interesting dynamic is that a lot of our business depends on the longevity of our brand among so many diverse customers worldwide,” he said.

That was particularly significant during the worst of the pandemic. It also helped that WM uses almost solely domestic suppliers, so it avoided supply chain issues. While other companies were idled, WM could respond to an order for 31,000 pressure switches from a British maker of hospital ventilators.

Another strength is WM’s experienced workforce. Management emphasizes that WM is a place not just to work but to build a career.

“We have a lot of employees who’ve been here for many years,” Livingston said.

Interestingly, most of the production workers are women.

“It’s just worked out that way,” he said. “Maybe in part it’s because the work requires good dexterity and attention to detail. But we’ve always tried to accommodate a degree of flexibil ity in scheduling. That helps explain it, too.”

WM is also positioning itself for new markets. With help from a Michigan Industry 4.0 Technology Grant (for an undisclosed amount), the company recently bought a Stratasys 3D printer. That increases WM’s customization ca pability by allowing special orders to move from concept to a hard sample in just hours.

“Our expectation is that 3D printing will help lead to large customers,” Livingston said.

WM has 10 front office employees and a production staff that fluctuates from 30 to 35 workers. In addition, it utilizes a 20-member “sales-partners” network that is split evenly between U.S. and international markets.

The Grand Traverse Area Manufacturing Coun cil (GTAMC) sponsors this column. Its mission is to support a sustainable and globally competitive manufacturing sector for a stronger economy; makegreatthings.org.

Options Shown

NEWSMAKERS

>> HEALTHCARE

1 - Laura Glenn was recently promoted to chief operating officer for Munson Healthcare, responsible for all of the operational aspects of the health system, including inpa tient and outpatient care and the physician network. She joined the organization in 2017 and most recently served as president of ambulatory services and value-based care.

2 - Shelley Spencer is the new chief human resources officer for Munson Healthcare, replacing Sue Peters, who recently stepped down from the role. Spencer previously was the vice president/chief people and marketing officer for Christ Hospital Health Network in Cincinnati, Ohio.

3 - Dr. Madelyn Stumpos has purchased Bergsma Orthodontics and the office has been renamed to Tra verse City Orthodontics. Dr. Stumpos is a board-certi fied orthodontist.

>> INSURANCE

Peterson McGregor Insurance in Traverse City recently announced the following staff additions:

4 - Alayna Anderson has joined the team as a receptionist.

5 - Jim McDonnell is a Medicare specialist. McDonnell is a licensed insurance counselor and a char tered benefit consultant and brings more than 30 years of experience to this new position.

6 - Matt Waligorski has joined the commercial sales team. He brings more than 20 years of commercial insurance experience to his new role.

>> NONPROFIT

7 - Sarah Mills is the new executive director of the Old Art Building in Leland. Mills has served as its program director since 2020 and previously was a volunteer. She brings a background in development, admissions and education and also has previous nonprofit board experience, including with the Leelanau Children’s Center.

8 - Edward Veenstra has joined the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities as its farm to insti tution specialist. He leads Groundwork’s efforts to

expand the use of local foods in schools, hospitals, businesses, and other institutional settings.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Michigan announces the following staff additions:

9 - Erica Embury is a new mentoring specialist. She brings a background in human services working with children, adolescents and adults.

10 - Brian Johanson is a new mentoring specialist. He is a former business owner and has also served youth in various capacities over the years, including being a Big Brother.

>> REAL ESTATE

11 - Angel Hindman has joined KW Northern Michigan in Traverse City as an agent. Hindman brings a background in customer service and custom kitchen design experience to her new role.

1 2 - Mike Petrucci recently joined the Shawn Schmidt Group of Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors in Tra -

2 // SHELLEY SPENCER

3 // DR. MADELYN STUMPOS

4 // ALAYNA ANDERSON 5 // JIM MCDONNELL

1 // LAURA GLENN

8 // EDWARD VEENSTRA

9 // ERICA EMBURY

10 // BRIAN JOHANSON

11 // ANGEL HINDMAN

7 // SARAH MILLS

6 // MATT WALIGORSKI

12 // MIKE PETRUCCI

verse City. Petrucci brings a background in engineering and sales management to his new position.

13 - Ashlee Trainer has joined KW Northern Michi gan in Traverse City as an agent. Trainer brings a fam ily background in real estate to her new position.

14 - Caitlin Watkins of Real Estate One in Leland is continuing to run the office she previously ran with her father and real estate partner, John Watkins, who passed away earlier this fall.

15 - 17 - Realtor Tom Alflen , associate broker Tom Taylor and realtor Fred Weber are all celebrating their 15th anniversaries with EXIT Realty in Traverse City.

the Traverse City Pit Spitters, bringing an extensive background in events and promotions to this new position for the organization.

19 - Jacqueline Holm is the new general manager of the Traverse City Pit Spitters. Previously, Holm was the general manager for the Quad City River Bandits in Iowa, and also held leadership roles with the Scott County Family YMCA, also in Iowa, and an agricul ture company in Illinois. She oversees all aspects of the Pit Spitters operation.

20 - Vince Johns , a level 4 field technician with Springfield Roofing in Kingsley, recently celebrated his 23rd anniversary with the company. He and the Springfield team achieved platinum contractor status in 2021 for their top 3 percent quality ranking among Duro-Last Roofing’s 2,200 contractors.

individual who embodies the late Kuthy’s attributes: fun, larger than life, generous, incredible networker, and champion of a particular program.

22 - Dawn Pater , owner of TC Studio 2 in Traverse City, recently opened Studio Pro Massage School & Advanced Esthetic training. Pater has more than 35 years of experience in esthetics, and more than 15 years in spa management & education.

23 - Karyn Thorr is the new chief operating officer at Crystal Mountain. Thorr has been an employee for 29 years and has managed many departments. She oversees on-mountain operations, including lifts, grooming, maintenance, resort safety and snowsports. She also continues to serve as the principal broker for Crystal Mountain Realty.

18 - Mickey Graham has been named director of sports and events at Traverse City Tourism. Graham has spent the last four years as the general manager of

21 - Tony Lentych , executive director of the Traverse City Housing Commission, founding board member of Housing North and chair of the Grand Traverse County Housing Solutions Network, was recently recognized with the 2022 Gene Kuthy Award at Hous ing North’s Northwest Michigan Housing Summit. The award is presented by the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan and honors an

24 - Rick Welsh has joined Otwell Mawby in Traverse City as a member of its environmental due diligence team. Welsh has more than 30 years of experience assisting clients with the redevelopment and reuse of contaminated urban and industrial properties. Please send Newsmakers by the 10th of the month to news@tcbusinessnews.com

ALFLEN

TOM TAYLOR 17 // FRED WEBER

ASHLEE TRAINER 20 // VINCE JOHNS 21 // TONY LENTYCH 22 // DAWN PATER 23 // KARYN THORR

HOLM

WELSH

EXPOSURES

Copper Ridge Surgery Center employees Kristin Ulrich and Jillian McCardell gave blood during a recent blood drive at the Surgery Center. The drive was organized by employees.

Discovery Center & Pier recently announced that work has officially begun to transform the former Traverse City Light & Power coal dock on West Grand Traverse Bay into a fee-free, barrier-free park and hub for water-based activities. A groundbreaking ceremony took place at the pier, formally kicking off “Phase 1A” of a multi-phase process for revamping the site.

At the fall HBA scholarship dinner at the Hagerty Center, $12,000 in scholar ship money was divided among local students going into the trades. Pictured (l-r) are Laurie and Brian Terhune of Terhune Construction, NMC president Dr. Nick Nissley, Elise Ballinger, and Mike Tucker, president & CEO of Kingsley Lumber & Hardware.

Charlie and Jane Lakritz checked out one of the region’s largest collection of classic and exotic cars during the Ticker’s November Recess at GR Auto Gallery in Grawn. Attendees were entered into a drawing that included a high-end vehicle detailing package and two Traverse City gift cards.

In early November, Traverse Connect hosted the Annual Economic Sum mit at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa. After a morning of networking at Quick Connect and the Business Showcase, 600-plus attendees filled Governors’ Hall for a keynote address by Quentin Messer Jr., Michigan Economic Development Corporation CEO & Chair of the Michigan Stra tegic Fund. Photo by Crackerjack Photography Studio

The Traverse City Country Club raised $60,000

programs benefitting children in the greater Grand Traverse

club’s

golf course through Oct. 1. The children’s charities received grants at the Eagles for Children Award Celebration at the club in November.

BOOK REVIEW

By Chris Wendel

Several years ago, I traveled with a mentor of mine to give a brief overview of the program I was working with at the time. He was also presenting for his own organization.

T he seminar was directed toward business development. Overloaded with information and thoughts, I flailed through my part and felt badly as we traveled back home. Knowing I was not happy, the mentor gave me some words of guidance: “The speech you prepare and the speech you make is never as good as the one played back in your mind on the drive back home.”

Much has been written about the challenges and fear people have for speaking in public. Most information for such situations has more to do with nerve calming remedies than the actual process of preparing a speech. The book “Before You Say Anything” written by Victoria Wellman examines these essential parts of speech writing.

Early in the book Wellman points out classic mistakes many speakers make. Overall, there needs to be a keen awareness for the audience and the situation. A speech given by a best man at a wedding has a far different objective than a keynote speech at an industry conference. Too many speakers focus the subject matter on them selves – not a good choice when giving a eulogy or presenting a speech as a rap song (Wellman has witnessed this).

The book emphasizes the thought and hard work necessary to prepare well. She goes through her pro cess in a methodical way, beginning with assembling the material for the speech by digging into the speaker’s past experiences and personality. There’s a series of patterned questions she puts together for speakers to answer that will reveal personal details that can be linked to the topic at hand.

Like a crime-solving maven, Well man gathers these facts and information about her subject and places them on a wall or board. This process links themes, story lines and reference points while filling in gaps in the subject’s story.

Wellman explains how this helps drive the narrative, deviating from the boilerplate format that an audience expects, based on the speaker’s biog raphy or a small number of standard facts. The book shows how an enhanced story line connects the speaker’s topic and life’s work to disrupt the audi ence’s preconceived paradigm, turning a mind-numbing speech into something much better.

BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING:

The Untold Stories and Failproof Strategies of a Very Discreet Speechwriter

By Victoria Wellman

Besides writing an effective, scripted speech, “Before You Say Anything” offers solid advice on preparing for the speech itself. This includes understand ing pauses, reacting to the audience’s reactions, and using (or not using) humor.

Throughout “Before You Say Anything,” Well man gives an entertaining narrative of the process. We learn a lot about Wellman herself and the amount of effort she takes to prepare a thoughtful and entertaining speech.

She follows each of her steps with segments of actual speeches that drive home her points. Wellman has worked with an array of celebrities and takes care in fiction alizing these segments to protect the privacy of her clients.

Those looking for a prescriptive out line to work from for writing a speech will be disappointed and are probably missing the best part of “Before You Say Anything.” There are no flowcharts or diagrams. Readers instead will have to dig in and listen to the wealth of Well man’s great material.

The book is part biography for Wellman; her enjoyable writing style mimics a well-given speech, sprinkled with practical advice, humor and powerful anecdotes. Wellman successfully bridges the skills involved with writing a speech along with the art of delivering it.

Chris Wendel works for Northern Initiatives, a mission-based lender located in Marquette, Mic higan. Northern Initiatives provides fund ing to businesses in Michigan and “know-how” to organizations throughout the United States. Wendel lives and works in Traverse City

Wellman successfully bridges the skills involved with writing a speech along with the art of delivering it.