Traverse City Business News - November 2023

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

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NOVEMBER 2023 • VOLUME 28 • NUMBER 4

MUNSON ON THE MOVE CEO Ed Ness is spearheading an ambitious, new $50 million transformation at northern Michigan’s healthcare giant

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TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

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For fee-only status see NAPFA.org. **As reported in Forbes April 4, 2023. The Forbes rankings, developed by SHOOK Research, are based on an algorithm of qualitative criteria, mostly gained through telephone and in-person due diligence interviews, and quantitative data. Those advisors that are considered have a minimum of seven years experience, and the algorithm weighs factors like revenue trends, assets under management, compliance records, industry experience and those that encompass best practices in their practices and approach to working with clients.

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TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

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NEW OWNER, EXPANSION FOR MED PRACTICE Traverse Bay Internal Medicine in Traverse City has been purchased by Dr. Angela Pohl, a board-certified internist with more than 10 years of experience in Traverse City. Dr. Pohl had worked with recently-retired Dr. Robert Pacer, who co-founded the practice in 2016, since 2020. Dr. Pohl has expanded the practice by adding two additional exam rooms and hiring two advanced practice providers.

Traverse Bay Internal Medicine also has two care management registered nurses and a pharmacist on site to provide comprehensive adult care; traversebayim.com.

LOCAL MANUFACTURER PLANS 93 NEW JOBS Earfab Americas, a new joint venture between Grawn-based Altus Brands and Denmark-based Earfab ApS, is expected to create up to 93 new jobs for the Green Lake Township business and generate total capital investment of $2.74 million over the next three years in the manufacturing of custom-made ear protection. The project is supported with a $575,000 performance-based grant from the Michigan Business Development Program. Northwest Michigan Works! has also pledged to offer up to $185,612 for workforce development and training support.

CLINIC RECOGNIZED FOR LEADERSHIP, INNOVATION Traverse Health Clinic, the chair of its board of directors, and two staff members were recently honored with awards by the Michigan Primary Care Association (MPCA) and MPCA’s Michigan Quality Improvement Network (MQIN). Board chair Heather Dykstra was honored as MPCA Board Member of the Year.

Noelle Irmen-Morell, director of quality, was honored with the MPCA Quality in Community Health Award. Mi Stanley, corporate director of special projects and communications, received the MPCA Innovation in Community Health Award.

In addition,Traverse Health Clinic was presented with the MQIN Health Information Technology Best Practice Showcase Award, voted by representatives from Michigan’s 40 community health centers.

GRANT TO ADDRESS AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN SB The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Office

of Rural Development has awarded a $50,000 Rural Readiness Grant Program grant to Peninsula Housing to create a community-supported development plan for affordable housing solutions in Suttons Bay. “This grant will allow Peninsula Housing to conduct a collaborative process in 2024 that will create development scenarios for affordable and attainable housing on two parcels in Suttons Bay,” explained Peninsula Housing Board President Larry Mawby. “A key piece of this project includes engaging with a diversity of stakeholders. Local governments, nonprofits, businesses, and individuals will all be invited to participate and help create long-lasting affordable housing solutions.” The development plan project is one of a number of efforts Peninsula Housing is working on.

PETS NATURALLY EXPANDS Pets Naturally in Traverse City has added 5,000 square feet of retail space to its 1117 W. South Airport Rd. location in Traverse City. “With this expansion, we’re now able to offer pet lovers even more selection of safe, healthy, and holistic pet products,” said Kathy Hyland, owner. “We’re so excited and are grateful to our wonderful family of customers who continue to support us while we keep growing better.” Last year, Pets Naturally opened its first franchise, Your Pets Naturally, in Grand Rapids.

FEST FOUNDATION LAUDED The Festival Foundation, owners and operators of the National Cherry Festival, Cherry-T Ball Drop, and the Leapin’ Leprechaun 5K, was recently honored with seven Pinnacle awards at the International Festivals & Events Association’s annual conference held in Texas. The awards celebrate excellence in promotional, operational, and community outreach and this year the Festival Foundation was recognized for its work on behalf of the National Cherry Festival and Bell’s Iceman Cometh Challenge. The awards include: silver for best event program (Glacier Gazette, Iceman); bronze for best festival/event merchandise (Iceman); gold for best Facebook site (NCF); gold for best emergency preparedness and risk management plan (NCF); silver for best event website (NCF); silver for best green program (NCF); bronze for best promotional photo (NCF).

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TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

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TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

BRIEFLY City. The facility offers home-cooked meals, group and individual activities, personal care assistance, individual rooms for naps, and security features including heated sidewalks, a large fenced yard and key code exit/entry doors. More information at silverlakeserenity.com.

NEW IN TC: BAYSIDE ANIMAL REHAB New veterinary practice Bayside Animal Rehabilitation & Wellness is now open on Garfield Avenue in Traverse City. The practice offers rehabilitation and pain management options for post-surgical, geriatric, or injured pets.

The clinic also offers routine wellness care, including vaccinations, blood work, end-of-life, and treatment for minor sick conditions either in clinic or as a house call service; baysideanimalrehab.com.

DAILY FLIGHTS TO CHARLOTTE, NC COMING 2024 Daily flights to and from Cherry Capital Airport (TVC) and Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) via American Airlines will be offered starting in summer 2024. Previously, the seasonal route was a Saturday-only service. The daily service will begin on June 5 and operate through Sept. 3. “American is excited to add more service from Cherry Capital Airport (TVC) to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT),” said American Airlines Director of Domestic Network Planning Joe Sottile in a statement. “As the largest airline serving TVC, American is proud to offer nine daily flights to six gateways across the country. With expanded daily service to CLT, American will offer convenient one-stop access to even more destinations across our comprehensive global network.”

HOME MED EQUIPMENT RELOCATES Munson Healthcare’s Home Medical Equipment retail location has moved across town to the Foster Family Community Health Center at 550 Munson Ave. in Traverse City. The new store can be accessed through the building’s north entrance.

TCNEWTECH PAUSES OPERATIONS Local pitch competition TCNewTech is taking an operational pause, according to a recent announcement by the organization’s board of directors. “Since TCNewTech came into being 8 years ago as a

scrappy pitch night idea at a local brewpub, it has grown to a popular monthly pitch event at the City Opera House that has drawn thousands of startup and entrepreneurial enthusiasts from around the state,” the board wrote in an email to followers. “TCNewTech has come to a point in its development that we need to reflect, regroup, refresh, and redirect the next steps toward our strategic growth to continue delivering a high quality and recurring pitch event to the Grand Traverse region. Therefore we are taking a pause to work behind the scenes so that we can come back stronger.”

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SCHOLARSHIPS SUPPORT SKILLED TRADES The Home Builders Association of the Grand Traverse Area Foundation recently awarded scholarships to seven area students. The recipients represent trades ranging from electrical, HVAC, and construction management to interior design and renewable energy. Scholarships are awarded annually and are open to anyone looking to pursue educational opportunities related to the home building industry. “With the labor shortage facing the construction industry we are happy to be able to support the development of the skilled workforce,” said HBAGTA Foundation Executive Officer Lauren Tucker. “These students have chosen a career path that makes them the future of northern Michigan and tomorrow’s employees that employers are desperately in need of today.”

NEW URGENT CARE VET COMING TO TC A new veterinary care office is coming to Traverse City, with plans to offer urgent care services to pet owners throughout the region. The business, called Omnivet, announced itself to the northern Michigan community through a brief Facebook video posted late last month. The video touted Omnivet for its “Veterinary Urgent Care & Specialty” and teased a 2024 opening date. The Omnivet website lists a Traverse City address at 3960 West Royal Drive. “As one of the only stand-alone veterinary urgent care facilities in northern Michigan, Omnivet serves as an essential intermediary between general veterinary practitioners and emergency and critical care veterinarians...” Omnivet writes on its website. “By setting new standards for seamless service and transparency, Omnivet reimagines care to offer pet parents specialty and urgent care services, without the long wait times.”

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TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

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COMMENTARY BY CHRIS MACINNES

How the Outdoor Recreation Industry Is Good for All Michigan

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 HEAD WRITER Craig Manning COPY EDITOR Becky Kalajian

recreational assets and leadership in areas like mobility design, innovation and manufacturing, Michigan has the opportunity for national leadership.

One of the many benefits of the outdoor recreation industry for our state is that it shines a positive on us, as a place to live “where you love to play and where you can design, test and make products you love to play with.”

Another benefit is its diversity. It is located throughout Michigan, in rural and urban communities, including some that are underserved. The products, the people and the places are also diverse, with more than 6,000 businesses with a broad array of products - from boats to back packs, recreational vehicles, snow-making equipment, bicycles, high-performance skis, footwear and apparel for all conditions.

It leverages our strength as a state that has long designed and made products on the cutting edge - faster, lighter, drier, cleaner, safer, and good for the environment, such as mobility electrification.

Ideas often stem from users who are passionate about outdoor recreation.

Their ideas then take shape in a garage.

As they mature, they create jobs, attract talent and investment, and stimulate local economies.

A great example is Shaggy’s Copper Country Skis, founded by the Thompson Brothers. Their high performance handcrafted skis, made in Boyne City, are now sold world-wide. Another is Vela e-bikes that blend classic style with technology produced in Detroit and San Paulo, Brazil.

Merrell, the global leader in active outdoor footwear and owned by Wolverine World Wide, is headquartered in CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kyra Poehlman COVER PHOTO Meg Warzywak-Bowen CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Art Bukowski Rick Haglund Clark Miller WEB PRODUCTION Byte Productions MAILING/FULFILLMENT: Village Press DISTRIBUTION Gerald Morris SERVING: Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau and Benzie counties

Rockford. Their mission extends beyond designing, producing and selling shoes, to “sharing the simple power of being outside, with justice, equity and inclusion as a pillar… to create lasting change for a more equitable and inclusive tomorrow.”

While collecting data and identifying trends is important, Job One for the Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry is making connections to help businesses thrive. For example, Aull-Dry, a start-up company in Frankfort that designs and sells waterproof, warm jackets using recycled plastic bottles, contacted the Office for advice on reaching new markets. Garmon connected them with Pure Michigan Business Connect, a MEDC service that “match-makes” sellers and suppliers. Through that connection and a national partner, Founded Outdoors, Garmon then introduced the owners to a Detroit-based company, DetroitSewn, to test the potential of on-shoring production in Michigan - a small win, but a good example of how connecting business with resources can be a catalyst for growth.

Because we now better understand the value of our outdoor recreation industry, we are beginning to invest in projects and partnerships to nurture industry talent, innovation and production.

Partners like the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC), located above Carhartt’s flagship store in Detroit, are now part of “Team Michigan,” committed to growing our outdoor recreation economy. Headquartered in Dearborn since 1885, Carhartt now employs over 5,500 employees worldwide. ISAIC produces high quality clothing, including Carhartt’s iconic knit beanie. But embedded in its AD SALES Caroline Bloemer cbloemer@tcbusinessnews.com Lisa Gillespie lisa@northernexpress.com Abby Walton Porter aporter@northernexpress.com Kaitlyn Nance knance@northernexpress.com Todd Norris tnorris@tcbusinessnews.com Michele Young myoung@tcbusinessnews.com

TCBN

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Michigan’s outdoor recreation economy is large, growing and its overall impact on Michigan’s economy exceeds its statistical economic impact.

As Michiganders, we have long recognized the value of outdoor recreation to our quality of life, and the economic contributions from travel and tourism.

But we had not looked holistically at this economy, with a wide variety of products designed, tested, headquartered and often made in Michigan that support outdoor experiences.

This changed in 2019 when Governor Whitmer created the Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry and named Brad Garmon as its executive director. The purpose of this new office was to identify industry businesses and partners, recognize emerging trends, and provide critical resources to support Michigan’s outdoor recreation economy.

The Office’s first priority was to take a deep dive into national and state industry data primarily from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). They report that Michigan’s GDP directly tied to outdoor recreation contributes $10.8 billion to our economy and supports 109,600 jobs.

Manufacturing makes up about 14% of the total and employs about 7,200 people.

Nationally, the outdoor recreation economy is massive, approaching $1 trillion in GDP value-add, employing 4.5 million people, with a participant base that includes 55% of the U.S. population over age six.

With this data, the Office has made a compelling case that the outdoor industry should be a focus sector in Michigan’s economic development strategy. Also, thanks to our superb natural resources,

mission is empowering people with the skills to apply advanced technologies and create pathways for workforce development and upward mobility.

Locally, the Traverse City Freshwater Research & Innovation Center, a $26 million public private partnership will be the global hub for research, development and commercialization of freshwater and marine technologies. It will have a transformational impact on our region and state as it attracts talent and investment to innovate and commercialize products that benefit freshwater ecosystems.

Garmon, who this past year chaired a national network of state outdoor recreation offices, says that the outdoor industry is in rapid transition as it embraces and invests in new technology, data, electrification, materials, products, customers and experiences. “The outdoor recreation industry is a sector and a strategy that can help us connect the diverse array of players with opportunities in all aspects of the outdoor recreation economy to help grow existing jobs… or create your own job and company.”

But he emphasizes that “the stakes are high and the time is now, because if we don’t succeed attracting these investments, businesses and innovators, other states will.”

To quote MEDC CEO Quentin Messer, Jr., “let’s get it”… because the outdoors is good for all of Michigan.

Chris MacInnes is president of Crystal Mountain. In 1985, she and her husband Jim moved from California to join this business and together have led its evolution. She is also active in state, local and industry organizations.

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 ©2023 Eyes Only Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

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TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

HEALTHCARE

By Art Bukowski

A New Direction

Munson leaders aim big to improve outpatient care, regionalization and job vacancies

Munson Healthcare CEO Ed Ness

Photo by Meg Warzywak-Bowen

Northern Michigan’s largest hospital system plans to regionalize certain services in an effort to cut wait times and increase overall access to care, particularly outpatient services.

Munson Healthcare recently announced its Regional Care Transformation Plan, a three-year, $50 million blueprint designed to maximize resources and improve access to doctor’s visits, diagnostic tests and other outpatient services across its service area. The system serves about 540,000 residents across 11,000 square miles from south of Cadillac to the Straits of Mackinac.

Chief Executive Officer Ed Ness said reasons for the plan are multiple, but a few key items rise to the top: The system’s staggering 700 job vacancies (representing about 10% of its total workforce) are forcing the administration to make better use of available resources. Advances in medical care also means that many procedures that once required hospital stays now result in patients leaving the same day, marking a system-wide shift from inpatient to outpatient care.

Perhaps most notably, however, the switch is designed to cut wait times and improve access by eliminating many system-wide duplications for inpatient services and reallocating resources to outpatient care.

“We’re not doing a great job providing outpatient access that our patients need. Right now, it’s a long wait time to see a primary care physician, or a specialist physician, or to schedule your MRI or mammogram,” said Laura Glenn, Munson’s chief operating officer. “The focus in our communities is how do we expand the outpatient access, which is really what individuals in those communities need.”

The shift will result in some locations reducing or eliminating notable services. As one example, two facilities in Munson’s east region, Otsego Memorial Hospital in Gaylord and Grayling Hospital, currently deliver babies. Under this plan, the goal is to eventually move all Grayling births to Otsego.

But with such a shift, hospital officials hope to increase other women’s outpatient services in Grayling.

“We need to use our scarce resources in the best way for our broader community, and regionalizing those inpatient services allows us to do that more efficiently,” Glenn said. “We can’t have duplicate inpatient services everywhere and continue to grow outpatient services.”

The estimated $50 million price tag attached to the plan is tied to upgrading several facilities and technologies, particularly on the primary care front.

Access to primary care continues to be a challenge in smaller communities, Glenn said, and that’s where resources need to be directed.

“That’s really where we need to focus, along with specialty access and diagnostic services,” she said.

From a business perspective, cutting wait times and improving access to diagnostic services will help Munson compete with the private operations that are popping up around the region.

“When you think about our competitors, they’re not just hospitals. In town, there’s now alternative imaging centers and alternative surgery centers,” Ness said. “We need to be able to offer convenient locations and appointments so that if you need an MRI, it’s not done at 10 o’clock on a Thursday night two weeks from now.”

Despite the goal of delivering more outpatient services, Munson administration knows the changes will rankle some. They hope clear communication – and the planned increased access to outpatient services and primary care – will help soften any tensions.

“What we are discussing (with Otsego) is an upgraded, redesigned regional birthing center that may change where you deliver your baby, but not where you receive all your care in the nine months leading up to delivering your baby,” said Megan Brown, Munson’s chief communications officer.

Glenn also pointed to demographic shifts – namely an aging population – that lend themselves to the regionalization described above.

“The growing population in northern Michigan is people over 65, it’s not the population that’s having babies,” she said. “That’s just the reality.”

Even with reallocated resources and a shift toward inpatient regionalization, Munson will continue its recruiting efforts. Despite recent recruiting successes in some professions, a high number of vacancies throughout the system – a trend not exclusive to them or other employers – is a constant strain on Munson operations.

“We are going to continue to actively and aggressively recruit people to fill those vacancies,” Ness says.

Ness hopes recruiting will help with another major strategic goal – continuing to elevate Munson’s ability to provide specialty care so that local patients don’t have to travel downstate for specific procedures or conditions.

A recent success in that arena is stroke care, with the hospital delivering more advanced procedures and interventions in recent years, resulting in significantly fewer transfers or referrals to downstate care. But there is still ample room for similar care advances in other areas.

“There’s always going to be some

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

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HEALTHCARE

things they have to travel downstate for, but we want to make sure it’s as few as possible,” Ness says.

He adds that with wait times as long as they’ve been throughout the system, patients have also been traveling downstate for care that’s available here but takes too long to access. Some specialties like neurology have had extremely long wait times for appointments.

Other notable elements of the plan

include ramping up virtual care for all situations in which it’s an option. Behavioral health services is one area in which more virtual care makes sense. And even in situations in which most of the care needs to be in-person, certain follow-ups or check ins can be done on a virtual basis, Munson leadership says.

“Our patients want new ways to access care, including home-based and virtual care options,” Ness said.

The Regional Care Transformation Plan also calls for a new record system that will mean less forms and a faster check-in process for patients. Right now, record systems are fragmented and cannot be easily accessed between facilities.

This new system is expected to be in place next year.

Hospital leadership is also frank in that structural changes are necessary to ensure the long-term health and viability

of the system. Rural community hospitals continue to close across the country, and Munson would rather regionalize than close doors.

“If we don’t change, we won’t be around to care for northern Michigan for the next 100 years,” Ness said. “We are a non-profit healthcare system, but to able to support our employees and provide the quality care our patients deserve, we can’t operate at a loss.”

10 NOVEMBER 2023

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

HEALTHCARE

Munson Probes Petoskey Market

By Art Bukowski Munson Healthcare plans to open a 55,000 square-foot facility in Petoskey as part of its Regional Care Transformation Plan.

The former Art Van Furniture building on the city’s south side will be remodeled to accommodate primary and urgent care, specialty clinics for orthopedics, cardiology, general surgery and obstetrics/gynecology, as well as diagnostic imaging and lab services.

The move marks Munson’s second foray into the Petoskey area, which as of now is served almost exclusively by McLaren Northern Michigan. This is a much more substantial incursion than the first, which occurred when Munson acquired a Harbor Springs primary care practice early last year. The move will allow Munson to substantially increase its presence.

“The Petoskey region is one of the larger population centers in northern Michigan, and we really haven’t been serving that pocket,” Munson COO Laura Glenn says. “From a growth perspective, we really feel that that is an opportunity for us…and a natural progression.”

Munson has submitted rezoning applications and hopes to close on the purchase before the end of the year, pending approval. Remodeling is expected to begin next year. Glenn said the facility will provide around 50 new jobs, with no current employees relocating.

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TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

HEALTHCARE

NO MORE WAIT TIMES? Munson COO outlines four medical specialties on the rise in northern Michigan – and four areas of focus

By Craig Manning For years, northern Michigan has brushed against the constraints of its healthcare system.

On the one hand, Traverse City is a desirable community with a healthy business economy and a population that swells during the summer months.

On the other hand, Traverse City still sits in the middle of a rural region and is still served by a rural healthcare system – one that hasn’t historically been able to offer all the services of a metropolitan hospital network.

Munson Healthcare’s push to eliminate those constraints isn’t new. For years, the healthcare system has been working – particularly at Traverse City’s Munson Medical Center (MMC) – to attract high-level medical specialists and to acquire the kind of state-of-the-art medical technologies necessary to match downstate hospitals.

Those efforts got a big boost earlier this fall when Munson rolled out its Regional Care Transformation Plan, a sweeping three-year strategic blueprint that, among other key goals, aims to cut wait times and improve access to care for patients.

With approximately 700 vacancies across their healthcare system, Munson leaders see a need to maximize resources.

The resulting strategic plan will lead to certain inpatient services being consolidated – or regionalized, as the Munson plan puts it – but will also expand outpatient services to give patients better and

more immediate access to primary care doctors and medical specialists alike.

The plan also includes a roadmap to turn MMC into a high-level specialty care center, and system leaders say the transformation will reduce the need for patients to travel downstate or outside of Michigan to access services in certain medical specialties.

With the new Transformation Plan underway, the TCBN sat down with Laura Glenn, Munson Healthcare’s chief operating officer, to find out how the organization is doing in its mission to fill specialist gaps and cut wait times. In that conversation, Glenn shared four medical specialties where she thinks Munson has made significant progress in recent years, as well as four improvement areas that will be getting high-priority focus as the strategic plan rolls forward.

PROGRESS 1. Stroke care “If we’re talking about areas where we’ve made really exciting progress, I would have to start with stroke care,” Glenn said, noting that Munson first began to do interventional stroke procedures just three years ago.

Through interventional procedures, doctors can break up or remove stroke-causing clots, thus restoring blood flow to the brain. In stroke situations, the sooner an interventional procedure can be completed, the better the outcome for the patient.

Until recently, Glenn says that Mun-

son didn’t have that capability.

“So, patients who needed an intervention would need to be transported via helicopter to Grand Rapids,” Glenn said.

“And that delayed care.”

With the hiring of Dr. Gary Rajah in 2020, Munson Healthcare gained the ability to provide interventional stroke treatments in Traverse City. A second interventionalist named Dr. David Rosenbaum has been added to the team.

“With the two of them on our team, we are the second busiest stroke center in the state,” she said.

2. Oncology Right on the heels of stroke care, Munson’s cancer treatment efforts are expanding as well.

“Oncology has been evolving and expanding treatment options here in northern Michigan,” Glenn said.

Examples include a new CT scanner with advanced diagnostic capabilities; expanded radiotherapy treatments that patients previously had to leave northern Michigan to get; and a staff expansion that will bring a new oncologist to the Munson Healthcare team in spring 2024.

3. Cardiology “People don’t always realize it, but our cardiology team is actually really, really advanced here at Munson,” Glenn told the TCBN, specifically citing the

department’s ability to perform TAVRs, or transcatheter aortic value replacement surgeries.

According to UC Davis Health, a TAVR is a minimally invasive procedure that can replace an aortic valve without removing the old, damaged valve. The procedure uses a catheter to reach the heart, deliver the new valve, and insert it inside the old aortic valve, thereby using the old valve to secure the new valve. The procedure enables cardiology teams to help a broader range of patients, such as those for whom open heart surgery isn’t a viable option.

“We’re one of just a couple of programs in the state (for TAVRs),” Glenn noted.

Also, similar to oncology, Munson’s cardiology team is growing. Glenn added that the healthcare system has added two new cardiothoracic surgeons to its team in the past year, and has three new cardiologists that are signed and will be joining the practice within the next year.

4. Rheumatology When asked about some of Munson’s most recent gains, Glenn pointed to rheumatology. Until the past year or so, she says, the region has had “very, very limited” rheumatology access. Patients in need of rheumatological care often weren’t able to find a local rheumatologist who was accepting new patients, and when they could, they often had to deal with months-long wait times. Those

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HEALTHCARE with more urgent cases traveled outside of the area ... until 2022, when a new rheumatology practiced opened with two full-time rheumatologists, as well as two advanced practice providers.

“So, we see that as a very significant investment in expanding access to rheumatology here in northern Michigan,” she said.

FOUR AREAS OF FOCUS 1. Primary care “I could almost list primary care as an area where we’re making a lot of progress, but expanding access to primary care in all of our communities is also a really key focus area with our new strategic plan,” Glenn said.

While Glenn identified primary care as the foundational component to any healthcare system, she also notes that it’s one of the areas where healthcare systems across the nation are struggling most to make gains right now.

“There’s just a supply-demand challenge,” Glenn explained of the primary care shortage.

An increasing demand for primary care exists across the nation, and Glenn says more primary care physicians are retiring or leaving the workforce than are in training pipelines.

“Those trends are creating a lot of demand for primary care,” she said.

That demand, in turn, means employers like Munson have to compete that much harder to bring primary care physicians to northern Michigan.

On that front, the region itself often proves to be the organization’s best recruiting tool. Glenn said Munson has built a strategy focused on identifying and recruiting young physicians who want to practice in rural areas – particularly those who have ties to Traverse City or the surrounding areas.

The system leans especially on a partnership with Michigan State University

and its colleges of human medicine and osteopathic medicine as a mechanism for building that talent pipeline as a rural training site for MSU. “That has been a really great way to introduce medical students to the unique factors of practicing in a more rural environment,” Glenn said.

2. Neurology Another medical specialty where demand is outpacing supply, neurology is also a significant area of recruitment focus for Munson.

But Glenn says that progress is being made with a new neurologist onboarding soon and two others who are in the final steps for joining next summer.

“So, the good news is that we actually have strong candidates now for our open neurology positions,” she said. “It’s more significant movement on the recruitment front for neurology than we have seen in at least five years.”

Despite the progress, Glenn stressed that “there’s still more work to do” in building up northern Michigan’s treatment options for conditions involving the nervous system.

“Even as we are bringing these new employees onboard, we will continue to recruit in neurology, because that one is really just always challenging,” Glenn said.

“It’s such a specialized area that requires so much schooling. In general, there are not as many of those people out there.”

3. Endocrinology Similar to neurology, endocrinology is an area where the shortage of practitioners extends far beyond northern Michigan.

“We are not alone in our desire to recruit more (endocrinologists),” Glenn said.

Currently, Munson Healthcare has just one part-time endocrinologist on staff, as well as some advanced practice providers that support that endocrinologist.

Beyond simple recruitment efforts to bring more full-time endocrinology practitioners to the area, Glenn says that Munson has developed a relationship with Michigan Medicine – University of Michigan’s academic medical center – which now provides some telemedicine support.

“It’s an example of an area where we’ve had to get creative and find another way to bridge the gap while we recruit,” Glenn said.

Glenn

4. Behavioral health One area that will soon see big gains within the Munson system is behavioral health.

Late last year, Grand Traverse County commissioners earmarked up to $5 million for mental health services/infrastructure in northern Michigan. While that allocation was initially just a general commitment of funds, with specific projects to be determined at a later date, the money was ultimately funneled toward a proposal from Munson, the county, Northern Lakes Community Mental Health, Northern Michigan Regional Entity, Community Health Innovation Region, and United Way of Northwest Michigan to create a regional behavioral health crisis center.

That center is moving ahead. Munson has contracted with an architect who specializes in behavioral health facilities to devise a new design for its behavioral health services building, located at 410 Brook St. Construction timelines for the project are expected to be shared soon, and Munson is currently seeking a full-time director for the center. Once completed, the facility – called the Grand Traverse Center for Mental Wellness – will offer 24/7 crisis services for adults and children alike, regardless of their ability to pay.

The center will offer behavioral health and nursing screening assessments; a psychiatric urgent care; a living room model for people to remain up to a day while receiving treatment; care coordination and peer services; and a pathway for adults

and children to enter crisis residential services for longer-term treatment. Shortterm outpatient care will also be available, and local law enforcement will be able to bring in individuals in need of behavioral health services, according to presentation materials.

In addition to the Grand Traverse Center for Mental Wellness, Glenn says Munson recently received $5 million through a state appropriation to expand pediatric behavioral health in northern Michigan.

“Some of that will be through programs at the crisis center, but there also will be some other programs for the more severely ill pediatric patients involving our emergency department and the development of crisis stabilization unit for kids here in northern Michigan,” she said.

There is an increase in focus and investment in behavioral health, especially from the community, Glenn says.

“What we hear from the community is that this is absolutely a place where we’ve got opportunity to make a big difference, and I’m excited about the things we have in motion to help address that need for our community,” she said.

14 NOVEMBER 2023

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FOR THE LONG HAUL

Lowell Gruman (of Boomerang Catapult and an investor in IncellDx) with Bruce Patterson.

Local company enters national trial for long COVID therapeutic

By Craig Manning Bruce Patterson is concerned that the world is moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic without making a real effort to reckon with what he sees as one of its biggest aftershocks: long-haul COVID. Patterson is the CEO and founder of IncellDx, Inc., a company working to bring both diagnostic tools and therapeutics to the market to help the medical field deal with the debilitating effects of long COVID. Late last year, Patterson relocated to northern Michigan from his former home in Silicon Valley, with plans to grow IncellDx as a Traverse City-based company.

Since then, IncellDx has both made big progress and been stymied by a marketplace that Patterson feels is losing interest in anything related to COVID-19.

“We’ve actually had (a diagnostic for testing long COVID) for two years, but everyone keeps saying there’s no diagnostic for long COVID, which is absolutely baloney,” he said.

Patterson says that three reference labs in the United States have validated the assay, and it’s been used on thousands of patients.

“I think it’s a disservice to patients that we’ve not had a single call from the National Institute of Health, not a single call from the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice, not a single call from anybody,” he said.

The Centers of Disease Control (CDC) defines long COVID not as a specific condition or set of symptoms, but as a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing health problems that people experience after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.

Per Patterson, that nebulous definition is part of what makes long COVID tricky – both as something to be diagnosed and something to be treated.

“Diagnostic is absolutely critical,” Patterson stressed, noting that symptoms associated with long COVID can also indicate other diseases that require different treatment methods.

“For instance, with our diagnostic, we’ve identified probably 300-400 patients with Lyme disease who never knew they

had it,” Patterson said.

According to Patterson, if the patient does have Lyme disease, and the infection is active, the patient might need antibiotics, adding that his diagnostic can distinguish between long COVID and Lyme. “(This) is very difficult to do because they have a lot of the same symptoms: the same fatigue, the same brain fog, and the same post-exertional malaise, which means after you exercise, you’re wiped out way more than you should be,” he said.

“So, you really cannot treat long COVID unless you for sure it’s long COVID.” Patterson is hopeful IncellDx will gain some exposure for its long COVID diagnostic by way of a national clinical trial process for an associated therapeutic model. Right now, the company is preparing to start a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to test the efficacy of two drugs for the treatment of long COVID. Both drugs are already on the market.

company is planning to manufacture the drug combination as a single pill.

If all goes well, IncellDx will use the data from the trial to submit to the FDA for formal approval of both its diagnostic tool and its therapeutic treatment.

“They go hand in hand,” he said.

If the drug gets approved, the diagnostic becomes secondary in a business sense to then commercializing and selling the drug. But nevertheless, says Patterson, it’s an instance where “one plus one equals three, because the diagnostic allows us to correctly identify who will respond to the therapy, and then we’ll also be able to see who does respond to therapy while they’re on medication.”

“Even if the media hasn’t picked up on it, and the government hasn’t picked up on it, there’s word-of-mouth, and it’s driving the utilization of our diagnostic and our chronic COVID treatment.”

- Bruce Patterson, CEO, IncellDx The first, maraviroc, is an FDA-approved prescription medicine for the treatment of HIV infection, while the second, atorvastatin, is also FDA-approved and is used to treat high cholesterol levels. The IncellDx trial will involve roughly 300 patients across multiple treatment sites and should kick off before the end of the year.

Now, Patterson says he is waiting for the FDA to respond to the submission of the trial proposal, after which he believes a conversation or meeting will occur prior to approval.

“And the trial should be pretty quick – probably 26-32 weeks – because we’re using drugs that are already approved, where their safety has already been established with the FDA,” he said, adding that his

Statistics indicate that long haul COVID issues may be on the decline as COVID-19 inches into the endemic chapter. Data from a Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey, which measured social and economic impacts during the coronavirus pandemic, found that the percentage of Americans experiencing long COVID symptoms fell from 7.5% in June 2022 to 6% a year later. A CDC report based on that data suggested that the decline in long COVID incidence could be linked with dipping COVID-19 infection numbers, less severe infections due to milder variants or vaccination efforts, better treatment options, and more.

Those declines are bearing out locally, says Megan Brown, chief marketing and

communications officer for Munson Healthcare. Per a request from the TCBN, Brown touched base with Munson Chief Medical Officer Joe Santangelo to find out what Munson docs were seeing on the ground with regards to long COVID cases. “(Santangelo) checked with a few (primary care providers) and other physicians, and folks really aren’t hearing about long-haul COVID and didn’t have recent examples,” Brown shared.

“So, we don’t really see that story happening up here. He did say we now have hit a steady state with COVID cases, generally.”

Still, despite dwindling long COVID complaints locally and nationally, Patterson stressed that there is still a huge impact. If 6% of the population is still experiencing long COVID, that would equate to some 20 million people nationwide. Furthermore, data from the CDC and the Census Bureau shows that 26.4% of long COVID patients are still experiencing debilitating effects that limit their ability to work, exercise, or go about other day-to-day activities.

Patterson says he is adamant about not leaving those people behind.

“But the thing that keeps me going is that (IncellDx) is seeing thousands and thousands of patients, and we’re getting results that we’re extremely happy with,” he said, adding that people are still finding the company.

“Even if the media hasn’t picked up on it, and the government hasn’t picked up on it, there’s word-of-mouth and it’s driving the utilization of our diagnostic and our chronic COVID treatment,” he said.

16 NOVEMBER 2023

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

HEALTHCARE

WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED Small-town pharmacies face unique challenges vs. big players

By Art Bukowski Divyang Chhunchha is fortunate that he doesn’t have any of the “big boys” right around the corner.

Chhunchha is the manager and pharmacist at Corner Drugs in the heart of downtown Elk Rapids, and the big boys in his world are Rite Aid, CVS, Meijer and Walgreens. But just because they’re not around the corner doesn’t mean they aren’t putting the squeeze on his business.

The lure of savings offered by the major chains – many of which will easily cover pharmacy counter losses with sales of unrelated items as customers mill around waiting for their prescriptions – is a constant threat to smaller, independent pharmacies.

“They’re still really big challenges to us,” Chhunchha said. “They’ll do zero copay or some services for free just to get the customer in the door.”

Luckily for Chhunchha, enough people come in his door each day to keep the business thriving. Most of them hail from the immediate area and are more than happy to patronize their local pharmacy.

“We’re surviving because of our loyal customers,” he said. “Those loyal customers love us, and for some of them, they will never go to the chains. I had one customer fighting with the insurance company for two hours on the phone after they were told they couldn’t come here.”

The Grand Traverse region is dotted with local pharmacies, many of which have been in business for generations.

Even those that are owned and managed locally have almost all joined a franchise of some sort to keep prices manageable.

In the case of Corner Drugs and River Pharmacy – Elk Rapids’ other drug store – it’s Good Neighbor Pharmacy.

“It’s called a buying group, and when they buy as a group, they get a much better price…because they can buy so much in bulk,” said Cindy Fager, pharmacist at River Pharmacy. “Us little ones, we have to group together.”

All of these local shops will tell you that the key to their business is high quality customer service and direct, genuine familiarity with customers, perhaps the single biggest differential between the face

Cindy Fager, River Pharmacy behind the counter at an independent shop versus a chain.

“We have people who were kids when they first came in who are 40 years old now. We’re seeing customers who came in when I was a kid who are still coming in, and we’ll meet new ones and (before you know it) we’ve known them for 20 years,” said Mark Thompson, pharmacist and co-owner of Thompson Pharmacy & Medical in Traverse City.

“You know them by name, you know their kids, you know them from baseball and Little League,” said Brian Reuther, owner and pharmacist at Kingsley Pharmacy. “You really know these people.”

And what might be dismissed as a small-town shop cliché is actually of critical importance in this industry, as a pharmacist who knows his customer well is likely to – and in many instances has – acted as a safeguard against a potentially harmful mix of medications.

“When you know those people, you may see something that doesn’t make sense for them,” Thompson said. “And that’s really what pharmacy is supposed to be about – it’s not just counting pills and handing them out.”

But despite the warm and fuzzy feelings that come from the connection between shopkeeper and customer, the challenges for homegrown pharmacies are real, and

“We’re surviving because of our loyal customers.”

- Divyang Chhunchha, manager and pharmacist, Corner Drugs growing. Shrinking margins are near the top of the list, a problem compounded by a near-total lack of local control on pricing, at least on the pharmacy side.

“In any other business, you’re in charge of your pricing model. If I bought this, I can sell it for this amount of money and make this much,” Reuther said. “But the insurance companies are dictating how much money you’re able to charge. And that’s tough. If you make only 25 cents on something, you have to hope you make it up somewhere else.”

Cash flow problems are made worse, Reuther said, by situations in which insurance companies are allowed to retroactively alter what is owed for certain transactions involving medications. Reforms to their ability to do this are coming, he said, and can’t get here soon enough.

“Six months later, after you process a claim, they’ll say they want more money back from the pharmacy,” he said. “It would be like if you went to buy a car, and they called you up six months later and

said you owed more for that car.”

In Reuther’s case, his role as a compounding pharmacist helps him stand out and make up ground lost elsewhere. Like Thompson, who also is a compounding pharmacist, substantial extra training gives Reuther the ability to mix and create medications for people and animals to produce concoctions that aren’t available commercially – real mortar and pestle stuff.

“We mail things down to the Kalamazoo area, all the way up to the west end of the UP,” he said. “They know that we’re a specialty pharmacy able to compound things that aren’t available for them to get in, say, Marquette...we do a lot of things that the big box stores don’t have the time or the staffing to do.”

And aside from having to deal with various pricing and regulatory issues, independently owned and operated stores can feel the same way as the average citizen does when they go up against the monolithic, bureaucratic systems inherent in

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Greg, Robyn and Mark Thompson

insurance and healthcare. Thompson is still reeling from a situation in which a major insurance company recently sent a letter to hundreds of his customers stating that they would no longer cover drugs from his shop.

Thompson said this happened mere weeks after his pharmacy missed a cyclical deadline to register with the insurance company.

“They didn’t send us one letter, and they never called. They sent us one email that went into my junk folder,” Thompson said. “And yet they were able to send thousands of letters to our customers.”

Thompson and his staff have spent countless hours communicating with customers trying to dig themselves out of the hole.

“I feel like we spend a lot of time trying to fight BS instead of helping customers,” said Robyn Thompson, store manager and Mark Thompson’s wife.

“What they did here would have been enough to shut us down.”

Regardless of the challenges, local pharmacists are aware of their importance and plan to carry the banner in their commu-

“A pharmacist is probably the most accessible health care provider around, especially for rural patients. And a lot of the information we provide, we don’t charge for. We’re just trying to help patients and get them the best care that they can get.”

– Brian Reuther, Kingsley Pharmacy nities well into the future.

“A pharmacist is probably the most accessible health care provider around, especially for rural patients. And a lot of the information we provide, we don’t

charge for it, we’re just trying to help patients and get them the best care that they can get,” Reuther said. “I would love to see small-town, independent pharmacies keep thriving.”

18 NOVEMBER 2023

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By Andi Dolan, columnist It’s not a secret that northern Michigan’s business community is thriving.

Emerging on our pristine freshwater shores are apartment complexes and more hotels. The region is abuzz with new business and expanding enterprises. And small business owners are finding abundant growth opportunities that continue to contribute to the strength of our region’s economic vitality.

Attracting and retaining an agile workforce will take center stage in the coming year. Employers will continue to navigate a multi-peer labor market which now spans four generations. Now working together, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z each bring their own preferences and priorities to the table. It’s clear that a one-size-fits-all benefits package is impractical and outdated.

Your organization’s annual open enrollment provides a significant platform for engaging, educating and enhancing the employee experience and work-life balance. Why not seize the opportunity to transform what was once a daunting task into a chance to unite your exceptional team?

Here are some suggestions: Start early and formulate benefits that are inclusive of employees from various generations. This entails making the most of opportunities that promote meaningful reflection and discussion, ultimately resulting in positive outcomes. Collaborate with your experienced professionals and internal leaders to fully leverage these opportunities, which may encompass: • Conducting employee surveys and focus groups. Collect input from employees of different generations to gain insight and preferences. This valuable feedback can aid in the creation of inclusive benefit packages.

• Auditing your existing programs. Analyze usage and identify shortcomings and pitfalls within your menu. Strive to make essential improvements. Consider the distinct benefit needs of each generation and contemplate adding or modifying options accordingly. It might be an opportune time to explore self-funding your short-

Open Enrollment: An opportunity to unite your multi-generational workforce term disability plan or potentially introducing voluntary products.

• Offering a variety or a choice of health plan options. Provide a range of insurance plans that cater to different needs and budgets. This can include options like high-deductible plans with health savings accounts (HSAs) for healthier individuals and more comprehensive plans with lower deductibles for employees who may have more healthcare needs.

• Opening the door to flexible spending accounts. These allow an employee to set aside pretax funds to pay for eligible healthcare expenses. This can be particularly beneficial for personnel who have ongoing medical expenses or who want to save for future healthcare needs.

• It just makes sense to offer employee assistance programs, which offer support and resources for various personal and work-related challenges. This can include mental health counseling, financial advice, legal assistance and other resources that can benefit employees of all generations.

• Implementing wellness programs that focus on promoting healthy habits and lifestyles. This can include initiatives such as fitness challenges, nutrition education, stress management resources, and mental health support.

• Considering offering financial wellness programs and resources that can help employees across generations manage their finances and navigate healthcare costs. This may include education on budgeting, saving and retirement planning.

• Offering flexible work arrangements.

Recognize that employees across generations may have different priorities and responsibilities outside of work. Arrange-

ments, such as remote work options or flexible scheduling can accommodate their needs and promote work-life balance.

This upcoming year, communicate your benefits across generations using a multi-channel approach. This means using various communication methods to reach different generations effectively.

Strategies to consider include:

Your organization’s annual open enrollment provides a significant platform for engaging, educating and enhancing the employee experience and work-life balance.

• Personalized communication: Recognize that different generations prefer different communication methods. Some generations may prefer digital communication (email, online portals), while others may prefer traditional methods (paper documents, in-person meetings). Offer a range of communication options to accommodate different preferences.

• Digital platforms: Utilize online platforms such as intranets or employee portals to provide detailed information about benefits. Make sure the platforms are user-friendly, accessible from mobile devices, and tailored to meet the needs of each generation.

• Face-to-face meetings: Organize

in-person meetings or seminars to provide an opportunity for employees to ask questions and receive personalized guidance.

This can be especially helpful for work peers who may appreciate direct communication and one-on-one consultation.

• Tailored messaging: Craft benefit communications that resonate with different age groups. Highlight specific benefits that may appeal to each generation, such as flexible work arrangements or financial wellness courses and retirement planning.

• Ongoing education: Offer ongoing educational resources to help employees understand their benefits and make informed decisions. This can be done through webinars, lunch-and-learn sessions or online learning modules.

• Peer-to-peer communication: Encourage employees from different generations to share their experiences and perspectives on benefits through internal mentorship or community-building programs.

In today’s workplace, diversity is not just limited to race, gender or ethnicity. It also encompasses generational diversity.

Recognizing the distinct attributes of your workforce will be essential when crafting meaningful benefit programs and open enrollment strategies that meet the varied requirements of employees across different age groups. By taking a holistic approach, employers can design benefits that are inclusive and empower employees to prioritize their well-being.

Andi Dolan is the owner of Traverse Benefits, a local independent insurance agency advocating and providing health, life and disability solutions for employers, individuals and Medicare beneficiaries across northern Michigan.

20 NOVEMBER 2023

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THE MOTHER LOAD New and expanded protections for pregnant and nursing workers

By Lindsay Raymond, columnist While women appear to be thriving in music, film and sports, they remain underrepresented in management roles in the U.S. workforce. Indeed, they still earn an estimated 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to the Government Accountability Office’s 2023 report.

Women also face potential discrimination if they are pregnant or a new mother.

A 2022 study by the Bipartisan Policy Center found that 20% of mothers have experienced pregnancy discrimination in the workplace, and nearly 23% have considered leaving their jobs due to a lack of reasonable accommodations or fear of discrimination. That same study found that 12% of all adults have witnessed pregnancy discrimination in the workplace.

In light of these issues, Congress recently enacted laws that created and expanded protections for pregnant and nursing mothers in the workplace, including the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) Act and the Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act (PWFA).

Thus, 2023 is shaping up to be a year of great gains for women!

Understanding these protections and new employer obligations is important as employers could face liability for noncompliance, as well as liquidated, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees.

How did we get here?

Prior to the PUMP Act and the PWFA, there were several laws that purportedly addressed nursing and/or pregnancy in the workplace. However, those laws left substantial gaps in coverage.

For instance, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) required covered employers to provide reasonable break times for certain non-exempt mothers to express or “pump” milk during the workday. Mothers working in exempt positions (like teachers, registered nurses, and others), however, were left without such federal protections.

Additionally, Title VII, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), does not require

Congress recently enacted laws that created and expanded protections for pregnant and nursing mothers in the workplace, including the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) Act and the Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act (PWFA). employers per se to provide temporary job modifications for pregnant employees who have related limitations. Further, while the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires reasonable accommodations for disabilities, like pregnancy-related preeclampsia or gestational diabetes, pregnancy itself is not considered a disability under the ADA and many common pregnancy-related conditions/limitations are not covered.

Moreover, even when employers are required to provide accommodations under the ADA, they are not required to reassign essential duties of a position.

Finally, while the federal Family and Medical Leave Act does provide job-protected leave for certain pregnant employees and/ or mothers, it only applies if the employer has 50 or more employees and if the employee has worked at least one year with the employer and completed at least

1,250 hours.

Thus, many women were regularly denied temporary job modifications and/ or did not have access to job-protected leave. Some of those women were arguably forced to choose between their jobs and/ or jeopardizing their own health or the health of their pregnancies. According to a study by the EEOC, women are the primary, sole, or co-breadwinners in nearly 64% of families, earning at least half of

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

their total household income. Thus, having to leave the workplace while pregnant and/or nursing could significantly impact the financial condition of their families and could affect the mother in the workplace for years after (e.g. losing out on 401(k) or other retirement contributions, seniority, life insurance, benefits, Social Security contributions, and more).

The PUMP Act Effective this past April, the PUMP Act expands employer obligations under the FLSA to cover exempt employees as well, with limited exceptions. Thus, for up to a year after the birth, employers must provide a reasonable break and private space shielded from view and free from intrusion (other than a bathroom) each time a nursing employee needs to express milk. The law does not set a maximum number of breaks and the frequency, duration, and timing can vary based on factors unique to the employee and child.

Additionally, employers cannot require the nursing employees to make up the time they spent on pump breaks – adding time to their regular schedule could be considered an adverse retaliatory action.

Further, the PUMP Act clarifies that pumping time counts as time worked and must be paid if the employee is performing any work while pumping. Moreover, even if the employee is completely relieved of duty during a pumping break, the

break may still need to be paid. The FLSA requires that employers treat breaks of 20 minutes or less as compensable time-worked for non-exempt employees.

Exempt employees receive their full weekly salary regardless of their pumping breaks.

The PUMP Act does excuse certain employers who have fewer than 50 employees from complying with its provisions if compliance would impose an undue hardship or significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to the size, financial resources, nature, or structure of the employer’s business. However, small employers should not rely on this exemption unless they have properly considered these factors and thoroughly documented evidence substantiating undue hardship.

The PWFA Effective this past June, the PWFA requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide pregnant workers with accommodations for “known limitations” related to pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions unless doing so would create undue hardship on the business. Such accommodations could include: frequent breaks; carrying and/ or drinking water as needed; sitting/ standing as needed; restroom breaks as needed; schedule changes; paid or unpaid leave; telework; closer parking spots; light duty; making facilities more accessible;

job restructuring; acquiring or modifying uniforms, equipment or devices; and many more. Further, the PWFA protects employees from retaliation, coercion, intimidation, threats, or interference if they request and/or receive a reasonable accommodation.

Under the PWFA, “reasonable accommodation” and “undue hardship” are to be construed the same way as under the ADA. Therefore, an interactive process with the employee is necessary. Requests for an accommodation under the PWFA do not need to be in writing to be valid.

Further, employers may be permitted to request reasonable documentation substantiating the limitation, but only if it is reasonable to require documentation under the circumstances for the employer to determine whether to grant the accommodation. Employers are prohibited from requiring an employee to accept an accommodation other than one arrived at through the interactive process, and cannot require leave (whether paid or unpaid) if another reasonable accommodation can be provided.

However, unlike the ADA, the EEOC’s proposed PWFA regulations would include modest and minor impediments or “problems” in the definition of a covered limitation, as well as time needed to seek regular health care related to pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition.

Thus, no specific level of severity is required. Additionally, unlike the ADA, the

NOVEMBER 2023

EEOC’s proposed PWFA regulations may require employers to temporarily reassign essential functions of a job (for up to 40 weeks) as a reasonable accommodation.

Accordingly, even the most seasoned human resources professionals will need to be careful with accommodation requests under the PWFA. Damages for violations of the PWFA include reinstatement, back pay, front pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs.

Going forward Congress is hopeful through compliance that these laws will help to retain women in the workplace longer and, in turn, help to strengthen not only our workforce, but also the households and families that support them.

Considering the foregoing, employers should work with legal counsel to update their policies and practices.

Further, they should promptly train managers and supervisors on these rights and obligations in order to mitigate risk of liability. Noncompliance could be costly!

Lindsay Raymond of Danbrook Adams Raymond PLC is a business owner and an experienced employment law attorney who counsels employers on workplace compliance. You can reach her at lraymond@darlawyers.com.

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22 NOVEMBER 2023

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

HEALTHCARE

‘A FOREIGN LANGUAGE’ Experts talk open Medicare’s annual open enrollment

By Art Bukowski For several local insurance professionals who specialize in health insurance, now’s the time for early mornings, late nights and phone calls around the clock. That’s because it’s Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period (AEP), commonly called open enrollment, which runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7.

It’s during this window that millions of individuals on Medicare, federal health insurance for people aged 65 and older, can make changes to their plans or switch plans altogether. And not surprisingly, plenty of them have a long list of questions for people like Mark McLane, a Tra-

verse City agent whose business is mostly health insurance.

“I can’t work enough hours in the day.

I wish I could just clone myself,” he said.

“I pride myself in taking care of everybody who needs to be taken care of…but the turnaround time in returning phone calls or emails is quite delayed.”

What’s at stake during open enrollment? Because plans offered by insurance carriers change on a yearly basis, it’s important to shop around – not only for potential cost savings, but also to ensure your plan will cover what you need it to.

Individuals that don’t check at least every few years are almost guaranteed to spend more money than they need to, experts

say, or risk running into a situation in which their care or prescriptions are no longer covered.

“Plans are continually changing, they’re continually evolving,” said Dawn McConnell, a Medicare specialist at Traverse City-based Ford Insurance. “A plan that you went on (before) might not be a great plan for you anymore. The price may have changed, the coverage may have changed, the prescription coverage may have changed. It just might not be a good fit any longer.”

The number of available plans and options therein are dizzying. Add in the ubiquitous marketing that begins toward the end of September, and folks have an-

other good reason to have a professional by their side as they navigate the maze.

“Every carrier tries to get one leg up on the next guy to offer better benefits and attract business,” said Susan Roote, a licensed agent at Traverse City-based Great Northern Benefits. “There’s all sorts of extra perks and benefits.”

Tools are available for those folks who want to explore plans for themselves, complete with forms in which individuals can input prescriptions and other vital data. But agents who deal in Medicare for a living suggest that their expertise is well worth it. They also point out that insurance itself covers the cost of their services, so it costs a person on Medicare nothing

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

23

HEALTHCARE

McConnell

to seek an agent’s advice.

“You could go to medicare.gov and do all of his yourself, but it’s a headache and it feels like a foreign language,” McConnell said. “A lot of people feel scared, and even for people with a ton of confidence, most people have not researched and know this as well as the local agents do.

We’ve done a lot of the front-running research, and we’re doing it every single day…and it doesn’t cost anything to have an agent on your side.”

McLane agrees.

“It’s very important to have somebody advocating for you and helping you navigate all this, because it can be very, very overwhelming to go about it yourself,” he said.

Lewis

Insurance agents say that they also help steer their clients towards plans that are the easiest to use in the region.

“I can’t talk to someone as knowledgeably

Roote

McConnell said. “Having an agent who knows the stomping ground is important.”

McConnell tells her clients to use her as a go-to resource throughout the year, not just

“It’s very important to have somebody advocating for you and helping you navigate all this, because it can be very, very overwhelming to go about it yourself.”

– Mark McLane, owner, Mark McLane Insurance in the southeastern part of the state as I can here in the north. And I have no idea out of state – there are so many plans out there – but I do really know northern Michigan,”

when it comes time to select or re-evaluate a plan during open enrollment.

“If they have issues with billing, or something they’re not happy with, they

McLane

can call me, and I know the right people to contact at the insurance company,” she said. “Instead of going through a phone tree, I have real people I can get on the line to get answers more quickly and more efficiently.”

As the Baby Boomer population continues to age, services related to Medicare will continue to be a growing segment of business for local insurance providers.

“This 65-plus group is just growing by leaps and bounds, it really is, and then you have all these people moving up here,” said Greg Lewis, another local agent who specializes in health insurance.

“It’s taken over the majority of our practice at this point.”

24 NOVEMBER 2023

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING

Courtesy Global Environmental Engineering

ENGINEERING THE FUTURE Local firms talk recent and upcoming projects

By Art Bukowski The Traverse City area has a collection of high-level, well-established engineering firms that work across the region, state and beyond on a variety of critical projects.

The TCBN asked them to talk about where they are and where they’re going.

Global Environmental Engineering | Alaina Korreck Zeigler, President and Owner Global Environmental is a comprehensive remediation service provider that expertly resolves air, water and soil contamination. We tailor our extensive engineering and treatment solutions to meet the unique requirements of each project, while adapting to the evolving environmental compliance landscape. As a woman-owned small business, we take pride in offering over three decades of expertise and innovative problem-solving as a full-service engineering firm and treatment provider. Our dedicated team of engineers, geologists and technicians

are driven by an inherent desire to protect the environment and safeguard precious resources as we build a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable world.

What recent projects are you proud of?

Global has played an integral role in several local property transactions by providing due diligence and contaminant characterization services. We are excited to continue to partner with local developers to safely and functionally redevelop impacted properties through the brownfield process. Additionally, we are involved

in complex ongoing remediation projects throughout the state of Michigan requiring ongoing operation and maintenance of treatment systems, and groundwater, soil gas, and indoor air sampling.

What’s next?

This year we moved our office to a new location off Three Mile Road and we are excited about deepening our presence in northern Michigan. 2023 was also Global’s 30th anniversary, and we look forward to building upon those 30 years of success with continued steady and sustainable growth.

Zeigler

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

25

ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING

Graham

Gourdie-Fraser, Inc. | Jennifer (Hodges) Graham, Director of Engineering Founded in 1948 in downtown Traverse City, Gourdie-Fraser, Inc. is a full-service consultant specializing in civil engineering and surveying. GFA has 33 employees, including 12 employee shareholders. We are excited to be celebrating 75 years of service to the local community and northern Michigan. Several of our clients have depended on GFA for more than 30 years. GFA provides services in all phases, including survey, design, permitting and construction services for a wide variety of civil infrastructure projects. We serve municipal, governmental, private development and energy sectors. GFA is well versed in a variety of disciplines and draws from many resources.

What recent projects are you proud of?

Charter Township of Garfield – Water Infrastructure Expansion: GFA actively pursued an EGLE Contamination and Consolidation Grant to fund the construction of a water main transmission line to Long Lake Township. This main now provides a quality water source to Black Bear Farms development and future developments that originally were served by private water systems that had

to provide water treatment to address high nitrate in the groundwater.

Elk Rapids Rotary Park – Kayak Launch and Water Access Improvements: GFA has had the pleasure of assisting Paddle Antrim and the Village of Elk Rapids to improve universal accessibility at Rotary Park. These efforts began in 2019 and through hard work and diligence, the team was awarded both a DNR Waterway and Sparks Grant to fund this noteworthy project with project construction slated to be complete next year.

Traverse City Whiskey Company – Facility Expansion: GFA assisted the design team in providing site civil engineering and construction services to construct a new headquarters, including a state-of-theart production facility that includes a rackhouse and tasting room in Elmwood Township. The project was recently recognized by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, MEDC and received a Michigan Business Development Program Grant to offset some of the construction costs.

Village of Thompsonville 2023 Water System Upgrades: GFA actively pursued funding through the USDA Rural Development Rural Utility Services Program to

secure a low interest loan and a 60% grant.

This will assist in the funding to upgrade their aged water system, including construction of replacement water sources (wells), wellhouse, watermain upsizing and elevated water tank painting. GFA provided full design and permitting and will provide full-time construction administration and inspection once underway next year.

What’s next?

Gourdie-Fraser is a local company staffed by community members dedicated to delivering not only top-tier work but also exceptional customer service.

In today’s economic landscape, we are faced with growing demand for civil professional services, rising costs, and a shortage of skilled labor. GFA is proud of our role serving local municipalities, government agencies, private developments, and the broader community through collaborative teamwork.

However, projects continue to be challenged with rising material costs, labor scarcities, and escalating interest rates, making project execution more demanding. GFA approaches these challenges by actively seeking funding

opportunities and exploring innovative design alternatives to transform our customers’ goals into reality, ensuring projects are not only feasible but also affordable.

GFA is steadfast in its commitment to the success of our clients and eagerly anticipates the year 2024, which promises to deliver ongoing continuity and ample resources. We are also excited about upcoming projects, the details of which are currently under wraps. As progress unfolds in the coming months, GFA looks forward to sharing more information.

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26 NOVEMBER 2023

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING

GTRLC Conservation Center

Otwell Mawby, P.C. – James Jackson, Senior Project Manager Otwell Mawby is a full-service environmental engineering firm located in downtown Traverse City. Started in 1988, the firm has provided consulting services for municipalities, lenders, attorneys, architects, contractors, industrial, oil and gas and private clients for 35 years. Our primary services include environmental due diligence services (Phase I and II environmental assessments, baseline environmental assessments), brownfield redevelopment, asbestos and lead paint assessment and mitigation, remedial investigation and cleanup of environmentally contaminated sites and environmental compliance.

Otwell Mawby regularly assists clients with acquisition, redevelopment and re-use of historically impacted properties.

GTRLC Conservation Center

Hammond roads. Otwell Mawby provided environmental due diligence services for the purchase of the property and completed the necessary NEPA environmental assessment required for the federal grant funding allocated for the project.

Services were also provided to assist with MSHDA funding for the property.

We also provided Brownfield Redevelopment Services for the Village at Grand Traverse Commons redevelopment and assisted Traverse City Light and Power with the decommissioning and demolition of the former bayside coal-fired power plant. Environmental engineering, asbestos abatement and demolition construction management services were provided, resulting in additional open space land added to the popular Open Space park along West Bay in Traverse City.

Finally, we also assisted the City of Traverse City/Charter Township of Garfield Recreation Authority in the

acquisition of the Historic Barns property, Hickory Meadows Parcel and commercial property adjacent to the Open Space Park. Services included acquisition due diligence, due care planning, lead and asbestos survey and abatement and demolition management.

Gosling Czubak Engineering Sciences | Kevin D. Ringwelski, President

is proud to be awarded projects at Interlochen, Mitchell, Cheboygan, Hoeft, Clear Lake, and Petoskey state parks including engineering design for drinking water and wastewater sewer systems, replacement of toilet and shower buildings, and general improvements to make the parks accessible for all visitors.

What recent projects are you proud of?

Otwell Mawby assisted BATA with the acquisition for development of the new headquarters complex on La Franier and

Gosling Czubak Engineering Sciences, Inc. is a professional consulting firm providing civil engineering, surveying, environmental services, geotechnical engineering, landscape architecture, drilling and materials testing services to public and private clients throughout Michigan.

Located in Traverse City, the firm has served public and private clients throughout Michigan and the Midwest since 1957.

What recent projects are you proud of?

Skybridge at Boyne Mountain Resort, Boyne Falls: Gosling Czubak provided topographic surveying and construction

staking for the world’s longest timber-towered suspension bridge.

Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC) Conservation Center at the Don and Jerry Olsen Nature Preserve: Gosling Czubak provided site engineering (including sustainable stormwater management) and landscape architecture design, topographic surveying and construction staking; construction administration; construction materials testing and inspection; and sensitive habitat evaluation and permitting services.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources State Park Improvements: Gosling Czubak

What’s next?

Otwell Mawby looks forward to a period of growth as the northwest region of Michigan continues to grow with resultant redevelopment of many properties. Our company continues to stay abreast of the ever-changing environmental regulatory climate, providing innovative solutions to acquisition and redevelopment of historically impacted property. We look to continue as a leader in brownfield redevelopment, providing assistance in grant and loan funding, evaluation of potential environmental exposures and innovative solutions for re-use of impacted properties.

Jackson

=

Ringwelski

What’s next?

We are positioning our company for growth in the engineering, surveying, environmental, and landscape architecture consulting business for northern Michigan by updating our workflow systems and investing in leadership development for our future leaders. We also have some exciting development projects in the works for the Traverse City region.

panelboards, fire alarm, communications, and security systems.

Daifuku-Jervis B Webb Manufacturing Facility: Construction of a new 242,000 Nealis Engineering was founded by multi-story facilities. square-foot manufacturing facility for Gary Nealis in 1995. In 2005, Jason Daifuku-Jervis B Webb in BoyneAdvisors City.

VanBrocklin joined Gary as a partner Mercer Traverse City Team What recent projects are you proud of?

Our design scope included plumbing, in the firm. This arrangement remained Grand Traverse Regional Land ConserMatthew Bohrerair Merideth Gillis compressed air, heating, ventilating, until 2017, when Gary transitioned into vancy: Additions and renovations to an Wealth Advisor, Director Client Service Specialist conditioning, computer room air conretirement.

Nealis Engineering existing 4,800and square-foot main building We’re built differently - tocurrently us helping you protect grow your wealth is about ditioning, welding exhaust, interior and Renée Egelski, CFP® Becky Leslie has eight employees, three of which are and an existing 4,600 square-foot volunmore than just your investment portfolio. Unlike many firms, we have expertiseexterior lighting, power distribution, Wealth Advisor Client Service Specialist licensed professional engineers. Nealis teer hub building for the Grand Traverse across financial planning, investing strategy, estate planning, trust primary power distribution, and commudesigns plumbing, mechanical HVAC Regional tax Landand Conservancy headquarters.

Kevin Russell, CPA, CFP®, services, insurance solutions, Our specialists across each (heating, ventilating, and air condition-and more.

Additions include 14,000 square feetoftothesenications systems. AAMS®, CRPC® Kalkaska Memorial Health Center’s Acute communicate with each other the about you, and with you,square-foot so you can ing),areas and electrical power and lighting main building, a 1,300 Advisor Care Pavilion, and FixedWealth MRI Projects: Conenjoy achieved. We’re here to ahelp you connectgoat all the dots systems foreverything commercial,you’ve institutional, greenhouse, 1,200 square-foot barn, struction of a new two-story, 25,300 total ecclesiastical, and industrial and a 160 kilowatt solar farm with net meof your financial life. facilities. To VanBrocklin square-foot acute care addition and fixed provide the attention that each project tering. Our design scope included plumbdeserves, most of the projects are within ing, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, MRI renovation for Kalkaska Memorial Health Center. Our design scope includconditioning, interior and exterior lighta two-hour travel distance of Traverse geothermal heat exchanger, energy recoved plumbing, medical gas, snow melt, ing, power distribution, fire alarm, and City. These projects include the design of ery, snow melt, interior, exterior and site 310 West Front Street, Suite 308, Traverse City, Michigan 49684 l 231.929.4500 l merceradvisors.com in-floor heating, heating, ventilating, air communications systems. simple single-story structures to complex lighting, power distribution, intelligent

Nealis Engineering | Jason A. VanBrocklin, President

Welcome to a different kind of wealth management

© 2023 Mercer Global Advisors Inc. All rights reserved. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and delivers all investment-related services. Mercer Advisors Inc. is the parent company of Mercer Global Advisors Inc. and is not involved with investment services. Mercer Advisors is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice to clients. All estate planning documentation preparation and other legal advice is provided through its Advanced Services Law Group, Inc. Tax preparation and tax filing are a separate fee from Mercer Advisors’ investment management and planning services. Trustee services are offered through select third parties with which a client would engage directly. Mercer Global Advisors has a related insurance agency. Mercer Advisors Insurance Services, LLC (MAIS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercer Advisors Inc. Employees of Mercer Global Advisors serve as officers of MAIS. MAIS provides individual life, disability, long term care coverage, and property and casualty coverage through various insurance companies. 20231016

Skybridge at Boyne Mountain Resort, Boyne Falls: Gosling Czubak provided topographic surveying and construction

permitting services.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources State Park Improvements: Gosling Czubak

our future leaders. We also have some exciting development projects in the works for the Traverse City region. TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

27

ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING panelboards, fire alarm, communications, and security systems.

Daifuku-Jervis B Webb Manufacturing Otwell Mawby is a full-service enviHammond roads.

Otwell Mawby providacquisition of the Historic Barns properFacility: Construction of a new 242,000 Nealis Engineering was founded by multi-story facilities.

Jackson ronmental engineering firm located in ed environmental due diligence services ty, Hickory Meadows Parcel and comsquare-foot manufacturing facility for Gary Nealis in 1995. In 2005, Jason downtown Traverse in 1988, for therecent purchase of the are property and of? mercial property adjacent the Open Daifuku-Jervis B Webb in to Boyne City.

VanBrocklin joinedCity.

GaryStarted as a partner What projects you proud the firm has provided consulting services completed the necessary NEPA environSpace Park.

Services included acquisition Our design scope included plumbing, in the firm. This arrangement remained Grand Traverse Regional Land Conserfor municipalities, lenders, attorneys,into mental assessment required for the due diligence, care planning, lead compressed air,due heating, ventilating, air until 2017, when Gary transitioned vancy: Additions and renovations to federan architects, contractors, industrial, oil and al grant funding allocated for the project. and asbestos survey and abatement and conditioning, computer room air conretirement. Nealis Engineering currently existing 4,800 square-foot main building gas private clientsthree for 35ofyears.

Services were also provided to assist with demolition management. ditioning, welding exhaust, interior and hasand eight employees, whichOur are and an existing 4,600 square-foot volunprimary services include environmental MSHDA funding for the property. exterior lighting, power distribution, licensed professional engineers. Nealis teer hub building for the Grand Traverse due diligence services (Phase I and II enviWe also provided Brownfield RedevelWhat’s next? primary power distribution, and commudesigns plumbing, mechanical HVAC Regional Land Conservancy headquarters. ronmental assessments, baseline environopment Services for the Village at Grand Otwell Mawby looks forward to a period nications systems. (heating, ventilating, and air conditionAdditions include 14,000 square feet to mental assessments), brownfield redevelopTraverse Commons redevelopment and of growth as the northwest region of Acute Kalkaska Memorial Health Center’s ing), and electrical power and lighting the main building, a 1,300 square-foot ment, asbestos and lead paint assessment assisted Traverse City Light and Power Michigan continues to grow with resultant Care Pavilion, and Fixed MRI Projects: Consystems for commercial, institutional, greenhouse, a 1,200 square-foot goat barn, and mitigation, remedial investigation and with the decommissioning and demoliredevelopment of many properties.

Our struction of a new two-story, 25,300 total ecclesiastical, and industrial facilities. To and a 160 kilowatt solar farm with net meVanBrocklin cleanup of environmentally contaminattion of the former bayside coal-fired power company continues to stay abreast of the square-foot acute care addition and fixed provide the attention that each project tering. Our design scope included plumbed sites and environmental compliance. plant.

Environmental engineering, asbesever-changing environmental MRI renovation for Kalkaskaregulatory Memorialclideserves, most of the projects are within ing, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, Otwell Mawby regularly assists clients with tos abatement and demolition construcmate, providing innovative solutions to acHealth Center.

Our design scope includconditioning, interior and exterior lighta two-hour travel distance of Traverse geothermal heat exchanger, energy recovacquisition, redevelopment and re-use of tion management services were provided, quisition and redevelopment of historically ed plumbing, medical gas, snow melt, ing, power distribution, fire alarm, and City. These projects include the design of ery, snow melt, interior, exterior and site historically impacted properties. resulting in additional open space land impacted property.

We look to continue in-floor heating, heating, ventilating, air communications systems. simple single-story structures to complex lighting, power distribution, intelligent added to the popular Open Space park as a leader in brownfield redevelopment, ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING What recent projects are you proud of? along West Bay in Traverse City. providing assistance in grant and loan Otwell Mawby assisted BATA with the Finally, we also assisted the City of Otwell Mawby, P.C. – James Jackson, Senior Project Manager funding, evaluation of potential environacquisition for development of the new Traverse City/Charter Township of mental exposures and innovative solutions headquarters complex on La Franier and Garfield Recreation Authority in the for re-use of impacted properties. = Otwell Mawby is a full-service enviHammond roads. Otwell Mawby providacquisition of the Historic Barns properJackson ronmental engineering firm located in ed environmental due diligence services ty, Hickory Meadows Parcel and comdowntown Traverse City. Started in 1988, for the purchase of the property and mercial property adjacent to the Open the firm has provided consulting services completed the necessary NEPA environSpace Park. Services included acquisition for municipalities, lenders, attorneys, mental assessment required for the feder- due diligence, due care planning, lead architects, contractors, industrial, oil and al grant funding allocated for the project. and asbestos survey and abatement and gas and private clients for 35 years. Our Services were also provided to assist with demolition management. primary services include environmental MSHDA funding for the property. due diligence services (Phase I and II enviWe also provided Brownfield RedevelWhat’s next? ronmental assessments, baseline environopment Services for the Village at Grand Otwell Mawby looks forward to a period mental assessments), brownfield redevelop- Traverse Commons redevelopment and of growth as the northwest region of ment, asbestos and lead paint assessment assisted Traverse City Light and Power Michigan continues to grow with resultant and mitigation, remedial investigation and with the decommissioning and demoliredevelopment of many properties. Our cleanup of environmentally contaminattion of the former bayside coal-fired power company continues to stay abreast of the ed sites and environmental compliance. plant. Environmental engineering, asbesever-changing environmental regulatory cliOtwell Mawby regularly assists clients with tos abatement and demolition construcmate, providing innovative solutions to acacquisition, redevelopment and re-use of tion management services were provided, quisition and redevelopment of historically historically impacted properties. resulting in additional open space land impacted property. We look to continue added to the popular Open Space park as a leader in brownfield redevelopment, What recent projects are you proud of? along West Bay in Traverse City. providing assistance in grant and loan Otwell Mawby assisted BATA with the Finally, we also assisted the City of funding, evaluation of potential environacquisition for development of the new Traverse City/Charter Township of mental exposures and innovative solutions headquarters complex on La Franier and Garfield Recreation Authority in the for re-use of impacted properties. =

OtwellEngineering Mawby, P.C.| Jason – James Jackson, Senior Project Manager Nealis A. VanBrocklin, President

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28 NOVEMBER 2023

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING

FOLLOW THE SUN CBS Solar, Traverse Solar merge to launch super solar tracker

By Craig Manning Could Traverse City become an epicenter of solar energy technology?

Two local businesses are merging with that goal in mind, and are taking their innovation to the masses.

The companies – Copemish-based CBS Solar and Traverse City’s Traverse Solar – have a history of collaboration that dates back years, but until now have operated as independent entities.

CBS Solar has been doing business in the renewable energy space for 40-plus years and has significant resources it can bring to bear in areas like manufacturing, sales, and distribution.

Traverse Solar, meanwhile, is a startup

built around an innovation called the super solar tracker, a four-panel system engineered with GPS technology so that the panels can track and follow the movement of the sun throughout the day. By retaining a direct angle with the sun, the shifting solar array allows for more efficient capture of the sun’s energy, beating the energy generation capabilities of similar-sized fixed arrays by as much as 50%.

According to Nathan Bildeaux, co-founder and CEO of Traverse Solar, the efficiency of the company’s solar tracking system has already been a big selling point for customers in northern Michigan – especially those who are both energyand space-conscious.

“We’re probably to the point where we can reach out to customers and say, ‘Listen, we can hit 80% of your (monthly electric bill) with one tracker,’” Bildeaux said.

Bildeaux says that the technology is ideal for smaller properties, pointing to a corner lot in town by Thirlby Field. “...(T)hey have just about the smallest lot you could have in Traverse City, but they’ve got a tracker on it. That’s the perfect use for a tracker, because they just don’t physically have the footprint (for a larger solar array),” he said.

Allan O’Shea, CEO of CBS Solar, sees a big value proposition in offering substantial solar energy generation in a compact package. In O’Shea’s eyes, that potential goes far beyond northern Michigan.

“All of the solar companies in the United States have a need (for technology like this), because they are still running into the same roadblocks they’ve faced for years,” O’Shea said.

O’Shea says that the conventional wisdom advised against solar because of early roadblocks, such as catching the sun’s rays through proper positioning and efficiency issues.

For the past five years, Traverse Solar and CBS Solar have been working together to improve the super solar tracker technology so that it could provide a solution to those common solar power pitfalls. To maximize power generation, for instance, the two companies added bifacial solar panels that can absorb light energy on

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

29

ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING both sides of the array, including sunlight reflected off snow-covered ground for example.

They also designed a ballasted system that makes installing arrays in tricky places like sand dunes or wetlands possible. The trackers are also designed to shed snow automatically, to withstand 90 mile-perhour winds, and – thanks to a titanium dioxide coating – to resist buildup of dirt or particulate matter.

Now, O’Shea is confident that CBS Solar and Traverse Solar have perfected the super solar tracker “to the point where we’re ready to expand.”

Step one of that process was a formal merger, which brings Traverse Solar officially under the umbrella of CBS Solar and gives the latter company exclusive rights to the tracker technology. Step two is an expansion of CBS Solar’s manufacturing capabilities, with the company currently at work on a new 3,500-square-foot production space that will focus solely on building the super solar tracker.

Once finished, O’Shea says the new facility should be up to producing 2,500 trackers annually within a year or two.

The long-term goal? Establishing nationwide partnerships that take this technology designed, engineered and built in northern Michigan and sell it all over the country.

“We’ve tried a few things in the past

where we got really close (to going national),” O’Shea said. “We were approved to start selling these in Menards a couple of years ago, but it was premature.”

The pair went to Menards headquarters in Wisconsin to present the product, but unfortunately, O’Shea says they did not have the operational depth to deliver.

“They loved the product and wanted to sell it in their stores,” he said. “But we did not have anywhere near enough depth to be able to address a big box store yet.”

A big box presence remains out of reach for now. But O’Shea says that CBS Solar and Traverse Solar have come a long way on the scalability front since the Menards meeting, and are ready to launch a different national marketing strategy.

The new approach will keep proprietary patents for the super solar tracker in the hands of CBS Solar, but will also allow the company to license the technology to solar companies everywhere.

“And then they would be able to sell the product in their area – and make money from it – and we would help them do that,” O’Shea said.

For Bildeaux, who helped devise and engineer the super solar tracker technology locally alongside his Traverse Solar co-founders, reaching the point where that product is ready to go national is a career-defining moment.

Bildeaux

O’Shea

“We’re talking about hockey stick-level growth here.

And that’s what growing companies want to see. It’s very exciting for Michigan and very exciting for us.”

– Nathan Bildeaux, co-founder/CEO, Traverse Solar “We’re talking about hockey stick-level growth here,” Bildeaux said. “And that’s what growing companies want to see.”

Bildeaux says the prospect is exciting for Michigan and “very exciting for us.” “...(T)o get to the point where we’re

selling thousands of units, that’s steep change. And moving beyond Michigan, that’s a whole different ballgame,” he said. “Pretty soon, we’ll be in a different universe than where we’ve been for the last few years.”

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ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING

RENEWABLE ENERGY FACT-CHECK Where does all that energy come from for local utilities?

By Craig Manning Northern Michigan is becoming more sustainable, one step at a time.

In 2016, the Traverse City city commission set a goal to power all city operations with clean energy by 2020. With that goal met, commissioners took two more steps earlier this year, adopting a pair of resolutions that will push for even greener operations in the years to come.

One resolution states that all city operations will be completely carbon-neutral by 2050. The other requires that any new city building must be powered by electricity only, with no reliance on natural gas or other carbon fuels.

It hasn’t just been the city commission pushing these types of goals. In 2018, board members for Traverse City Light & Power (TCLP) voted to approve a commitment to obtain 100% of its power from renewable resources by 2040.

These big splashy initiatives have been punctuated by other changes around the area: more solar panels on local buildings; more electric cars on local roads; more electric car chargers at local businesses, parks, and other destinations.

While all these steps forward sound good on paper, they have raised questions for some locals – such as, if you choose to drive an electric vehicle and charge it through a local power grid, are you powering your clean vehicle with clean energy, or are you still using fossil fuels?

The TCLP Energy Source Breakdown According to 2023 public documents charting TCLP’s existing renewable sources, the utility gets just under onethird of its energy portfolio (32.08%) from renewable sources. Those sources range from locally grounded assets (the

“We’re not taking the place of therapy or counseling.

I refer people to therapy all the time. As a coach, I’m forward-thinking. I’m taking a look at where you are, where you want to go, and I help you to get there.”

– Lucille Chrisman, owner, Coach-Works To help answer questions like that one, the TCBN sat down with leaders from both TCLP and Cherryland Electric to find out where northern Michigan’s renewable and carbon-free energy actually comes from, how local utilities are sketching out their roadmaps to reach future sustainability goals, and more.

Heritage Energy solar farm on M-72) to infrastructure in other parts of the state (Pegasus wind turbines near Saginaw, landfill gas from areas like Grand Blanc and Watervliet).

TCLP has two more solar farms slated to come online in Oceana and Calhoun counties within the next two years, which will bring the utility’s portfolio

to 41.05% renewables by 2025. That percentage would be in line with the 40% target TCLP had set for 2025, but according to TCLP Executive Director Brandie Ekren, those numbers only tell part of the story.

“One of the things that we’re actually going to push – and this is probably different from some of the other utilities – is that we really want to leverage customer-owned generation and renewables,” Ekren said. “Distributed energy resources, or DERs, are definitely part of the mix we need from a longer-term energy planning perspective.”

Recently, TCLP has taken multiple steps to encourage customers to start adding their own DERs. This past spring, for instance, TCLP endorsed Access MI Solar, a partnership between the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities and local solar provider CBS Solar that was designed to offer affordable pricing deals for solar array installs. The utility also temporarily suspended its individual cap on how much solar a customer could add to their property, and adopted a new protocol for buying excess energy from customers with DERs. TCLP’s long-term goal, Ekren said, is

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ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING to slim down the amount of energy it needs to meet local customer needs.

While she acknowledged that the utility will “always have to provide a backbone, in case the sun’s not shining and the wind’s not blowing,” Ekren explained that encouraging customers to become more self-sufficient, energy-wise – and then buying their excess power – would have the effect of getting the utility closer to its renewable goal without, say, onboarding a gigantic new solar farm somewhere downstate.

“Based on how our renewables are outputting right now, that equates to about 40% of our portfolio,” Ekren said.

“But, if our customers start reducing how much energy they’re using (from the grid), it’s possible that my ‘today 40%’ might actually look a lot bigger as we move forward, because that energy is going to go further.”

The Cherryland Electric Energy Source Breakdown Cherryland Electric currently gets

about 60% of its power from carbon-free sources, says Rachel Johnson, the cooperative’s CEO. But only onethird of that carbon-free pie comes from renewables.

The other two-thirds? Nuclear energy.

The remaining 40% of Cherryland’s power, meanwhile, is sourced from coal and natural gas, “split almost evenly between the two,” she said.

The 20% of Cherryland’s power that does come from renewable sources is largely sourced from two large wind farms located in southern Michigan, though Johnson notes that the co-op does have a little under four megawatts of solar installed across its system through distributed renewable energy projects. Those range in size from a small rooftop array to the large one-megawatt arrays at Leelanau Fruit and on US-31, between Grawn and Interlochen, she says.

More renewable energy is coming online for Cherryland soon. Johnson says that the utility is in the process of developing two utility-scale solar arrays

now, the biggest impact when it comes THREE to the climate and the environment is cars, airplanes, and heating and cooling.

RENEWABLE So, electrifying those things – even if you increase energy consumption, and ENERGY even if we’re pumping out more energy a natural gas plant – it’s still going MISCONCEPTIONS from to have a better carbon impact effect As both TCLP and Cherryland strive to push their portfolios toward predominantly carbon-free energy sources, both Ekren and Johnson said they regularly contend with misconceptions around the feasibility of green energy, the environmental benefits of electrification, and more. The TCBN asked both leaders to weigh in on three of the biggest arguments around carbon-free energy in northern Michigan.

The claim: Electric vehicles and other electric assets aren’t truly sustainable because they’re charging from a grid that is powered in part by fossil fuel resources.

Brandie Ekren, Executive Director, TCLP: The biggest offender when it comes to the climate and the environment is the housing and the transportation industry. It’s not your big utility plants pumping energy. So, when you switch out an internal combustion engine vehicle for an electric vehicle, although it’s still getting energy from that utility plant, the carbon impact is still way less than if you were utilizing the gas engine. That’s the strategy behind beneficial electrification. You electrify those things that are going to make the biggest impact on the climate, right now. And then eventually, we will be turning over and will replace even those fossil fuel energy sources with renewables. But right

to add to its portfolio, one in southwest Michigan and one in the Gaylord area.

Between them, those arrays will bring 300 megawatts of new solar power to Cherryland’s energy mix.

Cherryland is also waiting to hear back about a grant application for Inflation Reduction Act dollars, which Johnson said would help fund the development of a solar + battery rural microgrid project near Copemish. If built, that project would add another 20 megawatts of renewables to Cherryland’s portfolio.

“The biggest challenge with developing renewables right now is timeline and cost,” Johnson said. “It just takes a really, really long time to go through the permitting and grid interconnection processes. And, supply chain costs are driving up the cost of those installations as we work through the permitting process. We are working on all three of these renewable projects, but it will likely be years before any of them come online.”

Those challenges help explain why

Ekren

Cherryland has bet big on nuclear – a once-feared power source that remains controversial even in 2023. Since late summer alone, two Democratic governors – J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Roy Cooper of North Carolina – have vetoed bills that would have brought new nuclear reactors to their states.

Despite the lingering worries about nuclear power, the power source has also gotten a renewed push in recent years, thanks to the fact that, at least in an emissions sense, nuclear power is considered to be clean energy. Cherryland, with two-thirds of its carbon-free energy already coming from nuclear sources, is ready to build on that number in the years to come.

“We have made a significant commitment to purchase the majority of the carbon-free power produced by the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in southwest Michigan when it is reopened in a few years,” Johnson said. “That will certainly push us beyond 60% carbon-free, and could push us up into the 80-90% carbon-free range.”

Johnson

than it would if you didn’t do that.”

The claim: Relying too much on renewables is a dead-end road in seasonal areas like northern Michigan, because sources like solar panels are much less effective in the winter months.

Ekren: Seasonality is certainly a factor for renewables. In January 2023, for instance, renewables accounted for just 16.27% of TCLP’s total energy generation, compared to 46.54% in May 2022. Seasonality will always be a problem for renewable generation; spring and summer will always be bigger and more reliable months for producing energy from solar and other renewable sources than fall or winter. For us, the emphasis and the focus is going to be on energy storage. By storing their own energy, homeowners can produce power during renewable-friendly days, weeks or months and then subsist off stored energy the rest of the time – always with the backbone of the utility’s grid.

Vehicles are emerging as their own energy storage solution. Think of it like those little flashlights you used to get as a kid, where you could turn a hand crank and it would generate electricity to power the flashlight. We’re going to start seeing electric cars that have that capability, especially with what they call ‘V2G’ or ‘vehicle-to-grid’ vehicles. The desired future is that you’re

driving around doing something, you’re charging your car as you drive, you plug it back into your house, and eventually you will be powered by your car. That’s what the future is looking like, and it’s part of the reason we’re pushing so hard to emphasize the value of EVs right now.

The claim: Sweeping legislative reform is the best way to push renewable energy adoption.

Rachel Johnson, CEO, Cherryland Electric: Earlier this year, a group of Democratic lawmakers in the Michigan legislature introduced bills that would establish aggressive statewide goals around renewable energy adoption. One bill – HB 4759, which was introduced

by Betsy Coffia, a state rep for northern Michigan – would establish a renewable portfolio standard for utilities of 60% by 2030 and a target of 100% carbon-free energy by 2035. The bill would also demand that utilities include distributed generation programs accessible to

low-income communities and communities of color.

It ’s difficult for me to comment on a bill I haven’t seen. That said, my general thought is that all good energy policy must balance the need for reliability and affordability alongside mitigating environmental impact. We support carbon-free energy, as is evident by our leadership in that space, and feel nuclear energy is a vital part of a lower carbon future. A Clean Energy Standard should recognize nuclear alongside renewables. As renewables expand in Michigan, which will happen regardless of this legislation, we must take into account the strengths and limitations of current renewable technology and the timeline it will take to build large-scale renewable energy developments. We would encourage our lawmakers to aim for reasonable timelines that acknowledge currently available technologies and the challenges we currently face with supply chain delays, zoning and permitting delays, etc.

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ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING

THE POWERS THAT BE Local utility leaders discuss challenges, infrastructure and what’s next for a growing region

By Art Bukowski The Grand Traverse Region is poised to grow over the next several years, increasing natural gas and electricity demand. We caught up with leaders at several local utilities to see what’s on their radar as the region continues to develop. They include: Doug DeYoung, public affairs manager, Consumers Energy; Brandie Ekren: executive director, Traverse City Light & Power; Rachel Johnson, CEO, Cherryland Electric Co-op; and Robert A. Richard, president and chief operating officer of DTE Gas. What has changed for your utility as the region has grown over the past decade?

DeYoung: Consumers Energy provides electricity to over 54,000 homes and businesses in Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Kalkaska and Antrim counties.

We focus on meeting customers’ needs in a variety of ways, whether it’s providing power to a new subdivision or a business that expands or moves into the area. We always focus on reliability – ensuring the lights turn on 24/7 every day of the year – but today we’re contending with more severe weather that challenges the grid. The

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ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING

last four-year period in Michigan has seen wind speed averages twice as high as any similar period in the last 20 years.

In response, we have made upgrades to over 12 substations in these counties to improve reliability and safety for our customers. We have cleared over several hundred miles of lines and will continue in the coming years.

What has also changed is that we have forged a deeper relationship with customers. We’re providing households and businesses with energy-saving resources to keep bills low and reduce energy waste. We’re partnering with economic development officials more closely than ever to promote Michigan as a place to do business. And we’ve created a dedicated team of electric vehicle experts who provide guidance and financial incentives to customers who are the leading edge of a clean transportation transformation that we’re powering.

Johnson: Cherryland is a not-forprofit electric cooperative that serves 38,500 member homes and businesses across six counties. We serve in primarily rural areas and 95% of our services are residential. The biggest change we’ve seen is an increase in housing density in our service territory. Much of the housing boom in the region is happening outside of Traverse City proper and that means it’s happening in our neck of the woods. We are seeing more multi-unit

and subdivision projects, especially in the bedroom communities surrounding Traverse City. We have seen a nearly 5% growth in total meters on our system over the last five years. That growth has definitely put pressure on our new service process with more requests for electric service and the construction work it requires. We welcome the growth because it means our region is thriving and it gives us a chance to sell more electricity. But, it also means we’ve had to staff up in our engineering and operations departments and stock up in terms of access to the materials we need to support this growth.

Richard: DTE has served Michigan’s energy needs for 170 years, and natural gas has been a major part of the state’s growth engine for decades. We take pride in helping families heat their homes and cook their meals, and in helping businesses serve their customers, which allows them to generate income to pay their workers. We are committed to delivering safe, reliable and affordable natural gas to homes and businesses throughout Michigan – including the Traverse City area and the entire northern region. We’re doing this by expanding and strengthening our infrastructure to extend and reinforce natural gas delivery to more families and companies. For example, we recently completed work on a new

DeYoung line serving communities from Traverse City to Alpena. This and other similar projects demonstrate our confidence in northern Michigan’s continued growth and that we’re a proud partner in the communities we serve and where many of our employees call home. And we’re committed to supporting the community beyond their energy needs. Last year, the DTE Foundation awarded more than $500,000 to nonprofits located in northern Michigan.

While we’ve expanded our infrastructure to anticipate and meet the needs of the area’s development, we have also expanded our Home Protection Plus program, which gives peace of mind to

Richard many on fixed incomes, like seniors.

Many can’t afford costly repairs on appliances, and this program offers security to folks who worry about something breaking down and preventing them from having the heat they need through a cold winter.

Ekren: In response to a decade of population growth, we’ve not only scaled our renewable energy commitments but also evolved our focus to include decarbonization, energy efficiency, energy storage, and distributed energy resources. Our new business line for high-speed internet complements these advances. We’re also making strides in the electrification of transportation

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ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING

and buildings. As Traverse City comes together around broader environmental goals, we are at the forefront, offering a diverse range of innovative, sustainable solutions in both energy and telecom services.

What will your utility have to do to ensure a high level of service as the region continues to grow over the next 10-20 years?

Richard: DTE Gas takes a forward-looking approach to serving northern Michigan. The region will always be seen as an attractive place for families and businesses to plant new roots and thrive. The quality of life this area offers is tremendous, and DTE is investing now to meet the future needs of those the region attracts. We have an abundant supply of natural gas and are investing in a robust architecture for ongoing growth.

The availability of natural gas is a must for economic development. Our ongoing expansion, which is delivering natural gas to rural and rapidly expanding communities, will help fuel business growth. This in turn will increase tax bases and allow for additional quality of life improvements in cities and counties – education, municipal services and more. Our partnership with our communities and business partners will

continue to be at the center of all that we do.

We’re planning one such expansion project for Mesick and Buckley. When we extend our gas infrastructure to these communities, customers will save on their energy bills – since natural gas is cheaper than propane and heating oil – but it’s also cleaner than those fuels.

Natural gas is a win-win-win for the entire region: affordable energy for residents, the potential for more economic development, and it’s cleaner for the environment.

We also know many people would like to be served with renewable energy, and natural gas will be an essential element of a cleaner energy future. Natural gas will ensure that on days when the sun doesn’t shine or wind doesn’t blow, DTE and other electric providers will still be able to generate the electricity Michigan customers need. And as homes and businesses purchase more EVs, natural gas will help meet these increasing electricity demands as well.

Ekren: To maintain a high level of service amid potential development booms, we’ll continue to invest in grid modernization, incorporating energy storage, and distributed energy resources. Scalable, high-speed internet will be a cornerstone to meet growing telecom needs. We’ll advance in energy efficiency and the electrification of transpor-

Ekren

tation and buildings, focusing on both sustainability and reliability. Grid innovation is crucial; it will enable better integration of renewable sources, real-time monitoring, and demand management.

Through strong community partnerships and a collective approach, we’ll ensure that our utility services remain robust, sustainable and innovative.

Johnson: In today’s supply chain environment, getting equipment for new construction is one of our biggest challenges. Our supply chain networks are stressed resulting in long lead times.

And, the cost of the materials we use have gone up exponentially. So, we have to manage member expectations for both timelines and costs for upgrades or

Johnson

new connections to our system.

I remain optimistic about our ability to support long-term growth on our system. We have a dedicated team and the talent and resources to succeed. Cherryland’s distribution system is best-in-class and it shows with our industry-leading reliability. We keep the lights on really well and are prepared to continue to do so even with growth.

Power supply will be the bigger challenge, not just locally but regionally.

Growth in Michigan means growth in the demand for electricity and I worry we are not investing in the electric generating assets we will need to meet that growth long-term. Cherryland gets its power through Wolverine Power Coop-

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GREAT LAKES ORTHOPAEDIC CENTER URGENT ORTHO CLINIC

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ENERGY, UTILITIES & ENGINEERING

erative in Cadillac. They recently announced a commitment to support the reopening of Palisades Nuclear Power Plant and to purchase a majority of the output of the plant on our behalf. That will certainly help supply power for our current and future members. But, as a state, we need to be doing more to shore up our electric generation capacity if we are going to continue to grow.

DeYoung: Keeping the lights on is job #1 for Consumers Energy. We are stepping up our investments in the electric grid to ensure there are fewer and shorter power outages, particularly after severe storms. That means we’re clearing lines on so-called blue-sky days, when the weather allows us to trim trees or do other necessary work to make our system more resilient and reliable.

Recently, we announced a proposal to bury more power lines, protecting them from Mother Nature.

We’re also working to make sure we have enough energy to meet customers’ needs. Consumers Energy is committed to closing all of our coal-burning plants by 2025 – one of the most aggressive timetables in the country – and also replacing those plants with other energy sources. This past summer, we started operating the Covert Generating Station in southwest Michigan and are working with communities statewide to develop new solar fields that will start

providing carbon-free energy over the next generation.

What, if anything, should customers expect to see new or different from you in the next decade or so?

DeYoung: Consumers Energy will continue to develop new programs and approaches that serve our customers, who account for nearly two-thirds of Michigan’s 10 million residents. Our Clean Energy Plan provides the path toward a future when our electric grid will be carbon neutral, and we’re making similar commitments for our natural gas system. Clean energy will not come at the expense of what customers expect from us – our plan continues our commitment to providing energy safely, reliably and affordably.

Johnson: Our industry is undergoing significant disruptive change and I think technology is ultimately going to present solutions we haven’t even thought of yet. Many of those technologies will change how members use electricity in their homes and businesses and how they interact with the power grid.

Overall, I think things will get more dynamic and technologies that help with real-time balancing of demand for power and supply of power at the individual user level will become more prevalent.

From Cherryland, you will see us

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piloting those technologies and working to stay ahead of the curve. That will mean investments in new and emerging technologies and new opportunities for our members to partner with us. Our business model lends itself really well to this future direction. We were founded by local community members who wanted to ensure reliable, affordable power for rural communities. Our governance model inherently gives our members a stake in our future and I think that will benefit us as we tackle the evolution of our industry in the coming decade.

Ekren: Customers can expect a multi-faceted approach to utility services over the next decade. Beyond reliable electricity, we’ll be expanding our highspeed internet offerings. Our focus will also extend beyond just renewable energy to include a comprehensive sustainability strategy: energy storage, distributed energy resources, and grid modernization for more efficient real-time management. We’re planning for the electrification of transportation and buildings, further reducing our carbon footprint. Overall, the community will witness a utility that’s not just responsive but proactive, setting new standards in innovation and sustainability.

Richard: We know customers don’t often think about their natural gas. It’s there to heat your home or business, to cook your meals, warm the water for

your shower, and to dry your clothes.

If we’re doing our job right, you don’t have to think about these things. But we also want you to rest assured, knowing that as your area grows, we have already built out our ability to serve that growth.

We’ll also continue to support Michigan businesses. We have an ongoing pledge to source products and services locally whenever possible. This year, we’ve already spent $54 million with DTE suppliers in Grand Traverse County and nearly $2 billion with businesses throughout Michigan. Much of this investment ends up benefiting local families, helping meet their needs as well.

You should also expect that we’ll continue working to keep your natural gas affordable. We buy our gas supplies up to three years before we serve it to you, often during warmer months when the cost is low. This protects you from price spikes when the market is volatile. We store natural gas underground at several world-class facilities throughout the state so it’s ready when you need it, and we constantly monitor the system’s safe operation. You shouldn’t have to even think about these things. You should just know that we’re here, we’re growing with you, and we will continue to be a strong, reliable partner. We’re proud to be in northern Michigan and to call this region home.

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THE CONSULTING ECONOMY

‘A CLEAR PURPOSE’ TC-area leadership coaches on value, strategy

By Art Bukowski Andrew Lutes wasn’t completely sure what to expect when he signed up for leadership coaching, but being uncomfortable wasn’t on the radar.

Lutes is the director of operations at Commongrounds, a mixed-use complex in Traverse City that houses nonprofits, businesses and residential tenants. In 2021, he began coaching with Lucille Chrisman, a seasoned leadership coach who’s worked with hundreds of individuals and dozens of organizations in northern Michigan and beyond.

It was during those sessions that Chrisman did what most coaches say is their number one job – get clients to openly and honestly assess where they are, where they want to be, and most importantly, what they can do to get there.

“One of the reasons I’d recommend Lucille to any one at any level in their career, whether they’re just starting out or they’re an executive, C-level leader at a large organization, is that her approach makes it as comfortable as you can be in being uncomfortable,” Lutes said. “You’re pulling things out of dusty boxes in your mind or your heart or your experiences that you would not ever have been willing to unpack for any other reason.”

For Lutes, coaching gave him the ability to (among other things) set clear expectations and accountability for both coworkers and himself in a way that didn’t clash with his values or desire to be empathetic.

Thousands of other workers who hire professional coaches each year do it for widely varying reasons. Some struggle to functionally interact with their coworkers.

Others feel stuck or unsatisfied in their current positions or companies. Some need a clear path toward better earnings for their families, or better leadership skills to move their organizations forward.

The terminology of the coaches they seek is almost as varied: Life coaches.

Leadership coaches. Professional coaches.

Guides. Mentors. But coaching a person almost always involves all aspects of their lives, regardless of what a coach calls themselves.

“You cannot separate personal and professional coaching. There’s no line between them,” said Shea Petaja, a Traverse City-based coach. “How you function as a person is how you’re going

to function at work.”

To be clear, coaching isn’t therapy (despite some overlaps). Most coaches will tell you that the easiest way to differentiate the two is therapy generally looks backward to heal, while coaching looks forward and focuses on goals and growth – professional or otherwise. Coaches are also careful to stay within their areas of expertise, avoiding things better left to other trained professionals.

“We’re not taking the place of therapy or counseling. I refer people to therapy all the time. As a coach, I’m forward-thinking,” Chrisman said. “I’m taking a look at where you are, where you want to go, and I help you to get there.”

As with therapy, however, coaches stress the importance of making sure the two parties have a strong connection.

“I can’t help everybody, and I’d be a bad coach if I thought I could,” said Traverse City-based coach Terry Porter.

“That’s why I offer a free consultation to all of my clients to see if we’re a good fit.”

A clear purpose Jonathan Pool was a professional engineer for 20 years before he realized what he liked most about his work was seeking clarity through strategy and finding creative solutions to thorny problems. So he became a coach, and for more than 15 years now he’s helped clients across the country conquer their own thorny issues through coaching.

He and other coaches have found that clients of all stripes can have deep dissatisfaction at work if they can’t pin down a sense of purpose. Figure out what gives you meaning and fulfillment – and what sets you apart from others – and you have what Pool says you’re made to do.

“Purpose inspires,” Pool said. “Clear purpose is the foundation piece of what I do with clients. I guide to clear purpose first, and then coach and set solid strategic goals. We craft a vivid picture of where they want to be…and create a plan of action.”

Porter spent years as a pastor before becoming certified coach about five years ago. Like Pool, he spoke of the pitfalls of a person who lacks purpose and/or doesn’t feel aligned with their profession or company.

Chrisman

Witkowski

“We’re not taking the place of therapy or counseling.

I refer people to therapy all the time. As a coach, I’m forward-thinking. I’m taking a look at where you are, where you want to go, and I help you to get there.”

– Lucille Chrisman, owner, Coach-Works “If my client is in an occupation where the core values of the company don’t match their core values as an individual, they’re going to be frustrated,” Porter said.

“They’re going to be depressed, they’re going to be anxious, and that’s going to bleed into their personal lives.”

So, how to fix something like this?

Each coach has their own practices or strategies for helping their clients find success and fulfillment, but every coach interviewed for this story said their job is to help guide their clients to self-realizations that they are very unlikely to arrive at on their own.

“My job is to listen very carefully, but it’s also about asking some pretty powerful questions. And it’s not about me having the answer to these questions, it’s about making visible to them the things they may have not seen before,” Chrisman said. “My job is to help them discover, to help them poke around enough until they say, ‘Oh, I get it. Here’s what I’ve got to do.’ They’ve got to own it.”

The solutions are not always drastic moves like quitting a job or reinventing

oneself. Porter spoke of a client who was able to successfully lobby his superiors for different responsibilities, ultimately helping both the company and the individual thrive. Regardless of where the process takes someone, most coaches are adamant about identifying clear goals.

“Coaching can seem like fluff without goals,” said Angie Witkowski, a Kalkaska native who now coaches clients across the country. “When they’re done with the coaching engagement, I want them to feel like they’ve achieved something as a result of this.”

Improving the brand Witkowski is a former U.S. Marine, New York Times bestselling author, University of Michigan MBA-holder and small business owner (she and her husband Ed own Morsels in downtown Traverse City).

She now primarily focuses on coaching in the executive realm.

Many of her clients have attended countless talks and read endless books about improving their leadership, but

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THE CONSULTING ECONOMY Petaja

Porter

Pool

Jonathan Pool’s Five Tips for Work-Life Balance in Northern Michigan First things first Stephen Covey was right! Time-block the important stuff (as in schedule it on your calendar!) and don’t succumb to the tyranny of the urgent.

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still find significant value in the coaching process.

“The people that I coach, they say ‘Great, I read books, I get exposed to all of this material, but I need a partner to think out loud with, to brainstorm with me, to hold me accountable.’” Witkowski said. “I like to think about myself as a safe place for leaders to think out loud and to strategize and … come up with a plan.”

Chrisman, who also focuses primarily on the leadership realm, echoed those sentiments.

“The higher up you go, the lonelier it gets,” she said. “You need a trusted, confidential relationship where you can get into new ways of thinking, skillsets that you’ve never had before, so you can really take a look at what’s working and what’s not.”

Witkowski has also spent time helping her clients become well-versed in social media and personal branding, which can be useful for attracting great employees and/or standing out from the crowd.

“Right now, one of the hottest themes

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I’m encountering is working with executives on their professional brand.

You look around at your colleagues, and everyone is doing great work. So how do you distinguish yourself from your peers so when that next opportunity arises, you’re the one that the CEO or the boss wants to put into that position?” Witkowski says. “We’re seeing much more of a trend of professionals developing their own thought leadership as a way to further market themselves and what they have to offer.”

Do your creative thinking on the move Get out of your normal workspace – outside if you can. Let movement clear your head and lead to breakthrough thinking.

Appreciate where we live Go somewhere new, or do something different with an eye toward experiencing the beauty and peacefulness of this area.

Unplug from the noise Turn off all your devices, step back and spend a few hours to get clarity on the big picture and what is really important at least once a month.

40 NOVEMBER 2023

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

THE CONSULTING ECONOMY

LEAVE IT TO THE EXPERTS

Qureshi

Blanck

TC-based consultants are trusted advisors to world-wide clientele

By Craig Manning Tech startups. Fortune 500 companies.

Government agencies. Professional sports teams. Successful touring musicians.

These are just a few of the types of organizations that rely on consultants based in northern Michigan for guidance on growth and scalability, culture, conflict resolution, and more. The TCBN sat down with two of those consultants – Attia Qureshi, who does business as Attia Qureshi Consulting; and Amanda Blanck, who co-owns an agency called Deviate along with her husband Ryan – to learn about their expertise, their big-name clientele, and how they advise teams all around the world from Traverse City.

A native to southeastern Michigan – and an alumna of the University of Michigan – Qureshi never anticipated that she’d find her way back to the mitten after finishing undergrad. For years, she bounced from big city to big city – first San Francisco, then Denver, then Boston – consulting for major brands like IBM, budding startups in the tech scene, and everything in between.

For those companies, Qureshi became the expert on things like analytics, ROI, marketing, product, and more. But a stint at MIT earning her master's degree in user-centered design exposed her to the field of negotiation and conflict resolution, which she says fascinated her.

“I realized I had seen a lot of tense situations arise in the startup world that weren't effectively managed, but just kept growing and growing and completely obliterated the organization,” she said.

So began a new journey for Qureshi –

one that continues to define her career now. These days, she and her business are trusted confidantes for rapidly growing organizations looking to mend their dysfunctional culture.

As Qureshi explains it, the attributes that make a company successful in its fledgling stages aren’t necessarily the same ingredients necessary to handle an explosion of growth.

That’s where she says she comes in.

In all these areas and others, Qureshi has lent a hand to buzzy tech startups, major insurance companies, and other clients as they’ve worked to pave paths forward. Though she takes on nonprofit and pro-bono work regionally, virtually all her work occurs outside of the state, and she said she’s typically traveling two to three weeks per month to provide face-toface, on-site assistance to companies all over the world.

“In sports, you can slice those groups up into a lot of pieces of the pie, but basically, you have the business side and then you have the athlete side.

We work on both sides of the organization, depending on the needs.” – Amanda Blanck, co-owner, Deviate “...(W)hen you're doubling in size – in terms of revenue, but also in terms of people – trying to absorb that change within a culture can be hugely impactful to the people who have been at the organization for 10, 15, 20 years,” she said.

Assisting an organization with that kind of growth can be complex. Training organizational leaders to take on bigger management roles is a big one. Advising businesses on how they can navigate and resolve potentially existential internal conflicts is another. Assisting with strategic planning and goal-setting initiatives that provide a roadmap for sustainable growth is maybe the biggest.

Despite that fact, Qureshi eventually embraced her Michigan roots – and took an opportunity to put down new ones here in Traverse City. Beyond her consulting work, she’s a lecturer for the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, where she uses experiences and examples from her day-to-day work to teach the next generation about negotiation and conflict resolution.

As for what brought her to northern Michigan? It was falling in love with a cherry farmer – her husband, Isaiah Wunsch of Old Mission Peninsula’s Wunsch Farm.

“I met (Isaiah) and realized that or-

chards are very hard to move,” Qureshi laughed. “So, we decided I would give it a shot and move to Traverse City while I was starting my consulting business, and see if I could make it work from up here.”

While Qureshi admits that running a consulting firm with global reach from rural northern Michigan hasn’t always been easy, the change in perspective has also yielded some notable opportunities.

Case-in-point was a pre-COVID, U.S. State Department consulting project for the couple that arose in South America – one that likely wouldn’t have happened if Qureshi hadn’t been getting a crash course in the world of agriculture from her husband’s family.

The couple was chosen to go to Colombia, where the government was trying to transition farmers away from coca production – for cocaine – and get them to produce other crops.

“So, Isaiah was helping on the farming and business side – as in, ‘How can you establish a solid ag business that can sustain and be successful and positive?’

– and I was working with the farmers, who were developing cooperatives, to figure out how they could work together effectively,” she said.

The goal in Colombia, Qureshi says, was to create functional associations of 1520 farms, which would then work together to convert their crops from coca to other things – like oranges – and then continue collaborating on other steps, like production, harvest and sale.

The business model was completely new and created internal conflict, Qureshi says, because the farms had never had to work together before.

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

41

THE CONSULTING ECONOMY “They had never had to figure out how (to) cooperate, and I was responsible for helping them do that," she said. "It was incredibly meaningful work.”

It was December 2019 when Amanda Blanck and her husband Ryan decided to move themselves, their performance coaching company and their growing family to Traverse City.

The young family left Nashville, Tennessee when their son was six months old in search of more natural surroundings, she says, "because that’s our lifestyle."

“Even when we started (Deviate) 15 years ago, in the living room of a two-bedroom apartment in Richmond, Virginia, we had this vision of living in a place like this,” Blanck said.

Today, the company’s primary clients include the New York Jets, the Minnesota Vikings, the Houston Texans, the Dallas Cowboys, and soon, the Detroit Red Wings. For those organizations and others, the Blancks lead “multi-year culture initiatives to transform their people,” with the idea that “if you create extraordinary people, you create extraordinary work.”

“We’re the people behind the scenes – and sometimes in front of the scenes – enabling these big cultural transforma-

tions to happen,” Amanda said.

What does a company culture initiative look like for a major sporting institution?

Despite the high-profile nature of something like the NFL, Blanck is quick to note that culture work for a professional

cally, you have the business side and then you have the athlete side," she said. "We work on both sides of the organization, depending on the needs.”

In a sporting enterprise, one common issue Deviate helps with is an "old school"

“I met (Isaiah Wunsch) and realized that orchards are very hard to move. So, we decided I would give it a shot and move to Traverse City while I was starting my consulting business, and see if I could make it work from up here.”

– Attia Qureshi, principal, Attia Qureshi Consulting football team or a pro hockey organization isn’t so different from working on cultural factors for any other type of enterprise.

Amanda says that sports, like in any industry, include many stakeholder groups, which means partnering with the most critical stakeholders to strengthen the whole system.

“In sports, you can slice those groups up into a lot of pieces of the pie, but basi-

way of coaching that Amanda says is not as relevant anymore.

“The generations are coming up and and demanding a different way of coaching and engagement," she said. Deviate often works with professional coaching staffs to devise more positive approaches that are more acceptable through a modern lens, thereby creating a reverberation of cultural changes throughout the organization.

Deviate’s clientele isn’t made up exclusively of professional sports teams, but Amanda says the company’s work tends to have a similar goal of solving relationship issues within an organizational culture. Regardless of client, she says the couple sees their work as “all human,” and therefore can use similar tactics – regardless of industry sector – to help foster attitudes that help organizations function and thrive.

In the arts and entertainment world, for instance, Amanda noted that Deviate has helped major artists iron out issues with their agents, reinvigorated communication that kept famous bands from breaking up, and more.

“We’re just passionate about the power of teams,” she said.

Part of that passion means enabling leaders to be the ultimate coach within their systems, says Amanda, so that they can create transformational value within for their current and future generations of stakeholders.

“At the end of the day, we believe that if you can create leaders and cultures that people love, you're going to create high-value, sustainable results," she said.

"So that’s what we do.”

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Estate planning can be for everyone There’s a common myth that estate planning is only for the wealthy; however, in reality, most people should consider an estate plan.

Bank accounts, investment accounts, 401(k) or 403(b) plan accounts, your house, cars, jewelry, family heirlooms. Your estate may include all this and more, and your plan can determine what happens to all these when you die. A good plan will also focus on taking care of you as you age or if you become ill or incapacitated.

It’s all about control

Estate planning is about helping take control of your future, and asset management is only part of the picture. For example, a will is an essential part of an estate plan, and for parents, having one is the only way to name a guardian to raise your minor children if both parents die.

A well-designed plan will also include documents designating who can communicate with health care professionals and make decisions about what type of care you should receive if something happens and you can’t make those decisions yourself.

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44 NOVEMBER 2023

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

THE CONSULTING ECONOMY

By Rick Haglund

‘SOPHISTICATED RURAL’ Economic development expert touts TC’s offerings

Traverse City has officially caught the attention of one of America’s leading experts on economic development and urban studies. Richard Florida, professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a Distinguished Fellow at NYU’s School of Professional Studies, says Traverse City has all the right ingredients to flourish. The TCBN caught up with the public speaker and frequent media contributor several months after he visited Mackinac Island for a policy conference.

TCBN: At the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference earlier this year, you said you thought the ‘ace in the hole’ for Michigan is lake access to the north, and that if you want to develop a talent strategy, look to Traverse City.

Could you explain that?

Florida: I think the ace in the hole with the Traverse City area is the airport.

It’s not just that Traverse City is beautiful and on the lakefront. That airport gives the region connectivity to major destinations like Chicago, New York and Washington. I just think northern Michigan is a place that is clearly not just remote workers, but rich people from the Midwest and from the coasts are going to flock to more and more. And, of course, the Traverse City area has become sophisticated rural, and there’s a big draw to that.

TCBN: You also talked about the importance of boomerang kids who left here for other places and want to come back to be with family.

Florida: I think the issue in Michigan with talent is in many ways misunderstood, including misunderstood locally. Michigan does a spectacular job of retaining talent.

It has one of the highest rates of retaining its college graduates of any state in the nation. Where Michigan loses talent is at the super-high end. So the really critical thing in Michigan is to focus on retaining the superstar talent. Most of them go to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Now when you have a family, when you and your partner decide to have children, you have a whole portfolio of places to choose from. If I have parents or grandparents, or brothers and sisters in a place, that’s terrific because my kids will grow up around their cousins and I’ll have some help with childcare, right?

Photos by Daria Malysheva

TCBN: What other factors could make the Traverse City area and Michigan in general more attractive to talent?

Florida: I’ve been saying for a while now that the bloom is off the rose in the Sunbelt. We’ve had a 50-year experiment in the movement of America southward.

I’m not saying that experiment is over, but I think we’re going to see in coming decades a shift back to the north. When you really think about climate change and what is happening to coastal destina-

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

45

THE CONSULTING ECONOMY

tions as heat waves grip the nation, northern Michigan is an attractive place in the country to spend a good part of your time.

And the final thing I’ll add that’s really important is this whole revitalization of American manufacturing. The car has become something new and different. It’s electric, powered by a battery. It’s run by software. It’s built by robots. It’s a cool thing to be involved in. So for all those reasons, yeah, I’m pretty high, much higher than I would have been a decade ago, on the prospects for Michigan, and especially northern Michigan.

TCBN: What else strikes you as something important Traverse City is doing to develop talent?

Florida: One of the things Traverse City has done is that Northwestern Michigan College has partnered with various universities so that you can get a four-year degree while living there. I think what Traverse City is doing to increase its quality of life to make itself more interesting is great. If you look at economic growth, there are three keys to it: attract talent, build up your quality of place and make yourself an exciting lifestyle destination.

And if you have a lake and wine and food, that’s great. And that airport is essential.

TCBN: There has long been a tension in Traverse City between those who promote growth and those who want to limit growth

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and preserve the city’s small-town character.

How does the city balance those interests?

Florida: Look, I think this tension is very real, particularly in resort destinations. The issue is you’re trying to make things work for you. And there is this influx and increase in vacation rentals, particularly short-term rentals that make places less affordable. So people get really angry and say, ‘I want my kids to be able to afford the same quality of life I’ve had.’

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So it’s understandable, and people start to say, ‘Let’s limit growth.’

I think we’ve seen it in resort community after resort community. As those communities become hot, real estate becomes more expensive and locals get priced out.

I think this is a really important issue. I think it’s going to take a process of really working with the community to help it understand how growth can benefit everyone and not just the truly rich.

TCBN: Work is progressing on a train route connecting Ann Arbor and Traverse City. Is this just kind of a gimmicky tourist train or do you see it a having a broader economic development benefit?

Florida: If the train could connect Detroit, Ann Arbor and Traverse City and be high-speed rail, you’ve almost got yourself an expanded metropolitan region. I have no clue what it would cost, but if there’s money to do it and it’s feasible, why not?

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TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

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48 NOVEMBER 2023

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

THE CONSULTING ECONOMY

IT Power Tools: Small businesses that invest in IT are more likely to thrive tions, expand their customer base, and enter new markets, thereby contributing to economic growth both locally and globally.

Cybercrime

By Tim Cerny, columnist

With cybercrime on the rise, it is hard to imagine there are still businesses out there that don’t recognize the importance of investing in IT support and security.

Technology and the people, processes, and tools to support it are a cost of doing business, but it goes beyond that. Investing in IT infrastructure, support and security also has a significant economic impact. With so many factors at play, it is critical that Michigan businesses do what they can to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Businesses that invest in IT are more likely to grow and thrive. With robust IT support, organizations can scale opera-

The global impact of cybercrime is on the rise, and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are increasingly becoming targets. According to Verizon’s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 43% of cyberattacks were aimed at small businesses.

Investing in IT security measures such as firewalls, antivirus software and employee training can significantly reduce the risk of a costly data breach.

However, even with the best-of-the-best hardware and monitoring tools in place, your people will always be the weakest line of defense. A simple email from a vendor with updated payment instructions recently led to the loss of more $250,000 by a local company. Having procedural checks and balances in place and knowing how to identify a spoofed email would have prevented this cyber incident.

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With information so readily available on the internet, it is easy enough for a hacker to gather what they need to make an educated attempt to compromise your systems. Ongoing cybersecurity awareness training is a MUST for any business. A short video or two and a few quiz questions won’t cut it. There are a variety of ways to educate your staff throughout the year and regularly take the pulse of your organization’s security awareness. If you aren’t taking advantage of those tools now, reach out to your IT resource and ask for their help. Training your team to help protect your confidential data or your hard-earned dollars is a worthwhile investment.

everything you store in the cloud – never assume that to be the case – but rest assured knowing there are reliable options.

In addition to improved access, cloud computing can reduce infrastructure costs by 30%. That huge server that’s been taking up space for so long? Not only can you stop worrying about security patches and updates, or renewing warranty coverage, or repair and replacement costs, but you can also free up the valuable real estate in your office! Cloud subscription services eliminate the need for large capital investments for on-premise equipment. By migrating to the cloud, SMBs can optimize IT spending and allocate resources more efficiently.

Cloud Computing

IT Support for Remote Workers

The cloud isn’t a scary, dark place filled with loud rolls of thunder or fiery bolts of lightning. When properly utilized, cloud services are a virtual safe haven for data and a proven cornerstone of IT infrastructure. It’s important to verify the backup systems you have in place will protect

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of cloud technology and remote work. As of 2023, 40.9% of full-time employees in the United States are fully remote or work a hybrid schedule. The number has decreased since 2020, but remote work is here to stay on some level.

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

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THE CONSULTING ECONOMY Investing in IT support for remote work infrastructure not only ensures business continuity but also opens up opportunities to hire talent from anywhere, sometimes reducing labor costs.

Talented employees are valuable assets to any company – and in today’s job market, attracting and retaining talent can be a challenge. It may not be one of the things you consider when you think about recruiting, but a recent study by CompTIA found that 39% of employees consider an organization’s investment in technology when choosing an employer.

At Safety Net, and many of our clients, entire teams are equipped with up-to-date technology that allows employees to work from anywhere. Flexible work policies are most successful when an employee has the same peripherals at their home office as they do at the company headquarters. Sure, offering a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and headset for each person’s home office when they already have them in the traditional office is an added expense. It is also an investment in the satisfaction and efficiency of your team.

Providing a technology-forward work environment with the proper support resources not only attracts talent but also retains existing employees, ultimately saving on recruitment and training costs.

Updated Tools from Microsoft Kudos to you if you have invested in the tech you need for your team! But...are you taking full advantage of the tools you

have? Collaboration has never been easier than it is with Microsoft (Office) 365.

Instant messages and all your business phone calls in Teams, shared files in OneDrive, organization-wide posts on SharePoint – we are never more than a click or two away from our colleagues or information that is vital to our jobs. Microsoft is constantly improving their product offerings and while most apps function in much the same way they always have, they have definitely evolved. Microsoft’s help tools and YouTube are great resources for learning how to maximize the collaboration potential of M365.

Partnering with IT Experts How frustrating is it when a program freezes or shuts down while you’re in the middle of a huge project? Have you ever given up on printing that proposal for an important meeting because you’re running late, and the printer is offline? Technology can drag down productivity and even employee morale when it’s not working correctly. But properly functioning technology can simplify processes, increase efficiency, and enhance productivity. Ensuring everything from the receptionist’s phone to the owner’s laptop to the entire company’s backups are in working order is a daunting task. Relying on a non-IT person to solve IT problems may be a short-term band-aid. Partnering with a team of experts who can address the root cause of an issue and resolve it is a more reliable, permanent solution. In fact, 60%

of SMBs have reported an increase in employee productivity after investing in IT support services. Professionally managed IT systems reduce downtime, streamline processes, and enable employees to work more effectively, translating to higher productivity and cost savings.

The economic impact of investing wisely in IT support and security is significant. By enhancing efficiency, reducing downtime, protecting against cyber threats, ensuring compliance, and fostering growth, small businesses are reaping the benefits of their IT investments. As

technology continues to evolve, SMBs that prioritize IT support and security will remain competitive, resilient and better poised for long-term success in an increasingly digital world.

Tim Cerny is the CEO of Safety Net, an award-winning IT Managed Service Provider, celebrating 20 years of great IT in 2023. With two Michigan-based offices, Safety Net supports small and mid-sized organizations throughout northern Michigan and Metro Detroit. Find out more about Tim and Safety Net at https://www.safetynet-inc.com.

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EXPOSURES

The newly-elected 2024 Home Builders Association board of directors includes Brian Terhune, Terhune Construction; Dane Englert, The Ferraro Group; Dan Paulson, current HBA president; Terry Peach, Kingsley Lumber & Hardware; Matt Waligorski, Highstreet Peterson McGregor Insurance; and Julie Bravender, Lake Michigan Credit Union. (Not pictured: Colin Bushong, CMB Construction.)

Marjie Rich, executive director of Generations Ahead; Jürgen Griswold, board director with Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation (GTRCF) and Youth Advisory Council Leadership team member; and Yarrow Brown, executive director of Housing North, gathered at the Sept. 14 GTRCF Impact Gathering at the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.

Jerry Ring, vice chair of the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation (GTRCF) board of directors, and David Mengebier, president & CEO of GTRCF, at the recent GTRCF Impact Gathering at the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.

Jodi Wolfe | Escrow Officer

Phyllis and Bill Donberg attended the recent GTRCF Impact Gathering at the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.

Attends comic cons.

Uses her powers for good.

Like all our people, Jodi is a superhero for our clients. Her experience, reliability and commitment ensures your transaction will be a complete success. If you’re buying or selling a home or property, ask for Access. We’re the local title experts.

Suttons Bay, Traverse City • accesstitleagency.com

Access Title Agency_Jodi Wolfe_Ad_10.25 x 4.291_v1.indd 1

10/5/23 11:02 AM

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TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

EXPOSURES

Kiwanis Club of Traverse City recently inducted new officers at Kirkbride Hall. Pictured: Jimmie Chestnut, VP, program chair; Leisa Eckerle-Hankins, president-elect; Ellen Jabour, president; Wade VanHouzen, past president; and Marc Judge, past president.

Ann Corner, the first resident of The Village at LaFranier Woods, cut the ribbon during the grand opening of the new retirement community. Corner was honored along with Dixie Roethlisberger, who sold the land. Pictured l-r: Garfield Township supervisor Chuck Korn, Dennis Reenders, Matt Reenders, Scott Reenders, Lauren Gowman, Megan Schwetz, Shirley Woodruff, Ann Corner, Melissa Satterfield (behind Ann), Dixie Roethlisberger, Mackie Woodruff, and Traverse Connect ambassadors Brayton Farr and Jamie Kirchner.

The Safety Net staff gathered at The Delamar on Oct. 12 to mark its 20th anniversary.

Gabriel Harris, Maria Purvis, Cam Brown, Vernon Lalone and Madison Ford at 20Fathoms’ 5th anniversary party October 12.

EXPOSURES

Traverse Connect recently helped marked the opening of Victoria Farms with developer O’Grady Development Co. The business is operated by Kevin and Kyle O’Grady.

At TC Ticker’s October Recess at Seven Hills on OMP, door prize winners included Susan Wilson, Kathy Peipert, Ryan Griffin-Stegink, who won gift cards to Tinker Studios, Old Mission Distilling & Mission Proper, and Byron Pettigrew, who won $2,500 in business advertising from Blarney Stone Broadcasting.

Beth Holmes-Bozung, Brenda McLellan and Michele Socha mingled at Safety Net’s 20th anniversary party held at The Delamar Oct. 12.

Seven Hills, a community center on Old Mission Peninsula, was the setting of TC Ticker’s October 4 Recess.

Attendees enjoyed Mission Proper fare and Old Mission Distilling wine and craft cocktails.

the new retirement community. Corner was honored along with Dixie Roethlisberger, who sold the land. Pictured l-r: Garfield Township supervisor Chuck Korn, Dennis Reenders, Matt Reenders, Scott Reenders, Lauren Gowman, Megan Schwetz, Shirley Woodruff, Ann Corner, Melissa Satterfield (behind Ann), Dixie Roethlisberger, Mackie Woodruff, and Traverse Connect ambassadors Brayton Farr and Jamie Kirchner.

Gabriel Harris, Maria Purvis, Cam Brown, Vernon Lalone and Madison Ford at 20Fathoms’ 5th anniversary party October 12.

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

53

EXPOSURES

Traverse Connect recently helped marked the opening of Victoria Farms with developer O’Grady Development Co. The business is operated by Kevin and Kyle O’Grady.

At TC Ticker’s October Recess at Seven Hills on OMP, door prize winners included Susan Wilson, Kathy Peipert, Ryan Griffin-Stegink, who won gift cards to Tinker Studios, Old Mission Distilling & Mission Proper, and Byron Pettigrew, who won $2,500 in business advertising from Blarney Stone Broadcasting.

Beth Holmes-Bozung, Brenda McLellan and Michele Socha mingled at Safety Net’s 20th anniversary party held at The Delamar Oct. 12.

Seven Hills, a community center on Old Mission Peninsula, was the setting of TC Ticker’s October 4 Recess.

Attendees enjoyed Mission Proper fare and Old Mission Distilling wine and craft cocktails.

Nominate a Family Today!

Nominate a deserving family and tell us their story! Why do they need a new high efficiency Trane Comfort system?

Nominated families should reside in the Five County area.

54 NOVEMBER 2023

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

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TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NOVEMBER 2023

BOOK REVIEW

By Chris Wendel

Kristi Coulter’s recently unveiled memoir “Exit Interview” takes us on a 12-year journey within Amazon, the world’s fourth-largest conglomerate.

Leaving behind her comfortable, uninspiring job in Michigan, Coulter ventured into Amazon’s Seattle headquarters in 2006. It’s important to remember that this was a time when Amazon’s primary focus was books and videos and the landmark advent of Apple’s first iPhone was a year off.

Joining the media marketing division for the Amazon website, Coulter, like her colleagues, found herself navigating a new role with limited guidelines. As a gifted writer driven by ambition, Coulter herself wrestled with Amazon’s anxious culture, shedding light on the inherent challenges of excelling in a tech-driven environment steeped in a male-dominated culture. The absence of clear systems bred ongoing stress, particularly for her female team members who were often reduced to tears and plagued by the fear of falling short.

In early performance reviews Coulter is told that she needs to be more self-assured in team and management situations. When she leans in and asserts herself, she’s told that she’s too forceful.

Later on, a male senior vice president tells her in a team meeting that an idea she is presenting is stupid and then tells Coulter herself that she is stupid.

During her tenure, Coulter donned various hats in service to Amazon. From writing website copy for books and DVDs to spearheading software development, from overseeing the world’s largest translation publisher to orchestrating management retreats, she even channeled Jeff Bezos’ voice as the company’s founder and then CEO. In her encounters with Bezos, he emerged as less eccentric than the public perception. Yet, his influence permeated the company, urging a relentless pursuit of elevating Amazon ever upward.

Throughout her Amazon career, Coulter grappled with recurring themes that defined her experience. The weight of escalating expectations in a rapidly-expanding organization, coupled with ceaseless demands for extended work hours and lofty objectives, formed a relentless work environment. Coulter does well describing the interactions with and the personalities of her coworkers, demonstrating the hectic, build-the-airplane-asyou’re-flying it atmosphere that existed at that time (and may still exist).

As Coulter’s years at Amazon passed, the company growth amplified the pressure to excel, intensifying Coulter’s internal struggle. Her innate drive and ambition, though a source of strength, fanned the flames of mounting anxiety. This building pressure culminated in a personal decision to become sober, which protected her wellbeing and helped her refocus her priorities.

Throughout her odyssey, Coulter’s narrative also underscores the challenges

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CARE FOR ALL AGES

EXIT INTERVIEW The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career

By Kristi Coulter women face in forging careers and excelling in such a demanding environment.

Compensation within the company hinged largely on salary and stock options, a system that often left women passed over for opportunities or relegated to lower rungs when life demanded their attention.

There are various points in “Exit Strategy” where I questioned why Coulter remained at Amazon as long as she did.

After her 12 years of dedicated service, Coulter’s bid for a higher director’s role was met with a disappointing snub. Opting for a paid leave of absence, she seized the opportunity to chart a post-Amazon path. Upon her return, she witnessed her counterparts leaving Amazon.

After finally making the decision to step down, Coulter penned an article with a focus on her experiences and personal challenges. Met with initial reluctance from traditional outlets, she found a receptive audience in “Medium Magazine.” The response was nothing short of extraordinary, catapulting Coulter to acclaim as a successful author.

If “Exit Interview” is to be categorized as a business category, it stands as a refreshing departure from the typical formulaic, ego-driven projects that often saturate the genre. Viewed as a memoir, Coulter’s narrative is marked by wit, humor, and a relatability that invites readers behind the curtain of Amazon’s sprawling empire and, at the same time, to carefully consider their own careers.

Chris Wendel works for Northern Initiatives, a mission-based lending organization based in Marquette, Michigan. Northern Initiatives provides funding to businesses throughout Michigan and online business resources through its “Initiate” program to small business owners throughout the United States.

Wendel lives and works in Traverse City.

SERVICES & SUPPORT FOR EVERYONE Crisis Intervention Services

• 24/7 Crisis Line 833-295-0616 • Crisis Welcoming Center, 105 Hall Street, Traverse City, 8A-5P, M-F • Mobile Crisis Teams for Adults and Children

Integrated Health Services - Integrated Health Clinic • Primary health care clinic for anyone in the community, all ages, all/no insurance. Accepting new patients. Call for appointment: 231-935-3062.

Kandu Island Drop-In Center – a safe place to be, for all, on South

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WHEN IN DOUBT, CALL US! 24/7 Crisis Line:

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Customer Service:

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TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

NEWSMAKERS

1 // DAVID POWELL

2 // JACQUELYN ABEYTA

3 // APRIL ADADO

4 // KELLY AUBRY

5 // NICHOLUS KOPACKI

6 // JOSEPH YANCHO D.D.S.

7 // MICHAEL SAAD

8 // BRAYTON FARR

9 // ELLEN JABOUR

10 // CRYSTAL CLARK

>> BANKING & FINANCE 1 - David Powell has joined TBA Credit Union in Traverse City as mortgage manager. With more than 25 years in the mortgage industry, Powell previously worked as an underwriting and processing manager at a credit union and has worked with various mortgage companies.

>> EDUCATION

4 - Kelly Aubry is a new faculty member at the GVSU Traverse City Regional Center. A physical therapist by background, she teaches in the Allied Health Sciences program.

5 - Nicholus Kopacki has been promoted to assistant professor for GVSU’s Physician Assistant Studies program. He continues his role as site director-TC campus and assistant program director for GVSU’s Physician Assistant department.

The Grand Valley State University Traverse City Regional Center at the University Center announces the following personnel news: >> HEALTH CARE 2 - Jacquelyn Abeyta is now assistant director of student engagement. She most recently served as student services coordinator and has been with GVSU since 2001.

3 - April Adado has joined the GVSU Traverse City faculty in the Physician Assistant program. She first joined GVSU’s Grand Rapids-based faculty in 2021 as an assistant professor.

6 - Joseph Yancho D.D.S. has joined his father, Dr. Phillip Yancho, in general practice at Yancho Family Dentistry in Traverse City after serving five years as a U.S. Navy dentist.

senior vice president and CIO. Saad also has worked at healthcare consulting firm TrustPoint Solutions, and previous to that was the vice president and chief technology officer and interim CIO for Henry Ford Health in Detroit.

>> INSURANCE 8 - Brayton Farr has joined Traverse Benefits in Traverse City as director of new sales development. Farr brings an extensive background in insurance to his new position.

9 - Ellen Jabour of the Highstreet Peterson McGregor insurance agency in Traverse City was recently named president of the Kiwanis Club of Traverse City.

>> REAL ESTATE 7 - Michael Saad has been named chief information officer (CIO) for Munson Healthcare. Saad joins the health system from the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, where he served as

10 - Crystal Clark has joined KW Northern Michigan in Traverse City as an agent.

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NEWSMAKERS

12 // GRETA ZENNER

11 // MICHELLE KEENE

11 - Michelle Keene has joined EXIT Realty Paramount in Traverse City as a realtor.

12 - Greta Zenner has joined the Traverse City office of Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors as an agent.

>> OTHER 13 - Karlie Action has joined the Northern Michigan

13 // KARLIE ACTION

14 // DAWN FRAISER

Angels group in Traverse City as the operations assistant.

14 - Dawn Fraiser recently joined general contractor Spence Brothers in Traverse City as office manager.

Fraiser has more than eight years of experience in the construction industry.

15 - Jacqueline Holm, Traverse City Pit Spitters general manager, has been named Executive of the Year for the 2023 season by the Northwoods League.

In Holm’s first season, the Pit Spitters set franchise

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15 // JACQUELINE HOLM

16 // BELLA SCALISE

records in overall attendance and nightly average attendance and hosted the highest-attended Great Lakes All-Star Game in Northwoods League history.

16 - Bella Scalise has joined Events North in Traverse City as meeting and event manager. Scalise manages Events North client meetings and operational staff.

She previously worked with the company in 2020 as event coordinator.

Please send Newsmakers by the 10th of the month to news@tcbusinessnews.com

Economic Forecast 2024 Join the Builders Exchange of Northwest Michigan as we partner with the

Associated Builders and Contractors Western Michigan to present the 2024 Economic Forecast for the construction industry:

“Show Me The Money” 2024 Economic Forecast Breakfast

Friday, December 1, 2023 Hagerty Center Traverse City Featuring ABC National Chief Economist, Anirban Basu Soft Landing? Something harder? Whither inflation? This presentation will supply in-depth analysis of the major factors shaping economic outcomes, including central bank policymaking, worker attitudes, business confidence and geopolitics. It will then turn toward a forecast of the year to come, highlighting the major risks that stakeholders will likely encounter.

• Care & Amenities • Cost • Funding • Questions Answered Confidential In-Home Consultations or Virtual Appointments.

Connie Hintsala/Owner

866-816-4040 - www.AllianceforSeniorHousing.com

7:30am | Registration 8:00am | Breakfast 9:45am | Event Concludes

Scan for Tickets: $75 each bxtvc.com

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

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58 NOVEMBER 2023

HAPP

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Join us at Traverse City Golf Performance Center for an indoor golf happy hour!

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 1, 5-7PM 6270 Secor Road

Beer and wine provided by Farm Club and Mawby. Appetizers from Folgarelli’s.

Closest to the pin and longest drive contests. $10 entry ENTER TO WIN: 1 year TC GOlf Performance Center membership $299 value Putter from Detroit Putter Company and more!

Recess is brought to you by

TRAVERSE CITY BUSINESS NEWS

Your Northern Michigan

Connection

Cherry Capital Airport tvcairport.com

It’s Time For You To Fly!

NOVEMBER 2023

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The Right Floors For Your Home Carpet Galleria: The Right Choice

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