Crain's Detroit Business, August 26, 2024

Massive Rite Aid closures leave landlords in lurch

By Kirk Pinho

Rite Aid Corp. store-closing signs have replaced orange trafc barrels as Michigan’s unocial state ower this summer.

All 232 of the bankrupt Philadelphia-based drugstore chain’s locations in the state are conrmed to be on the chopping block, some two months after word started leaking out about the company’s unceremonious — and generally quiet — Michigan exit.  at’s leaving landlords in the lurch with millions of square feet of real estate to repurpose as they barrel toward what the company says is a deadline to close them all by the end of next month.

Some of the rst stores to close have been snapped up quickly.

Dollar stores, smaller grocery stores, urgent cares, auto supply stores, veterinary clinics, plasma centers, even car washes —

all have ended up taking over the vacated boxes. After all, generally it’s good real estate.  But there are challenges, too, ranging from how much rent other users will pay (hint: not as much) to how to carve up a space if a single replacement tenant can’t be found (another hint: it’s tricky and expensive).  at could leave some landlords holding the keys to empty buildings for a while — and attempting to weather the pain that comes with it.

Clockwise from top: NBS Commercial Interiors, University of Michigan Credit Union, Global Commercial Credit & Pro tGuard, Energy Sciences, and X by 2 LLC. | PROVIDED PHOTOS

One Love Labs illegally imported weed from Oregon, state claims

A mid-Michigan marijuana processor is the subject of a formal complaint by the state for allegedly illegally importing marijuana from Oregon.

e Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency inspected One Love Labs in Chesaning in late June after receiving a complaint that the processor had received out-of-state product listed in the state’s tracking system as hemp, but was actually marijuana.

According to the complaint, One Love Labs imported more than 110 pounds of isolate — concentrated product containing pure CBD or THC — and listed it in the state system as a hemp concentrate, or CBD from a legal processor in Oregon. at processor held a hemp-processor license in Michigan, but not a marijuana processor license.

During the investigation, One Love had a third-party lab test the product, under the supervision of the CRA, and found the so-called hemp product contained 86.49% THC — well above the legal threshold for hemp at 0.3%, according to the state.

It is against federal law to ship

hemp product containing more than 0.3% THC across state lines and against Michigan regulations to process or sell product containing more than 0.3% THC that derived from another state.

More confounding is that during the investigation, One Love allegedly shipped the 110 pounds of the THC isolate back to the processor in Oregon — which, if true, would again be in violation of federal drug tra cking laws.

Representatives from One Love did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the allegations. e CRA would not comment further on the matter and declined to reveal whether the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency or other federal agencies had been noti ed or are involved.

e state is, however, seeking to ne and potentially revoke the li-

censes held by One Love as a result of the investigation. One Love Labs makes vape cartridges, as well as edibles including gummies.

One Love was founded by Casey Yosin, son of Auburn Hills’ Hardwood Door and Bevel owner Craig Yosin. is is the latest in attempts by state regulators to rein in bad behavior in the industry as illegal importing of marijuana and hemp products remains a problem.

Late last month, the CRA issued a formal complaint against Mount Morris marijuana processor Sky Labs LLC for allegedly using out-of-state hemp powder from Colorado and converting it to marijuana-based distillate under the guise of plants grown in Michigan in the state’s rst major attempt to crack down on illicit market products coming in from out of state. Sky Labs manufacturers the popular vape brands Bossy and Flight.

To combat illicit product in the market, the CRA is planning to open its own reference testing lab in 2025, after receiving a $4.4 million earmark from the state budget.

In June, the CRA banned the use of MCT oil, usually coconut oil, in distillate, which could potentially have adverse health e ects.

Downtown Asian-fusion steakhouse for sale

Asian-fusion restaurant Hanah Steakhouse in downtown Detroit has closed after being marketed for sale for several months.

Realtor Raphael Roufail of Troybased Raphael and Associates con rmed the closure and listing Aug. 16. He said the restaurant, owned by brothers Chris and Peter Han, is listed at $1.148 million, which includes three months of support and training.

Chris nor Peter Han immediately responded to a Crain’s request for comment.

Hanah Steakhouse opened Nov. 26, 2022, in a 4,800-square-foot space at 607 Shelby St., formerly home to Brome Burgers. e Hans invested more than $2 million into the restaurant.

and Clawson.

Roufail said the Hans shifted their focus to Nuevo Soul, which opened on the rst day of the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit.

He said he’s worked with the Hanah owners for a few months to nd a buyer. Some restaurateurs have shown interest, but nothing has materialized.

In addition to steaks, the Hanah menu featured sushi, nigiri, ramen, chicken and wa es and wagyu sliders. e drink menu included sake, cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages.

Dustin Walsh

e Han brothers earlier this year opened Korean-inspired Mexican restaurant Nuevo Soul at 220 W. Congress St., adjacent to Hanah Steakhouse. ey also own and operate Osaka Japanese Steakhouse restaurants in Shelby Township

Jay Davis

Asian-fusion restaurant Hanah Steakhouse is closed and is up for sale. | HANAH STEAKHOUSE

BLOOMBERG

Entrepreneurs bounce back from burnout

Jay Davis

Entrepreneur Molly Mitchell closed Rose’s Fine Food and Wine multiple times over the last couple of years. She ran the diner and wine retailer for nearly a decade before deciding to move on.

Mitchell at one point took the east side Detroit building and business o the market and began o ering classes there before again deciding to pull the plug. She said stress was there during the entire time she ran her restaurant.

“I was pretty naive about what it meant to run a business,” Mitchell said. “I just imagined myself making great food, having neighbors come in to eat. I didn’t think about HR, accounting, sta ng. Everything unfolded over the course of that decade. It encompassed my life. ere was a sense of always having to be on. Even if I’d take a couple of days o , something would happen.”

e pressure small business owners are under can a ect every aspect of their lives. Burnout is almost unavoidable, and the outcomes are di erent for each entrepreneur. Some move on and nd success; others struggle to bounce back.

Each person’s experience is

How to handle burnout

Tips for small business owners on dealing with burnout:

◗ Recognize and accept burnout: The rst step is acknowledging its presence.

◗ Take a break: Step away from your business for a short period to recharge — and don’t feel guilty.

◗ Reconnect with your passion: Rediscover the reasons why you started your business and realign your goals with your core values.

◗ Set boundaries: Avoid overworking and prioritize self-care. Learn to say no to additional commitments that could heighten burnout.

◗ Delegate and seek support: Delegate tasks to capable team members or consider outsourcing noncore activities. Seek support from friends, family or a business coach who can provide valuable guidance and encouragement.

◗ Re-evaluate business strategies: Assess your current strategies and make adjustments where needed. Focus on high-impact tasks and let go of those that are not contributing signi cantly to your business goals.

Source: Jenna Rainey

di erent, but business owners and experts believe there has to be some way for entrepreneurs to combat burnout and failure if Michigan’s small business climate is to remain vibrant.

Small Business Association of Michigan President and CEO

Brian Calley said small business owner exhaustion is much higher now compared to the days before the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. Issues related to sta ng, rising costs and managing tight margins are

Henry Ford Health targeted in data tracking lawsuit

By Dustin Walsh

Henry Ford Health is the latest target in a wave of hundreds of class-action lawsuits across the U.S. accusing health systems of using common tracking software on their websites and sending sensitive patient information to Facebook and Google.  e suit, led in U.S. District Court in Detroit on July 5, alleges HFH had used the tracking software on its website and patient portal since at least 2015 and violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal law that prohibits health care organizations from sharing personal identi able information to third parties without patient consent.

And if a judge agrees, the De-

troit-based health system may be on the hook for millions of dollars in a potential settlement.  is type of software is nearly omnipresent across consumer sites on the internet, largely because it’s free for companies to use and provides valuable marketing data. And for hospitals it can prove an ally in operations, knowing where users are coming from and who they are.   e litigation across the country is largely spurred from a 2022 report by the nonpro t technology news publication e Markup, which found 33% of Newsweek’s top 100 hospitals in the country were using tracking software and sharing with Facebook.

New

aims to bolster tech investing

By

A new industry association wants to bring venture capital rms in the Great Lakes closer together to bene t the region and encourage growth.

making running a business even more di cult.

Calley said some small business owners feel isolated at times.

“ e thing that I think ends up being most important is that business owners spend time with their peers — other business owners — who understand what they’re going through, or who may be going through it themselves, too,” Calley said.

Partners at ve VC rms, including Camila Noordeloos at Grand Ventures in Grand Rapids, formed the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association to share ideas, best practices and investment prospects, as well as syndicate deals and address common issues the industry faces.

there’s not anything formed to bring everyone together,” said Kaleb Dumot, a founder and the managing partner of Great Lakes Venture Capital Association.

“We want to bring together all of the di erent venture funds that invest in technology companies right now. A lot of the funds are certainly friendly with one another and a lot of them do deals with one another, but

“We just think that collaborating, connecting, building trust (and) building partnerships will just help all the ecosystems and all the technology companies as a whole build that cohesiveness,” said Dumot, a venture capital investor who owns Integrity Power Search, a Cleveland-based executive recruiting rm for tech startups and venture capital-backed companies. “It’s all about forging new connections, strengthening existing relationships, doing deals together. Really, the line is ‘a rising tide lifts all boats.’”

Former Detroit diner owner Molly Mitchell landed at Detroit Boxing Gym, running its culinary program. | DETROIT BOXING GYM

Henry Ford Health is the target of a class-action lawsuit accusing it of tracking and sending sensitive patient information to Facebook and Google. HENRY FORD HEALTH

See HENRY FORD on Page 34

group

Mark Sanchez

Camila Noordeloos is among the founding partners in the new Great Lakes Venture Capital Association.

Former Comerica building heads to auction

Alarge former Comerica Inc. o ce building in Auburn Hills is heading to auction next month.

Bidding for the Dallas-based bank’s owned Oaktec O ce Centre building at 3551 Hamlin Road — which it vacated as part of a multi-building consolidation — starts Sept. 23 with opening offers starting at $800,000, according to the auction’s website on Ten-X. com.

Built in 1987, it sits on close to 13 acres across two separate parcels and has nearly 210,000 square feet.

On Aug. 20, a Comerica spokesperson said the bank didn’t have “anything to add other than the details posted on the (auction) website.”

Comerica, which was headquartered in Detroit until 2007, has been unloading some of its ofce buildings as part of its consolidation into a new 340,000-squarefoot property dubbed the Comerica Great Lakes Campus, which o cially opened on Aug. 20. (See story, Page 8.)

Some 2,100 employees work out of the new campus, which spans two buildings that are connected by a 21,000-square-foot addition in the middle.

Since Comerica announced its consolidation in September 2022, it has sold o two of the three buildings it was vacating during the process.

A 382,000-square-foot building at 39200 Six Mile Road sold to Birmingham-based Markus Management Group for $21.1 million

Since Comerica announced its consolidation in September 2022, it has sold off two of the three buildings.

in September 2023, and in July 2023, Michigan United Credit Union paid $3.9 million for the old 31,000-square-foot Comerica building at 3501 Hamlin Road.  Markus Management Group is planning a mixed-use redevelopment of its new Livonia property, while MUCU bought the old Co-

merica building for a new branch and headquarters.

Comerica still has what it calls its Auburn Hills Operations Center, located at 3701 Hamlin Road, which is about 371,000 square feet, and is being retained. e bank has employees in technology, cybersecurity, corporate real

estate, procurement and marketing in that building.

According to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service, other Auburn Hills o ce buildings that have sold in recent years include:  e 120,000-square-foot Auburn Hills Corporate Center at 900 N. Squirrel Road, which sold in December 2022 for about $7.16 million, or $59.65 per square foot

◗ e 192,300-square-foot building at 2020 Taylor Road, which

also sold in December 2022 for $24.625 million, or $128.05 per square foot

◗ e 137,600-square-foot building at 3250-3256 University, selling in June 2023 for about $7.9 million, or $57.39 per square foot

Not that long ago, online auctions were pretty much reserved for distressed properties, although that has changed over the years and platforms like Ten-X, RealINSIGHT Marketplace and Crexi are all competing with each other to host auctions.

Vacant Farmington school to become 53 townhomes

A long-vacant school building in downtown Farmington will be demolished and replaced by needed “missing-middle” housing.

Demolition of the Maxfield Training Center, just north of Grand River Avenue and east of Farmington Road, began Aug. 19. The redevelopment of the roughly 3-acre site into the $16 million Hillside Townes housing project is being led by Bloomfield Hills-based Robertson Brothers Homes.

Construction is expected to begin later this year and rst units are expected to be complete by sometime next year and homes are expected to list in the mid$300,000 range, according to a news release.

“ is empty vacant structure will be replaced with new, vibrant housing that will bene t Farmington residents for generations to come and allow more people to enjoy our energetic and engaging

downtown,” Farmington Mayor Joe LaRussa said in the release. Such in ll projects, the redevelopment of dated structures in denser areas, are becoming increasingly common for builders such as Robertson Homes, particularly as large chunks of land have become harder to come by.

“Our Robertson Brothers team is going to make Hillside Townes one of the best places to call home in Metro Detroit,” Robertson President Darian Neubecker said in the release.  e site of the future housing development will be connected to Farmington’s central business

district via a pedestrian promenade, a project being led by the city. e project received a $1 million brown eld redevelopment grant from the state to help fund site assessments, transportation and disposal of contaminated soil, and demolition work, according to the release.

e project will also result in the reconstruction of omas Street, where the existing school building is located, with improved water and utility infrastructure upgrades, as well as walkability and Americans With Disabilities Act improvements

State o cials tout the need for missing middle housing housing — de ned in the release as “housing types that fall between single-family homes and mid-rise apartment buildings” — are greatly needed as they can often be more a ordable than single-family homes and create more density in neighborhoods.

“Our public engagement work from last year identi ed housing as the most important issue facing Michigan communities,” Hilary Doe, the state’s chief growth ocer, said in the release. “People want great places to live and that means being able to o er a ordable housing across all income levels if we want to grow our population.”

Kirk Pinho

Nick Manes

Hillside Townes will be a $16 million, 53-unit townhome community built on the site of the former Max eld Training Center in downtown Farmington. ROBERTSON BROTHERS HOMES

Comerica Inc.’s Oaktec Of ce Center building in Auburn Hills heads to auction next month.

| COSTAR GROUP

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EDITORIAL

Success can now be glimpsed for the ‘fail jail’ site

The beginning of the end of Wayne County’s “fail jail” saga is at hand, and it might conclude in a tale of redemption.

e site on the eastern edge of downtown for years featured a half-built eyesore that was intended to be a consolidated jail, a project dreamed up under then-County Executive Robert Ficano that fell victim to cost overruns in a county that was on the verge of bankruptcy.

As the would-be jail sat rotting, Rocket Companies founder Dan Gilbert made a refrain of saying that nishing the jail would be a waste of prime land on the edge of a resurgent downtown Detroit. It should be a gateway, a destination that people would want to visit, rather than avoid.

After much negotiation, he sealed a creative deal with current County Executive Warren Evans to assume the development rights for the site in exchange for helping the county build a new jail at East Warren and I-75, well outside of downtown but still centrally located in the city.

It should be noted: is was hardly an easy or obvious deal. You’d be hardpressed to nd another example of a private developer who agreed to take on the responsibility and nancial risk of building a massive county jail in exchange for 14 acres to develop.

But that’s exactly what Gilbert did,

COMMENTARY

driven to be sure by the hard bargaining of Evans, who insisted that county taxpayers couldn’t shoulder any excess costs to build the jail on another site. e county came up with a xed amount of money it would spend and put the jail construction, and any attendant

cost overruns, in Gilbert’s hands. e county did wind up kicking in more money for jail construction, but according to city budget presentations, Bedrock spent even more when it came to cost overruns.

Now, the new jail is nished, which

triggers the exchange of the Gratiot site and its expected redevelopment.

A solicitation for architectural services circulated by Gilbert’s Bedrock real estate company provides the rst tangible glimpse into the future of that ignominious site, symbolic of government incompetence and wastefulness.

e request for proposals gives a glimpse into the rst building planned for the site, a ve-story life sciences building that would house a precision-medicine cancer clinic. ( e clinic as described in the RFP sounds quite a bit like a plan for a Detroit expansion by Grand Rapids-based medical startup BAMF Health that has already received state funding, but none of the players are con rming that at this point.)

But the vision for the “fail jail” site, the westbound gateway to downtown, is clearly much broader than that. e request for proposals alludes to an “innovation district” that includes o ce, science, tech, residential, retail and park space.

Adding that to the redevelopment of Michigan Central and the under-construction University of Michigan Center for Innovation spells only good things for the future of Detroit.

“Bold” is an overused word, but the arc of this story so far personi es boldness. We look forward to seeing the vision continue to develop.

Eliminating Michigan Tuition Grant a step backward

The world of politics, with the need for negotiation and serving varied populations, can give us the perfect example of the law of unintended consequences.  is seems to be the case this year in Lansing when our state lawmakers passed a budget that took away the only tuition grant that served qualifying adult and part-time students returning to school to seek a bachelor’s degree some years after high school graduation.

leges and universities, currently graduate more than 20% of the state’s college students. Nearly half of students enrolled at Davenport are 25 or older, more than 30% are students of color and more than 40% are the rst in their families to attend college.  is is the population of students most hurt by the elimination of the MTG, a grant that has been around since the 1960s and is the only grant that does not have an age limit.

We all understand competing goals and interests, but one goal by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration has been clear: we need more college graduates in Michigan to attract and retain talent and the businesses of the future that will bring and sustain economic health. So, as a matter of public policy, eliminating the $3,000 Michigan Tuition Grant (MTG) does not make sense if we are to achieve the state’s goal of 60 by 30: increasing the number of working-age adults with a skill certi cate or a college degree from 51% today to 60% by 2030.

Davenport University is all in. We, along with the other independent, nonpro t col-

Much of the reporting about the passage of the education budget focused on the Michigan Achievement Scholarship (MAS), which is a wonderful boost for students who are eligible to receive it.

But it is going only to recent high school graduates. So, who is unintentionally hurt by the belief that awarding the MAS, even with the elimination of the MTG, was the best way to help the state produce more graduates? ey are on average older than 25, 60% are women, 50% are non-white, many have transferred from community college, and at least 30% are rst-generation college students.

About 1,500 students enrolling in an independent college for the rst time this

fall do not qualify for the Michigan Achievement Scholarship, but they would have quali ed for the Michigan Tuition Grant. At Davenport, we have more than 400 students who thought they were receiving the MTG only to be told weeks before reporting to class that they had a $3,000 hole in their nancial aid package.

When I testi ed before lawmakers in April, I warned that the elimination of the MTG would be immediate and devastating. It is a ecting people who now aren’t enrolling in any institution — they’ve just put aside their goal of achieving a degree

at this time. But it’s not too late. Our legislators can reinstate the MTG in a supplemental bill in September using no additional dollars — the funds remained in the budget, even though the MTG program itself was cut.

We believe the reinstatement of the MTG is a necessary step to invest in the group of students who were unintentionally left out of the state’s support for higher education. is is an unintended consequence that can be made right, but action in Lansing must be swift. ese students deserve better.

Richard J. Pappas is president of Grand Rapids-based Davenport University.

The Donald W. Maine College of Business at Davenport University in Grand Rapids DAVENPORT UNIVERSITY

Wrecking crews took their rst swipes in 2018 at the half-built Wayne County jail structure on Gratiot Avenue near I-375 in downtown Detroit. | FILE PHOTO

Model D’s parent company acquired by media organization

By Anna Fifelski

Issue Media Group, owner of Detroit-based news site, Model D, has been acquired by Fourth Estate Inc., an Indiana-based public bene t journalism organization.

Issue Media Group manages 20 local news websites across the Midwest and the South, including 14 in Michigan and three in Ohio.

In Michigan, their holdings also include Southeast Michigan’s Metromode, Grand Rapids’ Rapid Growth, Washtenaw County’s Concentrate and Second Wave in Southwest Michigan.

All 14 outlets in Michigan and the others across the country will continue to operate under the IMG brand.

John Montgomery, president of Fourth Estate, will serve as CEO of IMG e ective immediately.

He formed Fourth Estate after meeting IMG founders Brian Boyle and Paul Schutt in January, and they developed a plan for Montgomery to acquire the organization. Montgomery declined to disclose any details of the transaction.

Boyle and Schutt will remain with the company for the foreseeable future, to support the transition as well as the sales and client services departments, Montgomery told Crain’s.

“When I learned about Issue Media Group, I just really fell in love with it — both the work that they do in locally focused, solutions-based journalism, and also the business model,” Montgomery said. “So it’s a sort of partnership type of business model, and it works really well. It’s proven itself to sustain the kind of work that Issue Media Group has done, and I think it’s a good formula going forward. e combination of good business and and doing important local journalism matters to me.”

Montgomery formerly served as vice president of the Kansas-based, family-owned Harris Enterprises when it was acquired by GateHouse Media, which is now Gannett.

IMG has a team size of around 11 total employees, and most of the work across the newsrooms is done by more than 275 contracted workers or freelancers.

Boyle and Schutt founded IMG in Detroit in 2005, expanding throughout Southeast Michigan and into the Upper Peninsula. Its publications include:  Model D, Detroit, est. 2005

Metromode, Southeast Michigan, est. 2006

Rapid Growth, Grand Rapids, est. 2006

Concentrate, Washtenaw County, est. 2007

Soapbox, Cincinnati, est. 2008

83 Degrees, Tampa Bay, Fla., est. 2009

UPword, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, est. 2010

Second Wave Michigan, statewide Michigan, est. 2010

Second Wave Southwest Michigan, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, est. 2012

High Ground, Memphis, Tenn., est. 2014

◗ e Keel, Port Huron, est. 2016

Flintside, Flint, est. 2016

◗ Catalyst, Midland, est. 2017

Input, Fort Wayne, Ind., est. 2017

◗ Epicenter, Mt. Pleasant, est. 2018

Route, Bay City, est. 2018

◗ e Lakeshore West Michigan, Allegan, Ottawa, and Muskegon counties, est. 2019

e Hub, Spring eld, Ohio, est. 2019

RIX | Rural Innovation Exchange, rural Michigan, est. 2021

e Helm, Sandusky, Ohio, est. 2022

“It has been a remarkable 20 year journey,” Boyle said in a news release. “We are incredibly

proud of what we have built and how communities across the country have embraced our approach to storytelling and solutions journalism as an important element of strengthening communities.”

Montgomery, who resides in Indiana, said location was a motivating factor to acquire IMG.

“Being in the Upper Midwest, approximate to where I personally live, was a factor,” Montgomery said. “But I expect to spend a lot of time in Michigan. Michigan has been very important to Issue Media Group over its history, and we will continue to do work wherever

there’s a need and there’s support to do it.” Montgomery said there is a

chance IMG may expand in the future, though he is currently focusing on transitioning to the role.

Issue Media Group’s holdings include 20 news websites over multiple states. SCREENSHOT

Longtime restaurateur Joe Muer dies at 88

By Jay Davis

Noteworthy Detroit restaurateur Joe Muer Jr., former owner of Joe Muer Seafood, died Aug. 11 in his home. He was 88.

Muer was the third-generation owner of the popular Detroit restaurant that opened in 1929 at 2000 Gratiot Ave. near Eastern Market. Joe Muer’s was recognized nationally for its approach to serving fresh seafood, including Maine lobster and Alaskan King crab, oysters Rockefeller, Boston clam chowder, rainbow trout, ahi tuna and Atlantic ounder.

e restaurant closed in May 1998. Muer Jr. attributed the closure to declining sales and high labor and food costs. Years later, local restaurateur Joe Vicari worked with Muer Jr. to revive the brand, buying the Joe Muer name, its intellectual properties and recipes to open a new incarnation in 2011 in the Renaissance Center with a waterfront view.

Vicari on Aug. 19 told Crain’s that Muer Jr. was one of the best restaurant owners he’s known.

“(Muer Jr.) was very astute in the restaurant business. He touched all the tables. He really knew how to make people feel welcome in his restaurant,” Vicari said. “ at was de nitely his strength.”

In a history section on the Joe Muer website, Muer Jr. at the opening of the new restaurant said Vicari and his wife Rosalie saw a need for the restaurant to come back.

“ e core of the city — downtown — is really starting to expand,” Muer Jr. said in 2011. “New businesses are moving in. ere’s development. e success of sports teams brings in hundreds of thousands of people. Andiamo is so successful downstairs. Joe Muer Seafood gives a synergy of the best part of what we had on Gratiot Avenue.”

A second Joe Muer Seafood opened in Bloom eld Hills in June 2017. e brand expanded outside of Michigan last year, with a restaurant in Nashville that opened in August 2023.

Vicari said Muer Jr. was happy to see his family’s name in more places.

“He was happy about that. He came to help us when we took over the brand in 2011,” Vicari said. “He was at the restaurant quite often, especially during the rst year. He realized he put the restaurant in good hands.”

Muer Jr. is survived by his wife of 53 years, Jane Siela Muer; three children, Joseph W. Muer III, Molly Ann Baran and Hans omas Muer; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Inside Comerica’s massive

new Farmington Hills of ce

By Kirk Pinho

Comerica Inc. has o cially opened its large new Farmington Hills o ce.

e Dallas-based bank that was headquartered in Detroit until 2007 inked one of the largest o ce deals of the pandemic in 2022, bringing some 2,100 of its employees to western Oakland County from three o ces around the region.

REDEFINING RELATIONSHIP BANKING

e result is a new roughly 340,000-square-foot space that was created by building a connector between a pair of o ce buildings at 36455 Corporate Drive and 36555 Corporate Drive near 12 Mile and Halsted roads.

During a tour recently, Megan Crespi, senior executive vice president and COO, said Comerica employees began moving into the new space — dubbed the bank’s Great Lakes Campus — in February, with the last completing the move in May. en work on the 21,000-square-foot connector was nished.

“Now we call it job done, pencils down,” Crespi said.

e new space features huddle and conference and break rooms (many with Michigan-themed names picked by employees), a grab-and-go cafeteria operated by Plum Market with food prepared daily, wellness rooms, a tness center and other features.

Comerica employees in the building include those working in commercial lending and servicing, payments, credit, human resources, recruiting, operations and others, Crespi said. At its peak during the middle of the week, the property has some 1,500 people working out of it.

“It’s a very large project for us,” Crespi said. “A lot of planning went into it.”

e move consolidated employees from three buildings — two in Auburn Hills and one in Livonia — into one, and marked a substantial reduction in the bank’s o ce real estate footprint in the region as the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on the o ce sector.

A 382,000-square-foot building at 39200 Six Mile Road sold to Bir-

mingham-based Markus Management Group for $21.1 million in September 2023, and in July 2023, Michigan United Credit Union paid $3.9 million for the old 31,000-square-foot Comerica building at 3501 Hamlin Road.  Comerica’s building at 3551 Hamlin Road, clocking in at about 198,000 square feet, goes to auction starting Sept. 23 on Ten-X.com, in a process being coordinated by the local o ces of Dallas-based CBRE Inc.

Comerica still has what it calls its Auburn Hills Operations Center, located at 3701 Hamlin Road, which is about 371,000 square feet, and is being retained. Crespi said Comerica has employees in technology, cybersecurity, corporate real estate, procurement and marketing in that building.

e bank, which employs about 4,300 in Michigan and 4,100 in the ve-county metro area, also has its large o ce in downtown Detroit.

“We continue to be committed to

Detroit and that building has worked really well for us since we built it back in the 1960s,” Crespi said. “I think the outside is absolutely beautiful. e ninth oor went through a remodel about a decade ago. We’ve been really contemplating what’s next there, what’s next for our remaining site in Auburn Hills, how do we want to think about that? Do we want to invest in the current buildings we have? Do we want to seek out other opportunities. But … given where the market is for o ce real estate, we’ll just sort of see how things play out over the course of time.”

e Comerica Great Lakes Campus is owned by Bloom eld Hillsbased Kojaian Management Corp., and Comerica has a long-term lease there.

Detroit-based Pophouse was the interior designer on the space, while Nelson Worldwide LLC’s Chicago o ce was the project architect. Kojaian was the construction manager.

Comerica Inc. has opened its 340,000-square-foot new hub in Farmington Hills. | PHOTOS BY KIRK PINHO

Clockwise from top: Comerica connected a pair of Farmington Hills of ce buildings with a 21,000-square-foot addition between the two, a large meeting area and a grab-and-go cafeteria operated by Plum Market.

We are proud to introduce Crain’s 2024 Best Places to Work in Southeast Michigan. Large, medium or small, these top employers from nearly every industry strive to build camaraderie among team members whether they work in the of ce, remotely or on hybrid schedules.

There are employee-executive lunches, pet-friendly workplaces, happy hours and cookouts, ax-throwing, in-of ce pickleball, free massages and car washes. Some employers reward hardworking staff monetarily and with vacations. Meanwhile, employer-paid health insurance premiums, adoption assistance and nancial counseling are more common among the Best Places to Work.

Whether you’re looking to improve your company's workplace culture or considering a job change, this report has the information you need.

Methodology: Crain’s partners with Workforce Research Group, which researches the registered companies and reviews their employer questionnaire. Questionnaires, which are worth 20% of their nal score, include PTO, bene ts, “fun” perks, training, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and much more. Participating companies pay Workforce to send out an employee engagement survey that is worth 80% of their score. The survey, in part, looks at employee experience, role satisfaction, workplace culture, training, leadership and work-life balance. From there, Workforce Research Group provides Crain’s with a ranked list. This year, we have 93 Best Places to Work in Southeast Michigan. Best Places to Work was managed by Leslie D. Green, assistant managing editor — special projects for Crain’s Detroit Business, lgreen@crain.com, and written by Christopher Lewis.

1. Oswald Companies

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Bloom eld Hills

◗ Industry: Insurance

◗ Top executives: Robert J. Klonk, chairman and CEO; Catherine Kosin, executive vice president, Michigan (Bloom eld Hills)

◗ Ranking in 2023: 2

◗ U.S.-based employees: 452

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 37

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 85%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 10%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid holidays: 10

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

Oswald Companies is regularly ranked among Southeast Michigan’s top employers. There are several bene ts to working for the 100% employee-owned rm: New hires aren’t only welcomed

with a breakfast, but owers are delivered to their homes, too. Meanwhile, full-time veterans of the company receive a four-week paid sabbatical and a bonus after 10 years of service, and standout staff members can earn a Star Achiever Award, which includes a trophy and cash bonus. Oswald also has a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Alliance, a Women’s Leadership Council and employee resource groups that support Black, Indigenous and people of color and LGBTQ+ employees.

2. Kraft Business Systems

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Caledonia

◗ Industry: Technology

◗ Top executive: Jeffrey Cousins, CEO

◗ U.S.-based employees: 51

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 35

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 70%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 1%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: Seven days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

Kraft Business Systems, a technology solutions services provider, is dedicated to collaboration, inclusivity and open communication among all employees. To ensure employees are engaged and satis ed long term, the company provides exible work hours, professional development opportunities and fully paid maternity and paternity leave. The company also reimburses tuition for work-related advanced degrees, allows staff to participate in community service during work hours and matches employees’ charitable donations.

Employees looking for wellness offerings can access con dential counseling and managerial support, play pickleball in the company’s warehouse-based court and participate in other programs.

3. The Boldt Co.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Wixom

◗ Industry: Construction

◗ Top executives: Dave Kievet, CEO and president (Appleton, Wis.); Brad VanGorder, vice president and general manager (Wixom)

◗ Ranking in 2023: 60

◗ U.S.-based employees: 2,797

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 51

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 75%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 11%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

The Boldt Co. a 135-year-old company, rose to the top 3 on the Best Places list this year, in part, by promoting a “laid-back environment.” Boldt’s workplace culture allows people to bond through summer barbecue lunches and team-building activities such as coffee klatches, trivia and Bring Your Kid to Work Day. Boldt also has regular diversity trainings, an ethics hotline and employee resource groups for women and employees who are Black, Indigenous or people of color. In addition, the company offers wellness initiatives that include a Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program and guidance concerning mental stress, fatigue and burnout prevention.

4. Center for Financial Planning Inc.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: South eld

◗ Industry: Finance

◗ Top executive: Timothy Wyman, managing partner

◗ Ranking in 2023: 48

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 29

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 6%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 14 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

Center for Financial Planning Inc. is focused on building a culture of kindness and teamwork, which it considers to be essential for success. The company supports employees seeking advanced degrees by assisting them financially and giving them time away from the office. In addition, it offers each employee an individualized professional development plan and the ability to participate in financial planning workshops or classes. Those who exemplify company values can win prizes, too. The Center for Financial Planning strives to instill a culture of fun with office book clubs, chili cook-offs, curling, happy hours or Topgolf.

5. Pophouse

◗

S.E. Michigan location: Detroit

◗ Industry: Interior design

◗ Top executive: Jennifer Gilbert, founder and principal

◗ Ranking in 2023: 8

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 23

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 99%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 9%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 20 days

◗ Paid holidays: Eight days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

Pophouse hosts various teambuilding events, including golf outings and happy hours. Leadership also encourages staff members to publicly celebrate colleagues’ successes during weekly all-team meetings. Additionally, Pophouse supports and empowers staff through Latinx/Hispanic, LGBTQ+ and African American/Black employee resource groups. To bolster its future workforce, Pophouse exposes students of all income levels to interior design careers through a scholarship to the College for Creative Studies’ Interior Design program. Pophouse founder Jennifer Gilbert co-founded the Gilbert Family Foundation with her husband, Dan Gilbert.

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Clockwise from top: No. 4 Center for Financial Planning Inc., No. 5 Pophouse and No. 3 The Boldt Co. | PROVIDED

6. Wilshire Bene ts Group

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Insurance

◗ Top executive: David Sokol, president

◗ Ranking in 2023: 14

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 28

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 75%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 3%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 13 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 25%

Wilshire Bene ts Group uses 30 fundamentals, such as Do the Right Thing Always, Embrace Change and Growth, and Practice Blameless Problem-Solving, to increase employees’ positivity and success. The company provides opportunities for employees to pursue degrees and certi cations and offers numerous bene ts, including long-term care insurance, trust and will planning, and identity theft protection. At the same time, Wilshire, which strives to create a fun work environment, holds themed potlucks including its Super Bowl Dip-Off. Employees who reach ve years of employment at the insurance rm receive a Shinola watch, while those with 10 years on the job get a family vacation.

7. Energy Sciences

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Berkley

◗ Industry: Consulting

◗ Top executive: Shelley Sullivan, president and managing member

◗ Ranking in 2023: 16

◗ U.S.-based employees: 73

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 61

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 79%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 9%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 15 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

Energy Sciences helps commercial, industrial and municipal clients increase their energy ef ciency. The company provides a comprehensive bene ts package that complements ve employeecreated guiding principles — adaptability, collaboration, excellence, stewardship and well-being. Employees can engage in professional development opportunities to help them advance within the company. They can also participate in various company-sponsored activities, including a cooking show and a sustainable gardening event. In addition, Energy Sciences’ Destination Conversations spark dialogue as employees take colleagues on a virtual, “cultural tour of their home region or vacation destination.”

8. Blue Chip Partners LLC

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Farmington Hills

◗ Industry: Finance

◗ Top executive: Robert Steinberg, founder and CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 29

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 29

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 75%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 0%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 10%

Blue Chip Partners LLC, an investment advisory rm, is committed to encouraging employee camaraderie, development and overall well-being. The company has an in-of ce golf simulator, hosts monthly happy hours and offers employees opportunities to enjoy Tigers games together. Throughout the summer, staff can leave the of ce earlier than they do the rest of the year, allowing them to recharge. Employees also receive one half-day off weekly, along with three days to prepare for their Certi ed Financial Planner exams. Blue Chip employees looking to adopt can tap into the company’s adoption bene ts.

From top: No. 6 Wilshire Bene ts Group and No. 7 Energy Sciences PROVIDED

9. Brogan & Partners

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Ferndale

◗ Industry: Advertising/marketing/ public relations

◗ Top executive: Ellyn Davidson, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 54

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees:32

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 75%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 3%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 14 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 9%

Brogan & Partners provides an array of perks, including an annual all-expensespaid bonding mystery trip to destinations including the Bahamas, Bermuda, St. Croix and Turks & Caicos. The company also reimburses staff members for a portion of their gym membership, pet insurance and phone bills. The agency’s diversity, equity and inclusion team implements employee training opportunities and plans outings and events that help them learn about other cultures. For instance, team members recently participated in a Mexican food cooking class and visited the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and the Holocaust Museum.

10. Superior Electric Great Lakes Co.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Construction

◗ Top executive: Dale Massy, president and CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 35

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 136

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 97%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 3%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 0%

Superior Electric Great Lakes Co., a full-service electrical contractor with 169 employees nationwide, operates with the motto: “We work to live, not live to work.” Earlier this year, employees took a break from the of ce to watch the solar eclipse with colleagues and celebrate events such as National Ice Cream Day, International Coffee Day and the summer solstice. They also participated in a golf outing that

included employees from other parts of the country. To bolster the talent pipeline, Superior Electric, in partnership with local universities, provides seniors real-world experiences by sponsoring their senior projects. It also assigns mentors to new employees and pays for continuing education for each staff member.

11. Revela

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Detroit

◗ Industry: Technology

◗ Top executive: Grant Drzyzga, founder and CEO

◗ U.S.-based employees: 33

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 31

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 70%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 0%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid holidays: 14 days

◗ Company perks: Happy hours

◗ Learning opportunities: Free annual planning sessions with a nancial adviser

12. Resurget Engineering

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Detroit

◗ Industry: Engineering

◗ Top executive: Jason Krolicki, CEO and owner

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 17

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 10%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 20 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company perks: Alternating, biweekly coffee and happy hours

◗ Learning opportunities: Mentorship, professional and personal development

Independence Changes Everything

Lockton’s entrepreneurial spirit attracts the best people in the industry and empowers them to make a difference for our clients and in our community.

Our Associates are empowered to deliver exceptional service, creative solutions and impactful results. They set us apart from the competition and are the reason Lockton remains a Best Place to Work.

No. 9 Brogan & Partners

First Merchants Bank

Helping Southeast Michigan Communities Prosper

Terri Cable, Regional President of Michigan, sheds light on the programs and initiatives that make First Merchants Bank a leader in both nancial services and employee satisfaction.

Describe the company culture at First Merchants Bank? What makes it unique?

We are a collection of dynamic colleagues with diverse experiences and perspectives who share a passion for positively impacting lives and the power of inclusion. For 130 years, First Merchants has served as a pillar of dependability and trust for the communities it serves. In an industry that requires transformation driven by consumer behavior, First Merchants remains attentive to customer needs and delivers reliable nancial guidance to the diverse communities it serves. While delivering our services is of utmost importance, the people who make that happen every day are the cause for First Merchants to be on the “best” list. Whether through our employee resource groups, our bi-monthly DE&I calls, or leadership support for fostering a highly inclusive and aware company, our people make us one of the best banks and a best place to work.

What initiatives or programs are in place to support employee wellbeing and mental health?

Care for our team members’ well-being is paramount in all of our leadership training tools, including courses such as “First Foundations of Management” which guides managers through modules such as Coaching & Feedback; Developing Talent; HR101; Improving Performance; & the Talent Acquisition process. Since COVID-19 impacted our company and its team members, we have driven the message of the importance of self-care to new heights by increasing the awareness of the EAP for team members to utilize in a confidential setting, and also offering channels through our ERGs for team members to speak openly in groups with others who may

similarly struggle. First Merchants creates a culture of belonging and support through various ways. Our onboarding orientation is titled “You belong here,” we focus on creating space to be seen and see others. Additionally, First Merchants is committed to helping team members during tough times through our Employee Assistance Program, offering confidential and practical help for various life challenges.

What opportunities do you offer your employees for professional development and career advancement?

We place great value in our employees’ career development and support them in various ways:

Career Growth Plan: Every employee has an opportunity to develop a plan for which their manager can coach toward.

Educational Assistance: O ering tuition reimbursement.

Training Opportunities: Teammates can attend training from our Talent Development & Engagement team.

First Foundations of Management: Management training for teammates new to a management role.

e Leadership Experience: A new program that o ers employees a way to explore selfguided training. We are piloting Ascend, which is an invitation-only leadership cohort guiding teammates through a 12-month development program.

Senior Managers have had an opportunity to attend Crucial Conversation Training and the training is open for all managers in 2024.

What bene ts and perks are available to employees?

Employees at First Merchants receive 11 ½ paid holidays, bereavement, up to 64 hours of sick time annually and can roll over up to 300

hours. First Merchants o ers fully paid maternity and paternity leave. Teammates are o ered:

• Two high deductible health plan (HDHP) options, Basic & Plus, administered by Anthem. Basic Plan Deductible $5,000/$10,000 & Plus Plan Deductible $3,200/$5,600.

• HSA Incentive deposits (up to $1500 annually) and health insurance premium discounts for eligible team members who complete wellness program requirements.

• Health Insurance premiums based on salary.

• Employer paid Basic Life/AD&D, STD, LTD, Voluntary Life, Accident Insurance, Critical Illness & Hospital Indemnity insurance plans and Pet Insurance.

• Employee Assistance Program

• Travel Assistance is also available, which includes a wealth of travel, medical and safetyrelated services.

• First Merchants matches 401(k)

contributions at a rate of 100% on the rst 3% and 50% on the next 3% of eligible pay.

viii. Educational nancial assistance is available for full-time and part-time team members’ educational expenses upon hire. Up to 75% of tuition and book reimbursement.

How does the leadership team engage with employees and encourage open communication?

Our leaders evaluate the results and develop action plans to improve areas of de ciencies. HR works with managers whose scores are lower to o er support through coaching or focus groups. ey o er team-building exercises and a safe place for dialogue to collaborate and foster better engagement. We have enhanced bene ts, expanded the DE&I program, enhanced our new employee onboarding experience and launched a new Leadership Experience in 2023. is program includes additional self-guided development opportunities for all employees and a leadership cohort for development. e Leadership Experience & Career Growth Plan o ers various ways to develop professionally and advance careers. With our 2023 survey results, we are incorporating new focus groups to foster greater insight, engagement and cocreation of new solutions.

Groundbreaking for Detroit Fitzgerald First Merchants Bank in April 2024. (Left to Right) Councilwoman Angela Calloway, First Merchants Laura Castone, Strategic Community Partners Dr. Chanel Hampton, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation Kevin Johnson, First Merchants Mark Hardwick, Mayor Mike Duggan

13. Forefront Healthcare

◗ S.E. Michigan location: St. Clair Shores

◗ Industry: Health care provider/social care

◗ Top executive: Dan Bowen, CEO and co-founder

◗ Ranking in 2023: 1

◗ U.S.-based employees: 44

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 28

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 75%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 5%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: Eight days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company perks: Corporate chef-made meals; pet friendly

14. Stout

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Royal Oak

◗ Industry: Finance

◗ Top executives: Craige Stout, CEO (Dallas); Kevin Kernen, regional leader, Detroit (Royal Oak)

◗ Ranking in 2023: 69

◗ U.S.-based employees: 954

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 101

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 84%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 8%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Unique bene ts: Four-week, paid sabbatical after seven years of continuous employment

◗ Company perks: Identity theft insurance and wellness reimbursement credit

15. Allied UV

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Macomb

◗ Industry: Manufacturing

◗ Top executive: Frank Boji, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 6

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 26

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Unique bene ts: Fully covered dental and vision insurance premiums

◗ Company perks: Daily, in-house cooked lunches

16. Armor Protective Packaging

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Howell

◗ Industry: Manufacturing

◗ Top executive: David Yancho, CEO and managing partner

◗ Ranking in 2023: 53

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 35

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Four days

◗ Paid holidays: 13 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company perks: In-of ce ice cream wagon

◗ Employee recognition: Monthly, all-company meetings that celebrate employee achievements

17. Ancor Automotive

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Technology

◗ Top executive: Jose L. Flores, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 68

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 40

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 70%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 16%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Employee recognition: Outstanding employees are often recognized with cash, apparel or gift cards

◗ Unique bene ts: After-hours events including movie nights, Nintendo tournaments and off-site gatherings

18. X by 2 LLC

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Farmington Hills

◗ Industry: Consulting

◗ Top executive: David Packer, president

◗ Ranking in 2023: 4

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 89

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 90%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 17 days

◗ Paid holidays: Seven days

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 90%

◗ Unique bene ts: Monthly events that include escape rooms and Topgolf; catered lunches on Wednesdays and breakfasts on Fridays

19. KIG Insurance

◗ S.E. Michigan location: South eld

◗ Industry: Insurance (excluding health care)

◗ Top executive: Jeffrey S. Belen, president

◗ Ranking in 2023: 12

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 61

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Employee recognition: Annual Legacy Award for employee longevity

◗ Unique perks: Yoga classes and guided meditation sessions

20. Fenner, Melstrom & Dooling PLC

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Birmingham

◗ Industry: Accounting

◗ Top executive: Brian Hunter, managing partner

◗ Ranking in 2023: 33

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 37

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 84%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 25 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Learning opportunities: Customizable career paths

◗ Unique perks: Reimbursements for CPA license exam fees and study materials

21. Manquen Vance

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Hospitality/restaurants

◗ Top executive: Mark Manquen, president

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 25

◗ Voluntary turnover: 4%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 10 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Learning opportunities: professional development

◗ Unique bene ts: Bowling, curling and fowling activities

◗ Employee recognition: Longevity is recognized with gifts and plaques

22. Roncelli Inc.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Sterling Heights

◗ Industry: Construction

◗ Top executive: Gino Roncelli, president

◗ Ranking in 2023: 50

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 100

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 70%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique bene ts: Team-building activities include catered lunches and a golf simulator

◗ Employee recognition: A peer-topeer recognition and reward system

23. MRPR CPAs & Advisors

◗ S.E. Michigan location: South eld

◗ Industry: Accounting

◗ Top executive: Angie Mastroionni, managing partner

◗ Ranking in 2023: 76

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 45

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 70%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 13 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Year-round celebrations that include Employee Appreciation and National Beer days

◗ Employee recognition: Bonuses for earning CPA and Enrolled Agent credentials

24. Global Commercial Credit & Pro tGuard

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Bingham Farms

◗ Industry: Insurance (excluding health care)

◗ Top executive: Victor Sandy, president

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 25

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 63%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 7%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: Eight days

◗ Unique perks: In-of ce open house for employees’ families and friends; annual Halloween party

◗ Employee recognition: $25 gift cards for employees whenever colleagues, customers and managers recognize their work

No. 18 X by 2 LLC | PROVIDED

No. 24 Global Commercial Credit & Pro tGuard | PROVIDED

25. Clark Construction Co.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Lansing

◗ Industry: Construction

◗ Top executive: Sam Clark, president and CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 22

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 240

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 82%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Employee recognition: Annual meeting celebrates employees’ accomplishments with awards and festivities

◗ Company bene ts: Paid parental leave for a child’s birth or adoption

◗ Unique perks: Free or discounted tickets to local family entertainment or sporting events

26. Roadex Solutions LLC

◗ S.E. Michigan location: South eld

◗ Industry: Finance

◗ Top executive: Paul Adams, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 67

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 31

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 50%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 13 days

◗ Paid holidays: Eight days

◗ Unique perks: Season tickets for baseball and basketball games

◗ Learning opportunities: Personal and professional growth opportunities

◗ Employee recognition: Employees with high achievements rewarded with gift cards

27. Maner Costerisan

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Lansing

◗ Industry: Accounting

◗ Top executive: Edward Williams III, president

◗ Ranking in 2023: 23

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 177

◗ Percentage of health care premium

covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 20 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Maner Carnival,   Maner Olympics events and department outings, including escape rooms, happy hours and kayaking

28. SMZ

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Advertising/marketing/ public relations

◗ Top executive: Jamie Michelson, president and CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 40

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 75%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 8%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: One employee can bring a pet to the of ce once weekly; summer ice cream truck, MSU/UM potlucks and other events

29. Blue Chip Talent

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Bloom eld Hills

◗ Industry: Staf ng

◗ Top executive: Nicole Pawczuk, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 96

◗ U.S.-based employees: 46

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 42

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 67%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 12 days

◗ Paid holidays: Eight days

◗ Unique perks: BCT Olympics where employees can compete in different sports

◗ Employee recognition: An allexpenses-paid weekend trip if an employee is on track to achieve yearly goals

30. Apex Digital Solutions

◗ S.E. Michigan location: South eld

◗ Industry: Technology

◗ Top executive: Jason Lambiris, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 5

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 23

◗ Voluntary turnover: 14%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Learning opportunities: Professional development, including paid

certi cations and trainings

◗ Unique perks: Gifts when celebrating additions to a family

31. MJS Packaging

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Livonia

◗ Industry: Distribution

◗ Top executive: Nickolas Haratsaris, president

◗ Ranking in 2023: 49

◗ U.S.-based employees: 83

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 63

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 85%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 16 days

◗ Paid holidays: 13 days

◗ Unique perks: Early dismissals on summer Fridays

◗ Learning opportunities: Tailored training programs

32. Key Management Group Inc.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Consulting

◗ Top executive: Anthony Whitbeck, CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 27

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 97%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

No. 27 Maner Costerisan | PROVIDED

◗ Paid holidays: 14 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Ax-throwing, escape rooms, go-karts and company-paid daily lunches

◗ Company bene ts: Up to $750 toward employees' annual nancial plan

33. AccumTech

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Ann Arbor

◗ Industry: Technology

◗ Top executive: Andrew Madonna, AccumTech lead

◗ Ranking in 2023: 24

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 62

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 0%

◗ Unique perks: Impromptu workday activities such as game nights, nature walks and Nerf battles

◗ Company bene ts: Alternating three-day weekends

34. DirectRx

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Health care provider/social care

◗ Top executive: Marko Berishaj, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 92

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 106

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 0%

◗ Learning opportunities: Professional development and training programs

◗ Unique perks: Group outings and team-bonding experiences

35. Marsh McLennan Agency

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Consulting

◗ Top executive: Rebecca McLaughlan, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 28

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 159

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 19 days

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company bene ts: Fully paid, sixweek parental leave

◗ Employee recognition: Team members rewarded for loyalty, including $3,500 for more than 25 years of service

36. Lockton

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Detroit

◗ Industry: Consulting

◗ Top executives: Ron Lockton, CEO (Kansas City, Mo.); Scott Dillabaugh, senior vice president and director of

operations (Detroit)

◗ Ranking in 2023: 18

◗ U.S.-based employees: 6,488

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 56

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 70%

◗ Paid holidays: 10 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: 10 days

◗ Learning opportunities: Professional development

◗ Unique perks: Of ce-wide cornhole tournament with a 50/50 charitable fundraiser for local nonpro ts

37. Gresham Smith

◗ S.E. Michigan location: South eld

◗ Industry: Engineering

◗ Top executives: Rodney Chester, CEO (Nashville, Tenn.); Charlie Poat (South eld)

◗ U.S.-based employees: 1,105

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 18

◗ Paid holidays: Eight days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Ax-throwing, Topgolf outings, foosball and pingpong tables

◗ Employee Resource Groups: LGBTQ+ Alliance, Inclusive Multiculturalism for Advancement, Women’s Parent/ Caregiver and Wellbeing

◗ Employee recognition: Event for employees who earn professional licenses

38. Butzel Long

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Detroit

◗ Industry: Legal

◗ Top executive: Paul Mersino, president and CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 41

◗ U.S.-based employees: 245

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 190

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 75%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid holidays: 20 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Employee recognition: Gifts and public recognitions for professional milestones

39. Towne Mortgage

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Mortgage

◗ Top executive: Mark Janssen, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 27

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 260

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 83%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 17 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Employee recognition: Bonuses for project completions and employees who exceed expectations and personalized gifts; PTO payouts and online tributes when employees retire

PROVIDING GREAT PLACES TO

40. RKA Petroleum

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Romulus

◗ Industry: Petroleum distribution

◗ Top executive: Tom Cinzori, COO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 9

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 72

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 99%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: Six days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Vaccinated pets are allowed in the of ce

◗ Employee recognition: Performance bonuses

◗ Company bene ts: Family life insurance bene ts

41. JMJ Phillip Group Executive Search

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Executive search/ recruiting

◗ Top executive: Dennis Theodorou, managing director

◗ Ranking in 2023: 30

◗ U.S.-based employees: 56

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 35

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: 13 days

◗ Learning opportunities: Professional development initiatives and training programs

◗ Company bene ts: Yearly bonus program for every department

42. NBS Commercial Interiors

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Interiors integrator

◗ Top executive: Heather Lanier, president

◗ U.S.-based employees: 159

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 150

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 10 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company bene ts: Hybrid and exible work schedules

◗ Employee recognition: Employeenominated Team Member of the Year receives a customizable trip

43. DeMaria Building Co.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Novi

◗ Industry: Construction

◗ Top executive: Joseph A. DeMaria Jr., CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 83

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Camaraderie-building events such as chili cook-offs and summer picnics

◗ Learning opportunities: Diversity, equity and inclusion annual training

◗ Company bene ts: PTO increases over time

44. Mid-America Real Estate

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Bloom eld Hills

◗ Industry: Real estate/renting/leasing

◗ Top executive: Daniel Stern, president

◗ Ranking in 2023: 39

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 36

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 60%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 18 days

◗ Paid holidays: 10 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Learning opportunities: Professional development and advancement opportunities

◗ Unique perks: Personalized birthday gifts and treats for employees

45. Spalding DeDecker

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Rochester Hills

◗ Industry: Consulting

◗ Top executive: Steve Benedettini, president and CFO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 97

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 140

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 73%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Putting green

◗ Learning opportunities: Diversity, equity and inclusion informational lunch and learns

46.

Identity

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Birmingham

◗ Industry: Advertising/marketing/ public relations

◗ Top executive: Mark Winter, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 38

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 29

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 70%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 12 days

and general manager (Detroit)

◗ U.S.-based employees: 10,000

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 93

◗ Voluntary turnover: 9%

◗ Paid holidays: 13 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Trivia nights, Detroit Tigers games

◗ Employee resource groups: Young professionals, diverse employees, veterans and women

◗ Employee recognition: Anniversary gifts for service milestones

49. Copper Hill Inc.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Livonia

◗ Industry: Business services

◗ Top executive: Jenae Ciecko, president and CEO

◗ U.S.-based employees: 200

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 123

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 99%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 14 days

◗ Unique perks: Dog-friendly of ces, annual golf outing

◗ Learning opportunities: An industry training program that prepares new hires

50. Sachse Construction

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Detroit

◗ Industry: Construction

◗ Top executive: Todd Sachse, CEO and founder

◗ Ranking in 2023: 72

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 167

◗ Paid holidays: 17 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Employee recognition: Peer-to-peer recognition with bonuses and anniversary milestone travel stipends

47. imageOne

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Oak Park

◗ Industry: Business services

◗ Top executive: Josh Britton, president and CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 61

◗ U.S.-based employees: 64

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 40

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Virtual game nights

48. Turner Construction Co.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Detroit

◗ Industry: Construction

◗ Top executive: Peter Davoren, president and CEO (New York City), Robert Bowen, vice president

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 78%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company bene ts: A wellness program that includes gym subsidies

◗ Employee recognition: The most-valuable employee of the month receives a $500 gift card

51. Gateway Financial Solutions

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Saginaw

◗ Industry: Finance

◗ Top executive: Richard Garber, president

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 155

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 50%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: Six days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Outings to hockey games, cookouts and potlucks

◗ Employee recognition: Annual anniversaries are recognized during company meetings

Oakland Thrive gives businesses the tools they need to ourish

Strong communities need strong economies. at was the idea behind the creation of Oakland rive, a nonpro t organization that works to bolster Oakland County’s economic development.

“In the past few years so many small businesses in Oakland County were struggling to survive,” said CEO Vicki Selva. “A er an extended shutdown with supply chain issues and rising costs, it was critical to get these businesses the resources they needed so they could come back to life.”

To make this happen, business leaders from Oakland County worked with Oakland County leadership to create an innovative and transformative plan to support small and micro businesses to help them navigate this strange new world. Using federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, they invested in creating a sustainable small business ecosystem through Oakland rive’s small business program.

Since March of 2023, Oakland rive has partnered with Oakland County and other state-wide and regional organizations to help businesses succeed including 1:1 consulting and free workshops in areas such as social media marketing, cyber security, pro t and cash ow, and networking opportunities. ey have helped over

7,000 small businesses in Oakland County.

“ rough my partnership with Oakland rive, I have witnessed a community of advocates and business owners upli ing each other to create sustainable change and growth,” said Destiny Williams, Outreach Coordinator for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses.

While small businesses were Oakland rive’s original focus, the organization has expanded to help businesses of all sizes and industries with o erings such as government contracting, succession planning, matching buyers and suppliers, and more.

Oakland rive believes that strong economies mean strong communities. ey focus on bridging economic disparities, fostering inclusive growth and ensuring equitable opportunities. Oakland rive isn’t just about business success, it’s also about creating and maintaining strong, vibrant communities. eir goal is a thriving, inclusive economy where every business, big or small, has the tools and support to ourish. rive now o ers project management, defense and aerospace development, business intelligence, navigation of government processes, and more.

“When we support businesses by giving them the support they need to achieve success we not only propel the economy forward, we propel local communities forward,” said Laura Dodd, Oakland Thrive’s COO. “We are involved in a number of exciting projects such as our Business to Business (B2B) program.”

B2B connects our small business clients with partner organizations and professional business providers to provide tailored strategies and services including one-on-one consultations, trainings, seminars, and workshops to help support and strengthen the county’s small business community.

“We really are a transformative force in Oakland County,” Selva said. “Everyone on this team has invaluable expertise and is dedicated to the work of nurturing local businesses of all sizes. And we intend to continue that work into the future.”

When opportunity knocks in Oakland County, Oakland rive makes sure that businesses are equipped to answer.

Email info@oaklandthrive. org, call (248)-602-0040, or visit https://oaklandthrive.org for more information.

Small business owners shake hands at the Oakland County Small Business Speed Networking event hosted by Oakland Thrive at Bamboo in Royal Oak.

Oakland Thrive offers services and consulting to help child care businesses thrive in Oakland Count

Oakland Thrive Business Consultant Drake R. Phifer in a 1:1 consulting session provides information to a potential client.

52. Morrey’s Contracting

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Detroit

◗ Industry: Construction

◗ Top executive: Todd Sachse, CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 44

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 78%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: Six days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company bene ts: Wellness program focused on health, wealth, community, connection, mind and body

◗ Unique perks: Off-site team-building events, including trivia nights

53. Brooks Kushman P.C.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Royal Oak

◗ Industry: Legal

◗ Top executive: Sangeeta Shah, CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 138

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 90%

◗ Unique perks: Pingpong, chess and poker tournaments, free in-of ce lunches twice weekly

◗ Company bene ts: Flex time and increasing PTO

54. Work Skills Corp.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Brighton

◗ Industry: Nonpro t

◗ Top executive: Tina Jackson, president and CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 70

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Two days

◗ Paid holidays: 13 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Learning opportunities: Growth and development programs

◗ Unique perks: Company-sponsored massage days and 12 Days of Christmas event that includes a daily drawing to receive a gift

55. Dewpoint

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Lansing

◗ Industry: Technology

◗ Top executive: Robert Bartholomew, president and CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 159

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 20 days

◗ Paid holidays: 10 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Movie theater rental for employees and their families, a weekly social hour with prizes, annual and all-day events such as fowling and go-kart racing

56. Farbman Group

◗ S.E. Michigan location: South eld

◗ Industry: Real estate/renting/leasing

◗ Top executive: Andy Farbman, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 64

◗ U.S.-based employees: 131

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 112

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 70%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Learning opportunities: Mentorship program

◗ Employee recognition: Going the Extra Mile Award

57. Stuart Mechanical

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Auburn Hills

◗ Industry: HVAC

◗ Top executive: Richard Broder, CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 34

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 78%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 12 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Off-site team-building events and basketball, dodgeball and kickball games

◗ Company bene ts: Wellness program focuses on employees’ health, wealth, minds and bodies

58.

The Senior Alliance

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Wayne

◗ Industry: Nonpro t

◗ Top executive: Jason Maciejewski, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 42

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 96

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 20 days

◗ Paid holidays: 18 days

◗ Paid time off for community

service: Yes

◗ Employee recognition: Years of service gift cards and recognition

◗ Company bene ts: Dependents’ health, dental and vision insurance premiums are also covered

59. PEA Group

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Auburn Hills

◗ Industry: Civil engineering, land survey, landscape architecture and environmental

◗ Top executive: David N. Hunter, COO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 46

◗ U.S.-based employees: 227

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 205

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 73%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Unique perks: Yappy hours with employees’ dogs

◗ Employee resource group: Women

60. Michigan First Credit Union

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Lathrup Village

◗ Industry: Banking

◗ Top executive: Jennifer Borowy, president and CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 85

◗ U.S.-based employees: 490

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 441

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 85%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: 10 days

◗ Unique perks: On-site bowling center, tness center and subsidized café

◗ Company bene ts: Adoption bene ts

61. Strategic Energy Solutions

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Berkley

◗ Industry: Engineering

◗ Top executive: Steve DiBerardine, president

◗ Ranking in 2023: 77

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 47

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 82%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid holidays: Six days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Learning opportunities: Personalized coaching, professional development, tuition reimbursement

◗ Unique perks: Lunchtime trivia and warehouse socials

62. EIG14T

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Berkley

◗ Industry: Real estate/renting/leasing

◗ Top executive: Reed Fenton, CEO and partner

◗ Ranking in 2023: 66

◗ U.S.-based employees: 37

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 31

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 60%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 12 days

◗ Paid holidays: 10 days

◗ Unique perks: Annual employee off-site events

◗ Company bene ts: Fully and partially paid maternity and paternity leave

63. Detroit Regional Partnership

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Detroit

◗ Industry: Business services

◗ Top executive: Maureen Donohue-Krauss, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 11

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 32

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 20 days

◗ Paid holidays: 14 days

◗ Company bene ts: Half-day Fridays from Memorial Day to Labor Day

◗ Unique perks: Off-site team-building outings such as bowling, golf simulators and scavenger hunts

◗ Employee recognition: End-of-year bonus to recognize outstanding employees

64. Lucia Landscaping Inc.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Roseville

◗ Industry: Lawn maintenance, ground maintenance and design

◗ Top executive: Ted Lucia, president

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 108

◗ Voluntary turnover: 20%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Four days to start

◗ Paid holidays: Six days

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 0%

◗ Employee recognition: Monthly meetings to recognize employees who showcase the company’s core values; awards for employees who exceed expectations

◗ Unique perks: Company picnics, softball games and summer barbecues

65.

Spire Integrated Systems

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Technology

◗ Top executive: Navot Shoresh, president

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 48

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 3%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 14 days

◗ Paid holidays: Eight days

◗ Unique perks: Ax-throwing and sports watch parties

◗ Employee recognition: Cash prize for YouinSPIREme Awards recognition

◗ Company bene ts: Reimbursements for cellphone bills and gym memberships

66. Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Detroit

◗ Industry: Health care provider/social care

◗ Top executive: Manny Singla, interim CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 625

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 90%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 20 days

◗ Paid holidays: 17 days

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 90%

◗ Employee recognition: Monthly employee achievement awards

◗ Company bene ts: Full coverage for employees' and dependents' dental and vision insurance premiums

◗ Employee resource group: Women

No. 52 Morrey’s Contracting | PROVIDED

67. Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Okemos

◗ Industry: Insurance (health care)

◗ Top executive: Goran Jurkovic, president and CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 93

◗ U.S.-based employees: 1,244

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 1,019

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 87%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 12 days

◗ Employee recognition: Financial rewards based on employees' quality of work

◗ Company bene ts: Educational assistance and tuition reimbursement program

68. HRPro/BenePro

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Royal Oak

◗ Industry: Business services

◗ Top executive: Kristopher Powell, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 56

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 39

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 90%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: Seven days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company bene ts: Alternating three-day weekends during the summer

◗ Unique perks: Employee concierge services such as car washes, chair massages and laundry service

69. Ronnisch

Construction Group

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Royal Oak

◗ Industry: Construction

◗ Top executive: Bernd Ronnisch, president

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 42

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 70%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 21 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Friday happy hours during the summer and department outings, such as bowling and golf

◗ Company bene ts: Cellphone stipends

70. University of Michigan Credit Union

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Ann Arbor

◗ Industry: Finance

◗ Top executive: Tiffany Ford, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 78

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 226

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 89%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 18 days

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Learning opportunities: Time- and stress-management classes

◗ Unique perks: Free crafting and yoga classes

◗ Employee recognition: Annual Success Celebration honoring employees

71. OnTheClock

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Clinton Township

◗ Industry: Technology

◗ Top executive: Dean Mathews, CEO and founder

◗ Ranking in 2023: 63

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 22

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 12 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company bene ts: Fully covered health, dental and vision insurance premiums

◗ Employee recognition: On-site celebrations of life milestones

72. DHS Management Co.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Birmingham

◗ Industry: Real estate/renting/leasing

◗ Top executive: David Jacobson, managing member

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 103

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 74%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 13 days

◗ Paid holidays: 12 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Employees can rent a discounted apartment and tickets to sporting events

◗ Employee recognition: Quarterly Diamond Award for exceptional performance and customer service

No. 70 University of Michigan Credit Union | PROVIDED

73. Giffels Webster

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Detroit

◗ Industry: Engineering

◗ Top executive: Mike Kozak, president

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 104

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Employee recognition: Staff giveaways throughout the summer

◗ Company bene ts: Professional test-related and license renewal expenses are covered; adoption bene ts

74. Oliver / Hatcher

Construction

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Novi

◗ Industry: Construction

◗ Top executive: Paul Hatcher, president

◗ Ranking in 2023: 84

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 34

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 50%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Company bene ts: Tuition reimbursement

◗ Learning opportunities: Monthly professional development

◗ Unique perks: Chili cook-offs and cornhole tournaments

75. Henry Ford Estate, dba Fair Lane: Home of Clara

& Henry Ford

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Dearborn

◗ Industry: Nonpro t

◗ Top executive: Robert Bury, president and CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 25

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 70%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 21 days

◗ Paid holidays: 12 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company bene ts: Employees receive 31 days of PTO after 11-plus years of service; fully paid parental leave

76. Altarum Institute

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Novi

◗ Industry: Nonpro t

◗ Top executives: Michael Monson, CEO and president (Arlington, Va.); Lesa Litteral, executive vice president and chief administrative of cer (Novi)

◗ U.S.-based employees: 187

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 82

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 97%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Unique perks: On-site and off-site after-work gatherings including barbecues, happy hours, Family Feudthemed game show and trivia contests

◗ Employee recognition: Staff

achievements are rewarded with bonuses and gift cards

77. Hema-Tec Inc.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Clawson

◗ Industry: Health care provider/social care

◗ Top executive: Christopher Gangnier, CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 108

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 81%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: Six days

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 15%

◗ Employee recognition: Yearly bonuses, Team Member of the Year and other awards

◗ Learning opportunities: Robust mentorship program

78. ICAT Logistics Detroit

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Taylor

◗ Industry: Transportation/distribution

◗ Top executive: Daniel Cser, owner

◗ Ranking in 2023: 17

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 18

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: Seven days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Monthly massages and matches to charitable donations

◗ Company bene ts: Reimbursements for gym memberships and tness classes

80. Oxford Property Management LLC

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Ann Arbor

◗ Industry: Real estate/renting/leasing

◗ Top executive: Jeff Hauptman, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 87

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 90

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 91%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: 9 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: On-site gym with a trainer

◗ Employee recognition: Awards and bonuses for service milestones

81. First Merchants Bank

by Crains Detroit

79. Open Dealer Exchange LLC

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Farmington Hills

◗ Industry: Technology

◗ Top executive: Steve Luyckx, president and general manager

◗ Ranking in 2023: 89

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 210

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 80%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 20 days

◗ Paid holidays: Six days

◗ Percentage of employees that work remotely: 20%

◗ Unique perks: Catered lunches to commemorate celebrations and holidays

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Farmington Hills

◗ Industry: Banking

◗ Top executives: Mark Hardwick, CEO (Indianapolis); Timothy Mackay, president, mortgage banking and bank operations (Farmington Hills)

◗ Ranking in 2023: 89

◗ U.S.-based employees: 2,129

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 406

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 78%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 12 days

◗ Paid holidays: 12 days

◗ Learning opportunities: Diversity, equity and inclusion promoted through community calls, cultural celebrations and holidays

◗ Employee recognition: Employee appreciation week

82.

McKenna

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Northville

◗ Industry: Urban planning

◗ Top executive: John Jackson, president

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 34

◗ Top executive: 80%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 7%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 17 days

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Employee recognition: Fist-Bump awards, $250 gift cards and bonuses for completing certi cations

83. Total Quality Logistics

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Transportation/distribution

◗ Top executives: Ken Oaks, CEO (Cincinnati); Pierson Legg, group sales manager (Troy)

◗ U.S.-based employees: 9,039

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 94

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: Six days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company bene ts: Uncapped commissions

◗ Learning opportunities: Paid training

84. Michigan Health Council

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Okemos

◗ Industry: Nonpro t

◗ Top executive: Craig Donahue, president and CEO

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 33

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Company bene ts: Dental and vision

insurance premiums are also covered

◗ Unique perks: Ax-throwing and bowling outings; March Madness bracket winner earns an additional

88. Public Sector Consultants

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Lansing

◗ Industry: Consulting

◗ Top executive: Julie Metty Bennett, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 79

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 68

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 76%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: Nine days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Dedicated spaces for quiet meditation, re ection and yoga

◗ Company bene ts: Short- and longterm disability insurances are covered

85. MassMutual Great Lakes

◗ S.E. Michigan location: South eld

◗ Industry: Finance

◗ Top executive: Manuel Amezcua, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 82

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 26

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 100%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 12%

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Company bene ts: Dental and vision insurance premiums are also covered

◗ Learning opportunities: Leadership coaching and professional development

◗ Employee recognition: Awards for employees committed to excellence

86.

Gardner White

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Warren

◗ Industry: Retail

◗ Top executive: Rachel Stewart, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 82

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 942

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 82%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Five days

◗ Paid holidays: Three days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Learning opportunities: Leadershipemployee lunches

◗ Unique perks: Employees can win free furniture

87. RPM

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Royal Oak

◗ Industry: Logistics

◗ Top executive: Barry Spilman, CEO and founder

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 258

◗ Voluntary turnover: 8%

◗ Paid time off after one year: Unlimited

◗ Paid holidays: Six days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Employee recognitions: Employees are rewarded with gift cards

◗ Unique perks: Dog-friendly of ce and discounts at local restaurants

90. Walker Healthforce

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Bloom eld Hills

◗ Industry: Staf ng

◗ Top executive: Ti any Walker, CEO

◗ U.S.-based employees: 42

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 27

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 75%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: 10 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Happy hours

◗ Employee recognition: Financial rewards for work-related accomplishments

91. Lumen Pediatric Therapy

89. Ilmor Engineering Inc.

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Plymouth

◗ Industry: Manufacturing

◗ Top executive: Paul Ray, president

◗ U.S.-based employees: 148

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 107

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 85%

◗ Voluntary turnover: 12%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 13 days

◗ Paid holidays: 11 days

◗ Learning opportunities: Professional development

◗ Employee recognition: A custom Rolex watch after 20 years of service

◗ S.E. Michigan location: St. Clair Shores

◗ Industry: Health care provider/social care

◗ Top executive: Nicholle Mehr, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 43

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 46

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 75%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: Seven days

◗ Unique perks: Spirit Week, where employees can dress up and have fun with clients

◗ Employee recognition: A peer-topeer recognition program

◗ Company bene ts: PTO increases to 20 days after four years

92. LWM Holdings LLC

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Troy

◗ Industry: Staf ng

◗ Top executive: Larry Malace II, president

◗ U.S.-based employees: 52

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 39

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 65%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 10 days

◗ Paid holidays: 10 days

◗ Paid time off for community service: Yes

◗ Unique perks: Of ce Olympics

◗ Employee recognition: Quarterly bonuses

93. Lowry Solutions

◗ S.E. Michigan location: Brighton

◗ Industry: Technology

◗ Top executive: Michael Lowry, CEO

◗ Ranking in 2023: 100

◗ U.S.-based employees: 69

◗ Southeast Michigan-based employees: 51

◗ Percentage of health care premium covered by the employer: 70%

◗ Paid time off after one year: 15 days

◗ Paid holidays: Eight days

◗ Employee recognition: Gift cards for exceeding expectations and supporting the company’s core values

◗ Unique perks: Annual Halloween party for employees’ children and grandchildren

GROWTH CULTURE STARTS WITH

No. 86 Gardner White | PROVIDED

POPULATION GROWTH

Rolling out the welcome mat

Michigan, Ohio search out ideas to combat an old problem — attracting more people

By Dustin Walsh

With populations that peaked two decades ago, Michigan and Ohio have entered a period of stagnation that is stymieing economic investment and well-being. Cities in what was once commonly called the Rust Belt, places like Detroit and Cleveland, have been erased from the epicenter of population growth they held in the post-World War II boom.

Michigan’s population has averaged growth of approximately 0.0004% since 2004. e state ranks 49th for population growth in the U.S. Ohio ranks 40th. And if that’s a downpour of bad news now, a ood is coming.

Restricted immigration, low birth rates and an economic “gray tsunami” from continued baby boomer retirements will further cripple these two states — people 65 and older are expected to grow by 30% by 2050 in Michigan, outnumbering those younger than for the rst time ever, for example, Michigan’s population is expected to decline by 1.3% by 2050. Ohio’s by 5.7%.

But policymakers are waking up

to the disastrous reality of population loss — economic fallout, reduced national in uence and poorer conditions for residents.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer created a task force to study the issue and installed a population czar last year, while Ohio has launched new workforce attraction tools in an attempt to stave o the consequences.

But can public policy reverse decades of migration to warmer climates and “it” cities capitalizing on youth trends? Would emulating programs from other states, such as cash for down payments on homes, lure residents and stave o the demographic tide of declining birth rates and aging population?

“Part of the challenge for population growth is that no state has come out and comprehensively taken on growth writ large because it’s hard,” said Hilary Doe, chief growth o cer for Michigan. “It doesn’t take six weeks or six months. ere is no silver bullet solution. But it’s necessary as the war for talent has never been more important.”

POPULATION GROWTH

Population growth (or lack thereof)

While states throughout the West and South grew between 2020-2023, Michigan and Ohio suffered losses. Those losses were spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic that capped more than two decades of population stagnation. This occurred even as places in the Midwest, such as Detroit and Cleveland, witnessed economic rebounds and record investment.

Domestic migration

Florida has always been the big winner in domestic migration, attracting retirees to its sandy beaches and warm weather. Texas, however, has been a big winner in recent years, attracting younger, more technology-centric workers. Other states in the South have seen in uxes of migrating workers from the Midwest in recent years as well.

and how they will pay for that child and in what environment.”

Michigan and Ohio are both relatively expensive places to raise children compared to the fastestgrowing states in the U.S. e average cost for infant care in Michigan is $10,881 or $905 per month, according to the Washington, D.C., think tank Economic Policy Institute. Infant care for one child in the state accounts for 19% of a median family’s income. Infant care costs $9,697 in Ohio, or about $808 per month.

In South Carolina, it’s just $7,007. But Hayford said the cost is only part of the overall factor.

“I am very careful about recommending policies that encourage birth rates,” Hayford said. “Focusing on population structure isn’t a good end goal. It is about making our states vibrant for people to be happy and healthy and that encourages population growth.”

And it seems overall cost of living isn’t the greatest factor in migration from one state to another. e cost of living is, in fact, less in Michigan and Ohio than all of the fastest-growing states, according to data from the Council for Community & Economic Research survey. Michigan ranked the 12th most a ordable state in the rst quarter of 2024 and Ohio ranked 21st. Idaho ranked 30th and the North Carolina and South Carolina ranked 27th and 28th, respectively.

Others also often point to public transportation as an ongoing problem for attracting young workers into Michigan and Ohio, but none of the fastest-growing states are known for their o erings.

e overall tax burden also is pushed as being a deterrent to attracting talent.

But in 2022, Michigan ranked 5th in overall state and local tax burden in the nation, according to data from the Tax Foundation. North Carolina and South Carolina ranked 23rd and 9th, respectively.

Ohio has a higher tax burden, ranking 24th in the country, but is still lower than Illinois at 44th and Utah at 40th.

Erwin Erhardt III, an economist at University of Cincinnati, said the Midwest’s cold, gray winters and legacy industries are an ongoing deterrent.

A pickle of a problem

Michigan’s and Ohio’s losses have been other states’ and cities’ gains. Chicago has, historically, been a beacon for Michigan’s graduates and early-career workers chasing the big city life and amenities.

Between 2016-20, more Michiganders from Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties left the Pleasant Peninsula for Cook County, Illinois, than any other county in the country. Same goes for Clevelanders in Cuyahoga County, followed by metro Phoenix in Maricopa County.

But other regions and cities are emerging.

To metro Detroiters and metro Clevelanders, Mecklenberg County, North Carolina, home of Charlotte, is a rising star in recent years. e population of North Carolina, unlike Michigan and Ohio, continues to rise — growing 3.8% between 2020 and 2023. And while Florida and Texas continue to be big gainers writ larger, new leaders are emerging. Idaho’s population grew 6.38% during that time, followed by South Carolina at 4.98% and Utah at 4.47%.

But why those states? ere isn’t a speci c through line for any of them. Idaho and Utah have higher birth-to-death rates than the others and a cheaper cost of living than nearby California. North Car-

olina has a rising tech sector, as does Idaho. South Carolina has seen a boon in manufacturing growth, as automakers and aerospace rms are able to nd a cheaper, less unionized workforce. ose new growth areas also are seeing a baby boom or, at least, births are outpacing deaths. By July 1, 2023, the natural change (births minus deaths) turned negative in over half of U.S. states. e natural rate of change turned negative in Michigan and Ohio in 2021, a likely outcome for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But that gure remains high in the fastest-growing states. In Utah, there are 7.29 babies born for every death in the state. In

Texas, it’s 5.23 babies per death, and it’s 1.18 in North Carolina.

Sarah Hayford, director of the Institute for Population Research at Ohio State University, said even though the fertility rate in all developing countries is declining, those who are seeking to become parents are carefully choosing where to live.

“In the interviews I’ve done with young people, people who are in their early 20s, they are really thoughtful and really thinking about the big picture of their lives and what they want their lives to look like,” Hayford said. “Not just about having a baby, but raising the child; the long-term commitment and how expensive that is

“Yes, it’s the weather, but it’s also opportunity,” Erhardt said.

“People are leaving our states for places like North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee and Texas because, frankly, it’s warmer. But also, I think, the writing has been on the wall here in the Midwest since the ‘80s. We’re losing industry. e old industrial jobs are depleted. We’ve come up with a patchwork of new ideas and new jobs now, but it happened much slower than it should have, and now we’re playing catch-up.”

Erhardt said the cost of living isn’t factoring in as much as potential earnings with younger professionals.

Hilary Doe is chief growth of cer for the state of Michigan. | NIC ANTAYA

POPULATION GROWTH |

Michigan needs everyone to join population e ort

When I was named Michigan’s chief growth o cer last summer, I knew that growing our population was going to require all hands on deck. ere’s a reason we’re the rst state to take this on, and that’s because it’s not easy. It’s not the type of challenge you overcome in one year or one political term.

Can In Michigan” campaign last year, which connects job seekers to employers in Michigan and, more broadly, encourages talent in our state and across the country to choose Michigan.

But that doesn’t make it any less critical. When we’re faced with the hardest of challenges, I’m of the mindset to charge straight toward them — because those are the things I know we’ll overcome, if we take them on together.

To be successful in the long term, growing our population will take policy action, ampli cation of Michigan’s story across the country and around the world, and innovative programs to kickstart growth. With the help of our partners and thousands of Michiganders statewide, Michigan has launched the most comprehensive growth e ort of any state in the nation. And we’re seeing results.

The state’s population growth effort started last year with the bipartisan Growing Michigan Together Council, who voted to submit three comprehensive strategies and supporting recommendations to the governor and Legislature last December. The members spent months researching, listening and analyzing faster growing peer states, all of which is reflected in their final report.

When their work concluded, my team was passed the baton to continue building momentum around their recommendations, labeled the blueprint for growth. We’ve seen exciting progress since the Council concluded — and we’re just getting started.

In the 2025 budget Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently signed, real strides were made toward implementation of growth priorities, from $100 million to construct more a ordable housing, to expanding pre-K to every 4-year-old and funding for every Michigan high school grad to attain an associate degree or skilled certicate for free — a rst step toward the goals laid out in the blueprint.

Plus, the budget prioritized talent and growth with $45.5 million to support Michigan’s workforce needs, as well as population growth efforts. These are some of the highlights. These investments make it easier for folks to access opportunity, purchase a home and build a life in Michigan.

To help tell Michigan’s story, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. launched the “You

e results have been incredible. e campaign is a recipient of 11 Telly awards, garnered over 2 million website views and attracted 10,000+ sign-ups in the career portal. ese individuals want to live and work in Michigan. Most out-ofstate applicants are from Texas, Illinois, California and New York. We’ll continue building on this work with innovative outreach and engagement strategies to stay out front.

The underlying task in much of our work is executing a growth strategy that retains and attracts talent. Like many of our neighbors, Michigan is aging faster than the U.S., with a larger number of folks retiring from the workforce. As our economic opportunities grow, there are even more positions to fill, creating a talent gap.

As the whole world enters the “war for talent,” we know the state must do even better at retaining young families, workers and recent graduates, while welcoming new residents. While many cities and states have launched narrow programs — to attract remote workers, for example — Michigan’s approach is part of a larger strategy that’s inclusive of our diverse communities.

It’s in that context that we’re launching a rst-of-its-kind regional talent retention and attraction pilot program — Make MI Home — designed to help communities establish a unique o ering to either retain or attract folks they consider critical to the growth of their region. We can’t wait to see what they create.

It’s not new for Michigan organizations to tackle local population challenges. is summer, we’ve been traveling the state to highlight and amplify ways regions have incorporated the blueprint for growth into the outstanding work they’re doing to explore opportunities to scale successful initiatives both locally and statewide. We’ve been to Traverse City, Marquette, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Vicksburg. Next up, Detroit.

Growing our population was always meant to be a group project. Over the last year, we’ve spent a lot of time listening and collecting feedback from over 11,000 Michiganders and 6,000 young people across the nation. eir relocation decisions hinge on three things: the need for great places, great opportunities and welcoming communities.

Attracting young people is essential to reversing Midwest population woes

For more than 20 years, Michigan’s population has grown much more slowly than the nation’s. More importantly, Michigan has gotten older as young people are both leaving the state and not choosing to move there.

Population change and economic growth is an issue that will require continual attention and action over the next 25 years in both Michigan and Ohio. A broad array of institutions — government, business, labor and education — must come together to encourage policies that have a positive e ect on the demographic and economic trends in these states.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed the bipartisan Growing Michigan Together Council to consider the problem and recommend policies or actions to alter the trajectory. e council set an ambitious objective — that by 2050 Michigan would be among the top 10 states for population growth and among the top 10 states in median income, educational attainment and migration of young talented workers.

past 20 years is people moving south and west.  Research explaining this trend supports the view that people are moving toward the sun — clear days and warmer. Climate change might alter that pattern in the future, but that has not yet happened.

OK, neither Cleveland nor Detroit can replicate Austin’s or Denver’s or San Francisco’s climate. What else might matter?

In Michigan’s case, we know that it is not high taxes a ecting population loss and composition. Tax levels in Michigan are well below the national average, ranking 31st in per capita taxes and 33rd in e ective tax rate.  And the ETR in Michigan has been falling. In fact, tax levels in Michigan are lower than in Ohio (8.8% of income vs. 9.4%).

sive reports showing that infrastructure and public education spending had been relatively low and not su cient to maintain service quality.

One strategy Michigan is pursuing is to develop a deep talent base of highly skilled young workers that will attract businesses in growth industries. This requires both having a greater fraction of students completing post-secondary education and enticing those graduates to stay in Michigan.  The first is easier than the second.   e combination of free community college tuition adopted this year and the Michigan Achievement Scholarship for students at a Michigan public four-year university greatly increases the incentive to attend college.

I believe that Michigan will have done more in this direction than any other state.

A common characteristic of states with the highest income and growing economies and are attractive for young workers is an amenity-rich, vibrant and thriving metropolitan area.

e obvious trend over the

Not only did the low level of taxation not stem the population decline, in fact, low taxes may have contributed to population loss. e council received exten-

However, recent data show that 30% or more of graduates from Michigan’s public universities — both residents of the state and students from other states —

Hilary Doe is chief growth o cer for the state of Michigan.

Ronald C. Fisher is a professor of economics at Michigan State University and a member of the Growing Michigan Together Council.

leave Michigan after graduation for jobs and residence in other states.

How to retain these talented graduates?  A three-pronged approach seems promising. First, diversifying the state’s economy with new jobs that are attractive to young technically trained workers seems important. e Michigan economy is still heavily dependent on traditional manufacturing mostly related to automobiles and other vehicles, but that sector has not attracted population or led to growth as in the past.

Second, the state should explore retention incentives, including scholarships tied to Michigan jobs, tax credits for student loans and housing assistance. Just last month the state announced a program for communities to apply for funding to support retention or attraction efforts targeted at a segment of the population specific to their region. Finally, a common characteristic of states with the highest income and growing economies and are attractive for young workers is an amenityrich, vibrant and thriving metropolitan area. us, the council recommended creating “thriving, resilient communities that are magnets for young talent.”

Of course, this is a common challenge for older industrial cities such as Cleveland and Detroit.  New and lower-cost housing, better public transit, and reliable infrastructure all may contribute toward this goal.

How downtown Cleveland tackled a revitalization

Great regions and cities begin with a strong core. A vibrant core begins with a clean, safe, attractive environment and compelling pedestrian experiences.

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s Reimagining Downtown strategy, for example, is rooted in these principles. Its goal is to accelerate completing downtown’s transformation from a traditional central business district to a dynamic, well-connected neighborhood. e results of implementing Reimagining Downtown are undeniable.  Cleveland, once synonymous with Rust Belt decline, has emerged as a model for urban revitalization with our downtown leading the way.

Michael Deemer is president and CEO of Downtown Cleveland Inc.

Downtown Cleveland is experiencing a remarkable resurgence, with its population exceeding pre-pandemic levels by 12% and reaching 21,000. Approximately 850 new units are slated for completion through three projects this year alone, with three more buildings in the planning stages. is growth tra-

jectory is expected to continue, with Downtown Cleveland Inc.’s 2023 Housing Study projecting a population of 29,000 by 2032, supported by an additional 6,500 residential units.

Cleveland is now recognized as a national leader in adaptive reuse, converting vacant o ce spaces into housing at the highest rate in the country. Downtown Cleveland Inc.’s advocacy for historic preservation has resulted in 10 nationally designated historic districts. By leveraging historic tax credits with other incentives, we are setting an example for other cities facing similar issues.

e focus on residential growth is also driving business decisions. Downtown’s residential growth, especially around Public Square, played a critical role in the Sherwin-Williams Co.’s decision to build its new global headquarters in the Square, adding 3,500 employees to the area.

Enhancing the downtown experience through public space programming and activation is a cornerstone of Downtown Cleveland

Inc.’s revitalization strategy. Inclusive and interactive events further highlight the city center as a vibrant community. Activities such as daily food trucks, free live music and tness classes boost foot trafc, investment and safety, making downtown a desirable destination for residents and visitors alike.

ese results ow directly from aligned public and private sector leadership, a cohesive vision and strategy, and energized downtown leadership. e downtown business community, residents, elected o cials and regional partners are aligned around the goal of establishing Cleveland as an 18hour, 15-minute city.

Reimagining Downtown provides a clear blueprint for developers, investors and public ocials. Downtown Cleveland Inc. is delivering high quality services and compelling experiences, led by a team of downtown ambassadors who work 7 a.m.-midnight, seven days a week to help make downtown cleaner, safer and more attractive.

Improving the connectivity and quality of downtown public spaces is essential to attracting people, jobs and investment to the city’s core. Downtown Cleveland Inc.

has secured $850,000 in capital funding for Public Square improvements. ese funds are courtesy of the state of Ohio and the Project for Public Spaces.

While Public Square is a focal point, it is only the beginning of our work to ensure a world-class environment for residents, commuters and visitors. We are partnering with LAND Studio, a renowned design collective rm specializing in public art installations, cultural programming and civic space development, to implement our Downtown Retail Strategy, developing commercial corridors infused with light, color, sound, waynding and active storefronts that encourage people to spend more time — and money — downtown.  Downtown Cleveland has achieved great success in just over a year of implementing Reimagining Downtown. Our downtown ranks rst in Ohio and second in the Great Lakes region in downtown recovery. Deep challenges, however, remain.

By focusing our resources and energy on safety, placemaking and walkable development, we will ensure that downtown Cleveland continues to be seen as a model for urban revitalization.

Taxes, education play big roles in population trends

Can policy reverse a long-run, negative population trend?

In Michigan, they have been studying it. More than seven months ago, the bipartisan Growing Michigan Together Council, tasked by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer with developing recommendations to support population growth, issued its nal report. at report o ers a sobering picture of Michigan’s decline in both population and prosperity relative to other states.

Mike Addonizio is professor emeritus

of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in the College of Education at Wayne State University.

Michigan is 49th among states in population growth since 1990. Further, the population has gotten older as young people, especially those with college degrees, are either leaving the state or choosing not to come, favoring states with more opportunities.

is trend has serious economic and political consequences.

Whereas the median income of Michigan households was 18% above the national average in 1970, it had fallen to 9% below that benchmark by 2020. And the decline in relative population has reduced the state’s political in uence, with fewer congressional House members and fewer electoral votes.

e report prescribes a business development strategy centered around a highly skilled workforce and good public infrastructure. As an economist and longtime

participant and observer of education policy, I’ll focus on educational initiatives and assess the e orts and potential for implementing them.

e report proposes establishing the Michigan Education Guarantee, to give all Michigan high school graduates two years of publicly funded postsecondary education, either at a community college or a four-year university. Combined with a year of publicly funded preschool for all, this proposal would move the state from a K-12 education system to a pre-K-14.

To realize schools’ potential as engines of growth, the council placed particular emphasis on elementary and secondary public school teachers.

e report calls for “new designs for schooling, which may include structuring the school day to give teachers opportunities to work together, learn to improve their own practice and consider how to best organize teaching and learning across their school.”

To make this happen, schools will need adequate sta ng, with manageable class sizes and teaching loads. While e orts to rebuild the educator workforce have progressed over the past few years, including new funding for teacher scholarships and “grow your own” programs for support sta and students to become teachers, more resources are needed.

To nance opportunities for change, Michigan policymakers must change the state’s long-term tax-cutting trend. Michigan’s taxation levels have steadily fallen. As documented by Michigan State University economists Ron Fisher and Charles Ballard, among others, Michigan’s e ective tax rate — all state and local taxes as a percentage of total income — has generally been falling for 40 years and is now well below the national average, ranking 31st in per capita taxes and 33rd in e ective rate. at steady tax-cutting has had an e ect. e long-term decline in support for infrastructure and public schools has made our state smaller, older and less prosperous. Michigan has room to grow. It can increase support for schools, infrastructure and other public services people want without raising taxes to burdensome levels. Massachusetts and Michigan embarked on dramatic education and school nance reforms almost simultaneously in the early 1990s. At that time, their situations were not dissimilar. Financial support for public schools was roughly equal on average and while Massachusetts outperformed Michigan on some testing metrics, the di erences were not glaring. Since then, things have changed. While the Bay State is now widely regarded as among the nest public school systems in the U.S., Michigan is among the worst, ranking dead last among the states in student pro ciency gains and school funding growth, according to high-quality studies by Michi-

gan State University and the Brookings Institution.

For more than a quarter century now, political leaders in Massachusetts and Michigan have been making starkly di erent choices about education and tax reform. For example, between 1995 and 2015, Michigan’s in ation-adjusted K-12 revenue fell by 18%, putting it dead last among the states, while Massachusetts increased its real K-12 support by 26%.

Michigan has made some recent progress in supporting schools, but the budget just passed for FY 2025 is austere, with no increase in the schools’ basic allowance.

In sharp contrast, Bay State leaders recently nalized a state budget that will allow every resident to attend a Massachusetts community college tuition-free. How could they a ord this?

O cials point to their new voter-approved surtax on annual income exceeding $1 million and from taxes on capital gains.

Michigan leaders say they want to be a top 10 state for population growth, with an excellent PK-14 school system and a world-class infrastructure. e current de cits have been decades in the making and will not be closed anytime soon. But real progress is possible. e particulars of another state’s success may not t exactly, but the bold vision of a dynamic state like Massachusetts can work. When it comes to schools, roads, mass transit and other public services people want, you get what you pay for.

POPULATION GROWTH

POPULATION

From Page 20

“We’re behind on pay scales,” Erhardt said. “We’re a little more a ordable, but we don’t pay as much. Except maybe Columbus, which is the fastest-growing city in Ohio.”

Turning policies into people

Bureaucrats can’t change the weather, but they can make policy adjustments to attract migrants from within the U.S. — international immigration is at the hands of the federal government.

But have any policies really worked? at depends.

Tulsa, Oklahoma, started its Tulsa Remote program in 2018, ahead of the pandemic, o ering $10,000 to any remote workers who would move to Tulsa for at least one year. It worked.

More than 2,000 people relocated to Tulsa as of December 2022, according to the city’s economic report of the program. e result was nearly $307 million in additional labor income in the region. And the program had a multiplier e ect — for every two Tulsa Remote workers, three more were brought in either as children or workers to support their work. Of those in the program, 76% remained in Tulsa at the end of 2022.

e cheaper cost of living in Oklahoma — the second most a ordable state in the nation — allowed those in the Tulsa Remote program to increase their wages by $26,500 a year, according to a report by the Brookings Institution.

ere are roughly a dozen similar programs across the U.S., including in Topeka, Kansas; Rochester, New York; and more.

But Doe said the results of these programs are mixed and the outsized success of Tulsa’s program is due to its wraparound services. e city o ers those remote workers a coworking space for 36 months and housing assistance.

“ ey have done a great job threading the needle,” Doe said. “I attribute their success to their community and the wraparound services they used to make the move compelling.”

Alabama targeted workers for its more rural areas in its Muscle Shoals region. Baltimore o ers $5,000 on a down payment for a house for those that move there.

But Doe said a truly successful program to attract new people into the state requires many approaches all working in concert. She is leading an approach that includes policy, programs and promotion.

e rst program under Doe launched in late July. e Make MI Home program is currently taking proposals for state funding on ideas on boosting out of state migration.

e $500,000 in funds is available to local governments, nonpro ts, economic development organizations and others.

“ e idea is to study what programs work and which don’t,” Doe said. “We have a diverse state and the challenges are di erent, so we

Tulsa, Oklahoma, started its Tulsa Remote program in 2018 offering $10,000 to any remote workers who would move there for at least one year. It worked.

More than 2,000 people relocated to Tulsa as of December 2022, according to the city’s economic report of the program. The result was nearly $307 million in additional labor income in the region.

want to see di erent programs and how they will work.”

Michigan’s famed Pure Michigan campaign is also now under Doe’s o ce.

“We’ve done the research. We have an old and cold problem,” Doe said. “People still perceive us as having legacy manufacturing and boring cities. But Michigan looks very di erent now, a lot of work has been done. Marketing is all about iteration and being agile to make campaigns better and better. We are now targeting better. Our top states are Texas, Illinois and New York.”

e state launched the “You Can in Michigan” campaign in October last year to success, Doe said. e campaign markets tourism opportunities to out-of-state viewers with the express goal of moving those viewers into a website to eventually lead them to a jobs portal. Over the rst months, 10,000 people signed up in the jobs portal, with residents of Texas being the largest contingent.

Doe said the results of the Make MI Home program will eventually dictate a larger statewide talent attraction policy.

Ohio, on the other hand, is taking a larger swing. In February, the state

launched the All Ohio Future Fund, a $750 million program for local communities to attract new businesses and prepare sites. Ohio’s program is focused on the traditional “build it and they will come” approach, opposed to Michigan, which is looking at a more varied base-hits strategy to get talent.

“ ese funds are critical to bringing more economic development to regions across Ohio,” said state Sen. Andrew Brenner, a Republican from Delaware, Ohio, when the program was announced. “When companies are choosing to do business in the Buckeye State, they are creating more jobs and more opportunities for Ohioans, their families, and generations to come.”

Whether Michigan and Ohio can alter the overall population trends in their respective states remains uncertain. But they are both trying because it’s critical for their future.

“We have to make sure we’re getting national exposure and doing perception-shifting work,” Doe said. “I can’t stand that people don’t know how beautiful we are. We make sense for our water and how much we’re investing in clean energy, but we also make sense on paper. People just need to know that.”

Michigan’s plan to attract more people

By Dustin Walsh

To capture talent from outside Michigan and lure them here, the state has a plan.

Hilary Doe, Michigan’s chief growth o cer who is focused full time on these issues, is leading a three-pronged approach: policy, pilot programs and marketing.

e rst program under Doe launched in late July.

e Make MI Home program is currently taking proposals for state funding on ideas on boosting migration into the state. e $500,000 in funds is available to local governments, nonpro ts, economic development organizations and others. ose selected will be in charge of launching their own program with nancial and programming assistance from the state.

“ e idea is to study what programs work and which don’t,” Doe said. “We have a diverse state and the challenges are di erent, so we want to see di erent programs and how they will work.”

Michigan’s famed Pure Michigan campaign is also now under Doe’s o ce.

“We’ve done the research. We have an old and cold problem,” Doe said. “People still perceive us as having legacy manufacturing and boring cities. But Michigan looks very di erent now, a lot of work has been done. Marketing is all about iteration and being agile to make campaigns better and better. We are now targeting better. Our top states are Texas, Illinois and New York.”

It's an approach that has

seen some success in Northeast Ohio, as well. Destination Cleveland, the agency that markets the city to visitors — both short- and long-term ones — research into why people visit that city and what they think when they do has revealed some steady patterns. And those signs are overwhelmingly positive.

“What we see now is how incredibly important perception is to getting people to visit,” said David Gilbert, president and CEO of Destination Cleveland. “And how visiting and changing perceptions is incredibly important to just get people to be open to the message of living and working in Cleveland … .”

And once people come to the area, he said, it’s easier to get them to come back — maybe even permanently. It’s akin to turning a rst date into a lasting relationship.

e “You Can in Michigan” campaign launched in October last year to success, Doe said, and it focuses on giving people reasons to develop a relationship with Michigan. e campaign markets tourism opportunities to out-of-state viewers with the express goal of moving those viewers into a website to eventually leads them to a jobs portal. Over the rst months, 10,000 people signed up in the jobs portal, with residents of Texas being the largest contingent.

Doe said the results of the Make MI Home program will eventually dictate a larger statewide talent attraction policy.

In recent years, Rust Belt cities like Detroit have been erased from the epicenter of population growth they held in the post-World War II boom.

Where to get molecular imaging and therapy

What to look for when evaluating a Theranostics center

By BAMF Health

Radiopharmaceutical therapy and molecular imaging—together known as eranostics—are gaining signi cant traction worldwide. Even though eranostics dates back to the early 1940s, a rapid expansion is driving the industry to a projected $30 billion by 2031. Hospital systems, academic medical centers and independent o ces are making investments in this eld.

Brandi Miller, MSN, RN, AGCNSBS, OCN, is the Director of Clinical Operations for BAMF Health, one of the world’s most comprehensive eranostics Centers. She said, “ e questions many patients, and even physicians, are asking include, where is the best place to go for eranostics? What facilities are doing it safely? What does an exceptional patient experience look like?”

What to look for in a molecular imaging clinic

Tina Brennan, CNMT, NMTCB(CT) is the Nuclear Medicine Supervisor at BAMF Health. She suggests patients and providers look for a molecular imaging facility with advanced PET/ CT and PET/MR scanners.

“We have the United States’ rst clinical total-body PET/CT scanner and Michigan’s rst whole-body PET/ MR scanner,” Tina said. “Our PET/ CT scanner has 2x the resolution of traditional scanners, is 40x more sensitive and the scan time is less than ve minutes. In comparison, most PET/CT scans take about 40 minutes.”

What makes BAMF Health Theranostics Center different

BAMF Health, headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI, designed its facility from the ground up for eranostics; it wasn’t retro tted to accommodate molecular imaging and therapy.

Specialized infrastructure

bathroom and TV. ey have access to large windows and can adjust room lighting for brightness and even color.

“From our complimentary valet parking and bright waiting rooms to our comfortable guest spaces and comprehensive radiation safety practices, everything is designed for patient well-being,” said Brandi.

What to look for in a radiopharmaceutical therapy clinic

Because eranostics was not widely practiced when most facilities were built, they’ve had to modify spaces to accommodate. In some cases, patients may receive treatment in areas not designed for the two- to ve-hour stays that are necessary. Be sure to ask what the therapy space looks like, if bathrooms are easily accessible and if you’ll have privacy, suggested Brandi.

Ensure the clinical team has the expertise, equipment, and infrastructure to deliver radioactive therapy drugs safely and e ciently. Patients must be protected from unnecessary radiation, be given their dose at the optimal time and be monitored throughout their stay. All who accompany patients must also be kept safe while allowing them to interact with their loved ones.

“A quality facility should review all of these details with a patient long before their rst dose is administered,” Brandi added. “Look for a clinic that begins with a thorough oneon-one consultation where previous imaging, treatments and concerns

It is one of the rst vertically integrated precision medicine platforms, combining a large-scale molecular imaging clinic, a molecular therapy clinic, and a radiopharmacy under one roof. BAMF Health’s proprietary infrastructure allows for fast scheduling, scans and imaging reports.

Superior patient experience

“I’ve been in many nuclear medicine facilities where patients are taken to the basement for imaging,” Tina explained. “We intentionally designed

Clinical trials also allow patients to contribute to science and help ensure future patients have access to the care and treatments they need.

are discussed. Patients should feel informed, supported and listened to every step of the way.”

Patients and providers should also look for a facility with strong safety standards, accreditations, properly credentialed clinical team members, and experienced physicians.

our PET/CT and SPECT/CT rooms at BAMF Health with large windows. Patients tell us it reduces anxiety and claustrophobia, and they actually look forward to getting scanned.”

e therapy rooms at BAMF Health are also designed for an enhanced experience. Each patient is given a spacious private room with their own

As an additional bene t, BAMF Health gives patients a SPECT/CT scan approximately 24 hours a er therapy and sits down with them to discuss the results. is gives patients instant feedback about how treatment is impacting their tumors. Providers also use the scans to personalize therapeutic decisions—sooner rather than later.

Access to clinical trials

In addition to o ering FDA-approved medications, BAMF Health’s Clinical Trials Platform gives patients access to novel radiopharmaceuticals for a wide variety of diseases. For patients whose condition does not have an FDAapproved imaging or therapy option, a clinical trial can o er hope.

Clinical trials also allow patients to contribute to science and help ensure future patients have access to the care and treatments they need.

Dozens of radiopharmaceuticals are currently in development and expected to be approved in the coming months and years. BAMF Health’s goal is to deploy its unique model across the country so that every person has access to life-saving treatments in a safe and comfortable space close to home.

Brandi Miller, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, OCN, BAMF Health Director of Clinical Operations. Photo provided by BAMF Health.

BAMF Health’s Whole-Body PET/MR scanner. Photo provided by BAMF Health.

How The M Den wound up in bankruptcy

Jay Davis

Issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a changing college sports landscape played a major role in e M Den — the University of Michigan athletic department’s o cial merchandise retailer —  ling for bankruptcy, a co-owner says.

In a declaration led in bankruptcy court on Aug. 19, e M Den co-owner and President Scott Hirth laid out the problems e M Den has faced over the last four years that led to its bankruptcy ling Aug. 16. e M Den, which has changed its name to Heritage Collegiate Apparel Inc., has closed three stores since Aug. 15 and Hirth said he anticipates a sale of the company.

e M Den has been UM’s ocial retail partner for more than 30 years other than in 2009 due to a one-year termination, according to the Aug. 19 ling. e reason for the one-year pause was not explained.

e M Den was founded in 1976 by David Hirth and friend Doug Horning, who bought the Stein & Goetz Sports Goods in Ann Arbor. It later morphed into a seller of exclusively UM apparel and other branded items and became an ofcial retailer for UM in 1992. e men sold the company in 2013 to David Hirth’s children Scott Hirth and Julie Corrin and Horning’s nephew Steve Horning.

Hirth and Horning did not respond to Crain’s requests for comment.

On Aug. 15, the university demanded e M Den terminate the use of its name and give up the rights to its website, Hirth said in the Aug. 19 ling.

Hirth tells the story of the downfall of the business in a 22-page declaration led in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Michigan, starting with expansion in 2019 that left the company with limited cash reserves. e M Den spent nearly $1 million updating and implementing a new software system and another $600,000 to build out locations in downtown Detroit and Ann Arbor, he said.

“ e Debtor self-funded these improvements, leaving it with lower-than-normal cash reserves going into 2020 when it hit headon the unanticipated and unprecedented COVID-19 global pandemic that immediately followed,” Hirth said in the ling.

e M Den also bought $6 million worth of UM-branded apparel prior to the 2020 football and basketball seasons, Hirth said in the ling. However, Big Ten games that season were played without in-person spectators because of pandemic restrictions and campuses were largely empty as students attended classes and special events virtually, so in-person sales took a hit and e M Den pivoted to online sales. More than 60% of the company’s 2020 sales came from online purchases — more than double what e M Den saw in 2019. However, online sales generate a lower pro t margin

“(The M Den’s) agility in implementing the (NIL) program was celebrated, but its implementation was not without cost. The increased cost associated with payment of the student athletes further depleted (The M Den’s)

pro t margin.”

Filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Michigan

than in-person sales, Hirth noted, with the royalty it owed to the university for online sales signi cantly higher than for brick-and-mortar sales. Costs for shipping and returns can eat at pro ts.

e self-funded expansion and loss of revenue led e M Den ownership to take out high-interest loans to cover cash shortages, Hirth said in the ling.

Hirth said the July 2021 introduction of the NCAA name, image and likeness policy also impacted e M Den’s bottom line. e pol-

icy allows student-athletes to make money through brand deals and donor-funded collectives. UM athletes are some of the highest-paid during the NIL era.

“( e M Den) was quick to respond to the NIL Policy and worked with the University to launch a rst of its kind name and number program for the 2021 football season,” Hirth noted in the ling. “( e M Den’s) agility in implementing the program was celebrated, but its implementation was not without cost. e in-

town Detroit store and a Briarwood Mall location that had been open since 1982. e M Den owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in missed rent payments for the stores: Briarwood is owed more than $614,000, Olympia Development of Michigan close to $239,000 for the Detroit store and Twelve Oaks Mall more than $206,000.

Hirth’s company recently consented to pay $288,743 in three separate legal cases after multiple suppliers and landlords sued e M Den this year for non-payment of services or rent, MLive previously reported. ere are multiple pending lawsuits across the country, including one in U.S. District Court in Kansas for $4.2 million.

In e M Den bankruptcy ling, the company listed debts of $10 million-$50 million, 100-199 creditors and assets of $1 million-$10 million. According to the Aug. 16 bankruptcy ling, some of its creditors are:

e UM athletics department, $8.8 million for royalty payments Branded Custom Sports Inc., $4.3 million

Nike Inc., $2.6 million

creased cost associated with payment of the student athletes further depleted ( e M Den’s) pro t margin.”

Payment to student-athletes for autograph signings and other appearances is added on top of bills

e M Den accumulated from UM for royalty payments. NIL went into e ect as e M Den fronted costs for expansion and spent millions to replenish inventory.

Hirth said the company in December 2022 received about $5 million in inventory that arrived late due to supply chain issues. He said the products were di cult to sell at that point and as a result vendors largely were not paid and some led lawsuits and won judgments the company could not pay.

Hirth noted the company started 2023 in debt and couldn’t recover despite sales ballooning after the UM football team won the national championship in January 2024. Royalties due to the university on championship apparel were high and e M Den pro t margins were slim, Hirth said.

“At the end of the day, the National Championship victory and the increase in sales was not sucient to provide ( e M Den) with a nancial recovery,” Hirth wrote in the bankruptcy ling.

“ e pandemic, the high interest unconventional nancing, the deluge of inventory, lower pro t margins attributable to online sales, the NIL Policy, and Championship royalites ultimately contributed to the Debtor’s bankruptcy ling and the end of its nearly fty years of success as the o cial merchandise retailer to the University of Michigan,” Hirth says in the bankruptcy declaration.

e nearly 50-year-old company closed its store at Twelve Oaks Mall store on Aug. 15, then on Aug. 19 it closed its 5-year-old down-

◗ Michigan name, image and likeness collective Valiant Management Group,  $665,961 e company has two locations left, both in Ann Arbor. ose stores typically see a boost in sales this time of year as UM students ood into town for orientation and move-in as well as the start of classes and football season. But it’s unlikely that will be enough to turn things around.

Creditsafe Group assesses the nancial stability of companies and produces business credit reports for outlets. Its head of brand, Ragini Bhalla, told Crain’s that “the high volume of late payments over the last 12 months indicates a chronic issue with managing cash ow, further compounded by increasing operational and nancial pressures.”

“It’ll be interesting to see how much Heritage is able to fetch for M Den given the lawsuits and allegations of unpaid bills and unpaid rent,” Bhalla said. “Whoever the new owner is, they may struggle to win favor with M Den’s existing vendors and they certainly will face challenges trying to do business with new vendors. If they do, they probably won’t get the most favorable payment terms.”

UM reportedly hopes to make Indianapolis-based Legends Global Merchandise the team retailer and operate under e M Den name. Legends has six U.S. corporate o ces and o ces in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy.

UM o cials have not responded to multiple requests for comment. O cials with Legends Global Merchandise also did not respond to a Crain’s request for comment.

Collegiate-licensed apparel is a major moneymaker. Annual revenue surpassed $4.6 billion at the end of 2022, according to a Harvard Economics Review report.

The M Den’s agship store is on State Street in downtown Ann Arbor. | THE M DEN

The M Den store in downtown Detroit closed Aug. 19 — three days after the company led for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. | JAY DAVIS

LARGEST MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESSES CRAIN’S LIST

ResearchedbySonyaD.Hill:shill@crain.com|Thislistofminority-ownedbusinessesisanapproximatecompilationofthelargestsuchbusinessesbasedinWayne,Oakland,Macomb,Washtenawor Livingstoncounties.Itisnotacompletelistingbutthemostcomprehensiveavailable.Unlessotherwisenoted,thecompaniesprovidedtheinformation.Rankingnumbersareduplicatedinthecaseofa tieandarebasedonfullrevenue.Therankingnumberswillnotbeduplicatediftherevenueisnotanexactmatchofthefullrevenuebeforerounding.N/A=notavailable. e. Crain'sestimate. 1. Holding companyforPistonAutomotive,IrvinAutomotiveandDetroitThermalSystems. 2. EpsilonTechnologiesLLCisthemajorityownerandisanentitycomposedentirelyofAfricanAmericaninvestors(oneof which is the Hall family). 3. From Industrial Distribution’s 2023 Big 50 List. 4. Bought by private equity rm, TPG in June. The deal will be nalized August 30. 5. From Staf ng Industry Analysts. Want the full Excel version of this list — and every list? Become a Data Member: CrainsDetroit.com/data

“Many business owners are the only person in their circle of friends or their family who know the pressure that comes with entrepreneurship. ... ere are groups business owners should be participating in. It’s really powerful when you get business owners together because they really nd they’re not alone with the issues they may be facing.”

Mitchell said she tried to manage the stress on her own. It didn’t occur to her to seek advice from other people.

“I can see how talking to somebody would have been helpful,” she said. “ at’s a hard way to live — never having the space to think everything is going to be OK. I really wanted more peace of mind than I had.”

Burnout can come from a variety of sources. For example, the owners of a nearly 50-year-old Macomb County bakery are retiring because they don’t have any help. Health issues contributed to the closure of a more than 40-year-old Royal Oak vegan restaurant. Personal challenges led the owner of an Ypsilanti ice cream business to close after a decade.

“Starting a business and keeping it viable is hard enough,” Calley said. “Even if business owners survive to the next step, it just doesn’t get any easier. A whole new set of obstacles comes along. It’s almost like a whack-a-mole situation.”

A wild ride

Detroit resident Latricia Wilder closed indoor cycling gym Vibe Ride Detroit on June 30 after almost ve years in business. Wilder, who left a career in advertising that took her to agencies in New York and Los Angeles to become a small business owner, invested about $500,000 into the business at 1026 Randolph St. in Detroit’s Greektown. She pushed to open the indoor cycling gym to compete with brands like Soul Cycle. ings were going great for Wilder early on. She brought in about $100,000 in revenue in the rst year. About 80% of that revenue, though, came in the rst six months. Wilder said the club, with space for 40 riders, had about 75 active monthly members and scores of drop-in riders. e coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020, leading Wilder and many other owners to hit the brakes on their businesses for an extended period of time.

Due to state restrictions during the pandemic, Vibe Ride Detroit was not allowed to hold indoor classes again until 2021. Once she opened back up, Wilder realized things had changed — for the worse. “I had to spend so much to COVID-safe the space. We went from 40 bikes in a class to 20,” Wilder said. “I had to put screens in between each bike, so it was almost like a bunch of cubicles. I lost $15,000-$20,000 from cutting the number of bikes in half. And I had to spend money to store them so that was more money coming out.” Wilder was able to slowly inch back up to 28 bikes, still down 12 from where she would have liked to have been. Each bike itself is worth

about $500 a month in revenue, Wilder said.

It didn’t take too far into the pandemic for Wilder to realize she had to do something.

“I kind of realized I was going to have to close when the pandemic kept extending,” Wilder said. “When we were able to go back inside nobody was working downtown. It wasn’t until 2022 that the bigger companies started having sta come back two-three days a week.”

All this time, Wilder was still on the hook for a $400,000 U.S. Small Business Association loan she took out to start her tness business.

Wilder had signed a seven-year lease with a three-year extension option.

“In 2022, I had to nd an exit plan. People weren’t getting the same support they got in 2020,” Wilder said. “I went back to ask about a settlement for the SBA loan and they weren’t having it. I went to my landlord about revising the lease. Everybody the last few years talked so much about how bad restaurants had it. Group tness was the last sector to open back up. People could cut hair before we could have classes.”

Bedrock o cials worked with Wilder on renegotiating her lease, which cut some of her costs. She still couldn’t get ahead, though.

Wilder said she became a di erent person while running her business. She wasn’t able to be fully un-

plugged while on vacation with her husband and daughter. Running Vibe Ride Detroit put a strain on relationships with Wilder’s family.

“You don’t really think you can take a break until your business is successful, a well-oiled machine. I never got to that point,” Wilder said. “I felt like an absentee parent and partner. Everything became like a checklist item, including my husband and daughter. Our family began to operate like a business. ere was little human touch or intimacy. Everything was operational.”

Wilder said her burnout was evident for an extended period of time. Much of the stress came from ballooning loan payments. e interest rate on the SBA loan was 4.7% when she took the loan in 2018. It’s 10.7% now.

“I still have ve years to pay. Looking at what I’ve already paid, I’d paid o about 75% of the principal. What’s still owed in interest is about 75%. At the end of 2023 I said to myself, ‘ is isn’t going to work’. ere was a lot I had to do. In order to get a settlement done with the SBA, I had to close. at’s what ultimately made me close. Had I tried to stay open, I would’ve been in a hole I couldn’t dig myself out of.”

Wilder had to let go of 16 employees, down from a sta of 25 at its peak. some sta tried to motivate her to stay open, she said, suggesting calling the SBA or setting up GoFundMe pages to help keep

Vibe Ride Detroit alive.

Wilder, who’s still battling with the SBA and working to settle some debts, said closing her rst business is bittersweet.

“I can’t say I have a load o yet,” she said. “I’ll probably feel better when everything is all said and done. e SBA wanted me to close, now they want me to liquidate everything. I sold bikes, equipment, sold things I could take o the walls, but if you walk in the building it still looks operational. at’s our sweat all over that space. at space was nothing when I got it.”

‘I held all the stress in’

Karen Buscemi ran Pontiac-based clothing manufacturer Detroit Sewn for eight years before walking away from the business in February.

Buscemi said a loss in revenue coming out of the pandemic led to the closure. Detroit Sewn during the pandemic produced masks and isolation gowns for hospitals across the country. Once the worst of the pandemic was over, that business dried up.

“A lot of small businesses closed and things were never the same again,” Buscemi said. “Once the ships from China started coming back to the U.S., all the hospitals went back to China for the (personal protection equipment). All that income we were bringing in was gone. With so many customers closing their doors, we were never able to get back to a good place for us.”

Buscemi admits she was under high levels of stress the last couple of

years she ran Detroit Sewn. She said she kept the business open about a year longer than she should have, just to nish out projects she’d booked and because of “all the possibilities.” She was able to save some money at the end by being on a month-to-month lease. In the end, Buscemi had to let ve employees go and sold most of the machinery from the Pontiac factory.

“I put a lot on my shoulders,” Buscemi said. “I held all the stress in. I was worried about trying to make sure everybody got paid. While I loved the factory, the only thing that made sense for my own well-being was to close the business.”

Buscemi couldn’t come up with exact revenue gures but said Detroit Sewn brought in a lot of money during the pandemic. She had two unnamed auto manufacturers working with her on production. “ ere were always clients with big things coming down the pike,” Buscemi said. “A lot of times I’d hold out hope that somebody would hit on something because they’d take us with them. I diversied, found other streams of revenue. I tried to make them all non-sewing because I couldn’t hire more sewers.”

Buscemi began o ering custom-printed apparel and promotional products. at cut into her time, as she handled sales, administration, taxes, hiring and purchasing.

“For me, I worked every day of the week for a really long time,” Buscemi said. “I could get away for a few days every so often. I had a

Staff at Pontiac-based clothing manufacturer Detroit Sewn work on masks during the pandemic. Detroit Sewn closed in February after nearly nine years in business. | KAREN BUSCEMI

Entrepreneur Karen Buscemi now runs brand marketing rm KB Promo. Buscemi started the business earlier this year after closing Detroit Sewn. KAREN BUSCEMI

Detroit native and entrepreneur Latricia Wilder stands outside her Vibe Ride Detroit indoor cycling business prior to its opening in 2019. | BEE BROWN

good team. But I couldn’t unplug. I could get away but I still had to run the business.

“Would it have been better for my mental health to completely unplug? Absolutely. It sucks to go on vacation and be stressed about something with a vendor, something with a sale. Some really stressful things would ruin that time away.”

Buscemi said she handles her stress well, but holding it inside as she says she did isn’t great, either. Even her employees didn’t know what she was dealing with until the end.

“I’m kind of solitary in that way,” Buscemi said. “I had a few people, my husband and a couple close friends, who I could be completely honest and authentic with. at’s so important. You have to have at least one person to talk with.”

Buscemi admits she misses aspects of Detroit Sewn, most notably the people. She moved on quickly, though.

Now she runs brand marketing rm KB Promo out of her Rochester Hills home. Buscemi worked in marketing prior to starting Detroit Sewn, but now she’s a one-woman band handling brand management for clients. She has three clients who she does brand management for, and 15 other clients who give her project work like designing logos.

Buscemi said her new venture came about after she closed Detroit Sewn. She considered just getting a regular job to cut the stress of knowing where her income would come from. But Buscemi preferred remote work and nothing was panning out and she was getting anxious.

“It happened so fast. I started reaching out to people within the rst couple of weeks after I closed Detroit Sewn,” she said. “I designed a logo, made a website. My rst client hired me as a brand manager in a retainer situation. It was a former Detroit Sewn client, a clothing brand Original4. ings are going well.”

‘I wanted more peace of mind’

Rose’s owner Mitchell had hoped to keep her diner business small, but that meant she had to be involved in all of the day-today operations. She also owns the building at 10551 E. Je erson Ave. “Stress aside, the time commitment is a lot. I never had any space,” Mitchell said. “I couldn’t commit to anything other than Rose’s.”

e pandemic pushed Mitchell to re-evaluate her life. It was during that time that she decided to close the restaurant.

“I evaluated what life would be like spending another 10 years at Rose’s, or if it was time to close,” Mitchell said. “ e best thing for me to do was close. It was di cult to do. It was intertwined with my identity for a decade. To close after a decade was a huge life change. I’ve never been divorced, but I imagine this is what divorce is.”

Much less anxiety

Wilder is still working to tie up

loose ends with Vibe Ride Detroit. She’s is in the market for a new job. She’d like to get into consulting to help other small business owners. Wilder said the search hasn’t been easy, in part because she doesn’t want to go back to an o ce environment.

Even though she’s taking a huge nancial hit, Wilder is looking at closing Vibe Ride Detroit in a positive light.

“You leave for a reason,” Wilder said. “Whatever my next chapter is, I want to help businesses generate outside revenue. e pandemic taught us how the world looks at small businesses. Most small businesses I know of aren’t making $5 million a year. If they make $200,000 a year they’re happy. I learned so much in this experience. I de nitely gained more knowledge than what I lost nancially. I can say that after having a month of re ection that knowledge is still valuable.”

Following her split with Rose’s, Mitchell has found a new partner. In January, she took a job as culinary director for the nonpro t Downtown Boxing Gym, which o ers free programs centered around student achievement. Mitchell is creating a curriculum and turned the kitchen into an all-scratch operation, making bread and using locally sourced produce.

“I’m very interested in culinary education — teaching about local food, food from scratch,” she said. “Grocery bills are so high. ings are so expensive. It’s a good time to invest in making things at home. at’s completely contrary to running a restaurant, I know, but it allows me to pursue those passions and have an impact on children. It’s something I didn’t realize I’d be interested in.

“ ere are a lot of things I loved about running Rose’s. But I feel happy a lot of the time now and I have less anxiety. I don’t spend hours looking at my phone and there’s no spike in anxiety when I do check my phone.”

Buscemi admits she’s much happier now, too.

“Oh, my God, yes. I’m not stressed anymore,” the Detroit Sewn owner said. “I have my clients, do my work, I only have to worry about my own livelihood. ere’s no rent, no big machines to buy or anything else that comes with running a business.”

Around 20% of small businesses close within the rst year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly 50% of small businesses close within the rst ve years, and more than 65% fail to make 10 years. Wilder, Buscemi and Mitchell all went above and beyond those thresholds.

Closing a business could be seen as a failure by some, but it’s not always that at all.

“ e anticipation is so much worse than what the reality is,”

Buscemi said. “You get so many thoughts in your head on what people are going to think. People can be quite gracious and empathetic. I was embarrassed. I felt like I failed. We made it eight and a half years. We exceeded expectations.”

RITE AID

From Page 1

At an average of about 13,600 square feet per store, there is an estimated 3.2 million square feet that will be up for grabs, and that’s not including its 407,000-square-foot Waterford Township distribution center that went dark this month.

It’s been consuming for Deno Bistolarides, a founding member and managing partner of West Bloomeld Township-based brokerage house Encore Real Estate Investment Services.

He’s worked on disposing of or leasing up close to 50 of them in the last three or four months alone — and it’s just beginning.

“In all likelihood, I’ll be working on vacant Rite Aids for the next year,” he said.

Invaluable dirt

e plus side is that, in general, Rite Aid and its landlords have good sites with good vehicular tra c and access, assembled over the years before the company slunk into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.

“ eir dirt is, by and large, invaluable,” said Simon Jonna, founder and managing partner of Birmingham-based e Jonna Group, who has done extensive work with Rite Aid and other drugstore chains around the country.

But that certainly doesn’t dampen that the company had lost some $3 billion in the last six years, and faced what it described as too much nancial risk stemming from federal and state lawsuits alleging its stores lled hundreds of thousands of medically unnecessary opioid prescriptions and contributed to the national addiction epidemic.

e bankruptcy is causing hundreds of Rite Aid boxes to come to the market e ectively at once, further complicating the process to ll them up, said Louis Ciotti, managing director for Landmark Commercial Real Estate Services, based in Farmington Hills.

“When they came on the market one at a time, they were interested,” Ciotti said of buyers and potential users.

And high costs of construction have made reusing the buildings more cost e ective than razing them and building new, Bistolarides said.

So some new occupants have swooped in, to be sure.

ose that are unable to secure a single user — whoever it may be — can be carved up for multiple tenants, although that’s a really di cult prospect for a host of reasons.

e buildings tend to be deeper than wide, limiting the amount of store frontage for users, Bistolarides said.

And carving up itself for multiple tenants can also be a costly proposition, and result in layouts that are not ideal for prospective users, said Jason Miller, chief investment ocer with Farmington Hills-based developer and landlord Grand/Sakwa Properties LLC.

“You’ll probably see a handful of those converted to multi-tenant, but it’s not going to be easy and it’s going to be expensive,” Miller said.

Adding windows and plumbing,

for example, isn’t cheap. And while the parking lots for a single Rite Aid may have been su cient, they may not be for a converted building for multiple users.

To the good, however, the existing drive-thru windows previously used for prescription pick-up them make them candidates for things like restaurants and co ee shops, said Bistolarides.

Yet they are usually in the back of the Rite Aid buildings, Ciotti said, further complicating the matter and limiting the drive-thru tenant’s visibility.

‘Feeding frenzy’ for gas stations

In addition to things like dollar stores and auto parts shops, car washes and urgent care facilities, Jonna said there has been a “behind the scenes feeding frenzy” by gas station operators looking to scoop up Rite Aid sites not only because of the fundamentals — vehicles per day passing the site, signalized intersections and the like — but also because of liquor licenses.

CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service, reported last month that in addition to drugstores themselves — not just Rite Aid but also competitors like Walgreens and CVS — other primary owners of drugstore buildings are individual investors, real estate investment trusts and family o ces because they generate steady income and typically don’t need much involvement from the landlord.  at’s a function of the triple-net

lease structure, where the pharmacy chain is responsible for virtually all expenses — taxes, utilities, insurance, building upkeep and the like — and the owner can simply cash rent checks while doing very little actual work.

But sale prices for former drugstore buildings have also plunged nationwide, CoStar reported, falling from $300 to $350 per square foot two years ago to $235 per square foot today as Rite Aid and its competitors shutter thousands of locations around the country.

But landlords who are highly levered against the properties will face challenges securing tenants willing to pay rents at rates Rite Aid paid for them, perhaps upward of $350,000 a year locally.

Jonna said drugstores like Rite Aid and others tended to structure lease deals where they paid a at but elevated rental rate over the duration of the term. at sits in contrast to other lease deals, where there tend to be annual increases of a couple percentage points.  “ e drugstore users were typically the highest paying in the market for that size box,” Jonna said, adding that drove up purchase prices when they sold.  at, in turn, could lead to loan defaults — although whether banks will actually take the keys is an open-ended question.

“I think lenders will be smart to work with their borrowers as opposed to try to squeeze blood out of a stone,” Bistolarides said. “ e value (of the real estate) doesn’t change whether the landlord or the lender owns it.”

FORD

“Privacy is now in people’s minds,” said Nicholas Coulson, founding partner at Detroit-based Coulson PC and the attorney that brought the suit on behalf of HFH patient Nina McClain. “People are starting to realize the Big Brother nature of the internet and how it tracks you and violates your rights. ese tracking services are nearly ubiquitous and it’s di erent if someone is trying to sell you a bathing suit, but it’s a whole other issue if you’re being tracked searching for a pediatric oncologist or a doctor for a sexually transmitted disease. And that’s happening on a pretty wide scale.”

Representatives for HFH declined to discuss the allegations due to the pending litigation, but in a statement to Crain’s said: “Protecting and safeguarding our patients’ privacy and personal health information is a responsibility we take very seriously.” HFH has yet to respond to the allegations in court.

Behind the scenes

ese third-party technologies, such as Facebook’s Meta Pixel and Google Analytics, collect user data to develop personalized ads targeted to each individual user. In this case, the software works by sending a data packet to the end-user and Facebook and Google whenever a patient clicks a button to schedule a doctor’s appointment. at data is connected to an IP address — an identi er that’s like a mailing address to a speci c computer linked to a speci c user or household — that creates a receipt of the users’ information and actions on the internet.

e HFH lawsuit alleges the health system’s website and patient portal, via the third-party software, collected patient information, such as “their past, present, or future health conditions, including, for example, searches for speci c health conditions and treatment and the booking of specialized classes or medical appointments with speci c physician.” at information was then disseminated to

Henry Ford Health is the latest target in a wave of hundreds of class-action lawsuits across the U.S. accusing health systems of using common tracking

Facebook or Google, allowing the tech giants to know that what medical care the patient was seeking without the patient’s consent, the lawsuit alleges.

“ en, completely unencumbered by any pretense of restriction or regulation, Facebook and Google, in turn, use that private information for various business purposes, including using such information to ‘improve advertisers’ ability to target speci c demographics and selling such information to third-party marketers who target those users online,” the suit alleges.

e suit also claims HFH used Facebook software to collect and store data on its own servers that it then used for its own marketing purposes, building pro les of patients for retargeting and future marketing e orts. It also alleges HFH used the patient data to create targeted advertising tailored to the patients’ speci c medical conditions.

Debra Geroux, partner at law rm Butzel Long PC in Troy and a litigator who has defended organizations against these types of suits, said hospitals have legitimate reasons to use the Facebook and Google software and can do so without violating laws.

“You can have analytical tools on your platforms, it’s relevant information, but the question is what you’re doing with that information,” Geroux said. “ ere is a legitimate reason why they would want to have that tracking technology. It allows them to know

stitutional investors, Noordeloos said. e idea behind the group “has been on people’s minds for a long time,” she said.

In addition to Dumot and Grand Ventures’ Noordeloos, founders of the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association include Adrian Fortino at Mercury Fund in Detroit, and partners at Kentucky-based eGateway Capital and Re nery Ventures in Cincinnati, Ohio.   Organizers hope to enlist 50 members into the association by the end of this year and eventually grow to 75-100 or more members, Dumot said.

rough an association involving rms in the Great Lakes and Midwest states, founders hope to create cohesiveness among participating venture capital rms to address common challenges “and nd solutions together,” including sourcing deal ow and increasing investments in funds by large in-

“Venture capital is a relationship business; it’s a people business,” Noordeloos said. “It’s really about just forging connections, about strengthening current relationships, expanding the VC community and making it stronger, because relationships are everything. at’s why we wanted to found an organization that brings all these VCs together and we can really count on each other.”

e association comes together as venture capital investing in the Great Lakes region has grown steadily over the last decade, although investments the last two years declined along with the rest of the U.S. industry.

VC investments in Great Lakes states totaled a collective $4.3 billion in 1,191 deals last year, ac-

settled a class-action lawsuit over the issue for $12.25 million.

Milwaukee-based Froedtert Health settled a similar suit for $2 million.

In January, a federal judge ruled a lawsuit against Facebook and TikTok Inc. allegedly collecting the personal health information of California patients of online pharmacy Hey Favor Inc. may continue. at litigation is ongoing.

where their patients may be coming from so they can have resources in that geography or whether they need to expand their o erings to cover certain patients. It’s only a problem when they share that information with Meta or Google for use in advertising that it becomes problematic.”

e federal government has issued warnings to the health care industry about the use of tracking software in recent years.

In December 2022, six months after e Markup article was published, the O ce for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a bulletin telling health care organizations that using tracking software violates HIPAA.

It’s unclear whether HFH maintained use of the software after DHHS issued its original bulletin in 2022 and whether it uses it today. Coulson nor HFH commented on whether the technology was still in use today.

A costly mistake?

Facebook has publicly denied that its Meta Pixel software collects sensitive patient information. But dozens of hospitals have faced lawsuits and at least one system has admitted sending the personal information of millions of patients to Facebook.

Illinois-based Advocate Aurora Health reported in October 2022 that it used tracking software that may have breached the medical data of 3 million patients. It later

cording to data from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association. Venture capital investing in the Great Lakes region peaked in 2021 at 1,437 deals valued at $17.2 billion.

As of September 2023, VC rms based in Great Lakes states had $43.3 billion in assets under management, about four times the amount a decade earlier, according to the Michigan Venture Capital Association’s annual research report. e formation of the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association re ects the growth in VC investing across the region over the last several years and how prospects in the region now draw more attention nationally.

“We have become a lot more mature as far as a region,” Noordeloos said. “We have seen great companies being created in the Midwest and the Great Lakes regions. We think there is still a ton

In 2023, online therapy service BetterHelp settled with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations it shared sensitive patient information with advertisers without getting patient consent. BetterHelp agreed to pay $7.8 million to users who signed up for the service between 2017 and 2020.

As of December, there were more than 265 lawsuits led against organizations for tracking patient data, according to Bloomberg Law.

Geroux said many health care organizations, particularly smaller, less sophisticated hospitals and o ces, are unknowingly violating privacy laws by using the third-party software.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in April found that 96 out of 100 hospitals researched were sending information to third-party vendors and only 40 of them notied users of the privacy policy that said info would be transmitted.

“Even with their best e orts they may still overlook or not understand (they are sending info to a third party),” Geroux said. “You tend to see less compliance in small practices and smaller groups than major hospitals. But HIPAA has been around for decades and they need to understand what their IT systems look like and making sure they are not violating the rules.”

e HFH case is the only known suit related to health care and tracking software in Michigan — for now.

Geroux and Coulson, lawyers on opposite sides of the issue, both said more suits are on the horizon.

“ ere are a lot of cases nationally, but we’re not at the zenith yet,” Coulson said. “ ere will de nitely be more led in Michigan in the near future.”

of room to grow and make this region even stronger. ere are more and more VCs being created, so we need to continue to build the strength between all of us.”

Since publicly announcing the formation of the Great Lakes Venture Capital Association on Aug. 6, founders have received a strong response from rms across the region.

Dumot called the response “overwhelming” and indicative of “a thirst to get everybody together.”

Noordeloos said she’s received “a ton of responses and support and they said, ‘great idea, we’ve been waiting for something like this to bring everyone together to really discuss our shared vision to make this region stronger,’” said Noordeloos, a general partner at Grand Ventures.

e new association plans to host an inaugural two-day networking event next June at French Lick Resort in Indiana.

GM cutting 1,000 jobs, many at tech center

General Motors Co. is eliminating more than 1,000 jobs in its global software and services organization, according to a source with knowledge of the move. e job cuts include about 600 employees at the automaker’s Global Technical Center in Warren, the source said.

A GM spokesperson conrmed the layo s without saying how many jobs were a ected.

“ ese changes are the result of a thoughtful e ort to simplify our organization, so we are optimized for speed and excellence,” Baris Cetinok, senior vice president of software and services product management, program management and design, and Dave Richardson, senior vice president of software and services engineering, wrote in a memo dated Aug. 19 and viewed by Automotive News.

GM faces increased competition in the U.S. and globally, Cetinok and Richardson wrote.

“As we help build GM’s bold vision for the future, we must make bold choices that enable us to move faster, pivot when needed, and prioritize investing in what will have the greatest impact,” the memo said. “ e resulting changes re ected these exact things: shifting resources to our highest-priority work, simplifying team structures including attening hierarchies, and avoiding duplication.”

Cetinok and Richardson were promoted in June to lead GM’s software and services division after Mike Abbott, a former Apple Inc. executive hired last year, resigned for health reasons. Both also worked at Apple during their careers. e layo s come about a year after GM closed one of its four U.S. information technology ofces, cutting more than 900 jobs in Arizona. e company has focused on expanding its software talent in recent years as it invests in electri cation, autonomy, technology and in-vehicle services.

Employees laid o this month will be o ered severance based on the length of their tenure with GM, the source said.

Lindsay VanHulle writes for Crain’s sister publication Automotive News

software on their websites and sending sensitive patient information to Facebook and Google. | HENRY FORD HEALTH

Lindsay VanHulle, Automotive News

Longtime real estate pro on what’s hot about Ann Arbor's future

Sandi Smith wears many hats within the evolving residential real estate world. Smith — the president, broker and co-owner of Trillium Real Estate — has spent 23 years helping run the Ann Arbor-based residential real estate brokerage. But her involvement in the city’s real estate market dates back even further to her time as a student at the University of Michigan in the 1980s. Beyond serving as broker at Trillium, Smith also maintains roles at the state and national levels, serving as current president of the Michigan Realtors trade group and a director for the National Association of Realtors. Within those roles, Smith has witnessed the ongoing evolution of Ann Arbor into a more vertical city and is working to assist the industry during the period of change it faces with new compensation practices for Realtors.

How did you wind up working in the Ann Arbor real estate world?

So I bought a for-sale-by-owner (building) when I was still in college at U of M, and I really liked the process. I liked looking at the houses. I rented out rooms with a partner at the time and all we had to worry about was pizza and beer money.

I got my (real estate) license before I graduated and began working, so I’ve been doing this for 38 years, and have been at a fair number of di erent places until 2001 when my wife and I opened up our company, Trillium Real Estate. I’ve always been involved and active in both the Ann Arbor community and the Realtor community with our local association and over time got more active in the state and national associations, leading to my current position as 2024 president (of Michigan Realtors).

Nearly everyone who has been in Ann Arbor in recent years barely recognizes the town from past visits, as it’s gotten more dense and vertical. How you describe the housing market at present? It always has been attractive, for the same time that I chose to come to the University of Michigan and the reason why I’ve stayed. It o ers so much with just the university and the culture that brings. We have world-class athletics, arts, performance, music. We have a vibrant downtown core all summer long. ere’s things on Main Street — the summer festival in June. ere’s so many things that are so nice about Ann Arbor.

e size and scope — I think it appeals to Midwest sensibility. It’s not New York, it’s not Chicago, but on any given day there’s plenty of things to do. ese are the sorts of things that continue to attract people to want to live here, not to mention work here. I think the pre-pandemic number I saw was 80,000 commuters coming in.

Ann Arbor is going through something of a building boom at the moment, with myriad new high-rise apartment towers under construction, largely geared toward

By | Nick Manes

students. What role does all that construction play in the broader housing market in the city?

We are considerably underbuilt. Nationwide we’re underbuilt. We’re underbuilt by 5 (million) or 6 million units. (In Ann Arbor), as the university increases their enrollment and it’s not kept up with their own housing (needs). So some of these are in a sense private dorms, but it’s not built solely for the student population. ere are de nitely people that want to be in a walkable area and nd themselves living there. But more units, ultimately, should start helping a little bit with bringing in more inventory to sell and in a sense moderate prices. Although we haven’t seen that yet.

Changing gears to your roles at Michigan Realtors and NAR, obviously this was a big month with the full implementation of NAR’s new practices taking effect on Aug. 17. Given the hats you wear as a broker at an Ann Arbor rm and someone active in state and national associations, what’s your

viewpoint as to the impact of these changes?

e most obvious change to our business practices is that the o er of compensation is no longer published on our multiple listing system. at is the big elephant in the room, when you talk to people about how are we going to gure this out?

I’ve been doing this long enough to know that, one: Realtors are very entrepreneurial. ey nd

for the buyer and that is required prior to working with an agent ... It’s required prior to even viewing the rst house. A lot of people have been doing this. is is not new to my company for sure. We have long had buyer agreements in place and treated the buyers and a buyer contract just as seriously as a seller contract.

Given the multitude of changes discussed — both in the local Ann Arbor market and the broader industry — what are your expectations for how things shake out in the coming years?

In Ann Arbor, I believe it will continue to grow vertically. I believe there are examinations of the zoning code which could change our corridors to be more dense to transit corridors getting more multi-modal ways of getting into the city and around the city. I think it’s a really exciting time to be in Ann Arbor.  And it all provides more funding in the tax co ers. It’s always been something of a struggle because the university takes so much of the property o the tax rolls, so it begins to give us more tools and resources to continue to grow into a vibrant and exciting place that’s welcoming to all.

What about on the national and state levels?

I think we continue as an organization to be strong in advocacy, private property rights, maintaining our independent contractor status at the state. We continue to be

“I’ve been doing this long enough to know that, one: Realtors are very entrepreneurial. They nd ways to do things and they are absolutely willing to pick up the phone and reach out to their peers.”

ways to do things and they are absolutely willing to pick up the phone and reach out to their peers and say, “Is there an o er of compensation for a buyer’s broker?” ( e answer is usually) yes, no or something in between.

It’s part of a written agreement

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a great provider of trainings for our members.

And the MLS is still the source of the best data. It’s still an e cient distribution system and my hope is it continues to provide the best data (with) reasonable pricing for our clients.

Sandi Smith PROVIDED

CYBERSECURITY: Protecting Business as Bad Actors Evolve

Jim Beechey

Raffaele Mautone

Matt Warner Blumira

Christine Wheaton