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June 2, 2014
CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
Congratulations!
AMERICAN|DREAMERS MINA SOOCH President and CEO ProNAi Therapeutics Inc. Plymouth Township Country of origin: India
2014 VOLUNTEER AWARDS CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY 2014 Outstanding Achievement Awards Brenda B. Baney, Delphi Corporation Stephen Friedeck, Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies 2014 New Volunteer Award Deb Heed, Ford Motor Company Michael Wolf, Chrysler Group LLC 2014 Corporate Responsibility Summit Planning Group Award Amanda Bishop, Visteon Corporation Kimberly Bowden, Delphi Corporation Elly Bradford, Honda, North America, Inc. Morris Brown, Chrysler Group LLC Luke Contos, Chassix Jennifer Guest, Tetra Tech Alfred Hildreth,General Motors Company Mary F. McDonald, The McDonald Consulting Group Susan Rokosz, Ford Motor Company Bing Xu, Ford Motor Company Todd Yaney, Chrysler Group LLC 2014 IMDS & Product Chemical Compliance Conference Planning Group Award Brenda B. Baney, Delphi Corporation Amanda Bishop, Visteon Corporation Mayrie Eckermann, Tetra Tech Derek T. Ewing, General Motors Company Christopher Harden, PTC-Parametric Technology Corporation Chuck LePard, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services Kathy D. Phipps Michael Wurzman, RSJ Technical Consulting Bing Xu, Ford Motor Company
SUPPLY CHAIN 2014 Outstanding Leadership Awards Mark Argenti, Chrysler Group LLC Diane DeJarnett, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. James Phillips, General Motors Company Alisa Clemons, Ford Motor Company Tyese Doby, General Motors Company Aidan E.G. Hughes, Stackpole International Terry Onica, QAD Yolonda Wilson, Chrysler Group LLC
QUALITY 2014 Outstanding Achievement Award Douglas Halliday, Trubiquity 2014 Outstanding Leadership Awards Bryan C. Book II, Chrysler Group LLC Robert D. Francois, III, Johnson Controls, Inc. Arun P. Prasanna, Tenneco, Inc. Murray J. Sittsamer, The Luminous Group Neil Taylor, United Machine Inc.
Why she came to the U.S.: Brought here by her parents as a baby in 1969 when her father, Jagdish, came to get his master’s degree in civil engineering at Wayne State University. Why she is an American Dreamer: Sooch helped found Kalamazoobased Apjohn Ventures LLC, now Apjohn Group LLC, and led its investment in pharmaceutical developer ProNAi Therapeutics before taking the helm of the company and helping to raise $72 million in venture capital for it this year. hen Mina Sooch’s father and mother, Sushila, arrived in the U.S. from the Indian state of Gujarat, they had just $50. He was the first member of both his and his wife’s poor farm families to go to college. By the late 1970s, Sooch’s parents had brought over all their siblings and their parents. “They all started small businesses, momand-pop shops, party stores, gas stations,” she said. Because she was a baby when she arrived, Sooch, now 46, assimilated easily. “I never faced any challenges because I was Indian,” she said. Sooch graduated at the head of her class in chemical engineering from Wayne State University, and then one of her mentors, Ralph
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Mina Sooch helped found Apjohn Ventures LLC and led its investment in ProNAi Therapeutics, where she is now CEO.
Kummler, the dean of the engineering school, helped get her into Harvard University, where she got her master’s in business administration in 1991. Within two years, she joined Monitor Co. Group LP, a consulting firm based in Cambridge, Mass., working on mergers and acquisitions until 2000. When she decided she wanted to get into venture capital, another mentor, Hugo Braun, hired her as an entrepreneur in residence at his Ann Arbor venture capital firm, North Coast Technology Investors LP. After two years there learning the ropes, Sooch helped found Kalamazoo-based Apjohn Ventures LLC with Donald Parfet, part of the Upjohn Co. founding family. Sooch led Apjohn’s investment in Plymouth Township-based ProNAi, which was formed in 2004, based on technology developed at WSU and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Can-
cer Institute, and has helped managed the company since. She was named CEO in 2012. For years, ProNAi struggled to stay alive on the long and costly path of trying to bring a cancer drug to market. Sooch and Parfet were able to raise enough venture capital and angel funding to keep the lights on until the company got national attention when it presented results of its drug for non-Hodgkin lymphoma at an oncology convention in New Orleans in December. Based on those results, the company raised $12.5 million in venture capital in January, and in April raised another $59.5 million, the largest single round of VC in state history. The company is believed to be planning an IPO for later this year, something Sooch can’t confirm or deny because of rules by the Securities and Exchange Commission. — Tom Henderson
LUKE SONG CEO Mr. Song Millinery Southfield Country of origin: South Korea Luke Song’s parents founded Mr. Song Millinery in 1982. Their son, Luke, took over the reins in 1998.
When and why he came to the U.S.: His parents moved the family to the U.S. in 1982 so their children could go through the American education system. Why he is an American Dreamer: Song is an internationally sought-after hat designer based in Southeast Michigan. uke Song’s parents, Han and Jin, didn’t want their children to grow up in the rigorous and competitive South Korean education system where private, afterschool classes and tutoring late into the night are the norm. “My parents wanted us to enjoy our childhood,” said Luke Song, 41, owner of Mr. Song Millinery. So in 1982, the family immigrated to the U.S., and three days later, he started fourth grade. For him, English wasn’t too hard to learn. The cultural hurdles were tougher to handle. “I came from a big city, and the suburban life never suited me and my family,” said Song, who has three older sisters. “To this day and to my amusement, my mother
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refuses to wear sandals and casual wear.” After majoring in biochemistry for three years, Song switched to fine arts, moving to New York City to attend Parsons The New School for Design. He lived “an expat, artistic life due to the lack of finances” for a short time in Paris before returning home. His parents had founded Mr. Song Millinery in 1982 initially as a designer brand-name hats store but launched their own label when his mother, Jin, showed a knack for hat design. Song followed in his mother’s footsteps, applying his artistic skills to hat design, and within six months, demand for the hats was outpacing supply. In 1998, Song took the reins of the boutique and began distributing its hats to stores around the
U.S. He became the label’s chief designer by 2001 and created Moza Inc. as a corporate entity to manage the Mr. Song Millinery brand and retail shop. Song’s big break came in January 2009, when Aretha Franklin wore one to President Barack Obama’s inauguration. Produced with the help of four to 20 employees, depending on the level of business, Song’s designs are now sold in more than 500 boutiques and in many countries around the globe. Every day is crazy, said Song, who recently filled orders for 10,000 hats for this year’s Kentucky Derby. But it doesn’t feel like a chore. “As immigrants, we all know it’s about hard work,” Song said. “Do what you love ... (and) it will never feel like work.” — Shawn Wright