Innovation & Job News

Youssef Kousa got into the field of medical research to make a difference in the lives of children with cleft palate. Thanks to his receiving of the prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health, he’ll get the chance to do just that.

“Someone's face is one of the most important parts of the body,” says Kousa. “It’s how you relate to people and how you express every emotion. When a defect affects that part of your body, to me it’s really important.”
 
Kousa received the $65,000 award for his research proposal that will study factors that lead to the development of cleft palate. These include both genetic and environmental factors. Kousa hopes to find ways to prevent or lower the instances of cleft palate in children around the world.

“The toll that it takes is pretty large,” Kousa says of the disease. “Surgeries often begin at three months, and because the face grows, you constantly have to go back. Six to 18 procedures are not uncommon depending on the severity of the disease.”
 
While the corrective surgeries can be traumatic, cleft palate is most serious for those living in countries where such options aren’t available.
 
“People with severe cases in developing counties often die,” says Kousa.

Kousa’s study will begin in April and continue for 21 months. He is a student of MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine's D.O.-Ph.D. program, which is a dual-degree program to prepare students for careers in biomedical research or academic medicine.

Beaches Tanning Salon may not be a new fixture in Downtown Mason, but there is a lot of new things happening inside. Former patrons and new owners Amy Stagg and Lee Zuck purchased the business last spring and have been busy putting their own touches on it ever since.
 
“I worked at a bank as a supervisor,” says Zuck. “Amy was a stay at home mom and we both tanned here. I found out [the former owner] was leaving and I’ve always wanted to have my own business. When this opportunity came up we thought, ‘We’re going to do it.’”
 
The women have expanded the hours of the salon, purchased a new tanning bed and created a new, Mexican sun logo. In addition to themselves, they also hired four new employees.
 
“It’s been wonderful,” says Zuck of the community’s response to the change to the salon. “Our customers have been great. We love serving the public, and our staff is very friendly and helpful.”
 
According to Zuck, though the women are busy building their first salon, they would love to expand in the future with a second location.
 
“I’m not sure where,” says Zuck, “but probably a small town like Mason. “Mason is a great town. The people here are wonderful.”

The signs of an improving economy can be found at CBRE|Martin with two new staff members, expanded roles for existing staff and plans for further growth this year.
 
“The economy has improved from its low in 2008, and the financial markets are starting to lend again,” says Tricia Foster, Senior Managing Director and COO of CBRE|Martin. “However, whether the economy is booming or in a lull, businesses look to CBRE|Martin to serve more than just their acquisition, disposition and leasing needs.”
 
After adding two employees to the industrial specialty team this year, the East Lansing commercial real estate firm now employs a total of 48. In addition to the new staff, four existing employees have recently taken on expanded roles. The growth is set to continue, according to Foster.
 
“We are currently looking to augment our sales force in each of our brokerage specialty groups—office, retail, industrial, investment properties and corporate services,” she says, “and expect that by year end 2012 another three or four real estate professionals will be calling CBRE|Martin home.”

Jim Cash didn’t set out to revolutionize the wine cellar industry; he just wanted a better way to store his own collection.

“I had a traditional wine rack,” says Cash. “Every time I went to get a bottle of wine, I’d grab the cork end, pull, it out, turn it around. I wished I just had sliding drawers so I could look at five of them at once.”

To his surprise, he couldn’t find a cellar maker anywhere who made such a thing. Fortunately, as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Christman Capital Development Company and Executive Vice President of The Christman Company, Cash was not unfamiliar with how to build things. So he built his own dream wine cellar.
 
“When I got done with it everybody though it was very beautiful and genius and highly-functional,” Cash says. “I had a lot of people say, ‘you ought to sell these things.”
 
After filing a patent on the unique design and forming Revel Cellars in 2009, that’s exactly what Cash began to do. The East Lansing company had one sale in its first year, approximately 8 in 2010 and 18 in 2011. With prices ranging from $25,000 to $75,000 per sale, those numbers represent no small feat.
 
Revel Cellars, which employs one fulltime sales person and contracts with Benchmark Wood Studios, in Holland Michigan is now celebrating its first export to Europe. Cash expect to add up to two more positions to the new business later this year.


 

The East Lansing Department of Parks, Recreation & Arts knows that when a community participates in creating something, they are more likely to make good use of it. That fact was proven in 1995 when East Lansing residents raised funds for and built a play structure in Patriarche Park. It was so well used, in fact, that it’s due for replacement.
 
Last week, the Rotary Club of East Lansing and honorary project chairperson, MSU Women’s Basketball Coach Suzy Merchant, announced plans for a project called “Playground in the Park Re-Imagined.”  
 
“We had intentions about year ago to revamp the playground,” says Wendy Wilmers Longpre, Assistant Director of Parks, Recreation and Arts, “and we discovered the wood contains arsenic because of a material that was used to extend the life of wood. We decided it was in the best interest for the community to replace it.”
 
The new structure is expected to cost $400,000 to be raised by the community. The design process will include community meetings for input. The city is working with Sinclair Recreation who will supply the play equipment, as well as tools and supervisors to direct a community install.
 
The current play structure will remain standing until the fall of 2012. Longpre explains that arsenic is not absorbed through the skin, and the structure is safe to play on as long as kids wash their hands between playing on the structure and eating. This spring a sealant will be applied to the wood to fully contain the carcinogen. 

Brian Town doesn’t just have a vision for his new marketing company, Michigan Creative; he has a vision for Michigan.
 
“Our credo is to really grow and be a company that helps a lot of businesses in Michigan, and helps Michigan grow,” says Town. “We understand the value of small businesses to our economy, and I think Michigan is a great place to be.”
 
The new business, which is located in East Lansing’s Technology Innovation Center, is operated by Town and his partner Erik Wolenberg. They offer a range of creative services to their clients, with a focus on growing local businesses.
 
“We have a vision of a warehouse setting where we have 50 employees in an open work environment,” says Town. “We’d like to become a company that was founded on marketing small businesses and grows into something that really helps small businesses launch.”
 
For now the two-man team is looking to start by adding a few MSU interns and hope to hire their first fulltime sales employee by this summer. Michigan Creative has been located at the TIC since September, but recently moved into a larger, 300-square foot office. 

It’s been eight busy years for Old Town’s Rizzi Designs. The marketing company has grown from a one-woman operation to a company with clients throughout the United States and Europe, and shows no signs of slowing down. Rizzi Designs has recently added a director of business development and a marketing and communications specialist,  bringing the total staff up to seven, plus six to eight interns each semester.

“Our growth has been invigorating and definitely earned,” says Rochelle Rizzi, President and CEO of Rizzi Designs. “We’ve all worked hard and are in the trenches every day, rolling up our sleeves and solving problems the best way we know how – creatively and strategically!”

The growth in staff is expected to continue with the hiring of two additional employees later in the year.

The company’s most recent growth can be attributed in part to a partnership with Pro-Motion Consulting of Farmington. The business-consulting firm asked Rizzi Designs to acquire the book of business under the now closed Pro-Motion Marketing.

“[The owner] knew that Rizzi Designs will take great care of his clients in the area of marketing; thereby, allowing him to help his clients focus on the business strategies, internal communications and organizational structure,” says Rizzi. “This book of business expands our promotional product division as well as the creative division. We’re very excited about this.” 
Rizzi adds that 2012 will be another year of growth with upcoming projects that will be announced in coming months.

For many CATA riders, commuting just became more cultured. The Residential College in the Arts and Humanities Center for Poetry at Michigan State University, CATA and the Michigan Humanities Council have partnered up to bring Poetry in Motion to the Greater Lansing area. 
 
 Poetry in Motion is a nationwide public arts program designed by the Poetry Society of America. It pairs artistically designed signs featuring poetry and public transportation to give riders and entertaining and uplifting cultural experience.
 
“You know, it’s a simple way to get poetry in to public spaces,” says Stephanie Glazier, assistant director for the RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU. “I think it’s a good way to showcase the creative energy that often goes unseen in the city. It’s public art. When I walk around the city I want to see more of that.”
 
The collaborative project allowed 20 to 30 students to get involved by designing and printing the signs to be displayed. CATA has provided the space for displaying the poetry signage, and the Michigan Humanities Council contributed a $250 grant toward the project.
 
Poetry in Motion began February 1 on 12 CATA buses servicing five routes in East Lansing and Lansing.

“It’s a pilot project in the true sense,” says Glazier. “We hope to scale it up next fall. It’s the first time anyone has done it in Michigan, and it puts us in the company of some impressive cities.”

Meijer stores may look and feel similar to some of their big box competitors, but the Grand Rapids-based retailer is proving its commitment to our state’s economic growth with a MSU partnership to showcase Michigan-made products.
 
The Michigan State University Product Center for Food, Ag and Bio and Meijer launched a “Made in Michigan” initiative on January 29. Thirty-five Meijer stores will carry nearly 50 new items made by 22 small businesses in Michigan. In the Lansing area, the Saginaw Highway, Grand Ledge and Lake Lansing Road locations will participate in the program.

“It really all began with a cup of coffee with the president of Meijer,” says Matt Birbeck, MSU Product Center project manager. “We had a conversion about how a big company like Meijer starts to get more smaller vendors. I said the MSU product center was ideally suited to manage a program like that.”

Breaking into a large retailer can be particular challenging for small businesses, and major stores such as Meijer don’t have the capability of working with vendors one-on-one. Because the Product Center routinely works with many new and existing small-scale businesses, they already had a catalog of products to recommend.

“Twice a year Meijer will come to us and say we want to revolve the showcase,” says Birbeck. “It will allow small scale companies to be introduced to large communities.”
 
Among the 22 new Michigan vendors are the Owosso-based Mandingo Pickles, and Herkners Foods of Okemos. The initiative is expected to have a $400,000 economic impact statewide.

The Small Business Association of Michigan has been thinking big on the topic of small business. In the past four years, the advocacy and business services organization has grown its membership by 8,000 members, including 2,5000 new members just last year. The growth in membership, which now stands at 13,000 member businesses across the state, can be attributed to some of SBAMs new membership programs and services.
 
“If you follow the traditional economic trends, the down years were the toughest for associations,” says Dan Mahoney, VP, Membership and Development for SBAM. “During the tough times we looked the ways we are offering people to connect with us.”
 
Out of that thinking came two new kinds of alternative membership models. The first is a strategic partnership program, which allows members of 30 local chambers of commerce to join SBAM through their chamber. Another new alternative is a free membership option with limited services.
 
“The startup community might not be able to afford be a part of our full membership,” says Mahoney, “but that doesn’t mean we don’t want them to have a voice. This is our way of connecting with those businesses that are growing.”
 
SBAM is growing as an organization as well. They recently hired a new membership engagement coordinator and have take two part time positions to full time in the last year. SBAM also unveiled a new website last week.

East Lansing-based GreenStone Farm Credit Services operates 37 locations throughout Michigan and Wisconsin, and continues to report steady growth both locally and company-wide. Company-wide the business added 28 new positions in 2011 and plan to add 17 new positions in 2012. Those numbers include 12 new Lansing-area positions last year and a projected 9 in the upcoming year.
 
“We have been blessed with a stronger agricultural economy than the economy in general,” says Beth Barker, senior vice-president and chief human resources officer for Greenstone, “so we have seen continual growth in the demand for our products.”
 
Greenstone has also stayed ahead of the curve in their market by adding some innovative services to benefit their customers.
 
“We are doing some creative things,” says Barker. “Our AgDirect program is a dealer-financing program that allows a customer to go into an equipment dealership and, on the spot, apply for financing. Loan documents are generated with in a hour or two.”
 
Greenstone is also celebrating their recognition as one of the 101 Best and the Brightest Companies to Work For in the Metro Detroit region, and more recently, on the national level.
 
“I alwsays had a sense that workplace culture here at Greenstone was special,” says Barker. “We wanted to test ourselves against other companies. I’m pleased to say we made the national list.”

There are several reasons why municipalities have been getting together to work out partnership agreements for services more and more over the past several years. Saving money is right near the top of that list. As if the saving taxpayer dollars in this way wasn’t reason enough for Delta Township to create a consolidation agreement with Looking Glass Regional Fire Authority, an $180,000 Economic Incentive Vitality Program grant from the Michigan Department of Treasury to help with the consolidation created even more savings.
 
“We’ve been discussing this with Watertown and Eagle Townships for some time now,” says Delta Township Manger Richard Watkins. “We’ve been talking about how we could operate more efficiently together.”
 
The consolidation agreement, which will consolidate the fire and ambulance services of all three townships under the Looking Glass Regional Fire Authority, will begin March 1. The $180,000 will help with the purchase of equipment, training and legal fees associated with the consolidation
 
“It will certainly help,” says Watkins. “The intent of the EVIP grant was to make this type of consolidation easier. There are always upfront costs to these things.”
 
According to Watkins, the total number of staff of the fire departments will stay fairly steady, but will be consolidated under one authority.
 
 

When the Michigan Humanities Council receives grants, the giving just keeps going. For example, $85,000 the organization recently received from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs will assist with the funding for both Poetry Out Loud, and the Arts & Humanities Touring Program, which provides job opportunities for cultural entertainers and helps Michigan non-profits feature those entertainers at events.

The Arts & Humanities Touring Program offers grants up to $4,000 for non-profits that wish to utilize cultural entertainers from the MHC’s Arts & Humanities Touring Directory. This is a special year for the organization as the adjudication process is now underway to for the 2012-2015 directory.
 
“This is a great resource for the Greater Lansing area,” says Katie Wolf, MHC executive director. “Any non-profit can get up to $4,000 per year to help pay for these performers. They are all Michigan performers, they’ve all been adjudicated to make sure they are authentic, and most of them are affordable.”

During this adjudication year, performing artists, storytellers, writers, folk artists and more apply to be included in the guide. Their applications are evaluated, and then in March, humanities experts formally evaluate each applicant before including them in the guide.

“One of the things we’re looking forward to,” says Wolf, “is once we have the new directory come out we’re looking to do a showcase at the capitol and people come from all over the state can come and scope things out and see what could work well for their events.”

Jasmine Lee, Holly Nickel and Anthony Daniel were having dinner in the spring of 2011, and were talking about their options for joining a local networking organization. As young, minority professionals, they just couldn’t come up with exactly what they were looking for among the existing organizations.
 
“We felt there was nothing for us to do if we wanted to meet people besides go to the bar,” says Lee. “When you’re a young professional, you’re in a weird place of transition, and we felt there was a disconnect between the existing networking groups and what we were looking for.”
 
So they decided to a change that. After talking with others in the community, they began to form a steering committee around their shared goals, which included both networking as well as community service opportunities. MINGLE, or Minority Involved in Networking, Growth, Leadership and Empowerment.
 
“It’s not that we want to be only racially and ethnically diverse,” says Lee, “but also have a diverse group of professions - not just suit and tie people. Someone who owns a salon or recent graduate might not wear a suit and tie but are in the same space.”
 
MINGLE’s plans to host events once a month. The group’s official kick-off was their MINGLE MLK Jr. After Service Mixer.
 
“We had about 70 people which totally surprised us,” says Lee. “Everyone kept coming up and saying, ‘we’re really excited.’”
 
A February event is now being planned. To connect with MINGLE, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.