The Greater Lansing Convention & Visitors Bureau (GLCVB) is a major player in driving the more than $500 million in tourism revenue the Lansing region pockets each year.

According to excerpts from the article:

While the natives may not know it, tourism contributes greatly to the tri-county area.

“It is not well understood in terms of its overall impact, but tourism in this community is a major economic driver,” Hladki stated. “The economic impact is consistently around a half a billion dollars a year. It creates 7,500 jobs, and those run the gamut from seasonal part-time work all the way up to thousands of full-time jobs with benefits. We’re fortunate because of the educational institutions and that we’re a state capital, which maintains a flow of business and leisure visitors, keeping those jobs stable.”

Read the entire article here.

East-Lansing based Biggy Coffee opened its 100th franchise last week, and is looking to build on its $40 million in sales by more than doubling the number of franchises by 2010.

According to excerpts from the article:

Customer engagement is exactly what the folks at Biggby strive for, said Bob Fish, the East Lansing-based chain's chief executive officer and one its co-founders.

Biggby, founded 13 years ago as a small coffee shop on East Grand River Avenue, now franchises all of its stores and operates in nine states: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

The chain, with about 1,450 employees nationwide serving up coffee, baked goods and other items, plans to grow to 250 stores by 2010. So far, it works with about 70 franchisees, Fish said.

The privately owned company has more than $40 million in sales annually and typically doubles its number of stores every two years, Fish said.

Read the complete article here.

The Michigan State University (MSU) athletic development office drummed up $28.5 million in donations in 2006-2007, four times the amount of money it collected in 2002-2003.

According to excerpts from the article:

From 1999 to 2007, MSU raised a total of $127.6 million for athletics, which far exceeded the initial campaign goal of $75.7 million.

To handle its budget concerns before they become a crisis, MSU is intent on keeping costs down and sustaining success in football. Those are the obvious routes to stability; fundraising may be an avenue to aggressive cash advances.

Senior associate athletic director Chuck Sleeper and his recently expanded staff of five have to find the right people, keep them giving every year, keep them happy within the confines of university policy, get more out of MSU's pro athletes and work toward growing endowments.

MSU and other major athletic departments are moving toward a heavier reliance on donors—the life blood of private schools for decades.

Read the entire article here.

Michigan State University (MSU) will open the doors to its $12 million renovation of the Duffy Daugherty Football Building in time for football season.

According to excerpts from the article:

When MSU's football coaches move into the renovated Duffy Daugherty Football Building in less than week, it'll mark the completion of an expansive era of facility projects that has essentially caught MSU up in the "arms race." For now.

"It's taken us time to get there, a lot of time," said MSU senior associate athletic director Greg Ianni, who oversees all facility projects. "This phase is finally done."

Duffy was built in 1980 at a cost of $1.75 million, and it was considered a cutting-edge football building at the time. The new Duffy, which will be unveiled publicly in August, includes the 25,000-square-foot Skandalaris Football Center. MSU alums Bob and Julie Skandalaris of Bloomfield Hills gave more than $5 million for that phase, which cost $12 million. New meeting rooms, offices for the coaches and the Demmer Family Hall of History -named for the Lansing-based family that gave an undisclosed gift—are the main highlights.

Read the entire article here.

In a very virtual world, two of the region’s largest insurance companies—the Accident Fund and Jackson National Life—are doing their best to emphasize the importance of the personal touch.

According to excerpts from the article:

Even in a virtual world, nothing can replace meeting face-to-face. With that as a mantra, two insurance giants based in mid-Michigan continue to bridge the miles between service providers and clients through company-sponsored travel.

For the Accident Fund Insurance Company and Jackson National Life Insurance Company, travel on land or by air is part of life for a sizeable percentage of their workforces. While modern methods of hooking people up can shave some of the costs, many still get behind the wheel or take flight to start, maintain or strengthen business dealings.

Read the entire article here.

Area women are breaking the auto industry’s glass ceiling, using their skills and business sense to successfully own and operate car dealerships.

According to excerpts from the article:

Sherrill Freeborough was a young widow with a small child who needed to find a way to support her family.

Now, she's the owner of Saturn of Grand Ledge and Saturn of Okemos.

Lisa Schuesler heard a rattle in her car and wanted to learn more about the auto service business. She now works in it, managing the service department at Freeborough's Okemos store.

Deanna Criscuolo started selling cars at her father's dealership, Spartan Toyota in Lansing, when she was in college. She's now on track to someday take over the dealership with her brother, Derek.

These women, and others climbing the leadership ladder at area car dealerships, didn't set out to break through the glass ceiling in an industry that's predominantly male.

Read the entire article here.

Michigan State University (MSU), the Lansing Economic Area Partnership Inc. (LEAP) and area businesses are getting ready to launch a local job and internship fair, “Earn, Learn & Intern,” to help link MSU students with area job creators. 

According to excerpts from the article:

"We're pushing local companies to show the students what's available to them," said Paul Jacques, MSU's internship developer.

"A lot of (students) are coming to us saying, 'I've got to go.' We're saying, 'No, you don't. Look at all these businesses.' "

The Aug. 27 event aims to draw thousands of students to the Student Services Building on campus. It's free for companies.

MSU already has worked with several area firms to create internship programs, Jacques said.

Read the entire article here.

Five Lansing area tech companies are competing with 95 other Michigan firms for $30 million in state-funded 21st Century Jobs Fund low-interest loans.

According to excerpts from the article:

"It's an excellent program and a great opportunity for these companies, some of whom just need that extra couple of million dollars to put into play some things to create a great amount of jobs," said Denyse Ferguson, vice president for new business development at Lansing Economic Area Partnership Inc., which helped two companies looking to locate in the area apply for funding.

The competition is different from earlier rounds of the Jobs Fund, which has doled out $126.3 million to 78 companies, universities and other organizations doing work in the fields of alternative energy, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and homeland security and defense.

This time, the competition is only open to for-profit companies in late stages of bringing products to market, MEDC spokeswoman Bridget Beckman said.

"It's focused on companies that are set up to create jobs in the near-term," Beckman said.

Read the entire article here.