April 23, 2024 • 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
For Human Resources leaders conversations about employee engagement, employee wellbeing and recognition happen every day. Some organizations are looking for a checkbox, others want detailed plans and regular reports. Some spend a ton of money and then never follow through. What makes a plan succeed or fail? And how much of that falls on you?
May 16, 2024 – The Henry, Autograph Collection
The MichBusiness Women Thrive Conference is a day of celebration, informative panel discussions, facilitated networking opportunities, and knowledge-sharing. It is advised by a distinguished board of businesswomen and community leaders.
The hope for interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve early this year appear to be fading.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is indicating that an inflation rate that stays stubbornly high could push any rate cuts until later this year.
Powell, speaking during a panel discussion Tuesday, said recent data has dimmed the Fed’s confidence that inflation is being brought under control.
“Recent data have clearly not given us greater confidence” that inflation is coming fully under control and “instead indicate that it’s likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence,” Powell said during a panel discussion at the Wilson Center, according to the Associated Press. “If higher inflation does persist, we can maintain the current level of (interest rates) for as long as needed.”
Back in March Powell told a Senate committee that the Fed was “not far” from gaining the confidence it needed to cut rates. At a news conference on March 20, Powell appeared to downplay that assertion. But his comments Tuesday went further in dimming the likelihood of any rate cuts in the coming months, according to the AP report.
Data released by the government has shown inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target and that the economy is still growing robustly. Year-over-year inflation rose to 3.5% in March, from 3.2% in February. And a closely watched gauge of “core” prices, which exclude volatile food and energy, rose sharply for a third straight month, according to the AP report.
The Biden administration has indicated on several occasions that bringing semiconductor production to the U.S. is a priority.
On Monday, the administration put its money where it’s push is.
The Biden administration pledged up to $6.6 billion so that a Taiwanese semiconductor giant can expand the facilities it is already building in Arizona, according to a report in the Associated Press. The move better ensures that the most-advanced microchips are produced domestically for the first time, the administration said.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the funding — for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. — means the company can expand on its existing plans for two facilities in Phoenix and add a third, newly announced production hub.
“These are the chips that underpin all artificial intelligence, and they are the chips that are the necessary components for the technologies that we need to underpin our economy,” Raimondo said on a call with reporters, adding that they were vital to the “21st century military and national security apparatus,” according to the AP report.
The funding is tied to the CHIPS Act, passed in 2022 to revive U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. The $280 billion package is aimed at sharpening the U.S. edge in military technology and manufacturing while minimizing the kinds of supply disruptions that occurred in 2021, after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when a shortage of chips stalled factory assembly lines and fueled inflation.
The Biden administration has promised tens of billions of dollars to support construction of U.S. chip foundries and reduce reliance on Asian suppliers, which Washington sees as a security weakness.
“Semiconductors – those tiny chips smaller than the tip of your finger – power everything from smartphones to cars to satellites and weapons systems,” Biden said in a statement. “TSMC’s renewed commitment to the United States, and its investment in Arizona represent a broader story for semiconductor manufacturing that’s made in America and with the strong support of America’s leading technology firms to build the products we rely on every day.”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing produces nearly all of the leading-edge microchips in the world and plans to eventually do so in the U.S.
Whatever anyone else’s reaction to the state of the U.S. economy might be, Americans seem to be willing to spend.
According to statistics released by the U.S. Commerce Department Monday, retail sales rose 0.7% in March – almost double what economists had forecast – after rising 0.9% in February. All of that comes after sales fell 1.1% in January, dragged down in part by inclement weather. Excluding gas prices retail sales still rose 0.6%.
AAA reported the national average gas price Monday was $3.63 per gallon, up 6 cents from the previous week ago and up 19 cents from last month. Those prices, though, are still 3 cents below where they were at this point last year.
The snapshot offers only a partial look at consumer spending and doesn’t include many services, including travel and hotel lodges. But the lone services category – restaurants – registered an uptick of 0.4%, according to the Associated Press.
Government retail data isn’t adjusted for inflation, which ticked up 0.4% from February to March, according to the latest government report. So retailers had a solid sales gain accounting for inflation.
“Retail sales aren’t increasing just because prices are going up,” Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate, told the AP. “Americans are actually buying more stuff. This is one of the strongest retail sales reports we’ve seen in the past couple of years.”
Prices outside the volatile food and energy categories rose 0.4% from February to March, the same accelerated pace as in the previous month. Measured from a year earlier, these core prices are up 3.8%, unchanged from the year-over-year rise in February.
“Consumers are becoming highly selective in their spending choices with many pulling back from pricier, non-discretionary products to focus on value and essentials and the lower-income cohort continues to be pressured,” Mickey Chadha, Moody’s Ratings vice president of corporate finance, told the AP. “Purposeful consumers are postponing their major shopping decisions.”
Retail sales growth likely slowed in March as gasoline prices rose more slowly and new car and truck sales pulled back from February’s level.
Core retail sales excluding gasoline stations and auto dealers likely grew moderately, matching their February pace. Industrial production likely rose modestly in March, as manufacturing activity picked up and offset a decline in mining and utilities. Milder weather reduced heating demand in March, pushing natural gas futures to the lowest in decades.
Building permits and housing starts likely edged lower in March after mild weather fueled increases in February. Residential homebuilding is growing in 2024, but high interest rates are an ongoing headwind to construction financing and homebuyer demand. Homebuilder sentiment likely pulled back slightly in April as mortgage rates rose.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.4% for the second consecutive month and accelerated on an annual basis from 3.2% in February to 3.5% in March. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy components, increased by 0.4% for the third consecutive month and held steady at 3.8% from a year earlier. Both headline and core inflation were above consensus forecasts. Shelter, up 0.4%, was again the single biggest contributor to inflation, accounting for around two-fifths of the price increases. Led by a 1.7% increase in gasoline prices, energy costs also made a sizeable contribution to inflation.
Prices of services excluding energy and shelter (Sometimes called Supercore CPI) jumped by 0.7% on the month and were up 4.8% from a year earlier. Inflation of services excluding energy and shelter have accelerated since last fall, a concerning development as they account for about a fourth of consumer spending. On a positive note, overall food prices rose by a modest 0.1%, with food at home unchanged for the second consecutive month.
Minutes of the Fed’s March Open Market Committee meeting show a notable contradiction between FOMC members’ assessments of inflation and their monetary policy expectations. While “generally” noting “recent data had not increased their confidence that inflation was moving sustainably down to 2 percent,” monetary policymakers, nonetheless, judged the federal funds rate was “likely at its peak for the tightening cycle.”
“Almost all” FOMC members believed that it would be prudent to loosen policy “at some point this year.” “The vast majority” also judged that it would be appropriate to begin slowing the pace of balance sheet reduction “fairly soon.”
But following the release of the hotter-than-expected CPI print, financial markets generally discounted the FOMC’s forward guidance, and now expect the Fed to hold off on rate cuts until later in 2024, and to make two or even fewer quarter percentage point rate cuts by year-end. On the back of strong receipts, up 22%, and modest increases in spending, up 0.5%, the federal government deficit shrank sharply from $296.3 billion in February to $236.5 billion in March. Midway through the fiscal year, the federal government has run a $1.1 trillion deficit, which the Office of Management and Budget projects will reach $1.9 trillion when the 2023/24 fiscal year concludes on September 30.
Bill Adams is a senior vice president and chief economist at Comerica. Waran Bhahirethan is a vice president and senior economist at Comerica.
DETROIT – As EV technology continues to evolve, GM is working toward elevating the overall ownership experience by introducing new ways for customers to unlock additional value and gain access to the expanded benefits of an all-electric future.
Available for the first time as part of its expanding product ecosystem, GM Energy’s initial offerings for residential customers will enable the use of vehicle-to-home (V2H) bidirectional charging technology to provide power from a compatible GM EV to a properly equipped home, helping to mitigate the negative impacts of weather-related outages and integrate with future clean energy products for even greater personal grid resiliency.
The GM Energy product suite will be offered through a set of unique bundle options, providing residential customers with the ability to select solutions that align with their specific energy needs, budget and preferences, all online. GM Energy representatives will be on hand to connect customers with preferred installer, Qmerit, who can help with obtaining necessary permits and connect with utilities to ensure a seamless guided experience.
At launch1, customers will be able to purchase GM Energy’s V2H bundle, which includes necessary equipment to enable the transfer of energy between a customer’s compatible EV and a properly equipped home. GM Energy will make additional residential solutions, including stationary energy storage and solar integration, available for purchase later this year.
“GM Energy is committed to making the transition to an all-electric lifestyle an even more compelling option by simplifying all aspects of personal energy management,” said Wade Sheffer, vice president of GM Energy. “With the introduction of these new offerings, it has never been easier for our customers to access the expanded benefits of a holistic EV ecosystem, helping to mitigate the impacts of power outages and having the ability to offset certain energy costs over time.”
GM Energy’s products will be accessible through current GM mobile brand apps, allowing customers to seamlessly manage the transfer of stored energy between applicable and connected GM Energy assets, for a fully integrated and convenient experience.
The first vehicle in GM’s portfolio of EVs to be compatible with the GM Energy home product suite is the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV First-Edition RST2, which will be equipped with V2H bidirectional charging technology. Moving forward, GM will continue to expand V2H bidirectional charging technology across its retail portfolio of Ultium-based EVs by model year 2026.
Customers who have questions can visit GM Energy Live, where product specialists can help provide more information and showcase GM Energy’s solutions through an immersive digital experience.
Pricing, installation cost and timeline for delivery for each of GM Energy’s initial product bundles will vary. Additional information about GM Energy and its ecosystem of available product and service offerings is available at gmenergy.gm.com.
1Product availability at launch will be limited to California, Florida, Michigan, New York and Texas, with plans to expand over time. 2Actual production will vary. The GM Energy PowerShift Charger and GM Energy V2H Enablement Kit shown requires an adequately charged and properly equipped GM EV (anticipated 24MY Silverado EV RST, 24MY Sierra EV Denali, 24MY Chevrolet Blazer EV, 24MY Chevrolet Equinox EV, 24MY Cadillac LYRIQ) having bidirectional charging capabilities, a properly equipped home, and proper grid interconnection. Some eligible 24MY EVs will require a dealership or over-the-air update to enable bidirectional charging. Weather conditions, life of the battery, vehicle variation and usage, and other external factors may impact the duration of power supply. Power supply may be interrupted.
Conceptual rendering of Hudson's Detroit with GM branding. Provided by GM Design.
DETROIT – General Motors will relocate its global headquarters to Hudson’s Detroit in 2025, becoming the anchor tenant at Bedrock’s development on the historic site of the former J.L. Hudson Department Store. This marks GM’s fourth headquarters location in the city since 1911, reaffirming its longstanding commitment to Detroit. GM, Bedrock, the city of Detroit and Wayne County will establish a partnership to explore redevelopment opportunities for the Renaissance Center site over approximately the next year, prior to GM’s move to Hudson’s Detroit.
“We are proud to remain in the city of Detroit in a modern office building that fits the evolving needs of our workforce, right in the heart of downtown,” said GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. “Our new headquarters will provide collaboration areas for our teams, executive offices and display space for our vehicles. Dan Gilbert and Bedrock have done so much to make downtown Detroit a great place to live, work and visit. We are thrilled to be a significant part of the historic Hudson’s project and also look forward to working with them to explore new ideas and opportunities for the Renaissance Center site and the riverfront.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said GM’s decision demonstrates that Michigan “will continue driving the future of mobility this century, too.”
“Over the past five years, we have worked together to secure more than 37,000 auto jobs in Michigan, including several new battery plants and revitalized production lines across the state,” Whitmer said. “GM’s decision … builds on our momentum. Let’s keep building up Detroit and betting on Michigan.”
The move to Hudson’s Detroit will mark GM’s return to Woodward Avenue, where it established its first headquarters in the city. GM has now entered into an initial 15-year, multi-level lease for the top office floors of the state-of-the-art office building as well as showcase space on the street level for GM vehicles and community activations.
“For more than a century, General Motors has been synonymous with the city of Detroit, and we warmly welcome them to Hudson’s as they continue to drive the future of innovation and mobility,” said Dan Gilbert, Chairman & Founder of Bedrock. “I can’t think of a better organization to help define the new legacy of Hudson’s as General Motors continues to shape the way the world moves directly from Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit.”
“GM has been in the city for more than 100 years and it’s great to see that commitment continue as they move their headquarters to the heart of downtown at Hudson’s Detroit. In my time as mayor, I am proud that our team has worked together with GM and Bedrock to build on the city’s revitalization,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. “Hudson’s Detroit marks a significant development in the city and returns an iconic name back to where it belongs. GM, meanwhile, is already building EVs at its Factory ZERO plant, located here in Detroit. I am equally excited to see what these two great companies imagine when it comes to the future redevelopment of the Renaissance Center.”
“As Detroit and Wayne County continue to drive global growth, knowing that General Motors is committed to staying in the area is reassuring and signals the automaker’s desire and commitment to continue working together to improve our region’s long-term growth and sustainability,” said Wayne County Executive Warren C. Evans. “As businesses invest in their community, the community grows and becomes healthier. The principle of shared value lies at the very heart of economic success. We’re excited that General Motors will remain downtown and move its world headquarters into this landmark development, appropriately named Hudson’s Detroit.”
Hudson’s Detroit Hudson’s Detroit is a 1.5-million square-foot development that will feature office, ground-floor retail, a 5-star hotel, rooftop bar, residential condominiums, a public plaza, parking and large event spaces. Comprised of a 12-story office building with event and retail spaces, and adjacent 45 floor hotel and residential tower, Hudson’s presents sweeping city views at every level.
The Hudson’s department store, known as the “Big Store” and “J.L. Hudson,” broke ground in 1891 and was the foremost retailer in Detroit — at one time the second largest department store in the world. The massive flagship store anchored the bustling Woodward Avenue corridor and was a destination for domestic and international shopping enthusiasts until it closed its doors in 1983. The structure was eventually demolished, but Bedrock has ensured that the history of the site is echoed in the new Hudson’s Detroit.
For additional information on Hudson’s Detroit, please visit hudsons-detroit.com.
Renaissance Center Site The decision to explore redevelopment opportunities for the Renaissance Center site comes at a time when the office real estate market is transforming. Post-pandemic, the work environment has changed the way that office space is utilized. A recent study by CBRE indicated that 80% of current office occupiers have adopted or will adopt hybrid work. Repositioning the Renaissance Center to reflect these changes will require an experienced real estate developer like Bedrock.
When GM acquired the Renaissance Center in 1996 it was a catalyst for the revitalization of the city and the transformation of the Detroit riverfront. The development of GM Plaza was the genesis of the private-public Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, providing expansive public access to the Detroit River for the first time.
The Renaissance Center area and RiverWalk have been bolstered by GM’s continuous improvements, totaling more than $1 billion in investment since 1996.
The initial $500 million Renaissance Center renovation was designed to make the site more accessible to the community, including the removal of the external concrete towers that limited entry from Jefferson Avenue. Improvements were also made to the interior to ease navigation, including a central glass circulation ring and the addition of the Wintergarden, an inviting space where visitors and workers could enjoy panoramic views of the Detroit River.
GM developed the first phase of the Detroit International RiverWalk in partnership with the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, building some of the most popular places on the riverfront, including the GM Fountain, GM Plaza and the Wintergarden. Each year more than 3.5 million people visit the riverfront, and the Detroit RiverWalk was named ‘Best in America’ in 2021, 2022 and 2023 by USA TODAY.
GM and Detroit General Motors invested $2.2 billion in Factory ZERO (formerly the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center) in November 2020 for retooling and upgrades. Factory ZERO builds a number of Ultium-powered EVs including the GMC HUMMER EV Pickup and SUV, the Chevrolet Silverado EV WT, as well as the upcoming Silverado EV RST, the GMC Sierra DenaliEV and the Cadillac Escalade IQ.
The plant was first built in 1985 and has manufactured over 3 million vehicles. Today, it has been transformed into one of the most modern automotive plants in the country with nearly 4,000 employees.
Additionally, GM has awarded more than $117 million in grants over the last decade to various Detroit-based nonprofit programs to further its engagement and impact in the city. Centered around Detroit’s people and places, GM prioritizes funding toward education, workforce development, and neighborhood revitalization efforts.
GM’s first home in Detroit was at 127-129 Woodward Avenue, on the west side of the street between Fort and Congress, where the company resided from 1911-1923. GM then relocated to the Albert Kahn-designed General Motors Building at 3044 West Grand Boulevard in 1923, where it remained for many years before the company purchased the Renaissance Center in 1996.
Financial terms of the transaction between GM and Bedrock are not being disclosed.
If the initials AI conjure up Rosie, the robot maid from “The Jetsons” space-age television show, you’re not alone. It wasn’t long ago that artificial intelligence was a distant-future possibility among other barely imaginable technological advancements.
Since then, artificial intelligence, or the technology enabling computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities, has become a reality. We use it daily in everything from tapping Google or Waze to find the fastest driving route to taking streaming services’ personalized recommendations for entertainment.
Enter 2023, when large language models like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and many more became available. These LLMs access and process large amounts of input data from humans and can generate human language, continually adjusting through iterative machine learning. What’s more, this generative AI can mimic human language styles and speech patterns, create photos and other art and more, given certain parameters.
A year into the introduction of generative AI, business use of AI is increasing. In a September 2023 Gartner Inc. poll of 1,400 executive leaders who participated in the Gartner AI webinar, 45% of respondents said they’re in piloting mode with generative AI, and 10% said they’ve put generative AI solutions into production.
A similar March and April 2023 poll showed only 15% piloting generative AI and 4% using it in production. While this is a somewhat biased representative of AI use, the uptick in use is worth noting.
“The State of AI in 2023,” a McKinsey & Co. survey of a more diverse group of C-Suite executives, shows 79% of respondents having some exposure to generative AI personally or at work, and 22% using it regularly at work. One-third of respondents said their organizations are using generative AI, and 28% said generative AI use is on their board’s agenda.
It’s no secret that AI replaces or alters functions traditionally conducted solely by humans. However, AI has the potential to increase productivity and, ultimately, generate money. A January 2024 report by Cognizant Research and Oxford Economics predicted that, by 2032, AI could inject the U.S. gross domestic product with between $477 billion and $1 trillion, depending on the level of business adoption. The report also predicted that 90% of jobs could be disrupted by generative AI in the next 10 years.
Is AI use controversial? Is its future uncertain? Are its generative applications in their infancy? Yes, to all. But is it going away? Absolutely not. Therefore, organizations need to address its use and try to harness its benefits.
Types of AI AI is by no means new, but recent developments have created a host of possibilities. Broad types of AI include weak AI, also known as narrow AI, and strong AI. Weak or narrow AI is designed for a specific task. Self-driving cars, Alexa, Siri and Google Maps use narrow AI. Strong AI is also known as artificial general intelligence, and it refers to the possibility of a machine possessing equal intelligence to humans and even one day surpassing human intelligence (artificial super intelligence). This type of AI is not yet a reality.
AI can function under machine learning, which has been in place for decades. Machine learning employs simple algorithms and requires humans to structure or supervise data. Deep learning algorithms are much newer and employ deep neural networks that can operate unsupervised.
While generative AI is not new either — it’s been used for years in statistics to predict data — the rise of deep learning has made generative AI more robust. It’s capable of incorporating images, speech and other complex data into what it generates, and of generating more complex output.
How businesses use AI In the world of production, customer service and even transportation and logistics, AI has staggering possibilities. It gives businesses a leg-up, so to speak. According to Professor Richard Baldwin, who spoke at the World Economic Forum Growth Summit, AI is the great equalizer. “AI is essentially wisdom in a can,” he said. “It’s giving more power to all workers, but especially those average workers.”
Understanding that Baldwin’s comments are future-focused, let’s look at how companies are using AI now and in recent days. McKinsey & Co.’s August 2023 survey shows that the most common uses of generative AI are marketing and sales (14%), followed by product and service development (13%) and service operations (10%). The most common marketing and sales use was crafting first document drafts. For product and service development, it was identifying trends in customer needs. For service operations, it was using chatbots for customer service.
AI in sales and marketing Andrew Bontz, an AI keynote speaker and founder of Wisconsin-based ResistingBeta Consulting, which serves the men’s health industry, said his use of generative AI shrinks 40 to 50 hours of work to 45 minutes. “I do the work of three to five people with just me,” he said.
Andrew Bontz, an AI keynote speaker and founder of ResistingBeta Consulting, which serves the men’s health industry, said his use of AI shrinks 40 to 50 hours of work to 45 minutes.
In a sentiment similar to that of Baldwin, Bontz noted the opportunity for AI to help small companies compete with their larger counterparts. “AI has the opportunity to drastically level the playing field between large and small businesses,” he said.
For example, AI can “consume” several books on copy writing, along with specific data about a client, and generate an outline or content for marketing messages using the principles in those books, said Bontz.
It can also help companies target a new audience by building an audience persona and creating a tailored message. This helps, for example, when companies need to market to a different generation with different mindsets and lingo, Bontz said.
AI can also be used as a training tool where, for example, salespeople can role play with AI to learn techniques, he said.
AI tools do need human input and editing, which is why Bontz is working to help companies become AI adjacent, he said. “It’s like having a straight-A student complete a project for you,” he said. “You need to guide and train them.”
Staffing and human resources applications Staffing businesses like Kelly are also leveraging AI. “We help companies with all aspects of their workforce,” said Ed Pederson, vice president of innovation and product development for Kelly. Traditionally, available workforce channels included full-time, part-time and contract workers, he said. Now, there’s a fourth option — automated workers or processes that fulfill labor needs.
Pederson headed up the development of Kelly Fusion, a suite of automated work solutions, including digital workers, collaborative robots and workforce automation consulting. In this realm, digital workers automate “highly repeatable processes” like moving data in spreadsheets or merging data in finance applications. Kelly just placed its first digital worker.
“Our perfect world is digital workers working alongside humans,” Pederson said. “That human can then focus on the creation and the relational rather than the repetitive tasks.”
One example of humans working alongside AI is Kelly’s recruiter assistant called Grace. While Kelly recruiters focus on interacting with candidates and making important decisions, Grace automates the creation of job descriptions and postings, summarizes resumes and sends standard emails.
Another AI tool, Helix UX, is a portal that enables employers to analyze market conditions and make informed decisions about hiring. For example, they can determine whether labor needs are best met by full-time, part-time or temporary workers based on salaries, amount of time needed, length of project and more.
Lucas Grizz is founder of Raven Cargo, a Chicago-based shipping company.
Transportation and logistics applications AI is also at work in the transportation and logistics industry. Lucas Grizz, founder of Raven Cargo, a Chicago-based shipping company, has developed a product that integrates disparate data, optimizes routing, forecasts demand and more.
Raven Cargo’s RavenEye, a cloud-based logistics transaction management and information exchange platform, streamlines logistics operations, said Grizz. “It optimizes routing, forecasts demand and enhances predictive maintenance, so it helps minimize downtime. RavenEye also improves document management and supply chain visibility, enabling informed, data-driven decisions that lead to reduced operational costs and heightened customer satisfaction.”
Information technology and beyond Amy Babinchak, who owns Third Tier, a Michigan-based company that provides information technology services and consulting, said that, while most AI technology is emergent, software companies are starting to integrate it into their products.
Therefore, most companies are using some form of AI technology, even if they don’t label it as such, she said. Eventually, most people will use AI indirectly through applications that integrate the technology, she said.
Babinchak’s information technology clients are using AI to automate some processes, she said, but most of them are waiting for vendors to integrate AI into the tools they use. For example, AI tools could be set to alert businesses when data discrepancies arise or to run processes when specific conditions arise.
Personally, Babinchak, a Microsoft MVP, enjoys exploring tools like Microsoft Copilot and educating people about what it can do. The tool works alongside applications like Word, PowerPoint and Excel to generate content and automate tasks.
The product is aptly named, she said, because it doesn’t teach users anything; it only helps with the work.
“Copilot can’t do much for you if you don’t already have some expertise. It’s going to help you do what you do,” she said.
Babinchak stressed that AI needs human input. “AI doesn’t know why it’s doing something,” she said. “That’s where humans come in.”
This need for human AI expertise is a great reason to learn how AI works as the technology is developing, Babinchak said. She recalled the economist Baldwin’s statement at last year’s World Economic Forum Growth Summit: “AI won’t take your job. It’s somebody using AI that will take your job.”
Security and data cautions AI may sound like the best thing since sliced bread, but there are cautions when using it. Since AI relies on data input to generate predictions and content, one major caution is to prepare and protect your data.
“If you think about companies, all they really own is their data,” said Babinchak. Combine that with AI’s ability to access any data its user has access to, and you’ll see the issue.
“Most businesses have not paid attention to permission creep,” said Babinchak. “Most of the time, what I see is that data is not all that well structured or protected.”
For example, Copilot could pull old data that’s no longer useful in generating sales statistics for a presentation. It could also pull confidential data that’s not meant to be shared.
The fix, said Babinchak, is to thoroughly audit your data permissions structure and archive or delete old data to make it inaccessible to certain employees who use AI to generate statistics or presentations.
Bontz also noted the importance of data security. Where some AI tools are “closed,” meaning their data isn’t shared with the public, others are based on open architecture. “Anything you put in can be viewed by anyone,” warned Bontz, who also noted that there’s a potential intellectual property question, because anything created by AI may be owned by the tool itself and not the company.
While many employees are experimenting with AI for personal or business use, many companies have no rules governing its use, exposing them to security risks and even legal risks.
Cloud security company Zscaler commissioned Sapio Research to conduct a global survey entitled “All Eyes on Securing GenAI” in October 2023. Findings revealed that 95% of organizations are using generative AI tools in some way, and 89% consider these tools a potential security risk. Yet 23% of responding information technology leaders admit to having no generative AI monitoring in place, and 33% have yet to implement any additional generative AI security measures, though many have it on their agenda.
Sourcing and hallucinations Another pitfall with using generative AI is that there’s a lack of references. AI usually doesn’t know where it got its information, and this can be a problem in certain circumstances. AI is also capable of what’s called “hallucinations,” said Bontz, which are incorrect or misleading results caused by insufficient data, or assumptions or biases in the learning model.
Bontz referred to a case where a New York attorney inadvertently cited a fake court case in an AI-generated paper. The lawyer used ChatGPT for research in the medical malpractice lawsuit and did not double-check the facts.
One possible answer to this problem, at least in the realm of Internet research, is a new search engine called Perplexity AI. The tool provides top links with references, along with additional research questions you should ask.
Generative AI came about because the public was clamoring for better ways to search the Internet and get useful information,” said Babinchak. This new tool not only provides useful information, but references to verify it.
Amy Babinchak, who owns Third Tier, a Michigan-based company that provides information technology services and consulting.
Ethics The emergence of AI technology and its continued development bring with it a host of ethical concerns. For example, AI can be used to mislead people or sway public opinion. There are also privacy and security issues, biases built into AI models and the need for accountability in decision-making, not to mention potential job displacement.
“There are amazing uses, and it also can be used for evil,” said Bontz. “You just have to train more people with good morals.”
Babinchak advised companies to evaluate each AI tool based on its ethics policies, which should be well-defined, she said. For example, Microsoft AI has defined six principles for AI development and use, and there is an Open Ethic Initiative that works to keep AI use ethical worldwide.
Expert advice on AI So, what’s a company to do about AI? Here’s some advice from the experts: 1. Get in the game. Experts agree that now is the time to learn about AI and explore its business applications. Bontz goes so far as to say that the “cost of ignorance” may be being edged out of the market. “Businesses that sit on the sidelines for a year and a half may be eliminated,” he said, likening reluctance to use AI to using paper and pencil to solve mathematical equations when competitors use calculators.
2. Provide guidelines. It’s important not to ignore AI tools, because many employees are already using them, and they could put your company at risk if they use them incorrectly or for the wrong purposes. “People are going to play with them (AI tools) no matter what,” said Pederson. “Let’s give them a protected sandbox.” To that end, create company guidelines around AI use. “If you really want to be intentional about it, create an internal AI implementation team,” said Bontz.
3. Be strategic. “AI can do everything,” said Bontz. “If you try to do everything, you’ll do nothing.” He advises figuring out which three business problems you want to solve using AI.
Grizz agreed. “For companies just starting with AI, my advice is to begin small. Identify a specific problem area where AI can have a clear impact, such as demand forecasting or customer service enhancements,” he said. Gradually scale your AI initiatives as you gain confidence and understand the technology’s impact on your operations.”
4. Get your data ready. Remembering that AI tools are only as good as the data they’re fed, pay attention to your data. “Ensure your data is clean and organized before implementation,” said Grizz. Also, archive old data and audit permissions, Babinchak advised.
5. Train your employees. If it’s true that AI will not replace jobs, but employees who know how to use AI will rise to the top of the job market, then AI training is paramount. “Invest in training your team to work with AI tools and understand their outputs,” advised Grizz. They’ll need to know how to prompt AI to generate meaningful content, so educate them on using prompts, said Babinchak.
6. Plan for productivity. “This (AI) allows companies to create 10 times what they could before, or to do it 10 times faster,” said Bontz, who estimated that AI increases production by 65%. It’s important to plan for what employees will do with their extra time, he said. This may include developing different career paths for some people. It could also include rethinking work hours and schedules — for example four-day work weeks.
The future of AI Where will AI end up? There’s a lot of uncertainty, as we’re in the early stages of this technological development. “AI as it stands today has the brain the size of a honeybee,” said Pederson. “We’re a long way from artificial general intelligence.”
“AI is very 1.0,” said Babinchak. “None of it is fully fleshed out.”
Put another way, we’re at the peak of what’s called the Gartner Hype Cycle, which represents the life cycle of technology from development to adoption to decline and obsolescence. Our expectations of AI’s potential are high right now, and we could experience some “disillusionment” with the technology in the near future.
“It could plateau a little bit,” said Pederson. But either way, now is the time to learn it and adapt.
Troy, Mich.-based Flagstar Bank suffered a series of cybersecurity attacks over a roughly 18-month period between February 2021 and June 2022 that cost the bank at least $1 million in ransom.
The first attack occurred in February 2021, the second one – for which court records show the bank paid the $1 million ransom – took place in November 2021 and the third was in June 2022.
The point that Orion Czarnecki makes is this: Cybersecurity attacks aren’t going anywhere any time soon. For the foreseeable future, they’re not only here to stay, but their perpetrators are getting better at it.
“Ransomware is not only evolving, you have to look at how they’re going to be using AI to spam and try over and over on different people,” said Czarnecki, recently hired as the head of cybersecurity for North America/Asia-Pacific at Stefanini Group, a $1 billion global technology company specializing in digital solutions. “When we hear about ransomware, we also want to think about spear phishing and phishing attacks. Spear-phishing being the targeted, I know who this person is, I think I know how to manipulate them, and I think I know how to get a return on my hacking investment.
Orion Czarnecki
“So, there are going to be volumes … more than we’ve seen to date,” he added. “Some of these companies are paying and that’s just worsening the problem.” Czarnecki, who had been working with business owners earlier in his career, switched to threat intelligence, “discovered the world of cybersecurity,” and pivoted to building cyber threat intelligence tools.
He said he got involved in investigations into incidents such as attacks on Target and Home Depot, and into a group of hackers called LulzSec which claimed responsibility for a series of hacks, including the compromise of accounts in Playstation Network back in 2011.
Since 2014, he said, he’s “been building out cyber programs and … supporting CISOs.”
According to Czarnecki, companies should be working with law enforcement agencies – the FBI offers a public-private partnership to do so, he said – to make decisions on how best to handle ransomware attacks.
He said navigating such attacks on a per-situation basis with law enforcement would be the most helpful path in dealing with the problem.
“Think of it like this: They’re going to give you advice that you rely on,” Czarnecki said. “And as you work with your insurance company, as you work through the event, as you work through the actual incident response of it, having (law enforcement) embedded might lead to more information on the attackers because they have the overall view. It’s really critical for organizations to work in joint progression with law enforcement.”
While the perpetrators’ methods might be getting more sophisticated, the targets often remain the same types of businesses, those with money or critical-life information they can’t afford to have stolen or blocked.
Since the goal of attackers, Czarnecki pointed out, is to pressure organizations, there’s no better example of a potential victim than hospitals.
“There isn’t a better example than healthcare,” he said. “If you’re locking up machines and you’re pursuing these ransomware attacks, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that you would be steered into paying to get your network back up and running. And that’s why they’ve been targeted.”
Chad Paalman, the founder and CEO of NuWave Technology Partners, a St. Joseph, Mich.-based technology consulting firm, agrees hospitals are not only attractive targets, but an attack there could be more dangerous than others.
“Health care is a scary industry, when you think about them getting access to more than just data,” Paalman said. “Medical devices are connected to the network; if a threat actor takes control of a medical device ― it could be a pump, it could be a robot ― if someone had nefarious intentions, not to just monetize access, they could actually do physical harm to somebody.”
Companies dealing with energy – there was the attack on the U.S. pipeline operated by Colonial Pipeline in 2021 – are also prime examples.
Attacks – and potential future hits – on industries which are providing critical services and critical infrastructure prompted the federal government to create a law protecting them.
In March 2022, President Biden signed into law the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA). Enactment of CIRCIA marked an important milestone in improving America’s cybersecurity by, among other things, requiring the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to develop and implement regulations requiring covered entities to report covered cyber incidents and ransomware payments to CISA.
“They made it into law because it applies to critical infrastructure organizations,” Czarnecki said. “And I would say outside of hospitals, the energy sector is among one of the top targets.”
It isn’t just companies, either, according to Czarnecki. In a job market that’s hot right now, job sites like LinkedIn provide prime information for attackers. The challenge for organizations is the phishing that happens on people’s LinkedIn profiles. If someone is looking for a job, it might be because they’re disenchanted with their current employer. They might have access to information an attacker might want.
“I think we’re going to see more and more illicit job postings on LinkedIn targeting people that are maybe a bit jaded with their companies that they be moving on,” Czarnecki said. “That’s the perfect attack vector for these cyber criminals.”
Attackers also look at individuals trying to determine whether they have access to critical information. If the employee does have access to privileged tools or data, and they’re putting themselves out there looking for a job, for instance, they could be targeted.
“If you’re putting yourself out there, you’re making it all too easy to be targeted,” Czarnecki said.
It’s not just private-sector organizations that are at risk. According to experts at Rehmann, a business consulting and professional advisory firm in Troy, Mich., public sector groups are also potential targets.
In an article posted to Rehmann’s website, Paul Kennedy and Erinn Trask write that, while private-sector organizations might be more vulnerable, public-sector groups are more visible because their reporting requirements are different. They are, therefore, Trask and Kennedy write, “more drastically impacted” by cyberattacks.
Trask, a CPA, is Rehmann’s Senior Manager, Public Sector Finance and Accounting Solutions. Kennedy, a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, is Rehmann’s Senior Manager, Technology Solutions.
“This impact is measured not only in terms of recovery costs or ransom but also through fallout from system downtime, damage to reputation and credibility, and legal consequences,” the pair writes. “Those cumulative losses make recovering from an attack especially difficult.”
Ways to ward off cyberattacks, according to the article: • Make Cybersecurity a Priority – Don’t let the flurry of tech terminology overwhelm you – or fool you into thinking cybersecurity is an IT issue or a one-and-done task. It is a whole-organization issue, one best addressed through proactive investment in resources; a cohesive strategy to protect, defend, and respond; and continuous vigilance.
• Prioritize What You Protect – To improve overall cybersecurity, have IT and each operational department work together to identify and prioritize your organization’s most important technology and data assets. Use this question as a measuring stick to stack them from the top down: “How critical is this asset to our operations?” By jointly identifying your organization’s “crown jewels,” you can bridge the gap between the operational departments’ understanding of the assets most critical to operate and the IT team’s knowledge and ability to determine and deploy the protections needed to secure them.
• Implement Security Measures Customized for Your Organization – It can be easy to chase after security tools, especially with so many off-the-shelf solutions available. We recommend a more strategic approach. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework comprises a set of more than 100 security control recommendations across five common IT functions. Rehmann customizes this framework for your organization’s specific risks and environment, systematically reducing cybersecurity risk through tailored-to-you policy, operations, and technology controls.
Paul Kennedy, senior manager for technology solutions for Rehmann, pointed out that organizations definitely benefit from what he called “thoughtful, comprehensive policies.”
In an article posted to Rehmann’s website (Make Cybersecurity a Priority in Your Organization), Kennedy wrote “well-defined human resources policies contribute greatly to organizational culture.
“Likewise, airtight legal policies offer guidance, compliance, and protection,” he wrote.
One problem, he said, is that navigating the complexities, defining compliance requirements, and then writing strong organizational policies takes a lot of time and can prove daunting. Still, it’s worth the effort, particularly when it comes to cybersecurity.”
To put a dollar figure on it, Kennedy pointed out that a recent industry study found the average total cost gap between breaches where an incident response plan and team were in place ($3.25 million average cost) versus a breach where neither were in place ($5.71 million average cost) was $2.46 million, making a “well-designed incident response policy” worth almost $2.5 million, on average.
“It all starts with people,” Kennedy wrote. “The single most effective tool in creating, implementing, and sustaining strong policies is educating your people. With cybersecurity policies in place, you’re providing a common language that can be understood and transferred to others, which is crucial for business continuity and disaster recovery.”
It’s important, Czarnecki said, for companies and their Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) to train employees how to protect the company from cyberattacks.
“If you think of a network in terms of a house, right, with different rooms, they all have different surfaces,” he said. “You can get in through the windows, you can get in through the doors. It depends on the individual room that you’re working with your network.
“If CISOs and their teams aren’t actively thinking about those attack surfaces, they may not be thinking about how they are attacked, how they’re compromised.” Czarnecki said companies that aren’t ready for attacks often are reacting without their employees having had proper training. It’s a “challenge” for CISOs.
Companies are tempted, he said, to “react to the next email or respond to the next training requirement.” Adequate training is important, he said, but so is having an incident response at hand to deal with potential attacks.
Security teams need to be performing group training sessions on the tools and surfaces they know on the security platforms.
One of the practices Czarnecki pushes with clients is a “tabletop” exercise with separate teams playing the roles on each side of the incident.
“This is a key challenge … you need to make sure that they are performing group training,” he said. “In the end, you want to be able to elevate your teams, not just to be doing the training modules that we all have in our businesses, but you want them to be able to do tabletop gates.
“What that really does is it helps you to train out your team on how to think, how to respond,” he added. “So, when an event comes up, your team knows how to assemble, who the incident commander is, how to work with legal heads of state in the company. Being able to do the training as part one of a bigger strategy is a way to have better threat awareness. We have to be vigilant. Training is critical, but what’s even more critical as uniting the people, the response and the data.”
Hacking doesn’t just happen to stateside companies; it’s a worldwide problem. Geography plays no role in what companies can be attacked.
Neelam Sandhu, Chief Elite Customer Success and Chief Marketing Officer at Blackberry, the California-based cybersecurity and crisis management consultant, started out working in Blackberry’s United Kingdom office. And she was recently in Africa having this same conversation.
“The world is more connected, just as people and things are more connected, so one entry point for a cyber attacker could mean a company or product is impacted that could infect our corporate data as well,” she said. “Everywhere has the same risks. To solve the problem, it takes everyone to come together and think about the problem seriously and attack it seriously.”
Karen Hamilton is pretty sure that the days when employees begin and retire from their careers with the same company are long gone. Especially since salaries exploded as companies had to pay more to attract – and retain – talent, there’s always an organization around the corner willing to pay just a little bit more That’s why Hamilton, vice president for consulting services at Marsh McLennan Agency, thinks businesses may want to engage in something that’s become all the rage, especially the last few years: Compensation benchmarking.
Compensation benchmarking is the process of comparing an organization’s compensation practices, including salaries, bonuses, benefits, etc., against those of other similar organizations in the same industry or geographical area.
It’s the kind of research Hamilton, based in Louisville, Ky., and other experts say is necessary to attract and retain top talent while also aligning with industry standards and financial capabilities.
Karen Hamilton is the vice president for consulting services at Marsh McLennan Agency.
“Getting pay right is absolutely a minimum requirement,” said Hamilton, who includes compensation professional among her many certifications.
“If we are not getting the pay right, we are going to lose our employees because there is somebody just right around the corner that’s going to pay a little bit more.”
“The generation of staying with one company and retiring from that same company is long gone, and people will jump ship for a dollar more an hour or $5,000 more a year or whatever that looks like,” she added. “If a company doesn’t know what this job pays, then they may have an issue with employee retention. The economy is stabilizing, the job market is stabilizing, but we still need to be competitive with our pay because people will jump and there’s not as many workers out there.”
Lisa Brown, vice president of client services for Grand Rapids-based HR Collaborative, calls benchmarking compensation a “very important” step.
“It’s vital for organizations to understand the market value of similar positions to those that they employ at their organization,” Brown said. “Knowledge is power, so knowing what the external rate is or the rate the external market is for similar positions can really help navigate the way that they do their business and how they make decisions around pay.”
The Internet has caused a jump in the need for compensation benchmarking. Jobseekers are accessing search sites such as Glassdoor and Indeed and seeing what the jobs they’re interested in are paying, then, in many cases, taking that information back and pointing it out to their employers, questioning whether they’re being fairly compensated.
That’s where companies like Marsh McLennan Agency come in.
“(Businesses) call us and ask, ‘Is this true?’ Is the job actually paying that amount of compensation?” Hamilton said. “As consultants, we do a lot of education on setting up compensation plans, how to price jobs to the market and how to respond to questions that employees may have regarding their compensation. As more and more states adopt pay transparency laws, we’ve seen an increase in questions about how to benchmark positions against the market.”
“We’ve had clients who say, ‘I’m concerned because I need to either publish what we’re paying for this position or the range of pay, and I’m not sure if I’m actually paying what I should be paying,’” she added. “Just having a good compensation structure and knowing how to answer the questions about where a position falls within the organization helps people feel better about their role.”
That kind of benchmarking, Hamilton said, helps give employees an idea of their career path and what the pay structure will look like.
“For example, an employee may be hired as a level one account manager and with a well-developed compensation and career path plan, the employee understands that, after two or three years, here’s the level you could be,” she said. Employees may be inclined to stay at the company longer because the employee understands that there is a chance for them to move up in pay and position. “Benchmarking and career pathing helps us be able to develop that path for our clients,” says Hamilton.
Here’s how it works, according to Hamilton: • It starts with a good job description, which she calls the “foundation” of the data points.
• Next is a defined market. Some clients want to benchmark on a national average because maybe if they have an open position, they’re going to do a national search.“We want to define the market, whether we’re going to look at something within that client’s location and whether it’s regional, national,” Hamilton said.
• We also ask for their revenue or their asset size so we are comparing similar size organizations.
“I don’t want to benchmark a small company against a very large company,” she said. “We create a total compensation package for that benchmark. We’re really trying to give them a true picture of what the market bears for that position.”
Elizabeth Williams, Principal, HR Solutions for Rehmann, a business consulting and professional advisory firm based in Troy, points out that staying “relevant to the market” is an important piece of the benchmarking puzzle.
Getting the best talent in the job market “is difficult enough,” she said, without being willing to pay market value.
“If you aren’t willing to pay close to market, then you’re at a detriment to finding that talent and then retaining that talent,” Williams said. “If you’re out of touch with what other companies in your industry … you’re left in the dark and you want to tighten up your recruitment and retention strategies.
“Compensation is one piece of that,” Williams added. “It’s not going to solve all your retention and recruitment problems, but it definitely is one of the cogs in the wheel.”
Staying relevant also means doing the benchmarking fairly frequently; Williams recommends doing it “every two, maybe three” years. It doesn’t always have to be a “full-blown” study, but it should happen regularly, she said.
Elizabeth Williams is Principal, HR Solutions for Rehmann.
So how do companies get all that information? Some companies simply comb the employment ads on sites like Zip Recruiter and Indeed.com to capture rates of pay.
But agencies like Marsh McLennan Agency and Rehmann subscribe to a database that provides that kind of data for them. It sends out salary surveys to employers and gathers data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which are reported by employers.
Algorithms are applied for the positions based on that data.
While benchmarking was done prior to the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, “our world changed after, didn’t it?” Hamilton said.
Suddenly, employees were demanding “different things” such as the flexibility to work from home. Employees and job seekers realized they didn’t necessarily have to be in one location to do the job.
“What’s interesting now is that companies that used to be able to just benchmark in Louisville, for instance, where everybody was,” Hamilton said. “During and after covid, they said, ‘I can live anywhere in the country and still just dial in and be remote.’”
Benchmarking focus has moved from ‘single location’ data to pulling in national data because companies needed to be competitive not just with their local competition, but also regionally because they didn’t know where potential employees were going to come from.
“That has been a huge shift,” Hamilton said. “We also see increases in requests for benchmark data because of the pay transparency laws, employers really want to make sure that they’re being competitive, and if they have to be transparent about their salary, they want to make sure that it’s in a well-thought-out manner and that it’s not just hit or miss. According to Hamilton, while turnover is dropping, employees still have access to data points for their own salaries.
Companies, wishing to retain their top talent, “want to be competitive, and they want to be able to answer questions when the employee says, ‘how come I’m not being paid?’ because they googled comparable salaries,
“I think companies are really understanding now that part of the total package of employee retention and happiness is well-rounded compensation, remote work, career paths, training and development opportunities and giving back to society type things are important,” said Hamilton.
Pending “pay transparency” laws could make discovery of the pay information easier, but there are some cities and states that already require organizations posting job ads to disclose the pay rate for that position.
And many of the job sites, according to Hamilton, now have policies that say if a company doesn’t include a pay range, the site will designate one for them. It’s a way to stem the frustration users feel when they can’t figure out what a position pays.
“Because of the availability of self-reported pay data, pay transparency laws and job boards that require pay rates – benchmarking is not going away,” she said. “It’s becoming more and more important, more and more common.”
Transparency in the process is of paramount importance, Brown said. Being transparent, speaking knowledgeably about the process is “the most beneficial,” she said.
“But don’t over commit and underdeliver, you’re probably doing more harm,” Brown said. “If you say you’re going to share a bunch of information and you refuse to do so, you’re going to lose credibility as opposed to committing to something that may seem a little vague or higher level and then doing more.”
Much has changed since the end of the pandemic. During Covid, salaries exploded as companies tried to hang onto talent, and another phenomenon – the “gig” workforce – took off.
“(Salaries) definitely jumped up during the pandemic and did not go necessarily backwards, but we aren’t facing the same critical jumps (now),” Rehmann’s Williams said. “I guess you’d say you have a job for one (pay) range, but you’re so desperate you’re going to pay $20,000 or $30,000 above what you normally would. That’s not the case so much these days, unless you haven’t checked your market data and it’s completely out of touch.
“If you haven’t done a compensation check in at least two years, you’re already out of touch, pandemic or not,” she added. “You need to keep up at least once a year. Every two years is best practice with the market.”
Lisa Brown is vice president of client services for Grand Rapids-based HR Collaborative.
There was definitely a “shift” for a lot of industries and organizations during Covid, HR Collaborative’s Brown said, which forced a lot of organizations to “right-size or do reduction in force.”
Brown said it hasn’t fully rebounded yet. So how do companies right-size? Brown figures if she knew the definitive answer to that, she’d be a pretty rich woman. “I wish I had a crystal ball and a magic formula; I’d be very wealthy,” she said. “It’s understanding what your organization can support financially. ‘Do we have the means to be competitive with the external labor market?’ Understanding what your financial position is.
“The second is establishing a compensation philosophy that is understood throughout your organization,” Brown added. “Your philosophy is your mindset. So just like this is how we think about things. It doesn’t mean that we’re a hundred percent living and doing, but that’s our goal is to get there.”
Also different since the pandemic: Different things – more than just money – began taking on more importance for employees.
“The workforce has stabilized, but I’m seeing different benefits come into the workplace,” Marsh McLennan Agency’s Hamilton said. “People are looking for what we need to do to keep people engaged, to keep them mentally and physically focused and able to do their job, because we are so connected that we’re not shutting down at 5 or 6 or even 7 o’clock. We’re working more and more time.”
Tools are available to help companies figure out what some of those additional benefits to offer – above compensation – although some smaller companies may not have as much access.
Benefits broker agencies, Williams pointed out, should have tools, resources, and surveys and reports at their fingertips.
“Some of the smaller ones may not,” she said. “Some of the very large ones actually conduct their own surveys and they have a wealth of information at their fingertips that they can then share with you. It’s obviously going to be pretty comprehensive, but it’s not going to be spot on for every state and every company in the country. But it gets you something of what you need.”
Companies are also trying to come up with benefits such as more paid time off, national employee appreciation days, more and more support for employees volunteering their time in local social efforts to get connected.
“Our younger workforce desires to work for a company that gives back to their communities,” Hamilton said. “That’s something that my generation would’ve never thought about. We would keep volunteer activities outside of work hours. Now you have opportunities to volunteer and give back during the workday. I think that’s huge.”
“I see a huge increase in budgets for professional development, training, ongoing learning and development, opportunities that are going to make people feel like they’re broadening their education while at work,” she added. “Now we’re looking at other benefits to wrap around our employee experience.”
The NFL Draft is about to land in Detroit, with 300,000-plus fans expected to flood the city from April 25-27.
With an estimated economic impact of some $160 million or more, the draft will be one of the most significant events in the city this year in terms of financial impact, especially for small businesses. Stakeholders have spent the better part of two years preparing for the event with significant collaboration from the public and private sectors.
With the sheer size of the NFL Draft, there may be some last-minute challenges, but Visit Detroit President and CEO Claude Molinari assures that if so, the city and all interested stakeholders will be prepared.
From working with the city of Detroit and Mayor Mike Duggan to the Downtown Detroit Partnership, Bedrock Detroit, the Detroit Police Department, and local businesses, he believes that the city is ready.
“This is the start,” Molinari said. “Our goal is to go after even more events. We’ve built a collaborative group that is organizing an event that is safe, equitable and inclusive to our residents and guests.”
While many of those additional events are non-sports related, Molinari acknowledges that major sporting events can produce some of the highest numbers of visitors possible.
And, after the success of the Detroit Lions this past season – they went 12-5 and were within 30 minutes of a trip to the Super Bowl – the draft is likely to spark even more interest. That’s what sports does for people if you listen to Mike Tirico.
Popular sports broadcaster Mike Tirico (right), taking part in a discussion about Detroit at the recent Downtown Detroit Partnership annual meeting with automotive giant Roger Penske (left) and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan CEO Dan Loepp, said, “Sports brings a community together in a unique way.”
The popular sports broadcaster, who has adopted Michigan as his home state, told an audience at the Downtown Detroit Partnership’s annual meeting in February that sports play a pivotal role in life, and that the Lions’ success this past season will heighten the excitement for fans.
“Sports matter … look at our city,” Tirico said. “Look at what the Lions did for (Detroit). Sports brings a community together in a unique way … You come down here now and you think about what it was and what (the city) has turned out to be.”
With the help of Visit Detroit and countless other interested parties, Detroit has expressed its interest in hosting future NBA and NHL All-Star games and may hear soon whether the city may host one or more Big Ten Conference college football championship games in the near future.
It has already secured the 2027 NCCA Basketball Men’s Final Four at Ford Field, hosted by Michigan State University. Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena was the site of this year’s NCAA Men’s Regional March 29-31, hosted by University of Detroit Mercy and Oakland University.
More than 115 locally owned and diverse businesses participated in the NFL’s Supplier Diversity Program leading up to the NFL Draft. The NFL makes this program available to businesses in cities where large league events like the Super Bowl and draft are held. Business owners who complete the program are certified by the NFL, allowing them to benefit financially and with added brand recognition.
Additionally, Molinari and other organizers have met with many entrepreneurs to provide them with information on how they can financially benefit from the draft’s weekend activities and influx of an estimated 300,000 visitors to downtown Detroit.
With that many visitors expected, obviously, security has been in the forefront of issues for draft organizers in Detroit. It became even more of an issue after one person was killed and two dozen others injured when shooting broke out during the Super Bowl parade in Kansas City in February.
Eric Larson, CEO of the Downtown Detroit Partnership, said organizers, led by Detroit Police Chief James White, have been in “really strong planning mode” to make sure security is “top of mind.”
“The Detroit Police Department and (White) have been incredible, not only proactive in putting together a very comprehensive plan, but then adjusting to that plan as new things come up,” Larson said. “As horrific events like what happened in Kansas City take place, they don’t change our plans because our plans are well in place and well thought out.
“But we learn from that, and we make adjustments if there are adjustments that seem to make sense and are necessary,” he added. “Let’s make sure people understand … that Detroit takes this seriously, that we’re prepared, that we’ve had a plan.”
The main draft activities will be centered near Campus Martius (recently voted the nation’s #1 public square by USA Today), Cadillac Square, Hart Plaza, and Monroe Street but businesses can highlight their own draft-themed events throughout the area. Draft activities centered near downtown will feature an array of free activities such as the Punt, Pass and Kick display and other pop-ups.
Preparations for the NFL Draft have further expanded the city’s repertoire of business owners that can be tapped for future events as well, further expanding the community’s network for annual and one-off events, Molinari said.
State support shows a level of commitment The NFL Draft provides Detroit with a chance to showcase not just downtown but its neighborhoods, said Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) Chief Executive & Economic Competitiveness Officer Quentin Messer, Jr. The Michigan State Legislature provided $10 million as part of a special events fund to promote Michigan as a destination for special events and national conventions in summer 2023. The MEDC has provided $2 million specifically to the NFL Draft host committee to support various costs.
“Most states pivot off their largest city for these types of events,” Messer said. “It’s an opportunity for us to leverage Detroit in a way so that it is in the conscience of (NFL fans).” Messer added that the record viewership of 123.7 million viewers for CBS’ broadcast of Super Bowl LVII between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers shows just how strong the NFL brand is. “It’s an opportunity to reintroduce Detroit and this great comeback story we have.”
The entire weekend is expected to have an economic impact of well over $150 million, Messer said, adding that estimates are tricky because it takes several months before a reliable figure can be estimated from such a large event. He compared it to the impact of the region hosting a Super Bowl both in terms of financial and branding impact. While television viewership isn’t expected to reach 123 million like this year’s Super Bowl, earned media will be significant.
The crowds are likely to be unlike anything Detroit has seen since the 2006 Super Bowl. The 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City generated an estimated $160 million for that region, according to media reports, and more than 300,000 fans.
Messer believes other factors could help those numbers soar even higher for Detroit. Overall economic impact includes money spent on hospitality costs like lodging and restaurants, sales and city taxes on purchased items and more.
“We expect a lot of fans from (nearby) NFL cities,” Messer said, noting that the convenience of Detroit Metro Airport to where the draft will be held should help to increase visitor numbers as well. “Plus, I think a lot of (national) fans like the Detroit story. It’s an opportunity for us to connect and amplify our reputation as a great sports town.”
Centered downtown unlike many other drafts The draft’s location in the middle of downtown gives the city a more urban feel to the weekend compared to many other cities that have recently hosted the draft, such as Kansas City and Cleveland. For example, when Kansas City hosted the draft in 2023, it was primarily held at National WWI Museum and Memorial and Union Station, which is outside of the city’s downtown area.
While the influx of visitors helped many businesses in and around Kansas City, the hospitality benefits were somewhat localized for vendors that were approved to move operations to the park.
Detroit’s draft is being held “right in the heart of the city,” Molinari says. There are several benefits to that, including fan access to hotels, restaurants and bars and the ability to “show off” downtown Detroit in a positive light. The challenges of such a setup are largely logistical.
“Not every (fan) may be able to fit into that footprint (close to the NFL Draft stage),” Molinari said, particularly on Thursday night when the first round is held. “That’s the day media coverage and fan interest is at its apex,” he said.
Some small businesses will benefit during draft week Bailey Isgro and her team from Detroit History Tours has been completely booked for the three-day period of the NFL Draft for six months and has several media clients utilizing her business’ services earlier that week. The NFL included the touring company on a preferred vendor list that was sent to all NFL teams and media partners, and at least four NFL teams and multiple team members from ABC and ESPN television will be using the company’s services as a result.
Isgro compares the level of advanced interest and booking for her business to the two-week period around the North American International Detroit Auto Show.
The difference is with the draft, the bookings are condensed into fewer days. All 28 of her employees, comprised of guides and drivers, have been scheduled for that week. Isgro also expects a high number of self-guided tours will be booked that week from the company’s app, providing an additional source of revenue. “Those are three jampacked days,” Isgro said. “The cadence is in such a tight timeframe that it will have a big impact on our business.”
Bailey Isgro said Detroit History Tours has been completely booked for the three-day period of the NFL Draft for six months.
Most of the additional revenue booked for the NFL Draft week is coming through private tours, Isgro said. To compare, Detroit History Tours booked 17 private tours during the entire month of April in 2023. During the three-day NFL Draft period alone this year, the company has booked 28 separate private tours and events. During a typical long weekend in April, Isgro estimates that the company is 70 percent booked.
“It’s going to rank as a big weekend for us, no doubt,” Isgro said. That’s because tourists are looking for things to do before and after the times when they plan to stay near the stage where the live draft is taking place. However, those guests working at the event, such as league and team personnel and media members are more likely to use the company’s services in preparation for the draft itself.
Jeanette Pierce and her team from City Institute will be busy before most tourists and NFL Draft fans arrive, hosting NFL employees and media members for tours and informational sessions about the city of Detroit. Pierce, who is founder and president of the organization charged with providing guests and local stakeholders a deeper understanding of Detroit’s assets, history and challenges in support of residents, said her team will be active providing a more comprehensive view of the city for visitors.
The hope is those guests who work with City Institute will communicate their experiences with Detroit to an international audience, providing a positive and more comprehensive view of the area. One example of how City Institute does this is by leading an art and architecture tour of the city.
“A big focus of the week will be downtown, but we want to show other ways that the city has changed over the years,” Pierce said She started her role at City Institute weeks before the 2006 Super Bowl in Detroit and said there have been many positive changes and a few negative ones impacting the city since then. A lifelong Detroiter, Pierce can converse about everything that is Detroit from policy to sports history. City Institute attempts to serve as a one-stop-shop for on-the-ground expertise. Yet the organization is also an advocate for intentional efforts to help the entire city experience a positive economic and branding impact from the NFL Draft and other events held in Detroit.
One way City Institute is doing this is by producing a comprehensive checklist of hundreds of bars and restaurants located not just in downtown Detroit, but other parts of the city as well. The goal is to uncover opportunities for business owners in different neighborhoods to benefit.
“We want to show that you can come downtown for the event but spend time in interesting neighborhoods where you might not have to wait three hours for a table (at a restaurant),” Pierce said.
City Institute is also working with business owners and entrepreneurs to help them understand the opportunities they have to take advantage of any large event hosted by Detroit. ‘We have a lot happening throughout the year but the (NFL) draft is icing on the cake,” she added.
Overcoming potential challenges Molinari says to help offset foot traffic, there will be “activations” around the city in such areas as Greektown, Corktown, Monroe Street, Grand Circus Park and more. Detroit’s location may actually draw in even more fans than other cities, given that there are six NFL cities located within a four-hour drive of Detroit. The activations include NFL branding, ways for fans to view draft activities even while not adjacent to the stage, and an effort to ensure hospitality businesses are ready for the influx.
“We need businesses to be open for extended hours and ready to serve customers,” Molinari said. “I can’t imagine we will have less than 300,000 people.” The Detroit Tigers also have a three-game homestand that weekend with the Kansas City Royals.
It’s the general flow of logistics that keeps Molinari up at night. Even with 8,000 paid “volunteers” having signed up with the NFL to support the draft, 4,000 more than the minimum required, and streamlined cooperation with Chief James White and the Detroit Police Department, there are some things that Molinari and his team can’t control, such as the number of hotel rooms, traffic and parking challenges and more.
“I think about ensuring we have available public restrooms and those types of details,” Molinari said. He estimated there are 45,000 hotel rooms in Southeastern Michigan, and that “all will have to staff up” for the weekend. National-chain hotels are preparing to send staff from nearby communities and metro areas as needed.
Molinari said that not having enough hotel rooms would be a major issue for the region and could make it difficult to get future events. Fortunately, more than 1,000 new hotel rooms are either under construction or about to come online in Detroit.
Parking could be a challenge, but that also gives hospitality businesses not located along the Woodward/Jefferson corridor to attract fans with shuttles to and from the center of the draft’s activities, food and drink specials and more. Molinari’s team is meeting with business owners and leaders that operate from adjacent office spaces about logistical challenges that week. Some may choose to offer added flexibility in remote working for employes.
“I think (all downtown businesses) understand the opportunity here and are more than willing to be flexible so that we can have a great event here in Detroit,” Molinari said. “We need to be good stewards of the region.”
One example of being a good steward is the $1 million that the city of Detroit plans to donate to its youth for literacy and active play programs like Beyond Basics and Project Play that encourages exercise.
Giving visitors, media and television viewers a different view of Detroit Isgro estimates that about 80 percent of Detroit History Tours’ booked business that week is from media outlets and team personnel. Many of those are reserving the tour company for its services through a media package where guides from Detroit History Tours provide information and help to secure preferred B-roll video for media outlets to use during draft programming. Some bits of information dug up by Isgro and her team will make it to a broadcast, similar to past large events in Detroit like Lions home playoff games in January or hydroplane and auto racing events held in the city or the Detroit Free Press Marathon.
Isgro admits to being surprised at how much international media interest there is in the NFL draft with outlets from Canada and the BBC already contracted for tours.
“The (media outlet or client) will give us a list of B-roll (video) they want to capture, and we’ll take them there,” Isgro said. “We’ll help get images of freighters going up and down the (Detroit) River.”
Messer said he hopes that attending fans and those watching the draft on television or attending in person remember three things about Detroit and the state. The first is that Detroit knows how to throw a party. “We’re hard-working people with great character. You don’t need to go to the (East or West) coast to have a great event,” he said.
The second is that Detroit and Michigan benefit from rich diversity that includes diverse and unique restaurants and cuisine. Lastly, he hopes the draft serves as motivation for non-residents to explore Michigan as a destination not just for events but family vacations and other trips. Additionally, he feels the draft could highlight a high quality of life for aspiring residents.
“We have a diverse economy with freshwater shorelines and many opportunities,” Messer said. “It’s a great place to live, play and work. Especially if you’re a sports fan.”
Managing editor Brad Kadrich contributed to this report.
PHILLIP ISLAND, Australia — The highly anticipated Australian racing debut of the all-new Mustang GT4 is set for the iconic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit this weekend, April 12-14.
The event, marking the third round of the 2024 Shannons SpeedSeries, will see Ford Australia celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Mustang. The event, named the Ford Mustang 60 Years Race Phillip Island, will feature car club displays, owner parade laps, and special ticket offers exclusively for Mustang owners, creating a thrilling atmosphere for racing fans and Mustang enthusiasts.
Andrew and George Miedecke, renowned in the racing and automotive industry, are the proud owners of the new Mustang racer. As proprietors of a highly successful Ford dealership, their passion for high-performance vehicles and the Blue Oval is unmatched. The addition of the Mustang GT4 to their collection underscores their commitment to Australian motorsport. The car will be driven by 38-year-old George, a seasoned racer who recently won the Bathurst 6-Hour. Joining him is 17-year-old Rylan Grey, who is also competing in a Mustang Supercar for Tickford Racing in the Super2 Championship this year.
“The arrival of our Mustang GT4 marks a new era of Ford Performance in Australia, and we are thrilled that Miedecke Motorsport will showcase its capabilities on the track,” said Andrew Miedecke, expressing enthusiasm about being the first to own a Mustang GT4 in Australia. “This car embodies the spirit of performance and passion that defines the Mustang legacy. As Ford dealers, we’re also excited about the 60th anniversary celebrations and are looking forward to the seventh-generation Mustang arriving on Australian roads later this year.”
Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports, highlighted the significance of the Mustang and the excitement surrounding its GT4 racing version’s Australian debut.
“The Mustang holds a special place in the hearts of racing enthusiasts worldwide, and seeing the GT4 version on Australian tracks is truly a momentous occasion,” Rushbrook said. “We are proud to be part of the global expansion of Mustang in motorsport.”
If the 11 interest rate increases the Federal Reserve has made since March 2022 were supposed to slow the job market in a continuing fight against a stubborn inflation rate, someone forgot to tell U.S. employers.
The U.S. economy added 303,000 jobs in March, according to statistics released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The country’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.8%, down from the 3.9% it posted in February.
Annual wage gains slowed to 4.1% from 4.3%, according to a report from CNN.
“Today’s jobs report raises the possibility that rather than slowing down, job growth might be holding steady,” Nick Bunker, Indeed Hiring Lab’s economic research director for North America, said in a statement, according to the network. “But this strength is coming from sources that are more sustainable than those that fueled the burst of gains in 2021. March’s jobs numbers were uniformly strong, and upticks in the employment-population ratio and labor force participation in particular suggest that demand for workers is not outstripping supply, like it was a few years back.”
The total far surpassed economists’ forecasts for 205,000 jobs gained, according to FactSet consensus estimates.
Spurring last month’s job growth were gains such as health care (up 72,300 jobs), government (a 71,000-job increase); leisure and hospitality (up some 49,000 jobs); and construction (which saw a 39,000-job gain).
The economy has added jobs for 39 consecutive months, the fifth-longest period of job expansion on record, according to BLS data. The unemployment rate has been below 4% for 26 months in a row, the longest streak since the late 1960s.
President Joe Biden released a statement touting March’s jobs report.
“Today’s report marks a milestone in America’s comeback,” Biden said in the statement, released by the White House. “Three years ago, I inherited an economy on the brink. With today’s report of 303,000 new jobs in March, we have passed the milestone of 15 million jobs created since I took office. That’s 15 million more people who have the dignity and respect that comes with a paycheck.”
Federal Reserve officials have said they’re waiting to see what the national inflation rate does before deciding when, or if, to cut interest rates after having raised them 11 times since March 2022.
If the consumer inflation rate from March is any indication, such cuts may wait a little longer.
In a report issued Wednesday, the government said inflation remained high, affected by prices of gas, rent and auto insurance, among other statistics.
Prices outside food and energy categories rose 0.4% from February to March, the Associated Press reported. It’s the same accelerated pace as in the previous month. Measured from a year earlier, these core prices are up 3.8%, unchanged from the year-over-year rise in February.
The March figures show inflation is stuck at an elevated level after having steadily dropped in the second half of 2023, according to the AP report.
The report “pours cold water on the view that the faster readings in January and February simply represented the start of new-year price increases that were not likely to persist,” Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, said in a research note, according to the AP. “The lack of moderation in inflation will undermine Fed officials’ confidence that inflation is on a sustainable course back to 2% and likely delays rate cuts to September at the earliest and could push off rate reductions to next year.”
Overall consumer prices rose 0.4% from February to March, the same as in the previous month. Compared with a year ago, prices rose 3.5%, up from a year-over-year figure of 3.2% in February.
The Biden administration said Monday the U.S. would provide up to $6.6 billion to help a Taiwanese semiconductor firm expand the facilities it is already building in Arizona and better ensure that the most-advanced microchips are produced domestically for the first time.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the funding for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. means the company can expand on its existing plans for two facilities in Phoenix and add a third, newly announced production hub, the Associated Press reported.
“These are the chips that underpin all artificial intelligence, and they are the chips that are the necessary components for the technologies that we need to underpin our economy,” Raimondo said on a call with reporters, adding that they were vital to the “21st century military and national security apparatus.”
The funding is tied to the CHIPS and Science Act … the $280 billion package is aimed at sharpening the U.S. edge in military technology and manufacturing while minimizing the kinds of supply disruptions that occurred in 2021, after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when a shortage of chips stalled factory assembly lines and fueled inflation, according to the AP.
The Biden administration has promised tens of billions of dollars to support construction of U.S. chip foundries and reduce reliance on Asian suppliers.
“Semiconductors – those tiny chips smaller than the tip of your finger – power everything from smartphones to cars to satellites and weapons systems,” Biden said in a statement. “TSMC’s renewed commitment to the United States, and its investment in Arizona represent a broader story for semiconductor manufacturing that’s made in America and with the strong support of America’s leading technology firms to build the products we rely on every day.”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing started construction of its first facility in Phoenix in 2021, and started work on a second hub last year, with the company increasing its total investment in both projects to $40 billion. The third facility should be producing microchips by the end of the decade and will see the company’s commitment increase to a total of $65 billion, Raimondo said. According to the AP report, the investments would put the U.S. on track to produce roughly 20% of the world’s leading-edge chips by 2030. Raimondo said they should help create 6,000 manufacturing jobs and 20,000 construction jobs, as well as thousands of new positions more indirectly tied to assorted suppliers in chip-related industries tied to Arizona projects.
Initial claims for unemployment assistance fell last week, but the total number of Americans collecting unemployment climbed to its highest level since the beginning of the year.
The number of Americans who applied for jobless benefits for the week ending April 6 fell by 11,000 to 211,000 from the previous week’s 222,000, according to statistics released by the Labor Department.
The four-week average of claims fell by 250 to 214,250.
A total of some 1.82 million Americans were collecting jobless benefits during the week that ended March 30, up by 28,000 from the previous week and the most since January.
Weekly unemployment claims have remained at historically low levels since the pandemic purge of millions of jobs in the spring of 2020.
DETROIT – The Downtown Detroit Business Improvement Zone named Cabbon Winston its 2023 BIZ Ambassador of the Year.
A Detroit native, Winston has served as a BIZ Ambassador for over six years. In his current role, he serves as an equipment operator working to keep Downtown streets clean, safe and welcoming for all.
Launched in 2014, the BIZ Ambassador Program is the cornerstone of the BIZ and one of the largest of its kind in the nation. It employs a dedicated team of nearly 100 Ambassadors, made up of more than 90% Detroiters. All Ambassadors are certified in crowd management, mental health first aid, CPR, de-escalation and more. Trainings are facilitated Detroit Police Department’s Neighborhood Police Officers, by the City of Detroit Department of Homeland Security, DDP team members, and DDP’s vendor, Block by Block.
“I set a goal at the start of 2023 – to be named BIZ Ambassador of the Year,” Winston said. “Reaching that goal and receiving this recognition has been really rewarding. I’m happy to see all my hard work pay off in my hometown, and I’m looking forward to continuing to keep Detroit beautiful.”
Additionally, the Ambassadors also support Project Lighthouse, Downtown Detroit’s nationally recognized safety program where public and private law enforcement professionals collaborate to keep Downtown and its patrons safe. BIZ Safety Ambassadors receive enhanced training on efficient and effective communication protocols for public safety and mental health first aid. Safety Ambassadors work directly with the BIZ Outreach Specialist, a social worker who engages with unhoused individuals, working to connect them with resources and stable housing.
Since the inception of the BIZ, Ambassadors have assisted over half a million patrons, collected 8,338 tons of trash and removed more than 32,000 markings of graffiti. This year, as the BIZ celebrates its 10-year anniversary, it remains dedicated to maintaining a safe and vibrant Downtown environment for all to enjoy.
“For the last decade, the BIZ has worked tirelessly to keep our city safe and welcoming for everyone,” said Gina Cavaliere, BIZ Director and DDP Chief Community Impact Officer, “It is thanks to BIZ Ambassadors like Cabbon Winston, the BIZ Board of Directors, and the support of Downtown property owners, government and business leaders, residents, and patrons that we’ve been able to make the BIZ a successful and integral part of our Downtown community.”
BIZ services include hospitality, cleaning, safety, public space maintenance, supplemental lighting, and more, aiming to benefit Downtown property owners, businesses, residents, employees and visitors. The BIZ is led by a Board of Directors comprised of community leaders who are volunteers. The BIZ contracts with DDP to facilitate its day-to-day operations.
Other initiatives supported by the BIZ include The Spirit Card, a Detroit-wide community e-gift card aimed at keeping local dollars in Detroit, Downtown Detroit Datascape, a strategic initiative to provide metrics, actionable information, and analysis to Downtown stakeholders to help benchmark progress, inform decisions, and drive investment.
MUSKEGON, Mich. – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) has secured a $2 million grant for Muskegon Public Schools to open a first-of-its-kind 6-10 Career Exploration Center on the soon-to-open Charles Hackley Middle School campus.
As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Peters ensured that several Michigan organizations and initiatives received funding from the bipartisan government funding bill for Fiscal Year 2024. The grant to MPS will aid the district in its partnership with Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL), enhancing its career exploration programming for students in grades 6 through 10 and initiating adult training programming for the community.
“We appreciate Senator Peters’ efforts to advocate for Muskegon Public Schools,” said Matthew Cortez, superintendent of Muskegon Public Schools. “The Career Exploration Center focuses on exposing MPS students to various careers during grades 6 through 10.”
MPS will partner with several local union education facilities and other sources to construct realistic student experience modules. These experiences will aid the students in transitioning into high school and deciding which Ford NGL academy to join to pursue their careers.
“It’s important that we provide our young people with both the skills and career education needed to land a job in a field that’s right for them,” Peters said. “As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I was proud to support funding for the construction of the Career Exploration Center, which will help students at Muskegon Public Schools explore the different career opportunities available after graduation and allow them to begin planning for their futures.”
Currently, the district is working in partnership with local unions and employers in the area to allow for evening adult employment training. This training could result in apprenticeships and working options to make a livable and sustainable wage.
“Our primary responsibility is to all of the students and families in our district,” adds Cortez. “Utilizing our facilities to enhance everyone’s lives and create community prosperity is a core foundation of our partnership with Ford NGL. By partnering with businesses and our community organizations, we can work together to help all students know what they are doing the Monday after graduation.”
The Center will be located on the campus of the district’s newest school, Charles Hackley Middle School. It will have a community debut May 2 at 5:15 p.m.
Gretchen Whitmer delivered her annual State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature earlier this year. Photo courtesy State of Michigan
The Detroit Lions ended their 2023-24 season just 30 minutes away from the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance before succumbing to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game.
The Detroit Red Wings spent much of the latter part of the NHL season battling for what would have been, based on preseason expectations, a surprise appearance in the playoffs.
And the Detroit Tigers opened the 2024 season with aspirations, based largely on a talented young pitching staff and a few key young hitters, of winning a division title.
It’s the same kind of optimism, coming off what she believes was a successful year, that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer brought into 2024. She was brimming with optimism when she made her annual State of the State address earlier this year.
“We put together a heck of a record in 2023 and we are starting 2024 ready to rock,” Whitmer said. “This year let’s keep our foot on the accelerator by continuing to focus on the issues that make a real difference in people’s lives. Let’s build more housing to expand supply and lower costs and save family caregivers thousands on their taxes. To improve education, let’s deliver a budget that expands free pre-K for all and makes community college tuition-free for every high school graduate.
“Finally, let’s keep bringing supply chains and jobs back home to Michigan by shoring up our economic development toolkit so anyone can ‘make it’ in Michigan,” she added. “Together, we can build a bright future and help every Michigander have a classic Michigan story.”
But before she could talk about the future Whitmer, of course, wanted to talk about the past. She likened what her administration and the state Legislature got accomplished last year, giving credit to legislators of both parties in the process.
Whitmer – a self-professed “product of the 80s” and a lover of classic rock music – likened it to what she said good bands do when they’re putting together great albums: Include chart-topping hits, deep cuts and “a few experimental tracks.”
“At our best, that’s what we aspire to do, too—get things done that outlast us, make policy for future generations,” Whitmer said. “Over the past year, our record … had something in it for everyone (with) policies bound by a common theme: making a real difference in people’s lives.”
Before talking about the future, Whitmer wanted to dwell on the (recent) past. Among what she called the “set list” were: • Rolled back the retirement tax on seniors, saving, she said half a million senior households an average of $1,000 a year. • Quintupled the Working Families Tax Credit so people working 9-to-5 or second or third shift get hundreds more dollars back. • Since taking office, Whitmer said, the state has paid down $18 billion of debt, brought the rainy-day fund to nearly $2 billion, and created a new rainy fund for schools and put nearly $500 million in it. • Passed Prop 3 to protect abortion rights and repealed the “extreme” 1931 abortion ban. • Made school breakfast and lunch free for 1.4 million public school students. • Enacted a clean energy package that will, among other things, reach 100% clean energy by 2040, lower the cost of household utilities by an average of $145 a year and create thousands of good-paying jobs.
After what she believes was a very successful 2023, Whitmer is naturally upbeat about the state’s prospects for 2024. She laid out the reasons why in her State of the State address. Among her proposals:
Governor Gretchen Whitmer used her trade trip to East Asia to try to bring jobs and investment back to Michigan.
Housing The State of Michigan will make the largest investment to build housing in Michigan history, nearly $1.4 billion to build or rehabilitate nearly 10,000 homes. That is 10 times what the state invested to build housing 10 years ago.
“Building more of every kind of housing—single family homes, apartments, and mixed-use buildings—will expand supply and lower costs,” she said. “Getting this done will also support thousands of good-paying jobs in the skilled trades—from pipefitters and carpenters to bricklayers and roofers.”
Caregiver Tax Credit Michiganders with caregiving responsibilities juggle their own lives and careers while spending thousands of dollars out-of-pocket on related expenses. Whitmer proposed the new Caring for MI Family Tax Credit to save thousands of Michigan families up to $5,000 off their taxes. The proposal covers caregiving expenses including counseling, transportation, and nursing or respite services.
Pre-K for All The governor wants to provide access to free pre-K for every single 4-year-old Michigander in the next budget. Free pre-K saves families an average of $10,000 a year and helps students build a solid academic foundation for long-term success, improving literacy rates and closing achievement gaps. “Data shows that children who attend pre-K have better academic outcomes, higher graduation rates, and go on to earn more money when they start working,” she said. “Investments in pre-K will also attract employers seeking to expand or relocate to Michigan by giving parents more safe, affordable options for their kids when they go to work.
Community College for All The governor proposed making the first two years of community college tuition-free for every high school graduate. This, Whitmer said, will save students an average of $4,000 as they earn an associate’s degree or skills certificate at a community college, helping them land a better-paying, high-skill job in a career field they love.
Getting it done, she said, will also help Michigan achieve its ‘Sixty by 30 goal’ to have 60% of working-age adults earn a postsecondary education by 2030. “Michigan’s growing economy must be driven by a growing base of skilled talent,” Whitmer said. “As more supply chains come home and advanced manufacturing businesses expand in Michigan, they will need qualified talent to meet their needs. Every student deserves a chance to pursue their passion so they can build a good life in Michigan.”
Rebuilding Michigan Calling infrastructure “critical to growing Michigan’s population and economy,” Whitmer called on the Michigan Department of Transportation to authorize the final $700 million of the Rebuilding Michigan Plan. The five-year, $3.5 billion plan has focused on fixing Michigan’s most economically critical roads while supporting over 45,000 jobs without raising taxes by a dime,” she said. The final round of bonding projects includes I-94 along Detroit Metro Airport, I-696 from Southfield through Warren, and a bridge in Erie Township.
Make it in Michigan Whitmer called for Michigan to upgrade its “bipartisan economic development toolkit,” including: • R&D Tax Credit: unleash innovation while lowering costs for businesses. • HIRE Michigan: lower overall payroll taxes for these firms. “The value behind it is simple: the more you hire in Michigan, the more you should save in Michigan,” she said. • Renaissance Zones, which she said spur investment in areas of the state that are “too often left out or left behind” by lowering the cost of doing business in them. • Innovation Fund to invest in early-stage start-ups, help launch hundreds of new Michigan-based companies, creating thousands of jobs.
“Companies are bringing supply chains back home to America—and to Michigan—in a big way,” she said. “Michigan is showing the world that we make a lot more than just cars. In the decades ahead, we will dominate batteries, chips, and clean energy.”
Getting help from the Feds In addition to being happy with what the state is accomplishing locally, Whitmer is also pleased with how Michigan has benefitted—and is still benefitting—from federal programs such as President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill and other legislation.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (right) shared the Detroit Economic Club stage with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen earlier this year.
When U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was in Detroit earlier this year—she spoke to the audience at the Feb. 14 Detroit Economic Club meeting—she extolled the virtues of that legislation that she believed “positioned Michigan” to benefit.
Yellen cited the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and American Rescue Plan—which allotted $6.5 billion to Michigan—as key factors in “lowering health care costs for American families, supporting small businesses, and creating economic opportunity across the country.”
“I see Michigan as a state positioned to benefit from that legislation,” Yellen told the audience.
Whitmer, who made a joint appearance with Yellen, pointed out that Michigan did, in fact, benefit from the federal assistance contained in that legislation, pointing to: • Investment in high-speed internet, where Whitmer said her state is fourth in the nation in investment in high-speed internet. “We saw during the pandemic how crucial that was,” she said. • Approvals of “big battery projects” for electric vehicles she said are “so important to the Michigan economy” amid a shifting landscape of automobile production.
“We’re so grateful for the incredible investment from the federal level,” Whitmer told Yellen. “Implementation is the name of the game; we’re making sure we are moving swiftly. We’ve been able to secure incredible resources (and) we’re already seeing these resources coming in.”
Whitmer also touted Michigan’s manufacturing economy, including a plan – unveiled in the $80 billion budget she revealed earlier this year – to incentivize Michigan employers to “invest in their workers.”
The budget includes spending some $60 million for the Michigan Innovation Fund, the state’s startup investment program, to boost economic growth. “These are all strategic ways I think that we can ensure that manufacturing is really growing and continues to do so,” she said.
While she’s confident in her state’s ability to continue to grow its business community, Whitmer also took her show on the international road, taking part in a trade mission to East Asia to meet with public and private sector leaders in South Korea.
During the trip, the governor focused on building relationships in key industries to bring jobs and critical supply chains back home to Michigan.
The governor opened Michigan’s first-ever Taiwan office focused on securing investments in key industries like automotive, semiconductors, renewable energy, and advanced manufacturing to create good-paying jobs.
The governor also announced four new economic development projects coming to Michigan, including LT Precision Michigan, LLC, which is establishing its North American headquarters in Holland, creating 70 new jobs and investing $43.2 million in the local economy.
“Michigan is a leader on the global stage, and it was an honor to share the story of our state with the help of our partners from South Korea and Taiwan,” Whitmer said. “With this investment mission and every future opportunity, my top priority is to bring more jobs, investment, and economic prosperity back home to Michigan.
“Whether forging connections with companies, meeting with dignitaries, or connecting with alumni from our great state universities, I have been proud to share what Michigan has to offer,” she added.
While she was in South Korea, Whitmer attended the InterBattery Show in Seoul, spending time at the Michigan booth and visiting leading battery manufacturing companies Samsung SDI and LG Energy Solution (LGES).
Both companies have a strong presence in Michigan: Samsung SDI America Inc.’s North American headquarters are in the city of Auburn Hills, and in September 2023, the manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for the auto industry announced a $41 million investment to double its manufacturing capacity in Auburn Hills to meet customer needs in the automotive sector, creating 368 new jobs.
Meanwhile, LGES announced a $1.7 billion investment in March 2022 to expand operations in Holland – the battery maker’s first major expansion in Michigan since 2010. LGES’ expansion will quintuple the plant’s capacity to help produce battery components as Michigan’s electric vehicle industry grows.
One-third of U.S. battery production and development takes place in Michigan.
The governor also met with companies including SK Siltron and Hyundai Mobis, which both have a presence in Michigan, to discuss the state’s leadership within the semiconductor and automotive manufacturing industries. In August 2021, SK Siltron CSS announced plans to expand production of silicon carbide wafers. In September 2022, the semiconductor wafer manufacturer celebrated the ribbon cutting at its new manufacturing facility in Bay City. SK Siltron’s $300 million investment strengthened its commitment to Michigan and further boosted the state’s leadership in the national semiconductor supply chain.
The governor also met with South Korean President Yoon to further build connections between Michigan and South Korea and attended a dinner with the Gyeonggi Provincial Government.
Not everyone agrees it’s all moonlight, roses and classic rock in Michigan. When State Sen. Aric Nesbitt, the Senate Republican Leader from Porter Township, delivered the Republican response following Whitmer’s State of the State speech, he accused her of being out of touch.
“(Whitmer) painted a picture of the state that … was at odds with the reality most Michigan families are facing,” Nesbitt said. “She took a victory lap … while many of our family members, friends and neighbors continue to struggle. This was a speech from someone who has spent way too much time in the Lansing bubble.”
Whitmer shrugs off such criticism and continues putting her optimistic attitude out there.
“We got into the groove last year, but great bands do not rest on their laurels — they make the next record better than the last one,” she said. “There’s more to do, and nothing is going to stop us now. We have a heck of a record, and we are starting 2024 fired up … our state is ready to rock.”
LANSING – As the April 15th tax filing deadline approaches, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is reissuing her Public Service Announcement on tax-related ID theft to urge consumers to protect themselves and be diligent against tax-related identity theft. A video highlighting tips on how to prevent tax-related identity theft can be found on the Michigan Attorney General’s YouTube page.
“Criminals are relentless in their pursuit of personal data and during tax-filing season, more so than any other time of year, financial and identifying information is flowing between filers and preparers,” Nessel said. “By following a few simple steps, consumers can significantly reduce their risk of falling victim to tax-related identity theft.”
Tax-related identity theft occurs when someone uses stolen personal information – including, but not limited to an individual’s Social Security number (SSN) – to file a phony tax return and claim the refund for themselves.
The IRS is often the first to inform a victim that their identity has been stolen. Steps consumers can take to best protect themselves and avoid becoming a victim include:
Not giving out your SSN unless for a good reason, you’re confident you’re giving it to someone authorized to request this information, and you know how they will protect it.
Filing your tax return as early as you can.
If you file electronically, doing so on a secure internet connection.
If filing by mail, sending your tax return directly from the post office.
Researching a tax preparer thoroughly before you hand over your personal information and never sending your personal information via text or email.
REMEMBER: The IRS will never call taxpayers with threats of lawsuits or arrests, nor will they ask you to wire money, pay with a gift card or prepaid debit card, or share your credit card information over the phone.
The Attorney General encourages those who find they are victims of any type of identity theft to follow the steps recommended by the Federal Trade Commission and file a complaint. If an individual’s SSN is compromised and tax-related identity theft is suspected, the IRS recommends that consumers:
Immediately contact the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 800-908-4490;
Continue to pay your taxes and file your tax return, even if you must do so by paper; and
Remember that even if a false refund is claimed and issued in your name, identity scammers do not actually steal “your” refund. If you are legally entitled to a tax refund, being a verified victim of tax-related identity theft will not change that. Your refund may be delayed, but you will, eventually, get your refund.
“Anyone who believes they are a victim of tax-related identity theft should contact our office,” Nessel continued. “Our Consumer Protection team remains committed to investigating complaints and holding scammers accountable.”
To file a complaint with the Attorney General, or get additional information, contact:
