When Birgit Klohs looks back on her 33 years at the helm of The Right Place, she doesn’t talk about deals closed or projects won. She talks about trust. About relationships. About planting trees whose shade would be enjoyed decades later.
As The Right Place celebrates more than 40 years, Klohs — its longtime president and CEO — remains one of the defining figures in West Michigan’s economic development story.
Hired in 1987, just a couple years after the organization’s founding, Klohs spent more than three decades helping shape a model of public-private collaboration that has since become a national benchmark.
“I never had regrets,” she said. “Not one.”
An Unlikely Experiment That Worked
When The Right Place was founded in 1985, Grand Rapids was facing an unemployment rate near 11 percent. While major employers such as Steelcase and Amway were already established, the region lacked a coordinated strategy to attract, retain and grow jobs.
Business leaders — including Jay Van Andel, the co-founder of Amway, and Fred Meijer — came together with public-sector partners to try something new: a privately funded, regionally focused economic development organization that could operate with speed, flexibility and long-term vision. It was the state’s first true public-private partnership for economic development.
At the time, Klohs was working at Grand Valley State University and watching the organization take shape from the outside. Having previously worked in county-led economic development, she was immediately struck by how different The Right Place was.
“It was intriguing,” she said. “Business leaders, city leaders, county leaders saying, ‘Let’s do this differently.’ That hadn’t been done here before.”
When the CEO position opened, Klohs didn’t hesitate. “It was the opportunity of a lifetime,” she said. “Let’s just take it and run.”
A Strategy Built on Relationships
While economic development has always been about jobs and investment, Klohs says the way the work is done has changed dramatically over the decades. Technology has transformed how deals are sourced and evaluated. Leadership turnover at the local level is more frequent. The pace is faster, the environment more complex.
What hasn’t changed, she says, is the human element.
“This business is built on trust,” Klohs said. “It’s a team sport.”
Randy Thelen, who took over as president/CEO when Klohs retired, said that trust is exactly what allows The Right Place to succeed. A crowd of some 500 people put that trust on display earlier this year, when Thelen unveiled The Right Place’s new three-year development plan.
“We have to honor their input when we develop the plan,” Thelen said. “If I stood in front of 500 people and gave them a plan that didn’t reflect what they were thinking, then they would not be engaged and they would say, ‘Well, this is not an organization that’s dialed in or connected to what the business interests are.’”
“They trust us when they sit around the table to brainstorm that we’re going to take that input and convert it into an action plan,” he added. “And I think we have to honor that.”
When The Right Place was getting started in the mid-1980s, it obviously wasn’t the well-oiled machine it is now. Back then, Thelen pointed out, the strategies were just being figured out among a collection of entrepreneurs that were just starting to realize success.
Look around today and there are business leaders such as Universal Forest Products, SpartanNash and Steelcase. There was backlash back then about bringing in international companies, particularly Japanese businesses. Grand Rapids, though, welcomed them.
“We have 150 international companies today as a result,” Thelen said. “And that complements our sort of diversified economy that we enjoy. We’re successful as a region. The demographics are working to our favor. So now it’s a matter of how do you maintain a sense of urgency to keep that pace and keep that momentum? It started 40 years ago, really 20 years of success. The first 20 were a grind and now the flywheel’s working. Making sure the community understands that we kind of have to stand on those shoulders that came before us. They made big bold decisions.”
The Right Place doesn’t own land or write tax abatements or build infrastructure. Instead, it brings together municipalities, utilities, state officials, financiers, attorneys, workforce partners, and business leaders to assemble deals that work for everyone involved.
“If you make a promise to a company and you can’t deliver, your credibility is gone,” Klohs said. “That’s why the relationships matter so much.”
Under Klohs’ leadership, The Right Place earned a reputation for keeping those promises. Strategic plans weren’t created to sit on shelves, but to be actively used — complete with clear tactics and metrics.
“If you don’t count it, you don’t do it,” she said.
Keeping Companies Here
Early in her tenure, Klohs pushed the organization to broaden its focus beyond attraction.
“Everyone talked about bringing in new companies,” she said. “But my point was: what about the companies already here? They could also leave.”
That thinking led to the creation of the Manufacturers Council in 1989, which began with just five members meeting to share best practices and learn from one another. Nearly four decades later, the council continues to operate and is widely seen as ahead of its time.
“It was unheard of,” Klohs said. “Competitors opening their doors to each other to learn.”
That philosophy — if The Right Place didn’t have an answer, it would find one — helped cement its role as a trusted partner to West Michigan businesses.
Collaboration as a Competitive Advantage
If there’s one word Klohs uses often when describing Grand Rapids’ success, it’s “collaboration.” From major downtown projects like the Van Andel Arena and DeVos Place to the ongoing development of an amphitheater and soccer stadium, progress has depended on alignment between business, philanthropy, and government.
“These things don’t happen in a vacuum,” she said. “It’s a hallmark of this community to work together.”
That collaborative culture, Klohs believes, is a key reason Grand Rapids has outperformed many peer regions. The economy has diversified from heavy manufacturing into healthcare, medical devices, food processing, and technology, with major investment along the Medical Mile and a growing ability to attract and retain young professionals.
“We’re not just one thing anymore,” she said. “That helps us weather storms.”
For Patrick Greene, the CEO of Grand Rapids-based Cascade Die Casting Group, the relevance of The Right Place is one of the biggest reasons for the growth in West Michigan.
According to Greene, the organization was prominent in the successful expansion Cascade executed some 15 years ago. Klohs, Greene said, did “an incredible job of helping us navigate something you only do once in a while, which is expanding your business.”
The Right Place helped Cascade find incentive dollars, get some training through the MMTC and with “just the whole idea of figuring out” how to expand everything in constructing the building.
Would Grand Rapids be growing at its current pace without The Right place? Greene doesn’t think so.
“Not a chance,” he said emphatically. “The Right Place put us on the map. They’ve made us relevant not only to others in Michigan, but also to others in the country, as well as overseas. Birgit, and now Randy, have done a great job of promoting Michigan as a destination for people from Europe. Look around, we’ve got some great success stories that only started because of that.”
A look at some of the metrics from its 2023-2025 Strategic Plan shows how much of an impact The Right Place has had:
• 4,153 new and retained jobs on a goal of 4,000
• $844.2 million in new capital investment on a goal of $550 million
• $487.2 million in community development investment on a goal of $100 million
• $30.90 average wage on a goal of $26.50
That leads to gaudier goals in its 2026-2029 plan. The Right Place will measure the plan’s impact via the following metrics:
• 4,500 jobs retained and created by the end of 2028
• $30 per hour average wage by the end of 2028
• $700 million in capital investment by the end of 2028
• $200 million in community development investment by the end of 2028
• 100 industry education partnerships by the end of 2028
A Defining Moment: COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, The Right Place’s role expanded overnight. What began as a two-week shutdown quickly became one of the most intense periods in the organization’s history.
Hospitals called looking for testing swabs. The county needed safety goggles. Styrofoam sample-transport boxes were suddenly in short supply.
“The phone rang, and they asked, ‘Do we have anybody who makes these?’” Klohs recalled.
Because of decades of relationship-building, the answer was often yes — or could be found quickly. Within days, West Michigan manufacturers were producing swabs, protective equipment, and hand sanitizer. The Right Place became a central clearinghouse, connecting need with capacity.
“It was probably one of our proudest moments,” Klohs said.
Leadership, Legacy, and Letting Go
After stepping down five years ago, Klohs didn’t disappear. She co-founded the New Community Transformation Fund, a venture capital fund focused on underserved entrepreneurs, which recently launched its second fund with matching support from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
She also continues to serve on multiple boards, mentors leaders, and co-chairs the amphitheater building committee — while insisting she’s enjoying retirement just fine.
“I only work 30 hours a week,” she joked.
Watching Randy Thelen take over as CEO has been deeply gratifying, she said. Leadership transitions aren’t always smooth, but this one worked.
“The organization is strong. The board is supportive. There’s a new strategic plan,” she said. “They’re smart about acknowledging that times have changed.”
Thelen has a feel for what The Right Place needs to do over the next decade or so to keep that success going, to keep the organization relevant.
“We have to find ways to make sure we’re addressing the needs of today and tomorrow,” he said. “And so kind of anticipating looking around the corner at what’s next … elevating our eyesight further down the road to see what’s coming and how do we prepare and respond.
“From a business standpoint, you’re going to see technology continue to be a bigger and bigger part of every business,” he added. “AI is going to automate some processes, certainly. It’s also going to help streamline a lot of things. You think about how manufactured parts get distributed. It’s been a bit of a science over the last 20 years. It’s gotten better and better and better, but now I think it’s going to be exponentially better, more efficient, greater utilization of truckloads and train cars to make sure they’re packed perfectly.”
Planting Trees for the Future
As The Right Place moves into its fifth decade, Klohs returns to a saying she loves — an old Greek proverb.
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
For 40 years, The Right Place has been quietly planting trees across West Michigan — through strategy, collaboration, and a deep commitment to community. And as Klohs sees it, the work continues.
“They planted those trees,” she said of the organization’s founders. “And it was our privilege to help them grow.”
