Brick by Brick: Strengthening companies, creating jobs, building a region one step at a time

The Right Place is pleased to announce the following appointments to its board of directors for 2012.

• Brian Donovan, City Manager, City of East Grand Rapids
• Terry Frewen, GRI, E-Pro, Broker/Owner, Coldwell Banker Frewen Realty (representing the Ionia County Economic Alliance)
• Bob Roth, President and CEO, RoMan Manufacturing, Inc. (representing The Right Place Manufacturers Council)
• Robert C. Shaver, President, Rhoades McKee PC

Current board member, Blake Krueger, President & CEO, Chairman of the Board, Wolverine Worldwide, Inc., was appointed to The Right Place Board executive committee.

The following current board members were reappointed for an additional three-year term, beginning January 2012:

• Doug DeVos, President, Amway Corp. (2011-2012 Right Place Board Chair)
• Dan Gaydou, President, Mlive Media Group
• Thomas Haas, President, Grand Valley State University
• James Hackett, President & CEO, Steelcase Inc.
• Richard P. Haslinger, President, West Michigan Region, Chase Bank
• Hank Meijer, Co-Chairman/CEO, Meijer, Inc.
• Craig Mutch, Managing Partner, Miller Johnson
• David Van Andel, Chairman/CEO, Van Andel Institute
• Sean Welsh, Regional President, The PNC Financial Services Group

As the first step in enacting the terms of a formal contract signed in October, officials from the Ionia County Economic Alliance (ICEA) and The Right Place, Inc. (RPI) announced today the hiring of Jennifer Wangler, an economic development professional and Right Place employee who will serve Ionia County exclusively.

The hiring and the territory assigned to Wangler are part of the three-year contract between the two organizations. Under the terms of that contract, The Right Place and ICEA will provide comprehensive economic development services including business retention, expansion and attraction support to Ionia County businesses. Additionally, The Right Place will provide marketing support to promote the county’s assets.

As their representative, Wangler will meet regularly with Ionia County businesses to address their concerns; connect them to local and state resources; and grow a business network they can use for shared best practices and problem solving.

Wangler brings more than a decade of business and workforce development to her new role. She most recently served as a business services professional for Grand Rapids Community College for which she called on area manufacturers as part of a larger economic development team. Her responsibilities included linking those customers to tailored training programs, various funding sources and other retention services.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University and is pursuing a master’s in training and development from Western Michigan University.

The Right Place today announced two key additions to the organization’s team: Therese Thill, Vice President, Business Development and Jill Day, Director, Fund Development.

Therese Thill, Vice President, Business Development

In her new role at The Right Place, Thill will help lead the business development team’s business retention, expansion and attraction efforts. Thill also brings a unique global business acumen and will work to expand The Right Place’s international business development strategies.

Thill previously served as the Director of Business Attraction for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation with a special focus on growing the state’s renewable energy industry. She also previously served as Vice President of the Greater Phoenix Innovation and Technology Accelerator and as Vice President of International Economic Development at the Greater Phoenix Economic Development Council.

Thill holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the University of Michigan. She earned a Masters of Business Administration from Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management.

Jill May, Director, Fund Development

As The Right Place’s new director of fund development, May will be responsible for developing and deploying a fund raising plan of action to support the organization’s mission. She will oversee all fund raising activities, including fund drives, capital campaigns, tracking and securing grant opportunities as well as annual giving programs in partnership with The Right Place investors.

May most recently served as Director of Development for the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts. She also has held fund development positions at the American Cancer Society and Catholic Charities of West Michigan.

May has a master’s degree in public and nonprofit administration from Grand Valley State University. She is a member of the Pi Alpha Alpha national honor society for public administrators and serves on the board of directors for both Camp Fire USA and SowHope.

This week, Right Place President & CEO Birgit Klohs, and Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center – West (MMTC-West) Regional Director Bill Small met with officials from the National Institutes of Science and Technology (NIST) to discuss West Michigan’s manufacturing economy and how it may be strengthened by closer ties to public resources.

The invitation was extended to Klohs after her participation in business and manufacturing roundtables as part of a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) event focusing on the domestic economy. Klohs has also collaborated with the Brookings Institute on a study of how metropolitan areas can drive regional wealth creation, especially in conjunction with a strong manufacturing base.

West Michigan is attracting such attention due to its consistent support of manufacturing, and how those investments have strengthened the regional economy. The industry contributes $12.3 billion to West Michigan’s Gross Regional Product and provides over 116,000 jobs. Its companies are known for their open collaboration and innovation as well as the diversity of products they produce.

The Right Place has supported manufacturing since the organization’s founding. It became the West Michigan office of MMTC in 1992, becoming part of the national Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a NIST initiative. Since that time, MMTC-West has assisted over 3,000 regional manufacturers achieve:

• Nearly $700 Million in RETAINED SALES
• Over $450 Million in NEW SALES and,
• Over $60 Million in COST SAVINGS.

In that course of time, the face of manufacturing has quickly evolved, matching the pace imbedded technology in everything from refrigerators to HVAC. If manufacturers are to match the pace of that evolution, they will need resources like NIST and other partners

“Your car is a computer on wheels,” Klohs said in a recent MiBiz interview about her CGI experience. “Everybody (in attendance at CGI) gets it … that contemporary manufacturing is a huge contributor to GDP and that innovation and technology have to go hand in hand.”

 As the largest annual gathering of biosciences professionals in Michigan, MichBio provides more than 300 attendees with access to potential partners, customers and peers. Held in Grand Rapids this year, it offers an opportunity for West Michigan bioscience companies as well as area economic developers and marketers to promote the industry and quality-of-life strengths of the region.

The Right Place is a sponsor of the event as are the Michigan Economic Development Corp., the West Michigan Science & Technology Initiative, and Grand Valley State University among others. Karen Benson, Right Place Director of Innovation Services, will connect with firms during the two-day event which also offers tours of West Michigan bioscience facilities, learning sessions for bioscience manufacturing firms, as well as best practices and industry highlights.