Impact Michigan

Richard is the CEO of JOURNi, an organization dedicated to bridging the diversity gap in tech. JOURNi is an organization dedicated to equipping urban communities with the skills and resources necessary to jumpstart their local economies. We strive to build an authentically inclusive tech ecosystem in the city of Detroit, by tapping into the heart and spirit of its residents. To achieve this goal, we will provide immersive courses, youth-centered programming, beneficial employment opportunities, start up education, and socioeconomic resources. Links: JOURNi: http://www.journi.org Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/leannabad

David has over twenty-five years experience in the high-tech arena as a senior executive and has had extensive involvement in the field of cybersecurity throughout his career. Trillium Secure keeps your connected and autonomous vehicles safe and your private information confidential through a cybersecurity platform as a subscription service. Trillium’s software products are used by automotive OEMs, aerospace and defense organizations, insurance companies and ride-share services to form a multi-layered defense against cyber-attacks. Links: Website: https://trilliumsecure.com/ Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/leannabad

Chris Thomas is a man on a mission. The former co-founder of Fontinalis Partners, he invests in and mentors companies in the fast-growing space of mobility. I think the most impressive part of his story is how he put himself in a position to cofound Fontinalis, especially as he planted the seed early on in his career at Ford Motor Company. Check out the episode as we chat about the future of transportation, how young people can be thoughtful about their own success and what it takes to set up Michigan as the City for Mobility. Links: Website: http://detroitmobilitylab.org/ Support us on Patreon!: www.patreon.com/leannabad

Graduating from Harvard as part of the "Facebook class," you could say Nathan Labenz is one smart guy. Which would be an understatement. As CEO of Waymark, he's helping democratize video marketing for all businesses. They recently launched their new online store where you can purchase personalized video ads perfect for Facebook and Instagram. Waymark combines art and technology to build agency-quality videos for your business with just the click of a button. Designed by Hollywood producers and customized by their Content API, you can have a ready-to-run video in seconds. Big business campaigns, small business pricing. Check out our interview where we chat small business marketing, the impact Facebook had on Harvard's campus and the responsibility marketers have on society. Links: Website: www.waymark.com Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/leannabad

A culturally curious thinker, Marcus Collins is one of the worlds' premier minds in marketing. As Chief Consumer Connections Officer for Doner, he's pioneering a new role to help Doner's clients "get a deeper, more scientific understanding of consumers." Recently, Doner and their client, Farmland, were recognized as AdAge's #1 Most Creative Brand Idea You Need To Know About Now for their response campaign against Supreme. You can read about that here: http://adage.com/creativity/work/farmland-supreme-lookbook/55333 Check out our interview with him as we chat about network-based marketing (not network marketing), who influences us the most and Kanye West's shenanigans. Links: Website: www.marctothec.com and www.doner.com Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/leannabad

"When internet security specialist Dug Song found out the company he worked for got hacked by a 17-year-old high school student, he didn't alert the authorities. Instead, he hired him." That's how Dug met Jon, his eventual co-founder of Duo Security, which recently was acquired by Cisco for $2.35B in cash... "As an active person in SE Michigan's startup community, I can say Dug is hands down one of the most impactful people in our ecosystem." - Leann Check out our interview with him as we talk about building a statewide inclusive startup ecosystem in Michigan, creating a culture where everyone uplifts each other and what the future of Michigan's economy looks like. Links: Website: www.duo.com Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/leannabad

As the CEO of Nutshell, Part owner of The Blind Pig A2, and Cofounder of Cahoots, Joe is likely one of the busiest people in Ann Arbor. With 3 degrees from the University of Michigan, he started his career at GreenOrder. After getting his MBA at The Ross School of Business, he worked at DTE Energy as Senior Associate before eventually leaving to start his own investment firm, CKM Partners. Recently making news waves with his move to buy The Blind Pig (in order to save it) and opening Ann Arbor tech hub, Cahoots, he's not one to shy away from being the face of a movement. Links: Website: www.nutshell.com Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/leannabad

Drug Abuse. Addiction. Recovery. These are real problems and issues we face in our country, and we have to find scalable, equitable solutions to them. That’s why we interviewed Workit Health, an Ann-Arbor based private online service to help people break addictions. Powered by science and backed by experts, their Workit Care™ program delivers evidence-based recovery programs and courses designed specifically for you. Workit's Website: https://www.workithealth.com/ Support us on Patreon!: www.patreon.com/leannabad

Being both a creative and an entrepreneur can seem contradictory in some ways, but Justin Mast seems to have found the perfect way to combine the two. Taking over his family business over in 2006, he began to learn the operational expertise needed by an entrepreneur and founder. Now, in his role as Founder and CEO of Bloomscape, he combines the creative design skills he learned at the Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning with the firsthand entrepreneurial experience he's gained over the years as a serial founder and entrepreneur. Fittingly, he comes from over 5 generations of Dutch greenhouse growers and floral industry experts, so you could say he has Founder - Market - Fit. Tune in as we chat about the business of design, the learning curve of a creative entrepreneur, and how Bloomscape is using the growth of their plants to help grow Detroit and Michigan's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Jason's approach to life is simple: Get rid of Monarchy; Implement a Doerarchy. As Founder and CEO of Benzinga.com, he lives and breathes this mentality all throughout his organization, and it shows up in their success. Benzinga is a dynamic and innovative financial media outlet that empowers investors with high-quality, unique content that is coveted by Wall Street's top traders. Seeing hundreds of investments a week is a difficult task to get right, but Jason seems to do it with ease. Tune in as he explains what a "Doerarchy" is, how he, along with Mark Cuban, passed on investing in Twitch.tv, and how Benzinga's presence in the financial industry is creating Impact for the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan.

Dubbed the "Stock Market of Things," StockX is one of, if not the fastest growing startup in Detroit, and CEO Josh Luber is at the forefront of all that growth. Beginning as a passion project outside his time at IBM, Luber started StockX (then known as Campless) off of his passion for sneakers. As a dedicated sneakerhead, he often found himself buying and reselling sneakers, and he found there was no price guidebook to reference. Think Kelley Blue Book for comparing car prices. That's when he got started with Campless, and although they're relatively a huge company now, they grew slowly. It wasn't until Luber was approached by billionaire Dan Gilbert (Chairman, Quicken Loans; Owner, Cleveland Cavs) to buy out Campless and pursue a joint venture that growth started to kick in. Now, StockX is processing over $2M in sales... DAILY. We had the chance to interview Josh and chat about the growth of StockX and how it's creating Impact for Detroit, and more broadly, Michigan.

An Israeli Navy Seal, Doron spent the first part of his life in his native homeland of Haifa, Israel. After finishing his duty, he moved to the United States and settled down in Southeast Michigan. Actually, settled down is definitely NOT the right term, as he immersed himself into the startup scene here right away and has been here for just about 30 years. As the founder of multiple successful startups, some of which he’s taken to acquisition, he’s taken his skills and learnings to run an executive coaching firm, a private equity group, and a venture studio all focused on helping the comeback of Michigan’s economy happen. This episode is part of Capital Appreciation Month. We’re interviewing Michigan’s venture capitalists and angel investors in an effort to highlight those who made the early investment (quite literally) in our community. Capital Appreciation Month is sponsored by the Michigan Venture Capital Association. The MVCA exists to increase the amount of capital and talent av

Jake is a 3-time University of Michigan graduate who got both his MBA and his JD at the same time! During his undergrad years, he started his first company called Ugrub, which provided college students with an easy‐to‐navigate listing of restaurant menus and weekly specials. After selling that company to a competitor in 2006, he became a consultant for Deloitte, where he focused on Strategy and Operations. Fast forward a few years to when he was one of the early cofounders of Detroit Venture Partners, where he currently manages Dan Gilbert’s venture capital investments. This episode is part of Capital Appreciation Month. We’re interviewing Michigan’s venture capitalists and angel investors in an effort to highlight those who made the early investment (quite literally) in our community. Capital Appreciation Month is sponsored by the Michigan Venture Capital Association. The MVCA exists to increase the amount of capital and talent available to investors so they can fund Michigan’s most

A Wolverine-Spartan hybrid, Chris is one of the pioneers in the venture capital ecosystem here in Michigan. After 13 years as an attorney, he went through a massive career change to transition into life as a venture capitalist. Alongside now-Governor Rick Snyder, he started his venture capital career at Avalon Investments. He’s served on Boards like the MVCA, NextEnergy, and University of Detroit-Jesuit High School. Currently, he operates as CEO for Renaissance Venture Capital Fund. This episode is part of Capital Appreciation Month. We’re interviewing Michigan’s venture capitalists and angel investors in an effort to highlight those who made the early investment (quite literally) in our community. Capital Appreciation Month is sponsored by the Michigan Venture Capital Association. The MVCA exists to increase the amount of capital and talent available to investors so they can fund Michigan’s most innovative entrepreneurs and ideas. Detroit Startup Week: http://bit.ly/DetroitStart

With 25+ years in the tech industry, it’s pretty safe to say Doug is a technology veteran. A graduate of Central Michigan University, he started his career at Hewlett-Packard as a Software Engineer and left after 4 years to become a Director at Symantec (Semantic). It was shortly after that when he started Mobile Automation, developing enterprise system management solutions for tech companies and service providers. After selling Mobile Automation to iPass for $20M in 2004, he wouldn’t get back to life as an entrepreneur until 2007 with Boomdash. Fast forward to 2012, he started eLab ventures in Ann Arbor and at the same time served as Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan. Currently, he serves full-time as Co-Founder and Managing Director at eLab and as a board member for several tech startups in the area. This episode is part of Capital Appreciation Month. We’re interviewing Michigan’s venture capitalists and angel investors in an effort

An advocate for and leader in transportation mobility, Lisa started her career at the City of Detroit office as a Business Analyst and shortly after became the Chief of Staff to House Majority Leader Steve Tobocman. A few years later, she went back to the City of Detroit working as a Senior Associate where she helped bring Code for America to the Motor City. It wasn’t too long after that when she started to dip her toes into the mobility industry. With Wayne State University, she helped conduct the research and execute the vision of Detroit’s first public bike share program, which she now runs as MoGo Detroit. This episode ends the month of Mobility. We interviewed the top entrepreneurs, directors, and government officials in mobility to give you all a sense of what’s happening in Southeastern Michigan around car sharing, transportation, public transit, etc. Detroit Startup Week: http://bit.ly/DetroitStartupWeek18 ASHE Media Website: http://bit.ly/ashemediawebsite ASHE FB Page: htt

Mark is a transportation planning veteran, and he knew he wanted to work in mobility before mobility was even a term. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he studied Systems Engineering (specifically focused on transportation) he started his career as a Project Consultant for traffic engineering and geometric design. After spending almost a decade in Chicago working as a transportation consultant, he packed his bags and moved to Detroit. Currently, he works to improve in-city mobility for residents of Detroit, and I believe his work, is going to help turn the Motor City, into the Mobility City. This episode is part of the month of Mobility. We’re interviewing the top entrepreneurs, directors, and government officials in mobility to give you all a sense of what’s happening in Southeastern Michigan around car sharing, transportation, public transit, etc. ASHE Media Website: http://bit.ly/ashemediawebsite (http://bit.ly/ashemediawebsite) M2 FB Page: http://bit.ly/Mich

An East Coast, to West Coast, to Midwest transplant, Jessica Robinson started out in the tea industry holding roles such as Head of Sales and Marketing, Product Manager, and Customer Relations. After dominating the tea market, she joined the team at Zipcar and managed Marketing in Seattle, Locations in the Bay Area, and eventually served as their Market Launch Manager for North America, a role where she helped launch 7 new markets in 18 months. Now she does work at Ford Smart Mobility helping to bridge the gap between innovation and policy. This episode is part of the month of Mobility. We’re interviewing the top entrepreneurs, directors, and government officials in mobility to give you all a sense of what’s happening in Southeastern Michigan around car sharing, transportation, public transit, etc. ASHE Media Website: http://bit.ly/ashemediawebsite M2 FB Page: http://bit.ly/MichiganMakersFB Jessica's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicarobinson/ (https://www.linkedin.com

Lisa is a Wayne State Warrior, she started her career in the sports industry, wearing a variety of hats at her alma mater’s athletic department. Soon after, she joined the team at DUO Security heading up People and Culture. When she realized she couldn’t keep making the commute from Detroit to Ann Arbor every day, she had to look for something else. That’s when she met the folks over at TechStars and helped kickstart the Mobility program in Detroit. They’re going strong in their upcoming 4th year running the program, which I’m really excited to see. ASHE Media Website: http://bit.ly/ashemediawebsite ASHE FB Page: http://bit.ly/ashefacebook Meeting of the Minds Mobility Summit: http://bit.ly/MOTMxM2

Amanda Roraff has produced and planned events and trade shows for multiple companies for over 20 years. After getting her Bachelor’s Degree from the James Madison College of Public Policy at Michigan State, she started out as a Programs Manager in the dental industry, of all places. Shortly after that, however, she became the Operations Manager for the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, effectively kickstarting her career in tech. A few jobs after that she monetized her event production skills and became an independent consultant for a variety of companies, including (but not limited to) Blue Cross Blue Shield, Covenant Community Care, and BI Worldwide. After heading up Marketing at NextEnergy in Detroit, she became the Operations Manager for the PlanetM initiative, the role she currently serves in. Detroit Startup Week: http://bit.ly/DetroitStartupWeek18 ASHE Media Website: http://bit.ly/ashemediawebsite ASHE FB Page: http://bit.ly/ashefacebook PlanetM Website: https://puremi.c