Joe Bamberger, Jennifer Borowy, Ashley Bulat, Chris Brownell, Chris Chamberlain, Chelsea Hyduk, Nikki Little, Jason Lockard, Giuseppe Lucido, Mike McConnell, Mark Mann, Shalandria McGlown, Jack Miller, Rachel Nelson, Courtney L. Nichols, Michelle Rafalski, Charlie O’Neill, Jeremy Sasson, Scott Schoeneberger, Aaron Siepierski, Dan Vasquez, Christopher Stefani, Nick Vettraino, Matt Voccino,
Amid an economy challenged by inflation, labor shortages, and rising regulations, the 2024 class of 30 in Their Thirties is expanding their respective businesses and organizations. From helping to manage multi-billion-dollar corporations to rolling up their sleeves to launch companies from scratch, every honoree demonstrates his or her entrepreneurial skills on a daily basis
Joe Bamberger, 36
Managing Partner
Emerge, Royal Oak
Employees: 7
Revenue: NA
College: Colorado College
Joe Bamberger likens his company’s talent development efforts to the way a college football team builds its roster. Schools that want to excel can look to the transfer portal, where they might find established talent who can come in from another school and help them right away.
But the most consistently successful programs, according to Bamberger, recruit outstanding freshman classes and then develop the talent.
This is the same type of thinking Bamberger wants Michigan companies to embrace as they build their own teams. He established Emerge in 2017 to help make that happen.
Emerge’s clients are employers, and Bamberger’s role is to connect them with as many places as possible where talent can be found.
“Creating relationships with educational institutions is the majority of our work,” Bamberger says. “Obviously, what entry-level looks like depends on the industry and depends on the client. It could be high school, CTE programs, trade schools, boot camps. The funnel into full-time positions is the area we focus on most.”
Bamberger talks about talent aggregation as working like any other supply chain. “Students are the raw material and employers are the end user,” he explains. “Education is the resource that shapes that talent along the way.”
First, the talent has to be procured. To help make that happen, Bamberger has developed a technology platform called EmergeNET. Launched in 2020, it’s a cross between LinkedIn and a dating app. Students can create online profiles with digital resumes at EmergeNET, and can use virtual reality and gameplay to explore career paths and develop their credentials in a safe environment.
Bamberger also has played an active role in the Michigan Career Educator and Employer Alliance, where he currently serves as president (it’s a three year term). The organization is a nonprofit entity connecting two-year and four-year schools to the companies that hire college talent for positions ranging from internships to full-time positions.
The key to recruiting success, Bamberger believes, is for employers to not only value the development of younger talent, but also to reach out and make connections with them. To that end, he has formed partnerships between Emerge and public institutions like the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the workforce development agency Michigan Works. Both tout Emerge’s offerings via its app and its willingness to visit schools to promote employment opportunities.
As the state brands itself as a place for young people to stay and build careers, Bamberger encourages companies to brand themselves as desirable employers while maintaining a commitment to developing young talent.
“We need to be able to work with people who buy into the philosophy of entry-level talent,” Bamberger says. “Many still want someone who can solve their problem right away, not invest in a couple of years of developing someone.”
— Dan Calabrese
Jennifer Borowy, 37
President, CEO
Michigan First Credit Union, Lathrup Village
Employees: 500
Revenue: $123.6M
College: Walsh University (North Canton, Ohio)
When Jennifer Borowy enrolled at Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio, in 2005, her goal was to teach math or English to middle school students. A part-time job as a bank teller, however, changed her life and career path.
“I just absolutely fell in love with it, helping people and advising them, and teaching them how to save and borrow and do anything with their banking needs,” Borowy says. “I ended up going into (the university’s) retail development program and banking.”
A year after graduation, Borowy won an award as the top teller in sales at the same regional bank where she had been introduced to the industry. Next on her career ladder was a promotion to assistant branch manager.
Her early success prompted a move to PNC Bank, where she quickly excelled and became a vice president and a branch manager.
In 2016, Borowy joined the Buckeye State Credit Union, a struggling lender in the Akron area with $85 million in assets. A net worth restoration plan she led boosted the credit union’s value by nearly 2 percent in one year.
That performance earned her a move north to metro Detroit in 2019, where she joined Michigan First Credit Union in Lathrup Village, a nearly 100-year-old lender with $1.5 billion in assets and 168,000 members.
“This was a unique opportunity because it had a well-designed succession plan. The CEO had been here, at that time, for 20 years, and I had the opportunity to work side by side with him for over four years in anticipation of his retirement,” she says.
Since taking over as president and CEO in 2022, Borowy has increased statewide growth to 30 branches from 20 branches, mainly in Walmart, Meijer, and Kroger stores.
In addition, under her stewardship, Michigan First was certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and a member of the Detroit CDFI Coalition. The dual distinction allows the institution to provide banking and investment services to low income
communities.
“Our No. 1 priority is to serve our membership very well, and what’s unique is that we offer an individualized approach to every member who walks in our doors or calls us,” she says.
Borowy also is expanding Michigan First Mortgage Co., which now services more than $1 billion in mortgage loans, along with introducing new services. An active member of the community, Michigan First’s foundation last year awarded $75,000 in scholarships and $100,000 to local nonprofit organizations.
“We’re creating a digital branch this year to meet our members where they are,” she adds. “If a member wants to do their banking from home, we can serve them that way.”
Next up is a youth account that will offer the cashless products younger members prefer, while also providing financial education.
“It’s very important that we continue to find ways to be able to financially educate our members,” Borowy says.
— Norm Sinclair
Ashley Bulat, 39
Executive Director
Fox Run, Novi
Employees: 800
Revenue: $55M
College: University of Minnesota
Ashley Bulat, executive director of the Fox Run senior living complex in Novi, knew she wanted to be a businesswoman at a very young age.
“I have a picture of myself at 3 years old wearing a suit,” Bulat says. “I always wanted to
carry a briefcase around. I was kind of an entrepreneur in elementary school, making and selling things on the playground.”
At the age of 16, as a young high school senior, Bulat would get out of school early to
work full time leasing apartments. But it wasn’t until she was in her late teens, while in
college, that she got an opportunity to work with senior citizens.
“I absolutely fell in love with helping people take that next step in their life,” she says. “These
(were) people making decisions about senior living, assisted living, memory care. It was an area
where I could take my love and passion for business and match that with something purposeful
(and) rewarding, and giving back.”
Her passion for working with seniors led her to pursue an MBA with a health care focus.
While she was at Oakland University, she worked at Singh Management in West Bloomfield
Township. Then she became executive director and director of operations at Ashford
Martin Corp. in Madison, Wis. After that, she took a similar position with United Methodist
Retirement Communities in Chelsea.
She joined Fox Run — first as associate executive director, and then as vice president
and executive director — after earning her master’s degree.
Fox Run is one of 20 continuing care retirement communities developed and managed
by Maryland-based Erickson Living. Its 108-acre campus in Novi is home to more than
1,300 residents and around 800 employees.
“I think there’s a misconception out there about what retirement living looks like,” Bulat
says. “I enjoy Fox Run because it’s a very active and engaging community. These aren’t
your typical grandpas and grandmas. These are educated, cultured, well-traveled people.
Some are former CEOs. We have so many clubs and activities. They want to give back
and mentor.”
Bulat says her emphasis is on the future of Fox Run.
“I’m focused on the strategic plan for the future of Fox Run and leadership development,
coaching, and developing our talent. We’re looking at how to attract talent and introduce them to this industry, and how (to) retain them and inspire them. This is special work.”
— Tim Keenan
Chris Brownell, 32
CEO
Kirlin Lighting, Detroit
Employees: 40
Revenue: NA
College: Cornell Tech (Cornell University)
Fortunately for Chris Brownell, the recently minted CEO of Kirlin Lighting in Detroit, his rise to the top of the family business was nothing like the HBO series “Succession.”
Unlike the TV show, where the patriarch of the family was reluctant to give up power to any of his children, Brownell’s mother, Jana Kirlin Brownell, now the company’s chair, had to practically plead with her son to join the business.
Kirlin manufactures lighting fixtures and systems with integrated controls for hospitals, schools, transit stations, theater house lights, and some residences. Kirlin’s products can be found at Detroit Opera, the University of Michigan Women’s Hospital, the neonatal intensive care unit at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, and several Corewell Health and Henry Ford Health facilities.
The company also installed the lighting systems in the MRI departments of the top 25 hospitals in the nation. “Every single screw and bolt in that light fixture needs to be non-metallic or else it could impact the MRIs,” Brownell says.
After graduating from Princeton University, Brownell landed a job in New York City doing technology consulting with clients on infrastructure for things like high-frequency (stock) trading and digitizing mundane banking services and protocols.
“I specifically didn’t want to go into the family business,” Brownell says. “If I went right into the family business, I’d have a great job, a great title, and a lot of responsibility, but I’d never know if I deserved it in any meaningful way.”
He started his career as an analyst at CSTechnology, where he stayed from 2013 to 2015 He then became a product manager at Sitehands until late 2017. Following that, he worked as a principal product specialist at PredictSpring Inc.
When Brownell came back to the Detroit area for the Christmas holiday season in 2017, his mother asked him to get his MBA and come to work for Kirlin. He agreed, and got his master’s from Cornell Tech, a New York-based offshoot of Cornell University.
Brownell joined Kirlin in June 2019 as a senior product manager. A year later he was named vice president of sales and marketing, then executive vice president. He became president in 2022 and CEO in February 2024.
“My goal for Kirlin is to continue our head start in spaces like health care, transit, and infrastructure by incorporating the best technology from areas like offices, high-end residential, and retail.”
Chris Chamberlain, 36
CEO CJC Cruises,
Grand Ledge Employees: 100
Revenue: $5M
College: Lansing Community College
If you’re ever a passenger on the Detroit Princess riverboat, cruising the Detroit River and listening to the Motown sound, you might be surprised to discover the CEO and owner of the craft, Chris Chamberlain, is often at the helm.
“I still drive (the boats) pretty regularly,” Chamberlain says. “It’s nice to get out and interact with your customers.”
Chamberlain grew up in the Grand Ledge-based CJC Cruises business, which was started by his parents in 1970 as a canoe rental company. Over the years, the enterprise grew to include boats that held 49 people, then 110, then 300. The Detroit Princess holds 1,900 passengers.
“We just kind of kept growing over the years,” Chamberlain says. “I guess I always knew I’d be doing this as a career.”
His father passed away when Chamberlain was in his mid-20s, and he took over the business. At that point, the enterprise consisted of three large boats — the Detroit Princess along the Detroit River, the Michigan Princess in Lansing, and the Grand Princess Riverboat in Grand Ledge.
He has since added two boats in Petoskey, one of which is a 70-year-old vessel that began its life as a Mackinac Island ferry. The Petoskey fleet shuttles customers between Harbor Springs, Petoskey, and Bay Harbor.
Chamberlain continues to think about expanding the business.
“There are definitely some places along Lake Michigan where I don’t currently have boats that I’d like to bring boats,” he says. “A lot of people get into the dinner cruise business as a retirement job. After 20 years they get tired of it, and I’m sure there are some of those we can add to the fleet.”
Chamberlain says there are three elements to his business: the boat ride, entertainment, and food service. The boat part concerns him most.
“I can easily hire people to provide entertainment, and cook and serve food,” he says. “The boat stuff is the hardest part. It’s tough, especially in the smaller markets, to find qualified people.”
Prior to taking over the CEO role in 2021, Chamberlain was president of CJC’s food service division, J&K Catering, for 10 years. During that time, he earned a U.S. Coast Guard 100 Masters license, which certifies him to pilot most any large vessel. He also is a USCG Merchant Marine captain.
“If we went to war, I could be called up,” says Chamberlain, who spends his free time with his family, as a sailing member of the Bayview Yacht Club, and as a downhill skier in winter.
— Tim Keenan
Chelsea Hyduk, 35
Owner
CHYDUK, Detroit
Employees: 1
Revenue: NA
College: Columbia University
Chelsea Hyduk, founder and owner of CHYDUK architectural firm in Detroit, is far from the sole proprietor that her one-person shop might suggest. She’s all about working with others.
“It’s so inspiring to me to be living and working in Detroit because there’s a vibrancy to this place,” Hyduk says. “It has such a rich history, but it also has this incredibly dynamic future, and designers are playing such a critical role in shaping that future. There’s this sense of collaboration.” Her company acts as the design architect on projects that contribute to enhancing and uplifting the respective local context and communities.
“I’ve begun to focus on heart-centered projects for clients who are aspiring to create beautiful spaces that make an impact beyond the bottom line,” Hyduk says. “Architecture is this bridge between materials and spirituality in the way we experience space.”
The firm also acts as an umbrella enterprise for multiple companies to foster people working together on various projects. “That allows me to collaborate with other designers, architects, and friends while also maintaining autonomy over my practice and my life,” she says.
One example is MCD Development & Design, founded in 2021, which focuses on contributing to the fabric of the Core City neighborhood of Detroit. Projects use architecture to facilitate multigenerational living opportunities, access to nature, and community-building.
Another is the School of Intuitive Yoga Cooperative, which turned a sole-proprietor virtual yoga studio into a cooperative.
“It’s an example of innovating on this idea of the traditional yoga studio to create something that truly is … the students and teachers evolving and growing to shape the needs of the people who are involved with it every day.”
Hyduk grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, moved to New York to attend graduate school at Columbia University, spent 12 years there, and returned to her home state with her husband after the pandemic.
While working in New York at SHoP Architects, she was project manager for the 400,000-square-foot mass timber YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, Calif.
“That project opened up for me a deep understanding of my desire and drive to balance the built with the natural environment,” she says. “You can make something that neglects that and is more of a product, or you can become deeply connected to a place and its history, which has me so drawn to Detroit.”
— Tim Keenan
Nikki Little, 39
Senior Vice President, Co-owner
Franco, Detroit
Employees: 28
Revenue: $4.9M
College: Central Michigan University
Nikki Little had her eye on a career in public relations since high school. Now she’s a senior vice president and co-owner of Franco, a communications firm in downtown Detroit that’s celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2024. It’s also a fully women-owned and women-led business.
“I’ve always loved writing, but I didn’t want to go into journalism,” Little says. “When I was in high school, I learned about public relations from a family friend who had a PR role at a bank. I did a job shadow with her and really liked it.”
Shortly thereafter, she found out about the integrated communications program at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant and enrolled. After graduating in December 2006, she went right to work for Franco. She spent the first three years of her career working her way up from an assistant account executive to a senior account executive.
During those early years, she struck up a professional and personal friendship with current Franco majority owner Tina Kozak — a relationship that would pay dividends later.
Looking to gain more experience in the industry, Little left Franco to become director of communications at White Glove financial advisers in Troy, where she managed all internal and external communication efforts for the company. She also spent seven years at Identity PR in Birmingham, starting as a social media specialist and eventually moving into the director of social media role.
In September 2019, Kozak asked her to come back to Franco. “I stressed that if I was going to come back that I wanted to be involved in leadership and growing the agency,” Little recalls. In 2022, she was offered a chance to invest in the business.
In March 2024, the agency completed an ownership transition from former Chairman Dan Ponder to CEO Kozak. COO and President Tina Sullivan and Little maintained their minority stakes in the business.
Little credits relationships, among other factors, with her rise in the PR business.
“Had I not maintained the relationship I have with Tina Kozak, I wouldn’t be here today,” she
says. “I’m a very organized, determined, passionate person. I very much value accountability and doing what you say you’re going to do. I’ve built a lot of trust with the people I’ve worked with over the years.”
Little, who oversees Franco’s efforts to market itself, says the firm’s 60th anniversary is one of the highlights of her career so far.
“What we’re doing right now with our 60th anniversary campaign, we really are practicing what we preach to our clients — showing the value and importance of integrated communications.”
— Tim Keenan
Jason Lockard, 38
Director of Operations
Corewell Health Children’s, Royal Oak
Employees: 233
Revenue: $81M
College: Walsh College
With multiple family members serving as health care providers, Jason Lockard always figured he would go into the field.
But while majoring in health sciences at Oakland University in Rochester Hills, his path took a turn when he began learning about business. Lockard soon realized that while he wanted to go into the healthcare field, he wanted to do it on the business side.
So he supplemented his bachelor’s degree with an MBA from Walsh College in Troy. Following graduation, he moved into administrative positions with health care organizations such as Concentra Medical Centers, Dane Street, and Great Expressions Dental Centers.
When Beaumont Health System (now Corewell Health) came calling in 2019, Lockard initially took a position as a regional practice administrator working with adult care providers.
In 2022, he found his true calling when he was appointed director of operations for Corewell Health Children’s in the eastern part of the state.
“My wife and I had just had our second daughter,” Lockard says, “and I have 14 nieces and nephews, including three foster nephews and one foster niece, who are incredibly important to me. So to be able to serve pediatric patients (at a time when) kids are such a big part of my personal life was really important to me.”
While his position in operations doesn’t put Lockard in direct care of pediatric patients, he knows how important it is to run a tight ship and support practicing physicians and their respective teams.
To broaden his perspective, Lockard serves as a volunteer at Hope for the Hungry Pantry in Macomb Township, and he often brings his 6-year-old daughter with him. He’s also active with the American College of HealthCare Executives and the Michigan Society of Hematology and
Oncology.
“What has really come to light for me is the tenacity and the tireless resolve of our physicians, who dedicate their lives to the patients they serve,” Lockard says. “They’re unwavering in doing the right thing for our patients at all times, every time, and I think that’s what’s really encouraged me. It’s not just that we’re trying to deliver the best care to patients; it’s how hard our physicians work at doing the right thing and making sure our patients are taken care of.”
Since the Beaumont/Spectrum merger that made Corewell a statewide system, Lockard coordinates closely with his counterparts on the west side of the state. He also has to grapple with the reality that health care finance is unique.
“In a traditional business, the focus is on your bottom line and being a profitable business,” Lockard says. “In health care, the mission is to serve patients and take care of people. So when you move into healthcare administration, you really have to have that perspective.”
— Dan Calabrese
Giuseppe Lucido, 33
Senior Vice President
United Wholesale Mortgage, Pontiac
Employees: 7,500
Total Loan Originations: $108.3B
College: Oakland University
One day in March, Giuseppe Lucido was busy with preparations for UWM Live! — United Wholesale Mortgage’s huge convocation of brokers. For the third annual edition of this event on May 15-16, United Wholesale Mortgage plans to welcome up to 7,000 mortgage professionals to its Pontiac campus.
“It’s just a day about getting better, a day for (mortgage) originators to get away from their once and come to take one or two things away,” Lucido says. Mat Ishbia, president, CEO, and chairman of UWM, “likes to announce some big, fun things or different things we’re rolling out.”
Working on details of the upcoming event is an example of what Lucido means when he tells people he helps run a mortgage company. As senior vice president of operations, he divides his duties into two parts. Being “Leader Joe” consumes roughly half his time, as he heads UWM’s lending support, closing, post-closing, and client experience teams.
“I have about 2,300 people that roll up to me in some form or fashion,” he says. This mass of
talent, about one-third of the company’s staff, covers 30 different functions. More specifically, he works with 20 to 30 middle- and senior-level managers to refine internal processes.
“It’s all about people,” he says. “I don’t have inventory. I don’t have patents. I’m not competing with people on how cheap I can buy aluminum. For me, it’s about creating a leadership culture in my group that makes people want to stay, (and) gives people an opportunity to grow and develop into a version of themselves bigger and better than they were before.”
The other half of his job is concerned with corporate initiatives such as implementing TRAC —
Title Review and Closing. He says it’s “basically an alternative to traditional title insurance as a mechanism for saving consumers money.”
Lucido took a roundabout path to his present position. Throughout his college years, he tended
bar at Carrabba’s Italian Grill in Sterling Heights. He was still there in February of 2013, just a few months after receiving his degree. Serving the parents of a friend, he heard them extol United Shore Financial Services, as the company was then known.
Underwriting was a familiar concept, Lucido says, and he knew he wanted to stay out of the auto industry, which was “brutal” for his father. So he applied online. At first he worked in underwriting before joining a business innovation group. Next, he managed the underwriting business. He became senior vice president of operations at 29.
“Then we went home for COVID-19 six months later,” he recalls. But mortgage lending boomed during that time, and his team grew fast, and he says, “it really was a crazy couple of years in my life.” As things settled, Lucido sought more of a work-life balance. He helps to coach his two boys in hockey, and still plays a bit himself. “When I’m not (at work), I’m usually on the ice.”
Retirement is far in the future, but he says that when it happens, “I’ll still be here. I tell Mat all the time, “I’m good doing this for the rest of my career.”
— Ronald Ahrens
Mike McConnell, 32
President
Display Group, Detroit
Employees: 150
Revenue: $25M
College: Macomb Community College
Between 1903 and 1956, the Packard plant in Detroit churned out luxury automobiles
and Rolls Royce Merlin engines for P-51 Mustang fighter planes, the latter produced
during World War II. Today, in a well-maintained warehouse from 1939 that’s at the north end of the once sprawling campus, you’ll find the Display Group, led by President Mike McConnell.
The 255,000-square-foot building has become the creative and production center for world-class events like Detroit’s Movement Festival, a Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Racing Team party in Miami, the 420 Liv Cannabis event, and the Consulate of Italy’s Love-ITDetroit design soiree.
“We love it here,” McConnell says of the Packard plant’s last standing structure. “We’ve poured millions in investment into this building.”
The Display Group does all of its fabrication using 3-D printers and other equipment, while other areas of the building are used to store sets and props for multiple themed activities such as hoedowns and rodeos, a Parisian palace, a tropical luau, and Christmas scenes.
McConnell was a 13-year-old freshman at Lakeview High School in St. Clair Shores when he was bitten by the production bug.
“I started working at the high school auditorium my freshman year,” he recalls. “I fell in love with production. I fell in love with the emotion that drives people when they’re seeing something and experiencing something. I like being behind the scenes and creating the atmosphere that evokes that emotion.”
He started Fairway Productions, a school dance deejay service, at age 14, and convinced many high schools in Macomb County to sign contracts for his company to provide the music for all of their annual dance events. “Over the years I learned that there was a production industry, which was great because I hated deejaying,” he says.
When he graduated, McConnell sold off the deejay contracts, kept the company name, and transitioned into production, equipment rental, and fabrication. In 2017, he joined forces with a competitor and formed AVL Creative. In December 2022, AVL Creative became the Display Group, with McConnell at the helm.
Of all the events he’s produced, the one of which he’s most proud is the annual holiday party at United Wholesale Mortgage in Pontiac.
“That’s a 300,000-square-foot convention center with brick walls and concrete floors and we come in, work on the design for eight months, and completely transform the space,” McConnell says. “We bring in 30 to 40 semi trucks with equipment and set up for three weeks.
“It’s a really big undertaking and really lets us spread our wings and do what we’re really good at doing.”
— Tim Keenan
Mark Mann, 33
Director of Engineering
North America
Auria, Southfield
Employees: 4,000
Revenue: $467M
College: UNC Charlotte
Mark Mann was a high school student in Charlotte, N.C., when he caught the bug. “I had a love and excitement for cars in general,” he says. “I knew early on that I wanted to do anything that had to do with engines and performance parts. That led to me being the first member of my family to go to college.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in engineering management, Mann didn’t have to venture too far to land a job.
“At the time, Auria was in Charlotte, so I could stay close to home,” he says. “I got an interview and that’s how everything started.”
Not bad for a guy whose previous gigs didn’t exactly tee him up for a career in engineering. “When I was 16, I was pushing carts at Target,” Mann says. “In college, I worked in the deli department at Costco. This is only the third job I’ve had in my life.”
Mann has come a very long way in his 10 years at Auria, a Tier-1 automotive supplier. Today, as director of engineering – North America, he’s in charge of four distinct subgroups: advanced manufacturing engineering, capital equipment, manufacturing engineering, and tooling engineering.
“The company specializes in automotive interior and acoustic components, not the speakers,” Mann says. “It’s more sound-deadening and dampening, and keeping all the engine and road noise out of the passenger cabin so the ride is a more enjoyable experience for the occupants in the car. We do everything from floor carpets to the P shelf in the rear back, the inner dashes, the wheel arch liners, and the trunk floors and side trims. It’s a vast commodity base.”
At the company’s North American headquarters in Southfield, Mann oversees the engineering
operations. “Our footprint ranges from St. Clair, Mich., all the way down into Mexico. Since I’ve
inherited my position, we’re still very data-driven, but I’m constantly trying to push our team to new innovations that will deliver us the opportunity to gain more business.
“The more innovative we are, the more cost-competitive we become, and the more business we get. To me, unless you’re an industry leader, you’re not in an acceptable place.”
When Mann earned his master’s degree in engineering management, he also completed what’s known as a Six Sigma Black Belt.
“It’s a certification that means you’re a statistician and you can use statistics to influence processes,” he casually explains.
Does this mean that his black belt has nothing to do with karate, and Mann’s hands aren’t registered as lethal weapons? “I wish! That’s a lot cooler than math. Unfortunately, it’s just an uber nerd designation that means my calculator is always on me.”
— Tom Murray
Shalandria McGlown, 36
Owner, CEO
Hot Commodity EyeWear, Detroit
Employees: 1
Revenue: NA
College: Wayne State University
Shalandria McGlown is turning her passion for fashion into a business that produces eyewear as the owner and CEO of Hot Commodity EyeWear in Detroit.
Growing up, McGlown wanted to be a fashion designer — but she got sidelined into a career at various Meijer locations.
She spent 11 years as a pricing supervisor for Meijer, working on pricing, inventory, and supporting store product flow. From there, she became an assistant store director, organizing customer service, product, and production.
Today, in addition to the eyewear enterprise, she’s working part time as a store human resources manager, providing HR support and assistance to store leadership through coaching and guidance on HR-related matters including staffing, workforce planning, training and development, retention, onboarding, employee relations, compensation, EEO, safety, and policy.
Four years ago, McGlown decided to exercise her fashion muscles. “The last purchase I made from a standard optical store was very expensive and I said, ‘I’ve just got to try this,’ ” she recalls.
“I’m really passionate about fashion and originally I wanted to be a fashion designer. So, I decided to take my passion for fashion into optical. I started out doing sunglasses as a hobby because I like sunglasses. Eventually I said, ‘Why not go into optical frames and readers?’ ”
In 2021, she took Hot Commodity EyeWear into eyeglass frames, which are being sold online, wholesale, and by small, independent opticians in Highland Park, Hamtramck, and Detroit.
Hot Commodity’s sunglasses and optical frames are bright, colorful, and come in shapes and sizes one might not find in a typical optical store.
“We usually go with a square or cat eye,” she says.
“We tend to do bold and bright colors, something you can’t find at an optician. We try to make sure they’re in unique, bold statement colors as well as (fun) shapes.”
McGlown’s frame designs are manufactured in Italy and China. “Italy is really good with buffalo horn material when it comes to pricing,” she explains. “China is good with normal plastics and metals. They also do well with custom logos.”
Future plans include expanding into stores in Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, and other southern states. Additional goals include opening her own optical shop and partnering with a school like Wayne State University, and maybe even hospitals, where future opticians can have a space to get training in their field.
“Hopefully by age 44, I’ll be doing this full time,” she says.
— Tim Keenan
Jack Miller, 30
Southeast Michigan President
Hylant, Birmingham
Employees: 1,100 • Revenue: $230M
College: University of Michigan
Not long ago, it certainly seemed as if Jack Miller was destined for a career in football — on or off the field. Miller, who was the starting center for most of his playing career, earned three letters at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, along with honors as the Wolverines’ top offensive lineman as a junior. As a senior, he was the team’s co-captain.
After graduating in 2015, he jumped right into coaching as an assistant at the University of Toledo.
The coaching stint lasted for one season before Miller moved into the booth for several years as the color commentator for Toledo’s games. This fall, he’ll take a seat for his third straight season as an analyst for the Michigan football radio network.
In addition to his accomplishments as a football player, coach, and commentator, Miller earned a bachelor’s degree in political science, along with a minor in sales and marketing from the Ross School of Business. That made the abrupt turn in his career less jarring than it perhaps appeared when Miller began working for Hylant, one of the largest privately held insurance brokerages in the country.
“Let me tell you,” Miller says, “nobody grows up as a little boy or girl and says, ‘I can’t wait to get into insurance.’ ”
Miller has settled into what he calls his “first big-boy job,” and has been with Hylant for seven years now. He’s enjoyed a rapid rise at the company, which has its headquarters in Toledo; in his current position, he serves as the market president of southeast Michigan.
“I oversee two offices between Birmingham and Ann Arbor,” he says, “and I have the sales team under me — probably 130 people in all.”
It’s a lot of responsibility, especially for someone who’s just 30 years old. But Miller isn’t your average 30-year-old.
“When you play sports at a high level, you understand the concept of teamwork, being accountable, and doing what you say you’re going to do,” he explains. “As a center, you weren’t only worried about your job, but you had to make sure everyone else on offense was on the same page. So there’s a ton of overlap between my football career and what I’m doing now. I feel fortunate that I was preparing for a niche for years, but I didn’t really know as I was doing it.”
Not surprisingly, Miller has lofty aspirations for his sales team.
“I think the insurance industry has a reputation of being a bit old and outdated,” he says. “Our approach is more focused on building quality relationships. Hylant is one of the few companies left in the country that’s sizable, yet family owned, and we (work with everyone from) Fortune
500 companies all the way down to a mom-and-pop store on the corner.
“We compete with publicly traded and private equity- backed companies, and they do things a little different than we do, but insurance is a relationship game. It’s about who knows you and trusts you, and there’s no reason that Hylant shouldn’t be the dominant independent brokerage for the state of Michigan — and that’s my goal.”
— Tom Murray
Rachel Nelson, 37
Principal Designer, CEO
Concetti, Detroit
Employees: 10
Revenue: $1.9M
College: Kendall College of Art and Design
Working for a construction firm and an interior design showroom taught Rachel Nelson many things about the creative process, but none more important than this: Most people don’t understand the interior design process.
A third-generation Detroit business owner — her grandfather owned a butcher store and her father operated a steel company — Nelson thought she could do something to promote a better understanding of the design process.
So, in 2014, the Kendall College of Art and Design graduate acted on her belief by forming Concetti. The firm does interior design work for both business and residential clients, with the mission of making a space reflect the identity of those occupying it. If it’s for a business, the space should reflect the company’s brand identity. If it’s a residence, the space should echo the personality of those living there.
But before Concetti can get clients to that point, Nelson and her team have to make them comfortable with how it all works. That’s a type of company culture she thought was missing in Detroit, and part of what motivated her to start her own business.
“We did a bunch of market research, and out of this research we found that people are confused by the design process — renovations, building a home,” Nelson says. “It’s an industry for a reason, and people were like, ‘I’m not sure what’s going on.’ So I wanted to create a process that alleviates the stress. We’re your ambassadors. Let us be the translator in the process.”
The process Nelson and her team developed is based on the concept of design thinking, which requires empathy, defining, ideation, prototyping, and testing.
“It’s this balance of left- and right-brain thinking,” Nelson says. “You expect us to design a beautiful space, but more importantly we’re going to be a good strategic partner for you.”
Concetti intentionally avoids being identified with any particular style of design.
“We’re not going to impose ideas and trends,” Nelson says. “A successful project, to us, means the space is a unique reflection of this person or brand. We’re not afraid to do different things, use bold colors and patterns. We empower our clients to want to take the risk because it’s authentic to them.”
Nelson also seeks to make a positive impact on both the community and on her employees in various ways. Since 2017, the company has pursued an initiative called Gratitude Attitude.
“It’s our way of giving thanks to our community,” she says. “It’s looked different through the years. We’ve supported a women’s shelter, where we raised money and purchased products for the home, to make it feel more residential and less institutional. We’ve also supported various dog rescues.”
Internally, she gives her employees quarterly mental health breaks during which they’re able to work with wellness coaches. “It’s so important that we fill our cups and not burn out,” Nelson says.
— Dan Calabrese
Courtney L. Nichols, 37
Department
Leader and Partner
Plunkett Cooney, Bloomfield Hills
Employees: 300
Revenue: NA
College: Chicago-Kent College of Law
What do you want to be when you grow up?” The answer to that question to a child rarely becomes reality. Courtney L. Nichols, a partner at the Plunkett Cooney law firm in Bloomfield Hills, is an exception.
“I’ve wanted to be a lawyer since I was 8 years old,” she says. “I was really inspired by wonderful TV shows such as ‘The Practice,’ ‘True Crime,’ and news stories about trials, and fell in love with the concept of being a trial attorney.
“I was also told at a young age that I would argue with anyone. I didn’t take no for an answer and I asked a million questions, so being a lawyer seemed like a perfect fit. It’s something I never really looked away from.”
She kept her eyes on the prize while attending Clarkston High School, Michigan State University, and the Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
One element of Nichols’ dream did change. Once an aspiring criminal defense attorney, she was introduced to employment law at Plunkett Cooney during her second year of law school. She ended up enjoying that area of law and focused on it at Chicago-Kent.
She says she wanted to be a criminal defense attorney until she worked in the employment law department at Plunkett Cooney during her second year in law school.
“Now, I don’t do criminal law but I’m still a defense attorney representing employers and companies that have been accused of wrongdoing,” Nichols explains. “If it turns out the company did something wrong, we identify it, we discuss it, and we find a way to deal with that. Usually, the strategy is to find a resolution, not to bury it or hide it.”
Nichols truly is living her dream, becoming the second- youngest person to make partner at Plunkett Cooney in the more than 100-year history of the firm.
“I’m extremely driven and goal-oriented,” Nichols says. “I heard about another individual who made partner in six years, so that was a benchmark for me to hit. That’s something I really strived (for).”
She made partner in five years.
While Nichols still spends time in court with clients, the bulk of her work is consulting with businesses on employment policies and protocols, reviewing employee handbooks, and assessing individual cases.
Now that she’s an established attorney, does she still enjoy watching TV shows about her profession?
“I avoid legal shows like the plague,” she says with a chuckle.
— Tim Keenan
Michelle Rafalski, 34
Co-owner, Managing Partner
Gleba & Associates, Troy
Employees: 7
Revenue: $960,000
College: University of Tennessee
After starting her career in commercial real estate, Michelle Rafalski joined Gleba & Associates, the financial planning firm her mother, Jill Gleba, founded in 1985. “I would call it very tedious,” she says of the business. “There’s a lot of nitpicky, need-to-know-this-specific rule,law, (or) numbers.”
For Rafalski, though, the testing and certifications were a natural step — plus, she grew up around the office. “I joke that (the firm is) baby No. 1, I’m baby No. 2, and my brother is baby No. 3,” she says. She became managing partner in 2022, allowing her mother to pull back a bit and reduce her role.
Now things have come full circle. Rafalski just delivered her own first child, a girl, and she turned over business matters during her maternity leave to co-owner Moiz Kharodawala, the banking, mortgage, and taxation expert who joined the firm in 2013.
Together, they’re slowly buying out Gleba. The seamless interaction and family-friendly atmosphere are by design, Rafalski explains. “It was set up that way for our employees’ sake, because work-life balance is really important, and for our clients’ sake.”
Following graduation from the University of Tennessee, Rafalski came back to metro Detroit. She spent eight years as a real estate associate at Marcus & Millichap before her mother finally succeeded at coaxing her into the family firm.
Enjoying her management role, Rafalski says the best part of a recent day was attending two networking events — a vital part of business strategy. “There are days when I just feel like a pregnant person, and I felt like I was a business owner again that day.”
She fielded the question of whether all the tests and certifications are a useful barrier of entry in financial planning by saying that compared to real estate, the licensing is “10 times worse.” She adds that she uses “maybe 10 percent” of it, “but I understand the hurdle that needs to exist to get into this business. It’s appropriate when you think about what we’re handling all day.”
While the most basic issues for clients are about individual retirement, a business sale, or a succession, the approach remains pretty basic, too. “It sounds so cheesy, but what do you want to do?” The advisor’s job is to help figure out how to get there.
When the sale of a business is involved, things can get tricky. “It’s your baby, you built this thing for however many years, and when it’s not worth as much as you think, that can be heartbreaking. But you can set up your business so that you’re saving yearly for retirement and not just counting on that big chunk when you sell it to someone else.”
From first balking at becoming a financial planner, she says she finds enjoyment in running the firm’s operations and handling the marketing process as well as tempering clients’ emotions and building relationships. They’re skills, she notes, that she inherited from her mother.
— Ronald Ahrens
Charlie O’Neill, 33
President, CEO
Next Travel, Ann Arbor
Employees: 42
Revenue: $40M
College: University of Michigan
It was 2010, Charlie O’Neill’s sophomore year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, when it occurred to him that he just might be able to create a business out of a passion for travel and exploration.
“My family took trips to different places over summer breaks and other times,” O’Neill says. “I knew a lot about travel from doing it growing up, and I really saw an opportunity to put a travel company together and plan group trips for spring break to Mexico, the Caribbean, and areas that weren’t being targeted by larger companies at the time.”
Initially, O’Neill called his company HD Travel, for High Definition. “I operated it at U-M as I was struggling to decide if it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. When I graduated, I decided to stick with it.”
O’Neill was the sole owner and employee until 2018, when he merged with another travel business in Ann Arbor and created a new joint venture, Next Travel. “We grew that significantly,” he says. “Then COVID-19 hit, travel went to zero, and everybody said what a horrible business (it was) to be in.”
But O’Neill had a vastly different take on the situation.
“It was a great time to go out and acquire companies,” he says. “Everyone thought we were crazy.
They’re like, ‘What are you doing? You’re increasing your overhead at a time where there’s no profit.’ But we were very strategic, and we believed eventually people would be getting back on airplanes.”
Beginning in January 2021 and continuing over the next two years, Next Travel gradually expanded. It now has four locations in Michigan, one in Indiana, and more than 40 employees.
“Our winters are big drivers for people to do trips,” O’Neill says. “The bulk of our revenue is generated in Q1, when people want to get out of the cold. We do a lot of group trips, and run incentives for (off-site) meetings during that time of year.”
O’Neill is well on his way to accomplishing a goal he set for himself years ago: to be one of the largest travel agencies in the Midwest. “I want to keep acquiring more and more agencies, but only in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. It’s much easier to manage when we can drive to the offices and see our people and meet with our clients in person.”
The personal attention means everything for O’Neill. “It’s a relationship business,” he says. “Plus, we have great relationships with our vendors and suppliers, so we can make things happen for our customers that are outside of the ordinary.”
Which reaps a welcome benefit for O’Neill’s bottom line.
“We spend no money on marketing,” he says. “All our business is the result of repeats and referrals. We have a great client base; they’re very loyal. Once you take care of someone and fix a problem, it really goes a long way in building goodwill and they keep coming back.”
— Tom Murray
Jeremy Sasson, 39
Founder, CEO
Heirloom Hospitality, Birmingham
Employees: 350
Revenue: $30M
College: University of Miami (Florida)
With a palate developed through fine-dining experiences in Miami and New York, and finding himself somewhat flush after a few short years in the solar energy brokerage business in the Big Apple, Jeremy Sasson returned to Detroit in 2010 and started his first restaurant, Townhouse Birmingham. It was just after the Great Recession.
Sasson took the unique view that brokerage services and hospitality were “very different but very similar at the same time,” he says. Namely, both are about people. He also viewed the local restaurant scene as being less mature than most people thought.
He was 25 when he launched Townhouse Birmingham, the neighborhood bistro located at 180 Pierce St. The formula emphasized comfort food, in combination with culinary technique and prompt service. Since then, his restaurant company, Heirloom Hospitality, has added four more restaurants.
“The brands evolved as Detroit became a destination for us as a restaurant group,” Sasson says. Today, the company operates Prime + Proper, a fine-dining steakhouse, and the Cash Only Supper Club, both in the Griswold Lofts Building in Capitol Park. Townhouse Detroit offers modern American cuisine in an elegant setting at 500 Woodward Ave. The fifth restaurant, Mad Nice, at 4120 2nd Ave. in Midtown, features contemporary Italian cuisine in a Mid-century Modern setting.
Sasson, who grew up in Bloomfield Hills, says he doesn’t see himself in the restaurant business, per se. “Our differentiator, our special sauce if you will, is that we’re fanatic about cultivating relationships with all who we touch, whether that’s our guests, our vendors, our community, or our team members.” The idea is to make people feel good, thereby creating great experiences and memories.
“That’s where the hospitality part comes in,” he reveals.
During the recent NFL Draft in downtown Detroit, Sasson’s reservation book was filled with private curations and dining-room buyouts. In this sense, Heirloom Hospitality is banking on establishing relationships with organizations and companies from out of town. Sasson says the guests included “some of who you would imagine are the usual suspects to the NFL — certain teams, sports agencies, branding organizations, and other sponsorships.”
Now, Sasson reveals that a new metro Detroit project has been signed. “We haven’t announced it yet, but it looks like a late ’24, early ’25 development for us and hopefully all things continue to progress in the right direction to get that online here.” There are also restaurant projects he’s working on in several locations in Florida — Miami, Delray Beach, and Palm Beach.
In the longer run, differentiators such as “enlightened hospitality” can translate to other formats besides restaurants. “Hotels and real estate are probably the next move, and those are the biggest targets on our radar at the moment.”
— Ronald Ahrens
Scott Schoeneberger, 38
Managing Partner
Bluewater Technologies, Wixom
Employees: 180
Revenue: NA
College: Wayne State University
It was late one night in the summer of 2020, and neither Scott Schoeneberger nor his wife, Chanel, could sleep.
“We ended up chatting through the night about what we could do to get through the pandemic,” says Schoeneberger, managing partner of Wixom-based Bluewater Technologies, which creates live experiences for corporate and convention clients.
“There’s two things we were looking for. One was to keep our team largely employed when they were all just sitting around with nothing to do. And, two, everyone in our community was harbored inside and uncomfortable. So the next morning, we went into work and told everyone, ‘We’re gonna take all our gear and throw it in the woods.’ ”
The result was the creation of what the couple called Glenlore Trails, which offered people an opportunity to step out of their homes and into an immersive evening walk along a half-mile path in a rustic area in nearby Commerce Township.
“We just lit up the woods,” Schoeneberger says. “We put in these really cool video displays and told a story. We launched in August of 2020, and a handful of people came through and took pictures and put them online. On the second weekend, ticket sales went through the roof. Every spot sold out, and we ended up opening additional days.”
Glenlore Trails not only thrived, but in 2023, its fourth year of operations, more than 95,000 people were welcomed four nights a week during a 14-week period — many from far beyond the immediate area.
“In the fall, we probably get 1,800 to 2,200 people a night,” Schoeneberger says. “Once we hit the Christmas season, it’s upward of almost 3,000 people because it gets darker earlier and, weather-permitting, we’re able to stay open until 11 o’clock or so.”
Once the pandemic receded and Bluewater’s regular business — they’re a systems integrator and provider of creative technology for events — resumed, there wasn’t a chance Schoeneberger was going to shut down Glenlore Trails. “People were telling me it had become their new family tradition,” he says. “I’m gonna be the guy that kills a family tradition? I don’t think so.”
Instead, Schoeneberger offers his corporate and convention clients the opportunity to create events and experiences similar to Glenlore Trails. With a collection of several entities that were consolidated under the Bluewater brand, the firm was a front-runner in touch-screen kiosks before evolving into creating and operating multimedia presentations for General Motors, Chrysler, Kellogg’s, and Nike, to name a few.
In turn, Bluewater’s themed-entertainment division is projected to account for 25 percent of the company’s revenue by decade’s end. And due to their popularity, the night walks have been expanded from a half-mile to a mile.
“It’s been fun, and now it’s part of our culture and DNA,” Schoeneberger says. “I like making people smile, and I’m happy when we’re able to make a positive impact in the world.”
— Tom Murray
Aaron Siepierski, 35
Founder, Owner
Aaron’s Estate Sales, Birmingham
Employees: 40+
Revenue: $7M
Aaron Siepierski pulls his truck over to do a Zoom call and explains he’s spent “many, many nights studying and researching” how to make Aaron’s Estate Sales in Birmingham more successful.
The first book he bought when starting out 12 years ago helped him understand and evaluate antique metal-mesh purses. “I found one in a house and needed to know everything about it,” he says.
Siepierski also loves Mid-century Modern artifacts, and collected them for a while, but then stopped. “I realized my targets and goals weren’t to have stuff, but to help others relieve themselves of stuff,” he says.
Siepierski often refers to being helpful as a fundamental part of his service. He notes that estate sales are often an emotionally fraught time for clients, so empathy is just as necessary as being savvy about Eames chairs.
“We find a lot of people come to work here because they have a passion for helping others versus just looking for a job,” Siepierski says. “Or they have a passion for antiques or collectibles.” The team books 1,600 appointments a year, but only takes on 300 estate sales. There are 150 cleanouts, on average, as well. Siepierski started in the profession by doing cleanouts for a Southfield neighbor’s firm, and eventually became a certified appraiser. He also launched an online division, Block Auction House.
“One of the other services we’ve been asked for, over and over again, is to sell the real estate. We’ve just recently launched our real estate company, and we find that it’s going to be a pretty big endeavor for us as we move forward.” The brokerage soldbyvie.com — new in February — listed 11 properties right away.
Siepierski refers to estate sales as a “cottage industry,” and says he’s worked on processes for scaling up: “I want to help all (58 million) seniors in America downsize,” he asserts. To get there, look for Aaron’s Estate Sales to emerge in new markets beyond metro Detroit, where they do about 40 auctions per month.
A challenge in consolidating the estate-sale industry is establishing and maintaining trust and credibility. Five years ago, Siepierski was instrumental in founding the National Estate Sale Association with other companies from coast to coast. NESA adopted a set of bylaws and a 21-point code of ethics to provide self-governance.
“Having that for my business helps me think on a bigger scale,” he says.
One metric for gauging the company’s growth is the quantity of supplies needed for a sale and the means of getting them there. At first, only a modest box truck was required. Then a van was needed. Staff members also began using their own vehicles. Now there’s a fleet of three vans and a box truck.
The fleet could grow further. And expect Siepierski — “I know way more about tools than I should” — to continue filling his head with facts. “I have to be a generalist and a specialist at the same time.”
— Ronald Ahrens
Dan Vasquez, 37
AI Strategy
Lead
Rocket Mortgage, Detroit
Employees: 14,000
Revenue: $3.8B
College: Wayne StateUniversity
Dan Vasquez’s rise to leading Rocket Mortgage’s artificial intelligence (AI) future began when David Vasquez, his uncle and mentor, flipped from being a CPA and turned his computer programming hobby into a full-time job.
At the time, Vasquez was 12 years old and was spending a lot of time with his uncle, who lived two blocks away.
“If you needed something that had to do with the computer in the 1990s, and you were a small business, you called my uncle,” Vasquez recalls. “He was a one-man consulting business. He was one of the early work-from-home folks.”
Vasquez was in middle school when his uncle proposed paying him one summer to come to his home office and learn the latest technology programming.
“I’m too busy to sit down and learn this stuff, but you’re young and you seem to have a passion for this,” he remembers his uncle saying. “You learn this stuff and teach it to me, and if you hit certain milestones, I’ll cut (you a) check and that could be your summer job.
“That was my very first paycheck, the very first thing somebody paid me to do,” Vasquez recalls with an air of wonder.
Over the following summers, his work with his uncle evolved to where he went out on jobs with him and handled low-level tasks. Through his later years in high school and into college, he says he was almost partners with his uncle.
“I think that really taught me a lot, growing up in an environment where you were accountable and you were responsible for the entire solution with the client,” he says.
Vasquez joined Quicken Loans, the predecessor of Rocket Mortgage, in 2013. Since then, he’s led teams that have developed some of the company’s most transformational products.
He was the software architect on the companywide team that built and launched Rocket Mortgage, unveiling the company’s digital automated mortgage application process with a Super Bowl commercial in 2017.
He’s especially proud of his lead role developing True Rocket, a program that changed the company’s login and account systems, making them more secure and customer- friendly, with a single signup across all the different Rocket properties.
“It really moved the business forward technologically so we could get to where we are now,” he says.
Vasquez says the goal of AI is to bring Rocket’s experience to clients in the best possible way, wherever they are.
“We’re currently using AI mostly to assist our team members (and) help them focus on our clients,” he says. “As a philosophy, we want to let the machines do what the machines are good at, so the humans can do what the humans are good at doing.”
— Norm Sinclair
Christopher Stefani, 33
Chief of Staff
Lawrence Technological University,
Southfield Employees: 400
Revenue: NA
College: Lawrence Technological University
In his spare time, Christopher Stefani teaches Irish stepdance. At work as Lawrence Technological University’s chief of staff in Southfield, he’s more of a juggler. It’s lists and more lists as Stefani pursues LTU’s initiatives.
Tarek M. Sobh, president of Lawrence Tech, explains that Stefani manages high-priority programs as chief of staff, and contributes to long-term goals that will bolster metro Detroit’s technology and design focused industries.
Two areas of emphasis are of particular interest to Stefani. One is the dual-enrollment programs LTU has with more than 50 high schools in the region. “Instead of doing AP calculus, why wouldn’t you just do a dual-enrollment course so you can guarantee your students get (college) credit?” he asks.
LTU’s Early Middle College program is an example of dual-enrollment on steroids. Students can graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree — at no cost — in five years.
“When that student says, ‘Hey, I want to turn around and finish a bachelor’s degree,’ we offer them a half-off scholarship to come to the university and finish. So you’re technically at that point of getting a bachelor’s degree at a 75-percent reduced cost.”
A second program Stefani juggles involves industry sponsorships. “(LTU’s) Transportation Design program has always done that,” he says, referring to support from automakers and Tier 1 suppliers for focused design challenges. He says he sees potential for similar involvement by real estate developers, interior designers — even nonprofits.
Stefani can think of three selling points for such programs. From a human resources perspective, it gives a company first access to new talent. Another benefit is low-cost R&D. For a hypothetical case, he names Lawrence Tech’s near-neighbor, Lear Corp. Assigning employees to flesh out a new idea is expensive and diverts resources, Stefani says.
Instead, mindful of LTU’s motto “Theory and Practice,” he explains, “Lear can come to us. We have an expert. We have young students who are thinking a little bit outside the box. Maybe the price point becomes $30,000 or $40,000 to engage students in that studio space, and then they (Lear) own the outcome. So you’re double-dipping them because they’re getting access to research and development, and to young talent they can start watching under their guise.”
Marketing is the third benefit, Stefani notes. “People want to say they’re doing well; companies want to say they’re doing good in the community.”
Stefani holds a Master of Architecture degree from LTU and founded C.L. Stefani Co. in 2016, but “it’s on the bookshelf.” He was a first-generation college graduate in a family with six children. His grandparents were immigrants, his mother was a homemaker, and his father worked on an assembly line. He has “student debt that would make your toes curl,” but is fervent about higher education leading to opportunity.
Still, his own design talent is on hold. He finds himself thinking that, whenever his time is up at LTU and he retires from the 9-to-5 job, he may relaunch C.L. Stefani Co. “I want to keep it to dabble,” he says.
— Ronald Ahrens
Nick Vettraino, 39
Vice President, Operations
KLA Laboratories Inc., Dearborn
Employees: 225
Revenue: $67 million
College: Wayne State University
After graduating from the University of Michigan in 2007, Nick Vettraino spurned the family business, packed up his freshly minted psychology degree, and moved to Connecticut, where he took a job with ESPN.
After two years of compiling statistics and information for sports broadcasts, the 24-year-old became homesick and decided to move back to metro Detroit.
“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” he says. The family business, KLA Laboratories Inc. in Dearborn, was an option he hadn’t explored. His uncle, Matt O’Bryan, is the president, CEO, and second- generation owner of the 95-year-old company.
KLA integrates advanced technology solutions for wireless networks, DAS, IT networks, A/V technologies, network cabling, and audio/visual productions. From its headquarters in Dearborn and offices in Las Vegas and Irvine, Calif., the company services customers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Local clients include Comerica Park, Ford Field, and Little Caesars Arena.
“My uncle said, ‘Why don’t you come over and see what we’re about?’ So I started off in the warehouse, learning the business from there — organizing, cleaning, getting material out to job sites, (and) scheduling installation teams,” Vettraino recalls. “I think it was a broad way for my uncle to share all the different aspects of the company and just see what I could do with it.”
One year later, in 2011, Vettraino was promoted to operations manager. In 2015, he coordinated the opening of the company’s new technical engineering center, which doubled KLA’s capacity.
Vettraino is also credited with leading the digital transformation of many of the company’s operational disciplines including purchasing, labor scheduling, travel, expenses, and field project management.
During COVID-19, he directed the switch to working from home, the company’s response action, safety protocols, and coordinating the field team for critical infrastructure workers. In 2020 he was promoted to executive director of operations, planning, and strategy. Last May, he was named vice president of operations.
Even as he was moving up the corporate ladder, Vettraino found time for another passion: football. For 14 years, he was a defensive line coach for the Brother Rice High School football team; during that period, the Warriors won three consecutive state titles. He stepped back from football after last season to spend more time with his 7-year-old son, Felix.
Vettraino, who played defensive end in high school, says he never lost the urge to be part of the game. “I like being part of the team, and I miss that competition aspect. (I enjoy) … working together with other people on something that I like doing — whether it’s at work or outside of it,” he says. “Those are real drives for me. I really like the X’s and O’s of football, trying to figure out what other teams are doing, and seeing what we can do to beat them.”
— Norm Sinclair
Matt Voccino, 36
Owner
Feature Presentation
Audio & Visual Electronics, Shelby Township
Employees: 7
Revenue: $1.5M
College: Macomb Community College
A teenage obsession with all things electronic has led to a $1.5 million business for Matt Voccino, owner of Feature Presentation Audio & Visual (FPAV) Electronics in Shelby Township.
“I had an older half-brother and he would come home from college and bring his big speakers home,” Voccino recalls. “That got me interested. Since I was young, all of my birthday and holiday money went to AV stuff. My Christmas list would be this speaker or that speaker, instead of toys.”
Growing up, Voccino says his circle of friends would hang out at his house to play video games and watch movies. “I had surround sound,” he says.
That interest led to a job selling and setting up displays at Circuit City, which he and a co-worker transformed into the region’s top-selling audio department. When competitor Best Buy started its Geek Squad team of technicians and sent them out to perform house calls, Circuit City countered by sending Voccino and his partner on the road doing installations.
Then, when Circuit City began outsourcing house calls, the pair decided to start a business focused on electronics installations.
“We fought for the Circuit City contract and got that, and started doing a lot of Circuit City work in Oakland, Macomb, and Wayne counties,” Voccino recalls. “Then we picked up the Sears contract. That was probably the bulk of our business for the first four to six years, and we’d get a private job every now and then. It just kind of grew from there.”
FPAV operated out of Voccino’s house for the first few years the company was in business. After that, he sublet office space before sharing an office with a landscaper.
“Six years ago, we moved into our own showroom in Shelby Township,” Voccino says. Last year, the business was relocated to a larger space nearby.
“It’s kind of a weird business. It’s a trade, like an electrician or a plumber, but it has a heavy retail front to it,” Voccino says.
In addition to audio visual equipment, FPAV Electronics provides networking wiring, security cameras, alarm systems, Wi-Fi, wiring for TV, and motorized window treatments.
“We do everything from basic TV mounts to crazy $150,000 residential home theaters,” says Voccino, who predicts that the future of his industry is in whole house automation including lighting, music, window treatment and shade control, and one-button lock-up and shut-down capabilities for a whole house.
“At my house, at dusk, the outside lights go on, the shades go to 50 percent, and the under-cabinet lights go on,” he says.
— Tim Keenan
