Champion

As a pioneer in computer mapping, Jim Anderson, president and CEO of Urban Science in Detroit, turned a simple request for plotting home addresses into a global, multimillion-dollar company.

Alicia R. Jones has provided computer training to more than 1,500 children and adults since 1998, and that's only the beginning.

LG Chem's lithium-ion batteries, which power the Chevrolet Volt - and soon, the Ford Focus Electric, among other future electric vehicles — will be in greater demand due to rising energy costs, more stringent government fuel regulations.

James K. Kamsickas has guided IAC Group through the gyrations of the auto industry, including the 2008 global financial crisis, with a manic focus on discipline.

Taking advantage of the global economic recession in the fall of 2008, Bob Paul, president and COO of Compuware Corp. in Detroit, overhauled the company’s management team and re-engineered key operations to take advantage of growth markets in mobile devices, cloud-computing, and certain IT sectors.

Over the last decade, Ewa Matuszewski and her team at Medical Network One, a physician’s organization, began offering a new range of services that promote healthy lifestyles.

Lisa Glush, president and CEO of Macprofessionals Inc., a technology integration company in Novi that works primarily with Apple products, says her biggest challenge is staying ahead of a rapidly changing industry. But so far, so good: Revenue has climbed 40 percent annually, on average, since the company’s founding in 2000.

Tim Bryan, chairman and CEO of GalaxE.Solutions in downtown Detroit, is moving rapidly to meet the demand for health care IT services — mandated, in part, by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

When Gloria D. Brooks took over as president and CEO of Arbor Hospice Inc. in early 2007, she faced an operating deficit of $2 million and a looming net income loss of more than $750,000. Since then, she’s turned the company around by cutting costs, retraining staff, and selling off a line of business — all while enhancing patient care.

Randal Charlton, a self-described serial entrepreneur, is executive director of TechTown at the north end of Wayne State University in Detroit’s New Center district.