30 in Their Thirties: Jeff Lantz // 31

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Founder and Owner, Maybury Child Care, Northville Township
Employees: 35 Revenue: NA Education: NA

Jeff Lantz set out in his early 20s to become a force on ice as a professional hockey player. And while that venture took him to outposts like Bismarck, N.D. and Sioux City, Iowa, Lantz would ultimately find his calling enhancing the lives of children. With his hockey career finished at the age of 22, Lantz decided in 2005 to follow his mother’s lead and become the owner of his own day care center — the first based in Northville Township. “I talked to my wife and I said, ‘I want to open a day care center,’ and she said, ‘What do you know about day care?’ ” Lantz recalls. “I said, ‘I know what I want for my kid.’ ” What Lantz wanted was a combination of learning and nurturing — something he didn’t find with his competitors. “There wasn’t a lot of learning going on,” Lantz says. “Every one of my lead teachers has their associate’s degree in child development. It feels like it’s kind of a good mix between academics and nurturing.” Maybury went through tough times in the beginning, as the 2008 global financial crisis saw day care among the first cuts made from many household budgets. Lantz and his team soldiered through the downturn and in 2010, they opened another location — a larger center in Canton Township. He plans to add a third location in the next few years. “It’s rewarding to know that every day you can impact a child’s life for the better,” Lantz says.