DBusiness Daily Update: Wayne State University Lights up Old Main in Lions’ Honolulu Blue, and More

Our roundup of the latest news from metro Detroit and Michigan businesses as well as announcements from government agencies.
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Wayne State Tower clock being repaired
Wayne State University’s Old Main Building glows Honolulu blue this week in honor of the Detroit Lions. // Photo courtesy of WSU

Our roundup of the latest news from metro Detroit and Michigan businesses as well as announcements from government agencies. To share a business or nonprofit story, please send us a message.

Wayne State University Lights up Old Main in Lions’ Honolulu Blue

In acknowledgement of the Detroit Lions’ historic playoff run and in preparation for the NFC Championship game Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, Wayne State University in Detroit is lighting up its iconic Old Main Building at 4841 Cass Ave. with Honolulu Blue for the week.

To create the tribute in Old Main’s upper-most windows, a system of 30 four-foot-long fluorescent lights were removed, Honolulu blue-colored shades were slid over them, and the lights were put back in place. Four white flood lamps that typically light the four faces of the clock tower also were replaced with blue ones.

“Wayne State and the city of Detroit are inextricably linked, and we are so excited to be on this ride with the Lions,” says Kimberly Andrews Espy, president of WSU. “The roar and energy emanating from Ford Field the last two weeks has spread throughout our campus community. We are pleased to show our Lions pride by lighting up our signature building in Honolulu blue.”

Changing out the lights in Old Main is a job conducted by two university electricians and requires going to the top floor of the building and then climbing a few different staircases, including a spiral staircase that dates back to 1896.

Old Main, which is located 1.8 miles from Ford Field, was originally constructed as Detroit’s Central High School in 1894. Today, Old Main houses the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), the University Planetarium and Museum of Anthropology, as well as several other programs.

Plante Moran in Southfield Celebrates 100th Anniversary

On Saturday, January 20, Plante Moran in Southfield celebrated 100 years in business on Jan. 20.

Since its founding in 1924, the firm has grown from a sole accounting practitioner in a Detroit office to a billion-dollar audit, tax, consulting, and wealth management firm with more than 3,800 professionals serving clients around the globe.

When asked the secret to the firm’s success, Managing Partner Jim Proppe can answer the question with one word: culture.

“Plante Moran’s unique culture is rooted in what Elorion Plante and Frank Moran called their ‘grand experiment,’” explains Jim Proppe, managing partner. “They envisioned an accounting firm where the best practitioners couldn’t wait to get in the door and clients were lining up to receive unsurpassed service.

“To achieve this, they built our firm on a solid foundation of principles and values like following the Golden Rule, doing the right thing for the right reasons and putting people and a long-term view before profits. A century later, our firm still operates under these same philosophies. It’s been the key to our success for 100 years, and I have no doubt it’s what will help us succeed for 100-plus more.”

To kick off its centennial celebration, Plante Moran has launched a campaign titled “Count on Us,” a nod to the clients and staff who have counted on the firm since its inception. Over the next year, stories will be posted on the company’s website about how the firm has served clients and supported one another.

Common Citizen Delivers $16K to Karmanos Cancer Institute from Fundraising Effort

Common Citizen in Marshall, which produces cannabis products for medical and adult-use customers, has donated $16,000 to the Karmanos Cancer Institute to further cancer research through the High HOPE fundraising effort.

Throughout October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Common Citizen donated $1 of each purchase of its most popular brands to the effort.

“At Common Citizen, we are committed to providing our highest-quality cannabis to help our patients relieve the day-to-day ailments, nausea, aches and pains, and more that come with facing cancer and other life-threatening diseases,” says Michael Elias, Common Citizen CEO. “We are honored to do our part to support breast cancer research through the world-renowned Karmanos Cancer Institute. Our month-long fundraising event is part of our commitment to giving back to our patients, their families, and the communities we proudly serve through cannabis.”

Upper Peninsula Team Wins Michigan Future City Competition

A team from the Upper Peninsula will represent Michigan in the national Future City Competition, winning the Michigan Regional Competition Tuesday at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi.

The winners, from the Joseph K. Lumsden Bahweting Anishnabe Academy of Sault Ste. Marie, will represent Michigan at the Future City finals, to take place Feb. 17-20 in Washington, D.C. as part of National Engineers Week. The Michigan Regional Competition is sponsored by The Engineering Society of Detroit.

Future City is a project-based learning program where students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades imagine, research, design, and build cities set at least 100 years in the future. The competition’s theme changes every year to keep the competition fresh.

This year’s theme was “Electrify Your Future,” and teams were challenged to design a city that is fully electric and powered by energy sources designed to keep its citizens and the environment healthy and safe.

The JKL Academy’s winning city, Neo Orleans, was a futuristic New Orleans built on part of the existing city that used a wide variety of renewable energy sources to power their city while improving its climate. As an added twist, the city reached out to extraterrestrials to emigrate to Earth, and the city’s population was visualized as being 15 percebt extraterrestrials.

Second place in the competition went to St. John Lutheran School of Rochester. Third place went to AGBU Alex and Marie Manoogian School of Southfield. Fourth place went to Pierce Middle School of Grosse Pointe Park. Fifth place went to Tappan Middle School of Ann Arbor.

For more information, visit here.

Michigan Flyer to Operate New Detroit-DTW Express Bus Service

The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan (RTA), in partnership with Michigan Flyer and its parent company, Indian Trails Inc., is launching an express bus pilot program to connect downtown Detroit with Detroit Metro Airport (DTW).

The new express bus service will operate up to 16 roundtrips each day between approximately 3:30 a.m. and 11 p.m. — mostly traveling on I-94 — starting as early as the end of March. A one-way trip is expected to take about 30 minutes and cost up to $15 per passenger, though discounts will be available.

The pick-up and drop-off locations in downtown Detroit could be near Washington Boulevard and State Street or at Park Avenue and Bagley Street next to Grand Circus Park.

At the airport, the new express buses will serve both the McNamara and Evans Terminals. Among other benefits, this will enable Michigan Flyer passengers from the East Lansing, Brighton, and Ann Arbor areas to easily connect with downtown Detroit from the airport.

Guardhat in Detroit Rebrands as Aatmunn

Guardhat, a Detroit-based provider of industrial safety solutions, announced it will be known as Aatmunn, meaning ‘Soul’ or ‘Spirit’ in Sanskrit. The new name encapsulates the company’s commitment to proactively protect frontline workers, representing a shift toward technology and connectivity in industrial safety.

The transition from Guardhat to Aatmunn signifies an evolution from its origins as a patented smart hardhat developer to a global pioneer in software-based safety and efficiency solutions. Aatmunn’s technology prevents major industrial accidents like forklift accidents, gas leaks, and radiation exposure.

Aatmunn’s mission is to revolutionize the lives of more than 2 billion frontline workers globally.

Allison Transmission Forms Mining Vehicle Transmission Partnership with SANY 

Indianapolis-based Allison Transmission, which has an electrification engineering center in Auburn Hills, is partnering with SANY to supply transmissions to its current and future lineup of mining vehicles.

SANY is a China-based heavy equipment manufacturer with its North American headquarters in Georgia.

Allison will supply its family of Off Road Series and Wide Body Dump Series transmissions for integration into SANY’s lineup of mining vehicles including the next-generation SANY SKT105 wide body mining dump (WBMD) truck, rigid dump trucks, and articulated dump trucks (ADT).

As part of this agreement, Allison will be the fully automatic transmission provider for generation two of SANY’s WBMD vehicles.

“We’re proud to partner with SANY to integrate Allison transmissions into several of their vehicles, which are critical for successful mining operations,” says John Coll, senior vice president of marketing, sales, and service at Allison Transmission. “Our agreement with SANY strategically aligns with Allison’s efforts to capture additional market share in the mining dump truck market in Africa, Asia and South America.”

Notre Dame Prep Middle School in Pontiac to Host Amazing Shake Feb. 1-2

Notre Dame Prep’s middle school in Pontiac will host its third annual Amazing Shake, Feb. 1-2, a two-day event designed as a fun way to teach students etiquette and the social competency skills necessary for success both inside and outside the classroom.

During the Amazing Shake, 215 sixth, seventh and eighth graders will spend the day working the room, negotiating business deals, making presentations, and earning points based on charisma, confidence, poise under pressure, common sense, eye contact, and their handshake.

“We are very excited to host this event at our school,” says Brandon Jezdimir, principal of the middle school. “It’s a huge opportunity for our kids to learn many of the hard and soft skills necessary for success outside of the classroom.”

Twenty-five stations will be set up in the gym at Notre Dame Prep for the first round of the event. Middle-school students begin by running through the stations with scenarios ranging from a guest appearance on a TV talk show to a press conference and even proposing a business deal while riding a golf cart.

Some of the local businesses participating in this year’s event include: Randy Wise Automotive Team, Purple Squirrel Advisors, Guilford Performance Textile, DePorre Veterinary Hospital, McLaren Oakland/St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, DOBI Real Estate, Imprezza, The Silver Shamrocks, FANUC America Corp., Merrill Lynch, D’Agostini Companies, Honigman, General Motors, KPMG, Trion, Taubman Realty Group, and Pica Marketing Group.

On Feb. 6, the top 60 students proceed to round two, called “Random Questions,” and on Feb. 8, “Work the Room” and “Debate,” where 15 of the professional volunteers will dive even deeper into interviewing and assessing the students.

The top five students will proceed to StockX/Detroit Venture Partners in Detroit, where they will pitch a new marketing plan to Cory Tincher, co-founder and investor of StockX/Detroit Venture Partners. The top three will proceed to the final round, “HR Corporate Interview,” with a senior director and HR business partner at Taubman.

Ultimately, one sixth, seventh or eighth grader is declared the winner and he or she will be registered to compete in Atlanta to represent Michigan against the top performers from around the world at the global competition in March.

Cohort of Youth Fashion Designers from Detroit to Showcase Afrofuturism Looks in New York 

 The Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan (BGCSM) Fashion Industry Club has partnered with the Maison Black and will host a runway show at New York Fashion Week this season. Maison Black, founded by Tori Nichel, is a Black-owned, New York-based retailer who showcases Black designers and has expanded into the Maison Black Foundation (MBF) to provide a more robust platform to support Black youth in the arts.

Maison Black is a destination for the discovery of Black designers throughout the country. Founder and Detroit native Tori Nichel has used her expertise, network, and resources to build a bridge for Black designers through Maison Black. This season’s mentors include Aaron Potts, Patrick Cupid, Dreu Breckemberg, Carlton Jones, Shelley Victory, and Lola Faturoti, who have worked closely with the five Fashion Industry Club youth designers for the past seven months.

“There is power in aligned passion and long-term collaboration — and that is what we have with Maison Black, and how we’re able to provide such a life-changing experience for these young women,” says Shawn H. Wilson, president and CEO of BGCSM. “We look at this as an honor to support and create space for our young designers through the Fashion Industry Club and will continue to provide these resources to more youth to come.”

The Fashion Industry Club is a part of the Industry Club model at BGCSM, which was launched in 2020 and is a comprehensive and forward-thinking initiative that addresses the needs of young people in preparing them for successful futures in a variety of industries.