Home September-October 2022

September-October 2022

  • September-October 2022

    The cover story of DBusiness magazine’s September/October 2022 digital issue explores how Ford Motor Co. President and CEO Jim Farley is transforming the automaker into an electric-powered force with “Lightning Speed.”

  • Courtesy of Ted Gushue

    Lightning Speed

    Expectations were low when Ford Motor Co.’s product development team set out to work up a new battery-electric SUV nearly seven years ago. Intentionally so. The Dearborn-based automaker had little […]

  • Ray Hearn Portrait

    Divine Calling

    When Ray Hearn was in high school in the 1970s, he told a classmate that he wanted to be a golf course architect. Decades later, he’s one of the nation’s […]

  • Paw-fice Assistants - Chica, Gizmo, and Jameson rule the walls and halls at Strategic Staffing Solutions’ headquarters at the Fisher Building in Detroit’s New Center.

    Execs and Their Pets

    and

    When the COVID-19 pandemic caused more companies to send their employees home to work, pet adoptions went through the roof. Now, as more people return to their workplaces, they’re bringing […]

  • Courtesy of Intercells

    Power Up

    The race to introduce electric vehicles on a massive scale due to government regulations has caused shortages, given long production times for batteries. But Intecells, a company in Troy, hopes […]

  • Mad Men

    Lee Iacocca stood before mourners at Kirk in the Hills in Bloomfield Township on Aug. 21, 1993, and recognized plenty of familiar faces. Composing himself against tears, he invoked the […]

  • Swing on a Star - The Sigma-6 eVTOL aircraft, developed by ASX in Detroit, can fly up to 400 nautical miles as a hybrid machine. The aircraft has several pending patents. // Courtesy of ASX

    Prepare for Takeoff

    With the economy tanking under the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the largest investor in Jon Rimanelli’s electronics and aerospace business at Detroit City Airport withdrew his […]

  • Illustration by James Yang

    September — October 2022 Commentary

    Detroit has an unmistakable soul — nobody can duplicate the soul we bring to the game.” – Big Sean Tourism – Raising the Bar Detroit and the region have a golden […]

  • High-tech Yield - Ben and Alison Sklarczyk use advanced growing techniques to maintain and enhance their 80-year-old business. // Courtesy Sklarczyk Seed Farm

    Small Potatoes

    One might think that growing seeds for tubers amounts to small potatoes, but that’s the farthest thing from the case at Sklarczyk Seed Farm in Johannesburg, east of Gaylord. The […]

  • Dickinson Wright's Detroit office. // Courtesy of Dickinson Wright

    Metro Detroit’s Top Intellectual Property Law Firms 2022

    Firms are ranked by number of metro Detroit area IP attorneys.

  • Before Its Time - Chateau Chantal opened in 1993 on the Old Mission Peninsula north of Traverse City. The region's microclimate near the 45th parallel is ideal for growing white grapes. // Courtesy of Chateau Chantal

    Red, White, and Rosé

    The sound system was acting up, but Nathaniel Rose had a strategy for waiting until Soul Patch, the Traverse City roots-rock band, opened Northport’s 2022 Music in the Park series. […]

  • Dog Day Afternoon - All Elite Detection K9 dogs undergo similar training, but the amount of training required varies for each animal.

    Nose Job

    According to Greg Guidice, president and CEO of Elite Detection K9 in Rochester Hills, humans can easily smell a teaspoon of sugar in a regular sized cup of coffee. Scent-detection […]

  • Mare Mediterranean in Birmingham. // Photographs by Becky Simonov

    2022 Top Business Restaurants in Metro Detroit

    All restaurants are reviewed anonymously, all expenses are paid by Hour Media, and the listings have no relationship to advertising in the magazine.

  • Perfect Match - Up Paint in Clarkston and GreenSheen in Denver plan to expand the pilot program they established with Ace Hardware to eventually offer collection at the chain’s nearly 5,000 locations in the U.S. // Photograph by Roy Ritchie

    Paint Job

    With an estimated 85 million gallons of paint going to waste each year in the United States, Dustin Martin, founder and CEO of Up Paint in Clarkston, saw an opportunity […]

  • Deal Maker - Despite an early childhood on Detroit’s west side filled with challenges, Mychel “Snoop” Dillard navigated her way through the roadblocks to build a successful lounge and entertainment business in Atlanta. // Courtesy of Cam Kirk Photography

    West Side Story

    Before another word is written about the restauranteur and entrepreneur Snoop Dillard, it’s essential to make clear her first name isn’t the one she received when she was born, which […]

  • David M. LaPrairie headshot

    PDA Q&A: David M. LaPrairie

    DB: Where are you? DL: On Mackinac Island at the Grand Hotel. I’m attending the IP ICLE conference (Intellectual Property for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education). DB: How’s it […]

  • Downtown Detroit Architecture

    Largest Conventions in Metro Detroit 2022-2023

    As of August 2020. Sources: Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau and individual organizations.

  • Electric Charge - General Motors Co. CEO and Chair Mary Barra is leading the Detroit-based automaker to an all-electric future. // All photos courtesy of GM

    Big Three Auto Executives 2022: General Motors Co.

    Mary T. Barra Chairman and CEO Barra became the first female chief executive to lead a major automaker when she was named CEO in January 2014. She was elected chairman […]

  • Dream Team - Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., and President Joe Biden with the all-new, all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning. // Photo by Sam VarnHagen.

    Big Three Auto Executives 2022: Ford Motor Co.

    William Clay Ford Jr. Executive Chairman, Chairman of the Board of Directors Ford has been a member of the company’s board of directors since 1988 and has been chairman since […]

  • Big Three Auto Executives 2022: Stellantis

    Carlos Tavares CEO Tavares was appointed the first CEO and executive director of Stellantis in January 2021. Previously, he served as chairman of the managing board of Groupe PSA. A […]

  • TV camera for broadcast tennis

    Go to the Replay

    Many businesses struggled and even failed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chad Bush bucked convention and launched The PreP Sports video production company in Royal Oak, even as […]

  • Letter from the Editor: Automation Revolution

    A walk through Ford Motor Co.’s new production facility for the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck at the historic Rouge Complex in Dearborn is startling for its lack of workers, […]

  • Courtesy of Suburban Collection Showplace

    Largest Meeting Venues in Metro Detroit 2022

    DBusiness Magazine’s 2020 Largest Meeting Facilities in Metro Detroit. Sources: Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau and individual organizations.

  • Whiz Kid - Avis Car Rental, founded by Bay City native Warren Avis, got its start in 1946 at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti Township. In 1972, the company debuted Wizard, the first computer-based reservation system to be used in the United States car rental business. Many customers today still have a unique “Wizard number.” // Courtesy of Fairfax Media Archives

    Hire Power

    As a World War II bomber pilot, Warren Avis could see the future of commercial aviation. But although it was faster than rail travel, he found the time savings were […]

  • Pop Goes the EV Market

    Sales of electric vehicles have risen, but the pace has slowed in recent months as inventory begins to pile up on dealer lots. EVs in the United States represent a […]

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