DETROIT — Creative Many Michigan, a statewide economic development organization for the arts, culture and creative, and design industries, has named Arnold Weinfeld, CEO and chairman of Prima Civitas Foundation and Ken Krayer, executive director of Design West Michigan, as new members to its board of directors.
Weinfield of Lansing, began his role as CEO and chairman of Prima Civitas in March 2014 and serves as the day-to-day officer in charge of carrying out the organization’s mission to strengthen Michigan’s economy by connecting, convening, collaborating and adding expert capacity that supports Michigan’s economic growth. Prior to joining Prima Civitas, Weinfeld served as director of strategic initiatives and state and federal affairs for the Michigan Municipal League for nearly a decade and as president for the Michigan Municipal League Foundation.
Weinfeld is a member of the Michigan Recreation and Park Association, Michigan Rural Council, Prima Civitas Foundation, Michigan Health Insurance, and the Life Guaranty Association and served on the board of Waverly Education Foundation and Waverly Community Schools. He earned his Bachelor of Science in social science from Michigan State University.
As Design West Michigan’s new executive director, Krayer, of Saugatuck, will serve as an independent design consultant and adjunct professor of industrial design to help grow the organization and its mission.
As part of Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University, Design West Michigan aims to help educate non-designers on design thinking, advocate for design evaluation as part of business strategy, be an on-going catalyst for the region’s design network, bring key design thinkers into the region for public presentations and demonstrate the value of design through case studies and business and design interactions and help promote design thinking experiences in K-12 education.
Krayer is an active member of the Industrial Design Society of America, Design Management Institute, Design West Michigan and Society for Experimental Form. He earned his Master of Fine Arts degree at Cranbrook Academy of Art and his bachelor’s degree in art education at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
