Newsmakerof the Year
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20090119-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 1/16/2009 5:52 PM Page 1 ® www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 25, No. 3 JANUARY 19 – 25, 2009 $2 a copy; $59 a year ©Entire contents copyright 2009 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved Inside Who’s in line to succeed Epolito at MEDC? United Way may cut funding Page 6 given the cur- Agency awaits final revenue figures for ’08 rent economic Shipping ban pours grief on climate.” wine retailers, BY SHERRI BEGIN WELCH the various funding cut scenarios firmer idea of the degree to which United Way CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS it is assessing while it waits to get pledges will likely be collectible, could not say Page 3 a firmer idea of how much money she said Friday in an e-mail. It late last week Six months after making initial it raised last year. doesn’t expect to be able to “call how much it Small Business Monthly grant commitments under its new “We’re trying to shore up where the revenue picture” until early raised through community impact model, United we stand from a revenue stand- March rather than this month or workplace cam- Way for Southeastern Michigan is point … (and) communicating to next as in the past. paigns and indi- considering funding cuts. our partner agencies that we don’t “But that is not a justification to Green vidual, founda- The agency met with the lead ex- know what the situation is,” said do nothing or plan for nothing,” tion and corporate giving in 2008, ecutives of many of its local non- Kelly Major Green, vice president Green said. Green said. profit grantees in mid-December of marketing and strategy at Unit- “We think it’s prudent for every And subsequently, it could not to discuss the current economic ed Way. organization, particularly every comment on the magnitude of pos- climate, service gaps arising from The agency still is talking with nonprofit organization, to be look- sible funding cuts to its member the historic level of demand and the domestic automakers to get a ing at ways it may have to adjust See United Way, Page 24 Chinese firm ■ Real-world advice from of the business peers, Page 17 shops local 2008 Newsmaker Year ■ How to tell if it’s time to sell, Page 19 suppliers Dingell honored for This Just In BY RYAN BEENE years standing up for SBA loans plummet CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS U.S. Small Business Adminis- Detroit-area automotive suppli- tration-backed lending con- ers might soon be merger or acqui- automakers, workers tinued to fare poorly in De- sition targets of a Chinese automo- tive supplier looking to gain a cember, according to the BY ROBERT ANKENY most recent numbers from stronger footprint in the U.S. auto industry at bargain-basement AND NANCY KAFFER Detroit’s SBA office. CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Loans made through the prices. popular 7(a) program are “As for the size, it may be a very t was a bad week for John Dingell. down 64 percent for the fiscal small firm, up to a very large firm” The 53-year Democratic veteran of the year to date, said SBA Michi- said Jeff Zhao, general manager of I U.S. House of Representatives was back on gan District Director Richard Summitech Engineering Inc., not rul- the job but still recuperating from knee re- Temkin. The SBA reported 195 ing out publicly traded tier-one placement surgery, using a wheelchair or loans worth $38 million, a 55 suppliers. “It depends on what cane to get around. percent decline in year-to- kind of company and the core val- Dingell’s congressional colleagues were date dollars. ue of the company.” drubbing the Detroit 3 execs, who’d come to At the end of October, the Chinese investment was the fo- Washington, D.C., in search of bridge loans first month of the SBA’s fis- cus at a recent meet-and-greet and left portrayed as arrogant spendthrifts, cal year, lending had plum- event Tempo International Group, the out of touch with the American market and meted from 240 loans made parent company of Summitech, the American worker. in October 2007 to 81 during hosted at the Henry Ford Museum on And a liberal Democrat from California, the same month last year. Jan. 9. Rep. Henry Waxman, was challenging Din- Small-business owners In attendance was Beijing’s vice gell’s chairmanship of the powerful House En- point to a tightening of credit mayor, who expressed his city’s in- ergy and Commerce Committee. standards by banks; banks terest in supporting Chinese in- The timing couldn’t have been worse. The au- say the number of creditwor- vestment in Detroit companies. tomakers went to Capitol Hill on Nov. 18, a Tues- thy loan applicants has de- Also attending was Wayne day. On Friday, the House Democrats voted. County Executive Robert Ficano, NEWSCOM clined. U.S. Rep. John Dingell has served Michigan for 53 Dingell lost. Express Loans, a type of local economic development lead- years. Despite losing his chairmanship of the House “It was a bad time for me,” said Dingell, loan made through the 7(a) ers, Beijing municipal officials Energy and Commerce Committee, he’s not slowing whose 15th District includes Dearborn, home and area auto industry executives. down. to Ford Motor Co. “There was a definite back- See This Just In, Page 2 See Chinese, Page 24 lash against the auto industry — that was the HELP HONOR DINGELL nastier hearing the companies had. That nasty hearing had an impact on me and you can’t re- Luncheon: Noon to 1:30 p.m. Feb. 18 ally gainsay that.” Where: Ritz-Carlton Dearborn It’s a setback for Dingell, 82, who was first Tickets: $50. Tables of 10 are $450 each appointed to the committee in 1975 and has Registration: Visit www.regonline.com/ held the position of chair or ranking Democrat 09newsmaker. Also 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 18 since 1981. But he’s not slowing down. For his long service to the people of the state For questions and group reservations, call (313) 446- 0300. See Dingell, Page 25 NEWSPAPER 20090119-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 1/16/2009 5:48 PM Page 1 Page 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS January 19, 2009 Olson and co-defendant Lorezno story is kitchen/home goods store in separate civil lawsuits filed such as grip, production assis- Garrisi, both members in Clinton and gift shop Acorn Farm L.L.C., Dec. 28 and Jan. 5 in Macomb Coun- tant, set building and design, film THIS JUST IN Township-based Marquee Invest- which moved into a space on ty Circuit Court. makeup and screenwriting. ments L.L.C., were facing separate Main Street vacated by The Village Neither company president Meisner said he’s investing ■ From Page 1 lawsuits from New Baltimore- Peddler months earlier, said DDA Robert Thiede nor his attorney, $20,000 to launch the school, and based Citizens State Bank and from Executive Director Ann Barnette. Charles Bullock of Southfield based expects first-year revenue of program in which 50 percent of Warren Bank, for defaulting on — Chad Halcom Stevenson & Bullock P.L.C returned $400,000 to $500,000. He founded the loan is guaranteed, are bank loans for residential devel- calls. Huntington Woods-based Mort down 72 percent since the opments in Macomb and Chester- Rock Tops owes $1.2M The Dwyer case is set for a Meisner Associates in 1997, a pub- SBA’s fiscal year began. Hunt- field townships that never materi- hearing Jan. 26. lic-relations firm and a specialist ington Bank continues to be De- alized. A shuttered Macomb Township — Chad Halcom in training and managing talent troit’s top SBA-backed lender, “The cross-complaint by Mr. Ol- business that makes and installs for television news. making 11 loans in December, son against (Garrisi) has been granite countertops for residen- — Bill Shea Temkin said. withdrawn, which we commend tial customers owes at least $1.2 Wayne County gets a new — Nancy Kaffer since that allegation was base- million to suppliers according to development head less,” said Benjamin Aloia, an attor- Macomb County court records. Airline buying 15 planes Wayne County has named ney for Garrisi in the case. Involuntary bankruptcy could Memphis, Tenn.-based Pinnacle Ex-Olson president defaults J.M. Olson closed its doors in be an option for liquidating Rock Turkia Awada Mullin as the new di- Airlines Corp. subsidiary Colgan Air The former president of a Macomb County on May 9, and Tops Inc.’s assets and reimbursing rector of economic and neighbor- Inc., which is based in Manassas, closed St. Clair Shores con- John Olson personally faces three its creditors, one attorney said. hood development. Va., inked a $432 million deal to struction firm is in default for lawsuits in Oakland and Macomb “Three or more creditors are Mullin, formerly an assistant $5.5 million in two pending law- counties for allegedly defaulting needed to begin involuntary Wayne County executive, filled buy 15 74-seat Bombardier Q400 suits after failing to appear for on bank loans totaling more than bankruptcy. I know we have at the vacancy created by the Dec. 31 NextGen turboprop airliners that deposition in Michigan or the $5.25 million. least that many based on the com- resignation of Mulugetta Birru. Bir- will operate as part of Continental Bahamas. Steve Braun, president of J.M. panies that have contacted me,” ru is working on-site with the Airlines commuter fleet.