The Economic Club of Traverse City

Big Economic Impact in a Small Town

CEO of Hagerty, Co-Founder and General Partner of Grand Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in innovative emerging technologies for Midwest industries. Since 2000, he has been the CEO of Hagerty, the world’s largest membership, insurance and media organization for enthusiast vehicle owners. During his tenure, the company has evolved into a leading automotive media company and the hub of the biggest car club in North America, Hagerty Driver’s Club, with more than a million members. Read More

USA-Canada Relations

Joe Comartin was appointed as Canada’s Consul General to Detroit in autumn of 2018, and is responsible for the states of Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. His career spans the private and public sectors, and most recently academia. Mr. Comartin began his career as a civil litigation lawyer in Ontario where he focused on criminal, family, and personal injury law. He was instrumental in founding the Canadian Autoworkers (CAW) legal services plan and served as managing director for the Windsor-Essex region. Read More

Vaping: A New Market-Created Public Health Crisis…or a Solution to the Market-driven Disaster of Cigarette Smoking? Or Neither? (Or Both?)

An economist, Ken Warner served on the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Public Health for 45 years, including a term as Dean, before retiring in 2017. His research has focused on tobacco policy. He has over 275 professional publications, including 7 books. Ken was the World Bank’s representative to negotiations on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world’s first global health treaty. He served as the Senior Scientific Editor of the 25th anniversary Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health. Read More

The Economic Case for Serving, Protecting and Restoring the Earth

Jon Terry serves as Director of Community Development and Alumni Relations at the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies. He is based out of their Great Lakes campus in northern Michigan and works to strengthen relationships between the Institute and its donors, friends, neighbors and more than 4,000 alumni worldwide. Read More

From TC to the World

Mike Carey, is a Founder and the Chief Strategy Officer of ATLAS Space Operations, Inc. A former USAF Major General with 34 years of experience in satellite and space-related operations, Mike shapes ATLAS’s future through strategy development, business planning and market engagement. Gen Carey also led AAC Microtec, North America, Inc. from 2014-2017, culminating in their IPO and recent advances in the market. Experienced with recent commercial space ventures, the Air Force Satellite Control Network, Eastern/Western test ranges, and the Space Test & Training Range, General Carey has the technical and political prowess to maneuver in the ever-expanding space markets. Read More

Trillion dollar deficits: How the federal budget symbolizes a broken political system

Paul Stebbins is a Founding Member of FixUS, an initiative of the Campaign to Fix the Debt and is Chairman Emeritus of World Fuel Services. Join us for a conversation with Paul Stebbins about America’s perilous fiscal and political situation. Trillion dollar deficits are set to return within the next year and our already record high national debt will skyrocket over the coming decade. The political environment surrounding our debt and federal budget have come to symbolize the brokenness of our political system. Read More

Big Economic Impact in a Small Town

Rod Groleau worked in the plastics industry for over 40 years. His experience and in-depth knowledge of the injection molding process have made him a leader in the industry. He received a Bachelor’s Degree of Engineering from Kettering University (General Motors Institute) and a Master’s Degree from Michigan State University. After a stint as a Plastic Process Engineer with A. C. Spark Plug, he co-founded Control Process, Inc. (CPI) to apply electronic control technology to the injection molding process. While at CPI he developed the industry’s first Process Control System to control the molding process by monitoring plastics variables, he also invented the first commercial Mold Pressure Sensor, and developed a complete product line of specialized controls and information systems for plastic injection molders. Read More

We are exited to present to you this extraordinary group of people that will be explaining  the impact that the pandemic has had in their industry overall. Now, in 2020, we are all working from home. The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically altered the workplace with video calls and instant messaging replacing in-person meetings and water cooler conversations. Some companies are allowing staff to work from home permanently. Yet huge swathes of the labor force are unable to work remotely, and experts say these developments could have profound implications for the economy, inequality, and the future of communities of all sizes. This magnificent panel has quite a variety of view points depending on their area of expertise. TCNew Tech is still here and has plans for the future!

Economics and Marketing Changes During and Post Covid-19

Fernando Meza is the CEO of Oneupweb. He’s been privileged to work in media and marketing since 2000 and is an Emma Bowen Foundation alumnus. During his EBF Fellowship, Fernando worked for the marketing services department for ABC Entertainment while completing his degree in Strategic Marketing. After college, he spent six years in Los Angeles working for a creative agency in a variety of roles, ranging from Producer/Director to Post-Production to Music Supervisor, launching series television such as “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” as well as co-branded campaigns between Disney Cable Networks Group Properties and Honda. Read More

Carbon Pricing

Barry Rabe is the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, where he directs the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy. Barry is a political scientist trained at the University of Chicago who studies climate, environmental, and energy policy in federal systems of government. He is a non-resident senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Read More

From TC to the Olympics

Speaker bio and presentation overview to be posted. Read More