Glenn Stevens is the executive director of MICHauto and serves as the Detroit Regional Chamber’s vice president of automotive and mobility initiatives. In this role, Stevens provides strategic direction and leadership to the MICHauto program in its efforts to promote, grow and retain Michigan’s automotive and next-generation mobility industries. MICHauto is a statewide industry association focused on developing the state’s automotive and mobility industry in the key areas of: talent and education, advocacy, industry awareness, mobility and the startup ecosystem.

 

Stevens has more than 25 years of management, strategy and operations experience across the automotive, steel, and capital equipment industries. Prior to joining the Chamber, Stevens served as senior vice president of membership and sales with the Original Equipment Suppliers Association, where he was responsible for membership growth and retention, strategic partnerships, and automotive industry development with states across the nation. Additionally, his previous experience includes leadership positions with Blue Water Automotive Systems, Kolene Corp., and National Steel Corp.

 

Stevens serves on the board of Team 1 Plastics, the Detroit Mobility Solutions Coalition, the board of the Michigan State University Broad Executive Forum, and the Executive Planning Committee of the FIRST Robotics Championship. Stevens is also on PlanetM’s Advisory Board.

 

In 2018, Stevens was appointed to the Michigan Humanities Counsel by former Governor Rick Snyder. Additionally, he also was honored as the 2018 Global Detroit Champion for his work and commitment to immigration reform and the role New Americans play in economic development.

 

Recently, Stevens was appointed to the Advisory Board for the Cybersecurity Partnership at Northern Michigan University. Stevens is a native of Marquette, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and an executive MBA from Michigan State University.

 

The following members have recently elected to resign from our Club:

Courtney Millbrook cheerfully welcomed Rotarians and called her very first meeting as President to order at 12:30 p.m. She thanked Travis Stoliker for the wonderful Saddleback BBQ lunch he provided at Rotary Park last Friday. Members in attendance gave him a rousing round of applause.

 

Travis gave thanks for the opportunity to gather together, for the gifts we’ve received that enable us to serve our community. He asked for a deeper understanding of the true meaning of the four-way test so that it guides us in the way that we think, and what we say and do. He thanked our club’s leadership and its commitment to lead; the speaker and all involved in making today’s program meaningful. Travis then introduced himself as a brand-new Rotary member and the owner of Saddleback BBQ. Before that, he owned Liquid Web with his friend Matthew Hill. Travis had known Matt since he was 2 years old; Matt was his oldest friend. Sadly, on Wednesday, July 13, Matt died at the age of 41.

 

“He was a visionary. He was kind, smart, honest and funny,” Travis said, adding that he would miss Matt greatly. He shared a quote from Matt: “Life is ridiculous. What is there but to work hard, show some humility and to enjoy whatever you can?” Thank you for sharing, Travis. Rest in peace, Matthew Hill.

 

Patriotic Song: “The National Anthem,” accompanied on piano by John Dale Smith.

 

Chris Holman introduced Raeanne Mardigian, an Okemos realtor and property owner. She has attended as a guest, then applied for membership. Woohoo, Raeanne! Chris also introduced Katherine Japinga, Lansing Capital Region International Airport’s Director of Marketing. She attended the meeting with today’s speaker, Nicole Noll-Williams.

 

Craig Stiles introduced his long-time friend, R. J. Lomas, principal of St. Mary’s School in Williamston. Also in attendance: Milo Johnson, who is running for County Commissioner and was also a student Rotarian several years ago; and Keith Williams – who attended the meeting to support his wife and, according to Chris Holman, needed no introduction.

 

President Courtney reported that the Health of the Club was good.

 

Sandy Draggoo shared June birthdays. She reported that the June birthday chair, Jennifer Rostar, was unable to attend the meeting. 

The birthday question was, “If you could have a cup of coffee with a historical figure, visit with them and hear their stories, who would it be and why?” Jennifer thought she’d get some lighthearted answers related to sports heroes or past presidents; maybe even some ancient historical figures like Julius Caesar or Cleopatra. The answers she received were more profound and personal than she expected, and she was moved by a few. Craig Spencer said, “I would have a beverage with my grandfather, J. Clyde Spencer, Sr., because I never knew him. He was a historical figure for me.”

 

Helen Mickens would sit down for coffee with her fourth great grandfather, Cornelius Leonard Lenox of Boston, Mass. She described Cornelius as a free man of color; one of her four great grandfathers who fought in the Revolutionary War. His son of the same name came to Michigan in 1809 with the state’s first territorial governor, General William Hall. The younger Cornelius married a French-Canadian woman, raised a family and eventually owned and formed 99 acres in what is now Detroit.

 

Todd Gute said that he usually tries to be humorous with his responses to the birthday question, but he felt this year’s question was a legitimate one that deserved a thoughtful response. He loves history and, in particular, the Civil War, so he would like to talk to Joshua Chamberlain, Todd’s favorite Civil War commander. Joshua was a college professor with no formal military training when he volunteered to be in the 20th Maine Regiment. He became a highly respected and decorated Union officer, reaching the rank of Brigadier General by the end of the war. Jeff Daniels played him in the movie “Gettysburg.” Under Chamberlain’s command, the Confederates laid down their arms. Following the war, Chamberlain became president of Bowdoin College and then governor of Maine. Todd believes that Chamberlain would have some great stories to tell, and he would like to hear them. He also hopes that we all learn from our heroes from the past and follow the examples set by those similar to Joshua Chamberlain, seeking paths to let go of our anger and come together in peace and goodwill.  Sandy closed with a happy birthday wish to her fellow June-born Rotarians.  Rotarians sang Happy Birthday, accompanied by John Dale on piano.

 

Ken Beachler wished President Courtney good luck this year. He then introduced our special musical guest, Kelly Sandula-Gruner, who is a returning artist. She and Ken have appeared on mid-Michigan stages “dozens of times in recent years.” She is a singer and plays the French horn with the Lansing Concert Band. She performs with her partner, Dan Templan, in a group called Click. Kelly has degrees from Michigan State University in graphic design and music. She has traveled extensively and made many friends. She has her own graphic design firm, Gruner Graphics. She sang Linda Ronstadt’s version of “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” because it was Ronstadt’s birthday. The song was composed by Richard Rodgers and written by lyricist Lorenz Hart (Rodgers and Hart) for the musical “Pal Joey.” Kelly also sang Frank Sinatra’s version of “Almost Like Being in Love,” composed by Frederick Loewe with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner for the 1947 musical “Brigadoon.” Thanks, Kelly, for sharing two old-school show tunes and love songs that are still popular today. Seriously, though, after downing a whole quart of brandy over some charming fool, I’m not sure I would almost feel like being in love, know what I’m sayin’?!

 

As Chair of the Day, Chris Holman introduced our guest speaker, Nicole Noll-Williams, President and CEO of Capital Region International Airport. She presented “30,000-Foot View – Lansing Updates and Development Priorities.” Nicole thanked Chris for his mentorship, and for his support and advocacy of the airport over the years. She returned to the airport just over a year ago, which she described as a wild year. She has been in the industry since the ’90s, when she started loading and unloading planes, and deicing aircrafts. She learned about the business from the ground up. Nicole acknowledged her friendship with other female CEOs in the room, all of whom became CEOs in the middle of the pandemic. She also acknowledged that many Rotarian were her friends. Nicole discussed the structure of the airport authority. Her board comprises three appointees from the City of Lansing, three from Ingham County, and ex-officios from Clinton and Eaton counties. She invited Rotarians who have an interest in getting involved with the airport to reach out to the City of Lansing and Ingham County, which decide who serves on her board. Other upcoming projects will require community support down the road as well.

 

The Authority owns the Capital Region International Airport and Mason Jewett, and is also a port of entry. There are a lot of components about the airport itself that many people aren’t aware of.

 

 

1. Retain and expand passenger service, both domestic and international, and traveling nonstop to destinations

2. Increase cargo tonnage – how can we support UPS and their Midwest hub located in Lansing?

3. Land development

4. Corporate aviation development 

 

 

When Nicole returned to the airport, it was a challenging time in the middle of the pandemic. Air service was shut down. “There was little to no service for a long period of time,” she said. Airports like ours – those that are small to mid-sized – have been impacted by the lack of pilots and early retirements. “It’s important that we diversify and look at other opportunities for growth with the land we have.”

 

The Lansing airport has a billion-dollar impact and over 2,000 acres of land. Therefore, Nicole is working on exciting development efforts. She reported that there are a little more than 700 individuals with badges who work at the airport but only 42 are true airport employees. “Think of the airport as a mall,” Nicole offered. “We maintain safe, secure facilities for our tenants to operate, and our tenants are running small businesses like Delta Airlines, a multimillion dollar aircraft; American Airlines, TSA, FAA, car-rental companies. We’re maintaining these facilities and they grow based on all of you, if you use the service. If services aren’t being used, there’s a decline in service.”

 

Two airports in the state of Michigan have a Federal Inspection Station (a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility) – Detroit Metro and Lansing. This allows Lansing to clear international passenger flights of over 19 people on an aircraft, so that’s why there are nonstop seasonal flights to Cancun and Punta Cana; Jamaica was added this year – all made possible because the airport has been a port of entry since 2009. UPS – UPS handles 60 million pounds of cargo through the Lansing hub, with an annual operating budget of $9.3 million.

 

Budget – The airport’s recently approved budget has gone down by a little over $800,000 in expenses for operating by making necessary cuts, consolidation and changes in the budget.

 

Mason Jewett – There are 81 aircrafts based in Mason. Those interested in corporate flying, connect with Nicole or Katherine. A key asset in Mason is Lansing Community College’s Aviation Mechanics program. The program graduates just shy of 100 kids per year, and they are a direct feed to Delta Airlines – one of the airlines’ 43 feeder schools. Students graduate with jobs that start out at around $63,000 per year and up, following completion of the 2-year degree program. Nicole encouraged Rotarians to help create educational awareness of the program among our friends and family.

 

Port Lansing – In addition to clearing international passengers, Lansing can also clear cargo. They’ve worked with GM for many years. When they brought in the Camero, there were a lot of parts that came to Lansing from South America. They were cleared through Port Lansing in a matter of 2 to 3 hours instead of getting caught up at the border for a long period of time.

 

Square Footage – The airport has a 48,000-square-foot building and 37 acres of land.

 

Foreign Trade Zone – If manufacturing product within a foreign trade zone, you eliminate a lot of taxes or duties on all the pieces and components of your product. When you ship it back out domestically, you pay a tax on the final product. There’s a huge savings from the deferment of taxes and duties, but shipping internationally, you don’t pay taxes or duties – one way the federal government has created opportunities to keep businesses, jobs and manufacturing here. The airport took the steps necessary to create a foreign trade zone in an 8-county region to help support future economic development, working in partnership with Michigan Economic Development Corporation, LEAP and the Chamber.

 

Development Programs – Airline incentives, cargo ramps, site readiness, roads – some improvements on the airport’s master plan:

• Airports across the U.S. have to be an economic-development engine by providing incentives for airlines to come into our market. Lansing competes with airports across the United States. Airlines have to decide whether to put an aircraft here in Lansing or in Texas, for example.

• MEDC doesn’t do a direct air-service development focus on airline incentives. However, neighboring states do. Therefore, Lansing must establish its own types of incentives to attract and bring in new carriers.

• CRIA applied for about a half-million dollars in federal grants that would support service to Minneapolis, Florida, Arizona. That decision is pending, possibly by the end of the month. 

• Cargo-ramp expansion, accessing federal and state dollars that are available for infrastructure; CRIA applied for $8.183 million in federal funds for a cargo-ramp expansion. We are 90 minutes from 90 percent of the state’s population. The benefits of our centralized location supports cargo and future cargo development with UPS, Federal Express, Amazon and others who are importing and exporting products today. Lansing is currently tapped out on space for their ramps. In order to grow, more ramps are needed. CRIA is currently in the design process.

• Site readiness – The airport is looking at diversifying revenues. What do they do with the land that’s not being used? “If we don’t have it ready for development, what company will put their money in if it’ll take us a year to get tenants hooked up with sewer, electricity, etc.?” They are trying to move forward with that process. 

• Flight school – The Authority is currently working with Eaton Regional Educational Service Agency to establish a flight school. They partnered on an FAA grant to support startup costs. She hopes that funding will come through at the end of this year and that they’ll be announcing a flight school for juniors and seniors at Eaton RESA, Clinton RESA, Ingham Intermediate School District and Lansing Schools to start in the fall of 2023. This news resulted in applause.

 

There’s also additional work that is needed:

 

• Improvements to a taxi way – $1.5 million

• Ramp reconstruction – $415,000

• Master plan updates – a little over $1 million

• Cargo ramp design – in process today

• Construction – the airport’s portion will get tied in with state and local dollars

• Rehab on some of the apron at Lansing airport

• In Mason, work on taxi way designs and the removal or cutback of trees

 

The master plan is key. To receive federal funds to support development, projects must be part of the master plan. Lansing is one of the oldest passenger terminals in the state of Michigan. It’s time to invest in significant upgrades to the existing space. The current master plan (completed in 2006) looked 10 to 15 years ahead. The current cargo ramp that’s being developed was part of the original master plan, which allowed for the pursuit of funding to support the project today. Now they have to think about the next space: What’s going to happen in the future with technology, such as drone technology, battery-type aircrafts? What kind of manufacturing can be done on all the land that they have on the north side of the airport? Are there opportunities to create partnerships with companies that are looking at and testing these types of new future aircrafts and technologies?

 

The pandemic hit vendors very heavily. The airport lost its restaurant provider, so when passengers went through security, there was no coffee. A new restaurant provider will start at the end of the year. Their liquor license was approved, which will allow travelers to get a cocktail before they depart on a flight. The business center on the second floor has been opened up; there’s a 24-7 market with soft seating and quick-grab foods; 95 percent of these projects were done in-house by the airport’s Maintenance Department. There will be opportunities for naming rights in some of these areas as development continues.

 

Passenger Side: Think of Lansing within an hour’s drive – that’s the airport’s core catchment area. Anyone within a half-hour drive, Nicole wants them to fly out of Lansing – that’s 580,000 people; within 45 minutes, it’s 1.2 million people; an hour’s radius includes 3.2 million people. Nonstop services, like Washington, D.C., and international passenger service expands through the entire state and Canada – these are the airport’s target areas when they’re working on marketing and future development opportunities – they need to find out where these people fly to and how frequently.

 

American and Delta are adding flights; the United contract was lost but they’re still interested in maintaining discussions as things turn around and pilots return. Delta is still down 20 percent in flights compared to 2019. Detroit is also down in flights by about 30 percent. Washington, D.C., is a key market; 85 people per day travel to New York City each day. Something is coming that Nicole cannot talk about today but asked us to stay tuned regarding trips to a couple of new markets. Flyers were distributed on tables, along with LAN socks. The Business Travel Coalition is dedicated to promoting and supporting Lansing. Instead of supporting businesses down the road, Nicole urged Rotarians to keep the money in Lansing – gas, food, parking – keep that money in Lansing. The difference is about $200. How do we make sure we all fly out of Lansing? 

 

 After Nicole answered many questions from those in attendance, Courtney invited her back to give the Club updates, but only as a Rotary member. Courtney reminded everyone that Glenn Stevens, Executive Director of MICHauto, will be next week’s speaker. 

 

Lolo's email is:  LRobison@cata.org