25 Years of courage, leadership and tough decisions: highlights from the Detroit Regional Chamber's 25th annual Mackinac Policy Conference.1 Conference Chair Cindy Pasky (Strategic Staffing Solutions Inc.) joins 2004-2005 Chamber Chairman Richard E. Dauch (American Axle & Manufacturing Inc.) at the podium during the opening session. Pasky succeeds Dauch as Chamber chair for the 2005-2006 program year beginning July 1. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 2 After welcoming 1,700 attendees to the 25th Mackinac Policy Conference at Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Chamber President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Richard E. Blouse Jr., CCE CCE Cornell Cooperative Extension CCE Corporate and Continuing Education CCE Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. CCE Commission de Coopération Environnementale CCE Centre for Continuing Education CCE College of Continuing Education CCE Certified Computer Examiner , receives a special license plate from Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land Terri Lynn Land (b. June 30 1958) is the 41st Michigan Secretary of State. Land was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In high school Terri Land she served as a "scatter blitzer" for the 1976 campaign to elect Gerald Ford president. . [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 3 Gov. Jennifer Granholm touts her "Jobs for Michigan Fund." a $2-billion bonding proposal aimed at creating 72,000 new jobs in Michigan, chiefly in the areas of life sciences, alternative energy, advanced automotive and homeland security. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 4 How to pay for an improved and expanded Cobo Center is the No. 1 topic at the annual "Big Four" floor show, broadcast live by WJR WJR Woodcock Johnson-Revised and featuring (from left) Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson Lewis Brooks Patterson (b. January 4 1939) is an American lawyer and politician, currently County Executive of Oakland County, Michigan. Oakland County has an affluent population of over a million, that includes the northern and northwestern suburbs of Detroit. , Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, moderator Paul W. Smith Paul W. Smith is the morning drive-time host at Detroit, Michigan's WJR radio. As a clear channel on 760AM, WJR's broadcast can be heard throughout the Midwest and Smith's program is known throughout the region. , Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Macomb County Commission Chair Nancy White. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 5 Former NAACP NAACP in full National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Oldest and largest U.S. civil rights organization. It was founded in 1909 to secure political, educational, social, and economic equality for African Americans; W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. President Kweisi Mfume says a disturbing "Robin Hood in reverse" policy in the United States over the past few years has given more to the "haves" and less to the "have-nots." He also sharply rebukes California's Ward Connerly for importing his divisive anti-affirmative action campaign into Michigan. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 6 Kweisi Mfume's talk sets the stage for a regional dialogue on race featuring (from left) David Farbman, president and CEO of The Farbman Group; Maha Freij, chief financial officer of ACCESS; moderator Chuck Stokes of WXYZ-TV; Eric Cedo, executive director of CreateDetroit; and former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, now chairman of Dickinson Wright PLLC PLLC Professional Limited Liability Company PLLC Polk Life and Learning Center (Bartow, FL) PLLC Partners of Limited Liability Corporation . [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 7 Former Gov. William G. Milliken says civility is lacking in today's polarized A one-way direction of a signal or the molecules within a material pointing in one direction. , "take-no-prisoners" political environment. Michigan's longest-serving governor (1969-1982) was the main speaker at the first Mackinac conference in 1981. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 8 More than 200 supporters of the Chamber PAC gather at the French Outpost to get an earful ear·ful n. 1. An abundant or excessive amount of something heard, such as talk or music. 2. Gossip, especially of an intimate or scandalous nature. 3. A scolding or reprimand. from Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his two chief rivals for re-election this year, Freman Hendrix and Sharon McPhail. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 9 Wayne State University Law School The Law School offers a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in day, night, and combined programs. It also offers a number of dual degrees, including the J.D./M.B.A. combined program, and J.D./M.A. programs in economics, history, dispute resolution, and political science, among others. Dean Frank Wu (right) warns that Michigan colleges and universities will see a "precipitous decline" in minority enrollments if voters next year approve a proposed ban on so-called racial and gender preferences. The panel discussion on affirmative action affirmative action, in the United States, programs to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women. also features (from left), state Rep. Leon Drolet; Linda Parker, director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights; University of Michigan (body, education) University of Michigan - A large cosmopolitan university in the Midwest USA. Over 50000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan's three campuses. The students come from 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. professor Dr. Carl Cohen and former Detroit Renaissance President Paul Hillegonds. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 10 Creative solutions are needed to keep the U.S. health-care system from total collapse, warns Tommy Thompson, former U.S health and human services Noun 1. Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Department of Health and Human Services, HHS secretary and now a senior adviser with Deloitte & Touche USA. The former Wisconsin governor outlines a number of steps that need to be taken and some of them are surprisingly simple: Americans need to quit smoking, lose weight and exercise. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 11 Dr. Dennis Weaver, chief medical officer at BearingPoint, outlines a multi-point plan for getting the nation's health system on track in a panel session on "Information Technology: A Lifeline for Health Care." Other panelists are Dr. John Billi, associate vice president for medical affairs at the University of Michigan; Elliott Joseph, president and CEO of St. John Health  St. John Health St. John Health ; Kate Kohn-Parrott, director of Integrated Health Care integrated health care, n healthcare services combining the best of conventional and complementary health care. & Disability at DaimlerChrysler Corp., and Francine Parker, president and CEO of Health Alliance Plan. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 12 Michigan is losing the branding battle, and it's time to do something about it or suffer the consequences, declares Steve Hamp (at the podium), president of The Henry Ford, at a session on "Michigan's Brand: Investing in the Future." Panelists (seated, from left) are DTE Energy Chairman and CEO Anthony Earley; Paul Hillegonds, DTE's senior vice president of corporate affairs and communications; Timothy O'Brien, vice president of corporate relations at Ford Motor Co., and Grand Valley State University President Mark Murray. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 13 George Kelling, author of "Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities," talks about innovative crime-fighting strategies. Attendees at this session include Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully Cummings. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 14 Northwest Airlines President and CEO Douglas Steenland says his company is planning $175 million in improvements next year at its Metro Airport hub, including 25 new gates at its home base in the World Gateway McNamara Terminal. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 15 SBC (1) (SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, TX, www.sbc.com) A large, national telecommunications company that grew from a multitude of local and regional companies, including Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell, into a single, unified brand by 2002. Communications Chairman Edward Whitacre reveals that his company is gearing up to use video IP technology to go into head-to-head competition with the cable television industry. To achieve this, the company is investing $4 billion in a high-tech program called Project Lightspeed. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 16 State and local governments are in a permanent fiscal crisis, says David Osborne, author of "Reinventing Government." And "reinventing government" is exactly what Osborne recommends for Michigan and Detroit and other cash-strapped governments struggling to provide essential services in the face of declining revenues. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HE SAID IT ... 'WE HAVE GOT TO WAKE UP, AND MICHIGAN IS THE PERFECT PROTOTYPE TO SHOW HOW WE CAN EVOLVE OUR ECONOMY TO A 21ST CENTURY PROTOTYPE.' ~GOV. JENNIFER GRANHOLM E SAID IT ... 'I KNOW OF NO OTHER LINE OF BUSINESS WHERE INEXPERIENCE IS CONSIDERED AN ASSET.' ~FORMER GOV. WILLIAM G. MILLIKEN ON LEGISLATIVE TERM LIMITS E SAID IT ... 'THE HEALTH-CARE SECTOR IS FARTHER BEHIND THAN ANY OTHER SECTOR IN USING TECHNOLOGY.' ~TOMMY THOMPSON, DELOITTE & TOUCHE USA E SAID IT ... 'IT WILL BE A VERY DIVISIVE CAMPAIGN AND IT'S NOT GOING TO BE GOOD FOR MICHIGAN ... WE PUT OUT THE NOT WELCOME SIGN TO GAYS IN THE LAST ELECTION.' ~PAUL HILLEGONDS, DTE ENERGY, ON THE ANTI-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BALLOT PROPOSAL By Chris Mead Photos by Jerry Sarkody and Lisa Platt Auensen |
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