CEO of CMS Energy Tapped to Chair Business Group

Jackson Citizen Patriot

A group of high-level business leaders focused on moving Michigan forward has tapped David Joos, president and CEO of CMS Energy, as its new board chairman.

Joos has been involved with the group, Business Leaders for Michigan, since its inception last year. Its goal is to make Michigan a ``Top Ten'' state for job and economic growth.

``We want to see some action,'' Joos said.

The group is made up of about 75 CEOs, board chairmen and senior executives at businesses around the state that represent more than $1 trillion in revenue and employ more than 300,000.

``We're just citizens interested in making progress,'' Joos said. ``We think we represent a lot of people.''

The member-led organization unveiled a five-point turnaround plan for the state last year. Joos said he was pleased to see Gov. Jennifer Granholm include some of the group's ideas -- including tax reform -- in her state budget proposal last week.

But he said more work needs to be done. Not all of the group's ideas are being considered, and some of Granholm's proposals don't go far enough to address the long-term structural issues the state is facing, Joos said.

Last year, Granholm relied on a great deal of money from the stimulus bill to balance the budget and plans to do so again this year. But Joos said that money won't be around forever.

``It's important to not only have a balanced budget for 2011, but to address the structural reforms so we don't find ourselves in the same circumstances in 2012,'' he said.

Joos will succeed Domino's Pizza mogul David Brandon as chairman of the Business Leaders for Michigan board. Brandon plans to step down March 1, after being named the new athletic director at the University of Michigan.

Clayson Hired by Business Leaders for Michigan

Detroit Free Press

He'll helm Detroit Creative Corridor Center

Business Leaders for Michigan today announced it has hired Matthew Clayson, formerly of ePrize, as director of its Detroit Creative Corridor Center.

The group, formerly known as Detroit Renaissance, established the new directorship to advance its Road to Renaissance Creative Economy Initiative. In this role, Clayson will help foster stronger business programs and services for firms in design, advertising, public relations, and other fields requiring intellectual capital and creative drive.

Among other goals, he will recruit business mentors for creative entrepreneurs and organize events and networking activities.

Before joining Business Leaders for Michigan, Clayson was promotion manager for ePrize’s Legal Department, and, prior to that, served as project manager for the Tourism Economic Development Council, helping to strengthen Detroit’s image for Super Bowl XL.

"I look forward to working with various stakeholders to create an environment where creative sector businesses and creative industry flourish in Detroit and Southeast Michigan," Clayson said.

Matt Clayson on Reliable Mass Transit in Metro Detroit:

MI Group: Slash Business Taxes, Expand Sales Tax

ABC News

A group of Michigan business executives said Wednesday it's encouraging lawmakers to begin looking at restructuring taxes and improving the state's business climate this year.

Business Leaders for Michigan would like to slice the state's main business tax roughly in half. The lost money would be replaced by extending the state sales tax to a host of services, while dropping the sales tax rate from 6 percent to 5.5 percent.

The group also wants to reduce the size of the state government work force by 5 percent to 10 percent, shrink employee benefits and eliminate a 3 percent pay increase for most state workers set to take effect Oct. 1. State employees got no pay increase two years ago and a 1 percent raise last fall.

Group leaders said the proposed changes are painful but necessary.

"We're in a situation where Michigan is going to have to take some bold steps," said David Joos, CEO of CMS Energy. "We've got to make some changes."

The suggestions, first unveiled last September, are among the ideas being floated by a number of groups as Michigan looks for ways to deal with a deficit that could be at least $1.6 billion when federal recovery money largely disappears. State coffers also will see the drainage of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks.

The outlook for 2010 is a pattern seen often in recent years, as the state has struggled to make spending and falling revenue match up. Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Democrats who run the House and Republicans who lead the Senate have settled on patchwork, temporary budget fixes mainly because they haven't been able to agree on longer-term solutions.

That has left the 2010-2011 budget mess unresolved entering a key election year when Michigan voters will pick a new governor and every one of the Legislature's 148 seats are up for grabs.

Groups such as Business Leaders for Michigan are starting to insist that solving the state's budget problems shouldn't wait for new officials to take office in 2011.

"It's a political year," said Doug Rothwell, Business Leaders for Michigan president. "It's an election year. We all realize that. But we can't afford to wait."

The group of 75 business and university leaders says the state can't just focus on cutting spending or increasing revenue. It also must remove barriers so school districts and local governments can save money by sharing more services, require public employees to pay a larger share of health care costs and change the way the state's criminal justice system works so prison costs can be brought down.

The group says its plan, which would eliminate the 22 percent surcharge on the state's corporate business tax and then reduce the overall business tax rate, would be revenue-neutral this year. But the state likely would collect more money from the sales tax in subsequent years.

Michigan could become more attractive for corporations if the business tax were reduced.

Other groups have suggested letting voters decide this year if they support a switch to a graduated income tax rather than the flat rate Michigan now has. The tax would be designed to bring in more revenue.

Granholm hasn't signed on yet to any particular plan, but she said last month in her year-end interview that she would support a "grand bargain" to revamp Michigan's tax structure if enough Republicans, Democrats and other groups are on board.

Just how far the governor is willing to go could be evident when she delivers her annual State of the State address Feb. 3 and delivers her proposed 2010-2011 budget to lawmakers a week later.

Coalition of Top Michigan Executives Has 5-Point Plan For State

From mLive

In light of the state’s fiscal and political turmoil, the leaders of Michigan’s largest companies are not going to remain quiet any more.

The top chief executive officers from around the state are ready to pump up the volume on their displeasure with the direction Michigan is headed. They have a five-point program to bring the state through its current crisis and set the stage for reform after the 2010 election.

And Lakeshore communities like Muskegon will play a key role in setting the stage for a new Michigan. The state’s future identity must be tied closely to the Great Lakes, the group’s chief executive says.

Expanding the Detroit Renaissance statewide, the CEO group has formed Business Leaders for Michigan, which includes company heads from Detroit to Grand Rapids, and St. Joseph to Midland.

Former Michigan Economic Development Corp. head Doug Rothwell is president of the new group. The business group is represented by the heads of the automakers and other major manufacturers, utilities and top universities.

“We are getting some push back in Lansing,” Rothwell said of the business group. “I think (the politicians) are nervous with the ground swell of frustration.”

The CEO group’s plan is similar to what is being called for by two independent think tanks — the right-of-center Center for Michigan and left-of-center Michigan’s Future.

Meijer Inc., Steelcase Inc., Haworth Inc., Amway Corp., Whirlpool Corp. and Herman Miller Inc. are some of the West Michigan companies represented through Business Leaders for Michigan.

“Business Leaders for Michigan cares deeply about this state,” Meijer CEO Mark Murray said. “Without robust job and business creation, we cannot ensure growth and prosperity for our residents.

“I am particularly concerned about the generation that is early in their careers. They are making what might be lifelong decisions about where they will live and use their talents. Without a return to growth, I fear we will lose too many of them.”

Business Leaders for Michigan has a “turn-around” plan for the state. The goal is to return Michigan to a “Top 10” state in terms of job creation and economic growth. Currently, the state has been the leading the nation in the unemployment rate.

The plan calls for:

• Changing state financial management with a two-year budgeting process.

• Right-sizing state government and providing budget reforms of state employee wages and benefits.

• Getting Michigan competitive for business growth through fixing the Michigan business tax.

• Making investments to provide a pro-jobs environment in infrastructure, higher education and urban development.

• Boost the state’s economy through innovation and entrepreneurship.

This fall, the group will push for a balanced budget, government reforms and tax reform, Rothwell said. The group’s solution on taxes is to shift which business sectors are contributing but not reduce state revenues.

Business Leaders for Michigan will then become involved in the 2010 election, Rothwell said. The group wants its plans embraced by the candidates.

“We recognize the need to get politically engaged,” Rothwell said. “We need to get the public’s attention and provide some deep research. We don’t need to (financially) buy access because of who this group is.”

After the election, the group will provide the resources needed to enact reforms and to keep elected official accountable, Rothwell said. Moving Michigan’s image from Detroit automotive companies to the Great Lakes is a key component in the future, he said.

“Places like Muskegon should define more what Michigan is all about,” Rothwell said. “The Great Lakes need to represent this state even more than we have. It’s who we are.”