So, just how did the Center for Michigan get started? How did statewide business and political leaders from the often-polarized Right and Left join hands to start the Michigan’s Defining Moment Public Engagement Campaign?
Quick-witted Lansing political correspondent Susan Demas tells it like it is in this month’s Dome Magazine cover story. The story quotes numerous statewide leaders, but the most important thoughts may have come from Drew Bennett, a 43-year-old vice president at ePrize who represents MDM’s mission to go way beyond Lansing insiders to engage leaders in their own businesses and block clubs…
Count Drew Bennett, 43, as a convert. The Kalamazoo native voluntarily transferred back to Michigan three and a half years ago from a high-tech enterprise in a tony New York City suburb. He’s now a senior vice president with the Pleasant Ridge startup, EPrize, which the MEDC has trumpeted in its “Upper Hand” campaign. EPrize hosted a Community Conversation last year and Bennett has been hooked ever since, saying the Center’s optimistic outlook and nonpartisanship drew him in. The Northville father of three has attended several Conversations and a legislative dinner and is now helping with some of the candidate forums. He’s also been known to shoot off e-mails to friends and neighbors about the Center. “I say, ‘If you want something different, here’s at least one opportunity to do things differently,’” Bennett says. “We have both sides working together. It’s very compelling to me, personally.”
