Helping companies find the talent they need to run their businesses is becoming one of Ann Arbor SPARK’s most important missions.

That emerging strategy - which SPARK CEO Michael Finney will address today at the “Innovation Cities: Best Practices in Urban Development Conference” in Lowell, Mass. - is a key driver of SPARK’s overall economic development strategy.

“The easiest way for us to identify bonafide expansion opportunities or attraction opportunities is to lead with talent," Finney said.

Ann Arbor SPARK CEO Michael Finney

For a significant portion of the high-tech economy, people are the business. Without talented workers, those companies can’t offer competitive services.

It’s particularly true in the local information technology sector, where local firms like Barracuda Networks, ForeSee Results, Fry and HealthMedia are consistently hiring.

Ann Arbor-based website development firm Grand River Interactive, for example, has been coordinating with SPARK to find talented software developers. The firm announced Monday that it plans to add 48 jobs in Ann Arbor to support its growth over the next five years.

SPARK dedicates one of its top executives, Amy Cell, entirely to managing its efforts to help connect great employees with great companies.

“They go above and beyond to make sure companies that are in Ann Arbor can succeed and find the right people to expand and do business,” Grand River Interactive CEO Scott Robertson said.

Finney believes that other economic development organizations will begin to devote more energy to similar efforts when they witness SPARK’s success with the strategy.

Some 80 to 90 companies post high-tech job openings with SPARK on a monthly basis, and SPARK says the companies fill those positions at an average rate of around 40 percent.

“When companies have success finding talent, it just bodes well that they’ll put additional jobs in Michigan,” Cell said.

One medical device engineering company planning an expansion in Ann Arbor recently contacted SPARK to ask for help in finding talented employees. Cell sent an e-mail to SPARK’s list of some 4,000 jobseekers to notify them of immediate job opportunities with the company, which she declined to identify.

“We have had a phenomenal response to this posting,” she said. “What I’m hoping we can show companies is we’ve got talent that, within hours, is at the door waiting to go to work.”

At the Massachusetts conference, Finney plans to discuss the lessons SPARK has learned about the importance of dedicating time to talent efforts.

“That’s clearly teachable and doable at other communities,” he said, attributing the original idea to SPARK founder Rick Snyder, who is now running for governor. “And we’re trying to share our knowledge in terms of how we’ve approached it.”

SPARK's operating budget, about $5.2 million in 2009, is comprised of funding from a variety of organizations, including local universities, businesses and municipalities.

The organization, which has about 17 employees, also manages about $5.6 million in investment funds through various microloan initiatives and the Michigan Economic Development Corp.'s Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund.

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at 734-623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.