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Posted on Thu, Feb 11, 2010 : 5:47 a.m.

Executive Profile: John C. Austin, nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution

By Sarah Rigg

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John C. Austin

As a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, John Austin spends a lot of time thinking about how the national think tank can improve the economy in Michigan and the rest of the so-called “rust belt.”

Austin said he has had an interest in and love of politics from any early age, influenced by his father, who was a minister in West Virginia and who tried to fight strip mining there. As a young man, Austin worked as a Washington, D.C. lobbyist, later going on to help with presidential campaigns before marrying a woman from Michigan. Once in Michigan, his focus shifted to helping the Midwest through public policy.

Austin said his role at Brookings, where he directs the Great Lakes Economic Initiative, is to consider the question, “What can public policy do to help this region transition and succeed in new economy?”

“We’re running up against giant economic changes and dislocations,” Austin said, adding that Michigan and the Midwest region are “as economically challenged as ever.”

The goal, he said, is getting smarter, getting better-educated and creating businesses out of the “incredible research” being done in Michigan.

Austin also serves as vice president of the Michigan State Board of Education, and in both roles, he is an advocate for educating young people and retaining talent in the state.

“My political role as an elected state-wide official gives me a chance to contribute and shape an important topic related to my main topic, which is what do we do about the economy of Michigan and the region,” Austin said. “We’re helping get people educated and educated well,” he said.

In an interview in early February, Austin criticized the move by the current state administration not to fund $4,000 “Promise Scholarships” for college students this year. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has since said she will work to restore the scholarships, but no specifics have been given.

Austin called the de-funding of the scholarships, “crazy” and “short-sighted.”

“The message we were sending when we enacted the Promise Scholarship was that we realize in Michigan that everybody needs some kind of secondary education to succeed and survive in a changed economy,” Austin said. “And, that we’re serious in this state about being a place that delivers highly educated people who can deliver what (any business) needs. Taking away the scholarship sends the wrong message — that we’re not serious about being a world leader in an economy based on knowledge.”

Austin described Michigan as “reeling” from the loss of low-education auto-related jobs, and said the state has “a way to go” in creating a more diverse economy. Ann Arbor, he said, provides an example of the kind of diverse economy that’s needed.

“Ann Arbor is already doing much better than the rest of Michigan,” Austin said. “It’s more diverse. It’s the place where you can find all these startups in clean tech, information technology, medical and auto research. It’s all happening in and around Ann Arbor with its great research university at the core. It’s an example of the future of what Michigan can be helped to be.”

Brookings recently released a report about venture capital in the Great Lakes region, and Austin said the message of that report is that government needs to help attract more venture capital to the Midwest. Austin said that venture capitalists are already attracted to Ann Arbor, but more can be done.

“Federal, state and local government and philanthropy can grow a critical mass of early-stage venture capital” so that entrepreneurs who invent and innovate in Ann Arbor can get money to grow businesses here, not in Silicon Valley, Boston or New York, Austin said.

“The venture capital community has concentrated on Ann Arbor because that’s where the action is in health care, new technology, new firms, new health products. There are a lot of good opportunities to invest in winning deals here.”

Background

Age: 47

Education: B.A. from Swarthmore in economics/political science; Master's in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Family: Married 22 years, three children 19, 15 and 13.

Residence: Ann Arbor.

Business Insights

Best business decision: Focusing on trying to turn around the economies of Flint, of Michigan and the whole Rust Belt.

Worst business decision: Trying to turn around the economies of Flint, of Michigan and the whole Rust Belt.


Best way to keep a competitive edge: Keep working (or “keep swimming” in "Finding Nemo" parlance).

Personal hero: Harry Truman.


How do you motivate people? By listening to them, understanding their dreams and vision, and offering them a vision that they can believe in and takes them where they want to go.

What advice would you give to yourself in college? Keep your sense that all things are possible and your naivete. Oh, and your jokes aren’t that funny.

Word that best describes you: Empathetic.

First Web site you check in the morning: E-mail.

Confessions

What keeps you up at night? The direction of our region/country.

Pet peeve: People who don’t get up in the morning.

Guilty pleasure: Laughing at my own jokes.

First job: Intelligence Analyst, U.S. State Department Intelligence and Research Division, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs.

First choice for a new career: Satirist/journalist.

Treasures

Favorite cause: Education.

Favorite book: "Lolita."

Favorite movie: "Last Year at Marienbad" or "Naked Gun 33 and1/3."

Favorite hobby: Anything outdoors with my family.

Favorite restaurant: Halo Burger.

LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter? None - tired of people trying to friend me.

Typical Saturday: Attempting to motivate my family to do something worthwhile, like go outdoors.

What team do you root for? Raiders or Juventus.

Wheels: 2008 Mercury Milan, thanks to my daughter.

Who would play you in a movie? Tom Hanks.

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to AnnArbor.com.

Comments

Sarah Rigg

Thu, Feb 11, 2010 : 7:54 p.m.

Edited at 7:53 p.m. to fix a typo.