Joshua Garcia

The following is a list of achievements by businesses and individuals in the Ann Arbor area:

• Law student and Ann Arbor resident Joshua Garcia was one of two recipients of Varnum’s Diversity and Inclusion Scholarships. Garcia is a first year law student at the University of Michigan Law School where he serves as the recruitment chair of the Latino Law Students Association. He is the recipient of the competitive Clarence Darrow scholarship and one of 20 students nation-wide to receive the American Bar Association Legal Opportunity scholarship. The Varnum scholarship program was created as part of the firm’s ongoing efforts to encourage diversity in the legal field and in the community. Garcia will receive $4,000 in scholarship funds. Varnum Attorneys at Law is a law firm serving the state of Michigan.

• Paul Krutko has been selected as the new president and CEO of regional business development nonprofit Ann Arbor SPARK. Krutko will join Ann Arbor SPARK on April 18 and will oversee the organization’s continued efforts to expand economic opportunities in the Ann Arbor region through collaboration with local, state, federal and university resources. Krutko most recently led economic development efforts in San Jose, Calif. He has also worked for the cities of Cleveland and Jacksonville.

• Charles Reinhart Co. Relocation Director Susan Kellam and Relocation Coordinator Leslie Smith attended the 2011 Leading Real Estate Companies of the World (LeadingRE) conference March 8-10. The annual event attracted 850 top real estate brokers, managers, relocation professionals, sponsors and guests from the U.S. and eight countries around the world. Charles Reinhart Co. is based in Ann Arbor.

• Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, a national intellectual property law firm with an office in Ann Arbor, is joining with the Global Midwest Alliance and the Midwest Research University Network to announce the Midwest Clean Tech 2011 Brinks Innovation Competition. The competition is held in conjunction with Midwest Clean Tech 2011, a one-day program to be held at the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago on Sept. 14 that features Midwest excellence in clean technology innovation, products and services. The Brinks Innovation Competition was created to help emerging and venture ready clean tech companies gain visibility and make connections. For details or to apply, visit the news and events page at Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione’s website.

• TheStreet, a digital financial media company, and the Journal Register Co. , a local news and information company, announced in March that they have entered into a strategic content-distribution agreement allowing the companies to integrate and cross-promote business content and services. In related news, Journal Register Co. announced in March that Jim Brady is joining the company to lead its digital trans-formation of its entire newsroom on all platforms. Brady, a digital news veteran and the former executive editor of washingtonpost.com, most recently served as founder and general manager of the site TBD, a local news operation that combined traditional journalism and audience-powered reporting dedicated to comprehensive coverage of the Washington, D.C. region. The Journal Register Co. is parent company of Heritage Media, which includes The Saline Reporter, The Milan News-Leader, The Chelsea Standard, The Dexter Leader, The Manchester Enterprise, The Ypsilanti Courier, The A2 Journal and The View in Belleville.

• Several Ann Arbor businesses are among the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch winners, honored for being high-peforming small businesses in 2010: Grand River Inc., Hygieia Inc., Leon Speakers Inc., Running Fit, Sakti 3, SRT Solutions, Translume Inc. and Underground Priting. See the complete list of winners on the companiestowatch.org website.

• Saline resident Chris Ostrander was recently named president of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. in Findlay, Ohio. Ostrander assumes leadership of the North American business for Cooper, including wholly owned subsidiary Mickey Thompson - a developer and distributor of specialty off-road tires. Ostrander and his family will relocate to Findlay in July.

• Former state Rep. Pamela Byrnes, D-Chelsea, is the new executive director of the University of Michigan’s joint institute with Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Byrnes, who holds a bachelor’s degree in far eastern studies from U of M, will oversee the hiring and management of personnel to support the work of faculty and staff serving in the joint institute. She also will be responsible for staff mentoring and training, budget and planning, financial resource management, policy and operations process implementation and fund-raising. Her office will be in Shanghai.

• The Humane Society of Huron Valley was honored by the Michigan Pet Fund Alliance at its first statewide “No Kill Conference” held March 25 in Ann Arbor. MPFA gave Outstanding Shelter Awards to three open admission shelters with the best 2009 save rates, in separate categories for large, medium and small animal welfare organizations. The Humane Society of Huron Valley was presented with the “Outstanding Large Shelter Award” with a 75 percent save rate in 2009.

• B2B CFO recently announced its expansion in Michigan with the addition of Debra Christein as the firm’s newest partner. Christein is joining B2B CFO after a 30-year corporate career in finance. She joins 10 other B2B CFO partners who currently provide CFO services to local business owners. B2B CFO is a “CFO for hire” business headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz.

• Chris Demery, vice president of enterprise application development at Ann Arbor-based Domino’s Pizza, will deliver the closing keynote presentation at the Midwest Technology Conference May 5, discussing how to effectively use enterprise collaboration and technology to drive business initiatives.

• Ann Arbor-based Internet2 recently announced that Stephen (Steve) Wolff, widely considered as one of the original architects and fathers of the Internet, will join its staff as interim vice president and chief technology officer. He joins Internet2 from Cisco where he served as the technical manager in corporate consulting engineering in the office of the CTO. Internet2 is a national advanced networking consortium, bringing the U.S. research and academic community together with technology leaders from industry, government and the international community to undertake collaborative efforts.

• Ann Arbor’s Weber’s Inn has launched a redesigned website: www.webersinn.com. Ann Arbor-based web design and development company Automatyk developed the new site. The hotel also partnered with Ann Arbor Internet marketing firm Ingenex Digital to optimize the page for maximum visibility and first page search results.

• The nonprofit organization Confederation of Indian Industry and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan signed a memorandum in Delhi April 1 confirming their intent to collaborate as strategic partners. The memorandum of understanding will bring together two unique efforts. It will support CII’s India@75 initiative and the Ross School’s CK Prahalad Initiative. The memorandum was signed by Robert J. Dolan, dean of the Ross School, and Chandrajit Banerjee, director general of CII. The two organizations will collaborate in planning, facilitating and implementing experiential learning projects on which Ross students and faculty will work with CII member institutions and strategic partners. Under the agreement, the Ross School will endeavor to create and disseminate teaching materials arising from the projects on which CII and the Ross School collaborate. In addition, the Ross School and CII will endeavor to co-create activities such as seminars, conferences and workshops in the United States and India.

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