Movers. Shakers. International travelers. Working behind the scenes. Our 7Over70 honorees have been and done all these things and more. And they continue to do things, ordinary and extraordinary. While perhaps reluctant to take credit, their achievements speak for themselves. Here are this year’s 7Over70. Steve Constantin How...
By Yvan Chouinard Penguin Books; updated 2nd edition (Sept. 6, 2016), 272 pages, softcover: $10 Reviewed by Chris Wendel In a nutshell: In an encore edition of a book first published in 2005, Yvan Chouinard, founder of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia, authentically tells the story of his business...
What does retirement from employment look like in 2019? The reality is, there is not one answer but rather everyone is self-defining this. Yes, there are those who embrace retirement in the traditional manner of no longer working for money, focusing on other items such...
[caption id="attachment_24619" align="alignleft" width="350"] Brothers Garret and Dakota Porter own 45th Parallel Lighting LLC, producer of ActionGlow LED sports kits.[/caption] Venture North isn't afraid of it. A quarter of its clients were under the age of 40 when they sought out financing help from Venture North or...
Banks and credit unions are making numerous moves to capitalize on the region’s bustling business and population growth. Some are building new offices and branches. Others are consolidating to improve efficiencies. And there are a couple of new entrants into the market. [caption id="attachment_24624" align="alignleft" width="405"] Construction...
[caption id="attachment_24622" align="alignleft" width="508"] About a year ago, Spencer Crouch (middle) started talking with Dr. Bill Northway (left) and Dr. Bob Portenga, paving the way for a deal that amounts to a passing of the baton, a merger, and a business acquisition all in one.[/caption] For...
Companies must continually evolve to stay relevant. They must be innovative, change with customer preferences and societal demands and address competitive economic factors. This evolution is absolutely necessary for survival and can lead to new business structures, product strategies and new leadership. Firms can choose to...
Bankers and credit union executives take a variety of things into consideration when deciding how much interest to pay depositors for holding their money and how much to charge for loans. Among them are the current need for deposits to fund loans. Inflation forecasts and what...
Thanks to accelerators and investors like Boomerang Catapult and 20Fathoms, a lot of cool companies are being born in Traverse City – from names you’ve heard before like Atlas Space Operations and Promethient to SampleServ, a new environmental software company that helps geologists graph and...
Could a Traverse City-based technology company help shape the future of the automotive industry? Thanks to a local startup called Promethient, the answer might just be “Yes.” [caption id="attachment_24613" align="alignleft" width="214"] Myers[/caption] According to Bill Myers, CEO of Promethient, the company is currently working with an original...
