On the Move features and celebrates Flint & Genesee businesses’ grand openings, staff promotions, new hires, recognition, and milestones
(Featured above) Queens’ Provisions, 421 Garland St. in Flint, on Sept. 18
Promotions, New Hires and Recognition
McLaren Flint has recognized Mustafa Alnounou, a gastroenterologist, with its third-quarter Physician Recognition Award. Robin Galazaka, a certified registered nurse anesthetist in the hospital’s anesthesia department, received the third-quarter Allied Health Recognition Award. Both were recognized for their dedication to their work and for their professionalism and care.
Rowe Professional Services Company has welcomed seven new staff members. Justin Balcer, graduate engineer; Matthew Craft, engineering technician II; Brandon Hamel, engineering technician II; Andrew Holmes, engineering technician III; Matthew Keyes, graduate engineer; Michael Pfaff, remote sensing project coordinator; and Josie Wagner, marketing assistant.
Thomas Henthorn, professor of United States History at the University of Michigan-Flint has been honored with the Regents’ Award for Public Service. Henthorn has been very active in preservation projects at local cemeteries, serves as a board member at the Whaley Historic House Museum, and is a member of the UM-Flint Arts & Culture Research Cluster.
Effective Nov. 1, Nancy Orr will join the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation as its next vice president for investments and chief investment officer. Orr will succeed Jay Flaherty, who joined Mott in 2007 and will remain at the Foundation until he retires in January 2024 to aid in a smooth transition. Orr has over 20 years of institutional investment experience, spanning both taxable and tax-exempt capital. She most recently served as CIO of Fiduciary Counselling Inc. in St. Paul, Minn., where she led the investment program for an $11 billion registered investment advisor serving a single, multigenerational family.
Communications Technologies, Inc has named Michael Proctor as its new operations manager. In this role, he will work with clients and facilitate customer service.
Business News
Blondie’s Food & Spirits will be featured on America’s Best Restaurants (ABR) in the coming months. The national media and marketing company visited the local restaurant in September to shoot footage for an upcoming episode of “ABR Roadshow.” The episode will air on ABR’s social media channels and will focus on the restaurant, its dishes, and the behind-the-scenes story. In the past, ABR has featured Fenton’s Corner Bar & Grill.
The Flint & Genesee Economic Alliance has received recognition from the International Economic Development Council for its Talent Tours initiative, which has brought together clients of Re-Connections, St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center, and Catholic Charities for tours of companies including Lear Corp., WGS Global, Clearview, and Curbco. The program has earned a 2023 Excellence in Economic Development Bronze Award in the category of Innovation Programs & Initiatives.
The Greater Flint Arts Council has received a $1.25 million grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to renovate its building in downtown Flint. The grant will be used to update the building, adding an elevator to aid accessibility and expanding the usable space to the second and third floors.
Henry Ford Health and Ascension Michigan have signed an agreement to enter a joint venture that will bring together Ascension’s southeast Michigan and Genesys healthcare facilities and assets with Henry Ford’s.
“Together we can expand healthcare services and deliver innovations in care — from prevention and early detection through the treatment of complex conditions — to more people and communities across our state, including those who are most vulnerable,” said Robert Riney, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health. “We share a deeply rooted dedication to providing world-class healthcare that everyone deserves, regardless of geographic, demographic, or socioeconomic status.”
The combined organization would employ approximately 50,000 team members at more than 550 sites of care across our region. Among Ascension Michigan’s acute care hospitals included in the partnership is Ascension Genesys Hospital.
Kettering University graduates — who start with a median salary of $75,700 once they enter the job market post-graduation — have the highest starting salaries in Michigan, according to the consumer financial information site SmartAsset. This is the second year in a row that Kettering has earned this distinction.
Additionally, U.S. News & World Report recently included Kettering in its 2024 Best Colleges rankings at No. 6 among Most Innovative Schools – Regional Universities Midwest and No. 9 among Regional Universities Midwest.
Lear Corporation has received four first-place J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Seat Quality and Satisfaction awards and finished within the top three of the vehicle segments of the study. The study was based on responses from purchasers and lessees of 2023 model-year vehicles surveyed after the first 90 days of ownership.
Mott Community College has received a $156,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity’s (LEO) Office of Sixty by 30, Global Detroit, and the Michigan College Access Network so they can implement a new initiative called Pathways to Success: Empowering Immigrant Futures. The goal of this new program is to increase college completion among adult learners, international immigrants, refugees, or first-generation students.
Additionally, LEO has invested $350,000 into the Michigan College Access Network College Completion Corps to support Michigan’s adult students. The funding will help support Completion Coaches at six colleges including Mott Community College.
The University of Michigan-Flint has joined nine other public universities in the Michigan Assured Admission Pact, which means every Michigan high school graduate with a 3.0 GPA or higher will be admitted to the school when they apply. This cooperative is aimed at reducing unease with the beginning of a student’s college career and making the admissions process less of a stressor. The aim is to encourage more high school graduates to pursue higher education upon graduation.
Additionally, the university – which experienced an increase in fall enrollment for the first time in nearly a decade – is welcoming the public to engage in discussions for the university’s 10-year comprehensive campus master plan. This plan will help guide space usage, development, and evolution of the buildings and campus. There will be several ways that the university reaches out to the public and information can be found at CampusPlan.UMFlint.edu.
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