This year, our Annual Meeting for Livingston County was a great success. Along with our partners at the Economic Development Council of Livingston County(EDCLC), we had the opportunity to recognize companies that drove economic growth over the last year and shared our work in Livingston County with the community. In addition, we were fortunate to have the CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Jeff Mason, join us and serve as our keynote speaker.
The event’s success was in part due to the strength of the regional partnership that we have with the EDCLC. “The EDCLC’s partnership with Ann Arbor SPARK has proven to be a successful way to help businesses locate and grow here, as well as building the county’s brand far and wide,” said EDCLC Chair, Rich Perlberg.
“The accomplishments that were featured at our annual meeting are only the beginning; more great stories are on the horizon.”
At the Annual Meeting, we distributed awards to three companies that invested in Livingston County in 2017. First, Thai Summit America Corporation was recognized for their investment in Livingston County. Thai Summit is in the process of investing $7 million to construct a 35,000 sq ft addition to connect existing facilities. Our Livingston County team was able to help provide assistance to Thai Summit, by assisting with their application for incentives from the City of Howell. The company will hire 33 new jobs directly related to this expansion.
We also recognized Aberrant Ales for their recent $1 million renovation of a historic building in downtown Howell. Our Livingston County team connected Abberant Ales with a number of state agencies and helped the project team navigate the incentives process. We also helped them locate and identify a site for the brewery.
The last investment recognition award was granted to TG Fluid Systems, who we honored for their recent $11 million expansion project, which includes a 62,000 sq ft build-out of the current facility and the addition of 35 new jobs over the next three years. TG Fluids currently employs more than 425 people, making it one of the County’s largest manufacturing facilities. It is a subsidiary of Japanese headquartered Toyoda Gosei, which has a significant global presence.
In addition to the investment recognition awards, we presented an award to Livingston Educational Services Agency (LESA) and recognized them as our Talent Partner of the Year.” This fall, LESA initiated the Livingston County Early College program, which makes it possible for interested students to complete a free “13th year” of high school at Mott Community College or Lansing Community College and leave with a certification in either machine tooling or welding, or a Licensed Practical Nursing certificate. This program will train the local workforce with in-demand skills to help close the talent gap.
This year our Annual Meeting was made possible by the generous support of St Joseph Mercy Livingston County, Lake Trust Credit Union, Cleary University, and Consumers Energy.
