Ann Arbor SPARK Annual Meeting

Spark / Ann Arbor SPARK Annual Meeting

2019 Ann Arbor SPARK Annual Meeting Photo Gallery

Photos by Doug Coombe

2019 Awards

Meeting Materials

April 30, 2019 | EMU Student Center

APRIL 30 – ANN ARBOR, MI – Ann Arbor SPARK hosted its 2019 Annual Meeting at Eastern Michigan University highlighting results from the organization’s work in 2018. The event also presented awards to three SPARK businesses driving growth in the region, welcomed guest speaker Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and featured a keynote address by Amy Liu, vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and the Adeline M. and Alfred I. Johnson Chair in Urban and Metropolitan Policy. Read the press release.

Special Guest

Gretchen Whitmer, Governor
State of Michigan

As Michigan’s Governor, Gretchen Whitmer is committed to solving problems for Michiganders across the state. Under her leadership, that means expanding access to affordable healthcare, improving education and skills training, respecting working families, cleaning up Michigan’s drinking water, and of course, fixing the roads.

Governor Whitmer will present an Economic Outlook for the State of Michigan.

Keynote Speaker

Amy Liu
Vice President and Director — Metropolitan Policy Program
The Brookings Institution

Amy Liu is vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and the Adeline M. and Alfred I. Johnson Chair in Urban and Metropolitan Policy. She is a national expert on cities and metropolitan areas adept at translating research and insights into action on the ground. As director of Brookings Metro, which Liu co-founded in 1996, she pioneered the program’s signature approach to policy and practice, which uses rigorous research to inform strategies for economic growth and opportunity. Liu has worked directly on such strategies with scores of public and private sector leaders in regions around the country, including Chicago, Kansas City, Phoenix, upstate New York, and New Orleans.

Most recently, Liu authored “Remaking Economic Development: The Markets and Civics of Continuous Growth and Prosperity,” in which she argues that city and metropolitan leaders must adopt a broader vision of economic development that can deliver economic growth, prosperity, and inclusion for all residents. In “Remaking Economic Development,” Liu discusses the limitations of existing strategies, outlines five principles that define a new model of economic development, and highlights innovations underway in cities and metropolitan areas across the country emblematic of this broader vision.

Ann Arbor Spark