CEO Podcast: Jenn Hayman, Ann Arbor SPARK

Paul Krutko: Welcome to Ann Arbor SPARK’s CEO Podcast…Conversations on Economic Opportunity. My name is Paul Krutko, and I’m the President and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK.

Joining us today is Jenn Hayman, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Events here at Ann Arbor SPARK. Jenn leads the team responsible for how SPARK shows up in the world — from our brand and storytelling to our events and digital presence. She brings a strong background in strategic marketing and communications, with past leadership roles at organizations like Zingerman’s, Human Element, and Merit Network. Jenn holds a BBA from Eastern Michigan University and an MBA from Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

Today, we’re talking about how her team supports SPARK’s mission and helps tell the story of Ann Arbor as a hub for innovation.

Jenn, welcome to the podcast.

Jenn Hayman: Yeah, thanks for having me. Excited to talk about this.

Paul: Great. So let’s kind of dive right in, and I guess before we dig too far, why are marketing communications and events so critical to economic development work like ours?

Jenn: Yeah, so it’s important because we do compete, whether people realize it or not, that we do compete on a national and a global scale. So we need to stand out as an innovation district. We need to make sure that the world knows that this is a great place for companies to start their businesses, to grow their businesses, that there’s such a great innovative ecosystem around us, and that Ann Arbor belongs on the global stage. So we need to be part of that conversation.

Paul: So this is kind of what you just kind of outlined, and here’s your team. Can you describe, I guess we’re describing at this point, your role at SPARK and what the marketing and communications and events team does, and what the various members do?

Jenn: Yeah, so I’ve got two slides that give us an overview of the team, but we are a small but mighty team, very mission-driven. We collaborate to share stories in our ecosystem, creating events that bring people together. So Josh does everything that you see, whether it’s an email template or a social media post or wayfinding at an event, Josh has done that. The website, obviously. Lindsay Thomas is our marketing director and she’s fantastic — project management, social media, swag, keeps us in line with Asana. Carly is our events manager, so you have undoubtedly met Carly if you’ve been to a lot of community events and SPARK events. And then we’ve got Lydia, who runs our a2Tech360 program, and we’ll talk about that a little bit later. Kristine holds down the fort over at SPARK East in Ypsilanti, helping small businesses out there, doing great work, and all sorts of startup support that they need. And then Kyri is our newest member as a marketing coordinator. So he supports projects all across the board for the team.

Paul: Well, the team wears a lot of hats. How do these roles come together day to day to make everything work?

Jenn: So I mean, we do so much. Marketing is so many different things, and it’s really important. I think that everything that we do, whether it’s a social media post or an event or a press release, that it all sort of works together to tell a bigger story. So the team, it’s really important that we have clear goals, that we have shared collaboration, strategic planning. We want to get people excited through our content, our ads, the design, the experiences that we create. And then we’ve really become kind of this PR machine for our ecosystem. So companies really look to us to amplify the stories, their successes of an important new hire or an exit, or anything that’s happening in their company and new headquarters or something like that, that we really use all of these different marketing tactics to share that news and promote the region.

Paul: So then the key sort of thing that we do is communicate things about our stakeholders or communicate to our stakeholders. So how do you think our stakeholders, founders, corporate partners, talent, community leaders, experience the work?

Jenn: It’s really everything that they see, they hear, and they attend. Again, from emails to social posts to events and what’s out in the media. We host and promote over 200 events a year, which is huge. Networking is a big part of keeping those conversations going, putting the right people in front of the right people to promote whatever they need to do, driving engagement to our website so folks get the info that they need. But yeah, it’s that marketing is the full experience, not really just the promotion. So if you’re a stakeholder, somebody that either works in the tech industry or maybe you are out in Silicon Valley and you’re thinking, Ann Arbor looks pretty lovely and it’s expensive out here and I’d like to move, we’re a great way for you to learn all about everything that’s going on here. So different companies and founder successes, talent opportunities, and all sorts of ways for people to come together and network and learn from each other and connect.

Paul: So what does success look like when we talk about awareness, especially for audiences who’ve never been to Michigan?

Jenn: Yeah, our impact is pretty important. So through all of these marketing efforts, we really help to market the region’s reputation. It’s evidenced by the rankings and awards that the region receives, the people and companies deciding to locate here, the strength of the startups here, our collaboration, obviously, with the University of Michigan is huge and it all helps us to be a part of these national conversations. So the work that we do with promoting the services, the education program, events, sponsorships and partnerships, talent attraction, all of that can be felt and seen through so many different things, whether it’s the website or an event you’re attending, a podcast, you’re listening to, there are so many opportunities to engage with SPARK.

Paul: So let’s talk a little bit about the event side of your responsibility. Events are a big part of SPARK’s ecosystem. How do you approach designing these events to make them meaningful to various audiences?

Jenn: Yeah, because we host so many, and some of them can be a small webinar. Some of them are maybe a fireside chat to a deep dive into something, or sometimes it’s a2Tech360, which is a 10-day series of events. But we really go with an audience-first design. So if you’ve attended an event that SPARK has put on, you have more than likely received us asking for feedback at the end, and we really do look at that. And so when we design that event the next time, or we think about what is next on the calendar or what’s relevant to the ecosystem in that moment, we really do kind of open the channels to hear from people about what’s important to them. What are the conversations that need to be had? What was that experience like at that event for you all the way from, did you find parking easy to, did you get in front of the people that you wanted to get in front of, to was it too long? Did you like the food? So we really seek a lot of input on all of these aspects, and we are constantly trying to iterate and improve every event for the next one we make. So that energy that if you attend Tech Trek or Tech Homecoming or something like that, that energy should extend beyond the event because you’re making connections with people that really drive your own goals.

Paul: So it’s interesting that there are so many dimensions to what you and your team are working on. And so one of the things I guess that you would be careful about is how does the content, the media and events reinforce each other rather than just being a one-off of kind of thing in a silo’d way?

Jenn: I think it’s a trap that a lot of folks that fall into, if they have a big goal in a small marketing team, it can be really easy to just kind of say, okay, we did that at that. Now onto the next thing, onto the next thing. Or we publish that press release. We really, at SPARK, we’re so collaborative, to get what we need done. But we really try to take every opportunity to turn that into a story. So for example, if you were a speaker at one of our SPARK events, then we had you on stage because we thought that you had something compelling to say, well, now let’s do an interview with you and that would make a great blog post. Or let’s dive a little deeper into your company and figure out why you’re in Ann Arbor and what benefited you here and how other people can learn from that. Or there’s somebody that could get engaged with hiring people and we can connect them with folks that are job seekers. So every opportunity is another touch point to either tell a story or grow that connection to be meaningful for somebody else in the ecosystem.

Paul: Well, we’re going to close out our podcast with one of those future-oriented questions. You’re looking ahead, what are you most excited about from a storytelling or an engagement standpoint coming up in 2026?

Jenn: Yeah, we always have lots of founder and company successes to share. So more stories that we are going to be looking to tell. And then events-wise, we have SXSW coming up on March 18th, with U of M Innovation Partnerships and SPARK are collaborating to put on two panels followed by a reception. So we’re really excited to see everybody in Austin, Texas for that. We have the Annual Meeting in May, and that’s always a great event with interesting keynotes. We have Julie Wagner coming on this year. All sorts of leaders and stakeholders will be there at that meeting, and that’s always a great time to connect with folks. And then a2Tech360 this year will be September 22 to October 2, and we will be getting information out about that soon. But we’ve got a great lineup coming, bringing Mobility Summit back, bringing Business of Life Sciences back, Women in Tech. So a lot of those favorites that are really important to people to have those conversations.

Paul: Those are all great things we’re looking forward to in 2026, and we would encourage the listening audience to connect on the SPARK’s website to be able to see which ones make sense for them in their calendar. 

Well, Jenn, thank you. This is part of a series in our podcast, a small series in our podcast series where we are sort of bringing forward what the individual leaders in our organization do on a daily basis to advance the mission that we have to try to create economic prosperity here in the region. So Jenn, thanks for taking some time to do this with me today.

Jenn: Sure thing. Thank you.

Paul: And I want to thank our audience for listening and learning more about those leaders and organizations working hard to create the Ann Arbor Region’s economic future. These conversations are brought to you by Ann Arbor SPARK. For more information about Ann Arbor SPARK, you can find us on the web at annarborusa.org. We’re also on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.