SPARK CEO Podcasts

Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. — a longtime resident of southeast Michigan — was the founder and 54-year owner of the Buffalo Bills. His namesake foundation, established in 2015 with CEO and president David O. Egner at the helm, carries on his generosity by investing in projects that will provide immediate and meaningful impact on communities.

Edwin Olson is founder and CEO of May Mobility, a company that builds and deploys fleets of driverless shuttles in structured environments. Olson is also an associate professor at the University of the Michigan and director of the APRIL Robotics Laboratory. He is the winner of the 2010 MAGIC robotics competition, the 2013 DARPA Young Faculty Award, and was named one of Popular Science’s “Brilliant Ten” in 2012.  

Len Gauger, is CEO of ConnectSpace, formerly known as Message Blocks. Message Blocks started as a basic agenda building tool and has evolved to become a full-fledged suite of tools that helps organizations create meaningful connections between event attendees.

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Aaron Rajda is IT Director at the new Ann Arbor-based Ford Labs, a unit of Ford Motor Company focused on software development and implementation. FordLabs is a result of the company’s investment in California-based Pivotal Software. Rajda advocated for FordLabs to be located nearby, but outside of Ford’s existing facilities in order to create a distinct culture of innovation and chose Ann Arbor for its deep talent pool.

Cultivate Coffee and Tap House is playing a role in the resurgence of Ypsilanti’s Depot Town. Owner Bekah Wallace created Cultivate to be an inclusive destination where “everyone belongs.”  

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Kim Gamez, the CEO and founder of Mi Padrino, saw a need in her own Hispanic community for a simple alternative to traditional methods of organizing, planning, and funding events. MiPadrino allows family members to accomplish those tasks and donate to Quinceañeras, weddings, and baby showers.

Steve Hopkins is president of Curo Technologies, a Melbourne, Australia-based healthtech company. Curo’s in-home sensors monitor elderly adults and relays that data to families, caregivers, and insurance companies.

Scott Andes is a fellow with the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Initiative on Innovation and Placemaking for the Brookings Institution. His work focuses on innovation strategies for cities, advanced manufacturing, and science and technology policy.

<p> Ken Fischer is president of the University Musical Society (UMS) of the University of Michigan and has been a tireless advocate for the Ann Arbor arts community. During his 30-year tenure, he has made a tremendous impact on the performing arts scene and quality of life in the region. The list of accolades he has achieved for UMS is endless, including the National Medal of Arts awarded by President Obama in 2014 and the Arts Alliance Medal for Arts, Sciences &amp; Humanities for Outstanding Service in 2017. Fischer has brought UMS and the city of Ann Arbor global prominence in many ways. </p> <p> In his podcast discussion with Paul Krutko, president and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK, Ken discusses his background and what attracted him to take the helm of UMS. He also discusses how Ann Arbor’s vibrant downtown and commitment to the arts played a role in influencing esteemed musicians to play here. </p>

You may have heard about the recent acquisition of Ann Arbor’s gene therapy solutions company, RetroSenseTherapeutics. Sean Ainsworth, founder and CEO of RetroSense, sits down with Ann Arbor SPARK’s CEO, Paul Krutko, to discuss the technology behind the company -  Optogenetics - the company's acquisition by Allergen, Sean’s background and what led him to start RetroSense, and how this solution benefits the average person. RetroSense was recently named Entrepreneurial Company of the Year at Ann Arbor SPARK’s Annual Meeting. You can see the award video here.

The American Center for Mobility (ACM) is a product testing and development facility for future mobility to accelerate the development of voluntary standards, and to deliver educational and training opportunities for the workforce. We sat down with John Maddox, CEO of ACM, to discuss this monumental project, his background, how SPARK has played a role in the creation of this project, and how critical this site is for the future of autonomous vehicle research. 

Ann Arbor SPARK’s president and CEO, Paul Krutko, sits down with Aaron Howard, chief delivery officer, and Paul Anderson, founder and CEO, of Novacoast. Paul and Aaron discuss their career backgrounds and what led them to their current roles at Novacoast, the strategic path they took from being a five person startup to becoming a 200+ employee company, and what's unique about their business model. Aaron and Paul explain why they decided to choose Ann Arbor for their expansion and what has surprised them after locating here.

President of Cleary University, Jayson Boyers sits down with our senior vice president, Phil Santer to discuss the past year Jayson has been in office. With a fresh perspective, Jayson talks about his top priorities and initiatives at Cleary and why he was attracted to furthering his career at the private college in Livingston County. Jayson opens up about a new university program and the exciting news of expanding Cleary University’s geographic reach by opening another location in southeast Michigan. 

Long-time Ypsilanti resident, Bob Smith, founder and president of White Pine Software Technologies, sits down with president and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK, Paul Krutko to discuss his startup company.

If you’re curious at all about the mobility industry this is a podcast you’ll want to hear. Rose Bellanca, president of Washtenaw Community College (WCC) joins Ann Arbor SPARKS’s senior vice president of marketing and communications, Donna Doleman, for a quick podcast to talk about WCC’s, Advanced Transportation Center.

Get to know Eastern Michigan University President, Dr. James M. Smith, during his sit down with our president and CEO, Paul Krutko.

Wondering what’s going to happen to this year’s FastTrack awards? Tom Gawne, senior manager at Yeo & Yeo, sits down with Ann Arbor SPARK’s president and CEO Paul Krutko for a quick podcast and explains all you need to know!