Special Guests

Amy Cosper, Editor-in-Chief, Entrepreneur magazine

AMY COSPER, vice president/editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Media Inc., knows what it means to drive a business idea forward with passion, creativity, savvy, and yes, even a little moxie. For Cosper, the media addiction started with a fervor for technology and love at first dial-up. But it was at WiesnerMedia that Cosper delved into the essence of what it means to be an entrepreneur. As the company’s entrepreneur in residence, she solicited and evaluated new business plans, ventures and partnerships to drive the company's initiative to diversify its portfolio.

Transform innovative ideas into full-fledged realities by raising capital from the VC community? No problem for this business development pro. Having been in the entrepreneurial trenches with her media consulting business prior to joining Wiesner, Cosper has a deep understanding of what entrepreneurs want and need. She knows that without the right information, tools and resources, small businesses stay small.

Bob Fish, CEO, Biggby Coffee

Robert (Bob) Fish, better known to many coffee aficionados as "Biggby Bob," is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Biggby Coffee, a Lansing, Michigan-based chain of more than 100 cafes located in nine states. Bob came to East Lansing in 1981 to attend Michigan State University (MSU) and never left. He paid his own way through college by working a series of restaurant jobs, starting with his first as a dishwasher at an area Big Boy Restaurant. In 1989, Bob earned his degree from MSU’s Hospitality Business School. And then in 1991, a decade after arriving in East Lansing, Bob and his partner, Mary Roszel, opened their own restaurant, a Flap Jack Shack, part of a local chain. After two successful years in the breakfast business, the two decided it was time for a change. They sold their restaurant and took time off to travel the country, developing the business plan for what would become Biggby Coffee (formerly known as Beaner's.) In March 1995, Biggby Coffee served its first Caramel Marvel in its original location on Grand River in East Lansing, and Bob has never looked back. The first Biggby Coffee franchise was sold in 1999, and the company has virtually doubled in size every two years since then. Among his partners, Roszel, Mike McFall, and Sandy Green, Bob is the most public face of the Biggby brand, spending many of his days on the road visiting operators and talking to customers. When he's not in a Biggby Coffee shop, you can find him talking about Biggby Coffee on Facebook and Twitter or in his blog "Where’s Bob" at biggybob.com. This year, Bob is honored to serve as the Chairman of Board of the Michigan Restaurant Association. He is also a Board Member of the Small Business Association of Michigan and JA of Mid-Michigan. An enthusiastic runner, Bob is often dashing through the streets and parks of the Lansing area with his wife, Michelle, chasing after their son and two dogs.

Denyse Ferguson, President, LEAP

As the president and chief executive officer of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (Leap, Inc.), Denyse Ferguson is leading a team of seasoned business development professionals to transform the Greater Lansing region into a globally dynamic business environment.

She originally joined the Leap team as vice president of new business development and marketing. In that role, she was responsible for growing and developing businesses in the region and attracting new ones. She was also responsible for the development and promotion of the Greater Lansing region's first global branding campaign.

Denyse came to Leap from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, where she worked with all of the state's universities to enhance technology transfer and increase the impact of technology commercialization efforts coming out of Michigan's universities.

Before returning to the Greater Lansing region, which is her home, Denyse worked in a variety of strategic business development and marketing roles with Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, higher education, and economic development.

This experience includes four years developing and managing strategic partnerships and overall brand marketing for The Home Depot, five years managing The Timberland Companies worldwide licensing program, eight years with Harvard University, where she worked as a technology transfer specialist and went on to manage the university's worldwide intellectual property programs, and a number of key leadership and management team roles with start-up companies in industries ranging from apparel to Web-based technology.

Denyse has a bachelor's degree from Harvard University.

Victor W. Loomis, Mayor of East Lansing

Victor W. Loomis, Jr. was first elected to the East Lansing City Council in November of 2001, serving as Mayor Pro Tem from 2005-2007. He was elected Mayor of East Lansing in November 2007 and in 2009 was re-elected to another two-year term in that capacity.

Born in Detroit but raised in East Lansing, Loomis has deep roots in the East Lansing community. He graduated from East Lansing High School in 1964 and received a degree in business administration from Michigan State University in 1972 after serving overseas in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Loomis served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1969. After finishing his degree at MSU, Loomis became a banker with an interest in commercial real estate and lending. He quickly garnered respect in the banking community and is now self employed in real estate development.

Loomis has a long history of involvement in the community including service on the East Lansing Downtown Development Authority, the East Lansing Comprehensive Plan Team, the East Lansing Art Festival Board and the WKAR TV-23 Community Advisory Board. Currently, Mayor Loomis serves as council liaison to the East Lansing Council of Neighborhood Presidents, the Responsible Hospitality Council, the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, the Local Development Financing Authority, Downtown Development Authority and several other regional boards and advisory groups. Mayor Loomis is also a member of the Michigan Association of Mayors.  He is a past chairperson and thirty-year plus board member of the Salvation Army, Lansing Citadel.

Mayor Loomis serves on the Irwin Union Banks Business Development Board, is a former member of the Michigan Bankers Association and serves on the MSU Children’s Health Initiative Advisory Board. His community service has garnered numerous awards including the Lansing Jaycees Key Member Award, Distinguished Service Award, lifetime memberships in the Lansing Jaycees, Michigan Jaycees, U.S. Jaycees and Jaycees International. He was awarded the 2008 MSU Greek Communities’ Green Ivy Award, the  2004 East Lansing Education Foundation’s Theda Assiff Award for Distinguished Community Service and the 2002 Vocational Service Award by the Rotary Club of East Lansing. He resides in East Lansing with his wife Nancy of Corunna, a schoolteacher, and his two daughters Elaine and Angela who attend East Lansing Public Schools.

Michael R. Poterala, Executive Director, MSU Technologies

Michael R. Poterala was named executive director of MSU Technologies, the technology transfer unit established to propel research results to the marketplace, in the Fall of 2007. Poterala had been executive director of the Office of Intellectual Property (OIP) since January 2007, while continuing to serve as associate general counsel for MSU.

In MSU's Office of the General Counsel, Poterala advised on sponsored research agreements, intellectual property matters, scientific misconduct, export controls, trademark licensing, and intercollegiate athletics. He was lead counsel for MSU and three other research institutions in negotiating a $10 million research and development agreement with the Dow Chemical Company. As counsel to the director of intercollegiate athletics, he negotiated major athletic coach contracts.

In his previous law practice, Poterala served as general counsel in Michigan for the Motion Picture Association of America, which recognized him for his work investigating and prosecuting film, video, and television piracy. In that capacity, he filed and litigated more than 140 copyright and trademark infringement cases for clients that included Columbia Pictures, the Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros.

Poterala was a member of the Northville (Mich.) Public Schools Board of Education from 1996 to 2000 and served as president in 1999-2000. He is currently a trustee of the Northville Public Schools Educational Foundation.

Leslie Lynn Smith, Director of Business Acceleration, MEDC

Leslie Lynn Smith is Director of Business Acceleration at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Leslie has direct oversight of state and federal grant and loan programs (review, analysis, development, creation, award, negotiation, documentation, and ongoing oversight), Smartzone and regional, state and national strategic service provider relationships. She most recently served as chief financial officer for a privately held real estate firm in Ann Arbor.

Leslie has extensive experience negotiation and managing programmatic GSE capital transactions (Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, HUD, MSHDA) She also has extensive experience in traditional and institutional financing vehicles, joint venture partnership arrangements, venture capital raise initiatives, participative equity transactions and franchise partnership models in excess of $2 billion in total.

Leslie moved to the MEDC from the private sector in hopes of moving the mission of meaningful economic development forward. Her commitment to mission-focused enterprise at the community level is demonstrated through years of leadership roles within organizations focused on culture development, strategic planning, expansion of arts and physical activity and executive leadership across all sectors of industry, both public and private.

Theodore J. Staton, East Lansing City Manager

Over the past 15 years, East Lansing City Manager Theodore Staton has spearheaded a dramatic redirection of the City of East Lansing. Under his leadership, the City has experienced unprecedented expansion and economic development, transforming it from a typical Midwest college town to a key regional anchor.

During Staton’s tenure, East Lansing’s land area increased by nearly one third and the value of land and property in the City more than doubled. In October 2009, East Lansing was named one of the top ten U.S. college towns in which to start a business by Entrepreneur magazine, based upon the City's innovative efforts to promote entrepreneurialism. East Lansing’s downtown has experienced a renaissance with tens of millions of dollars of new private investment. The City's art and music festivals have become regional destinations and have further cemented East Lansing's role as a cultural anchor. Over $25 million of new recreation facilities and trails have been developed under Staton's leadership.

Under the council-manager form of government, Staton, as city manager, directs the City’s day-to-day operations. His responsibilities include developing and administering the City’s $95 million annual budget and appointing all top administrative officers. His duties also frequently extend beyond the corporate boundaries of the City, taking him to Lansing and Washington, D.C. to advocate for community funding. Staton maintains critical affiliations with Michigan State University and other regional partners in order to enhance regional and statewide initiatives that benefit the City and he has also shared his experience and expertise on the international front through specialized work in Africa and Eastern Europe in the areas of strategic planning and economic development. Staton's work to advance local government management with Romanian officials followed the passage of national legislation authorizing the creation of city manager positions in that country.

With three decades in public management, Staton’s work has been recognized nationally in the highly acclaimed Reinventing Government Series by David Osborn and Pete Plastrik and in March 2003, he was given the prestigious Outstanding Service Award by the Michigan Municipal League. In 2006, he was honored by the Michigan Local Government Management Association (MLGMA) with and Outstanding Leadership Award. He was selected by his peers to serve as president of the organization in 2009. Ted is also a two-time recipient of awards from the American Society of Public Administration, honoring his distinguished work in the field of local government management. He also currently serves on the Greater Lansing SmartZone Board.

Prior to his appointment as city manager of East Lansing, Staton served in a number of senior administrative positions with the City of Dayton, Ohio, including director of the Department of Public Works, the Office of Management and Budget and the Dayton International Airport. While there, Staton was credited with building the largest financial reserves in the history of local government in Ohio and obtaining for Dayton the prestigious designation as an All-America City. His efforts also contributed to the reform of public school finance and parental involvement in the Dayton Public School System. He concluded his tenure in Dayton serving as assistant city manager for five years. This immediately preceded his appointment to East Lansing’s top administrative job.

Staton holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science/public management from Wright State University where he also served as adjunct professor of urban policy/public management for ten years. He is a 1984 graduate of the Advanced Government Finance Institute at UC Berkley as well as a graduate of the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia. Most recently, Staton completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 2003. He also holds various professional affiliations, including memberships with the National Civic League and the International City Management Association, from which he earned the distinction of "Credentialed Manager". In 2009, Staton became one of only 25 ICMA members to earn the status of "Legacy Leader".