Innovative Business Results

Larry Eiler talks with Marisa Smith on this week's Innovations in Michigan Business. Marisa Smith is the President of the Whole Brain Group. The Whole Brain Group derived their name from the idea of combining their complimentary skill sets into one collective "Whole Brain."

Larry & Marisa also discuss the Whole Brain Group's past work doing work flow automation. Over the years, the Whole Brain Group has established a presence in Michigan by providing custom web-based software for academic institutions like The University of Michigan and Michigan State University. Marisa talks about specific examples including the General Counsel Office for the University of Michigan.

Larry and Marisa also talk about "AccreditStation." The Whole Brain Group introduced their AccreditStation product in 2004, and began to expand their reach beyond Michigan, and have now gained a national reputation among research institutions as the leading provider of accreditation management and automation software. AccreditStation helps educational institutions, community hospitals, healthcare systems, and VA facilities manage successful AAHRPP accreditation projects by automating and streamlining the application process.

They also discuss "Press Room", another product that The Whole Brain Group offers. Press Room is another web based system that stores articles, press releases and videos, in a searchable archive.

This week's Innovations with Eiler and Pasick have Larry Eiler & Rob Pasick both discussing their own Michigan businesses.

Robert Pasick is a Ph.D from Harvard, and has been an executive coach in the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan. For the past 30 years, as an Organizational Psychologist and Executive Coach, he has helped leaders and their teams to perform well in challenging circumstances. Rob briefly discusses his new book, "Balanced Leadership in Unbalanced Times", & goes into depth talking about his clients, qualifications, & past.

Larry Eiler is the co-founder, chairman and chief executive of Eiler Communications, a public and investor relations and marketing firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The firm’s business expertise is in five core competencies – Positioning, Writing, Media Relations, Corporate Communications and Periodic Events.

Larry explains social media and how it can be used to market effectively, especially in a down-economy. He also discusses how new techonology is quite effective at reaching out to people & how it's a necessary tool to use as a business.

In this week's Innovations with business, Larry Eiler interviews Joe Miskovich. Joe is the President, CEO, & Founder of Triton Stormwater Solutions. Joe spends a minute giving an introduction of Triton Stormwater Solutions, including some of the basic services that they provide.

Larry and Joe then discuss some of the innovative ideas & plans that Joe was able to implement with Triton Stormwater Solutions. They also discuss a new commercial project for Joe, in Kaiser WV. They are able to touch on many of the successes that Triton has celebrated within the last year.

Larry interviews Bill Worzell for this week's Innovations in Michigan Business. Bill Worzell is the CEO of "Genetics Squared." Genetics Squared is a life science company, founded in 2001 and located in Michigan, that is currently working on developing a new diagnostic test for Cancer. Larry and Bill discuss the positives and negatives of developing a bio-tech type company in the state of Michigan.

Genetics Squared is primarily focused on developing molecular diagnostics. Molecular diagnostics are tests that use genes, and differences in genes, to provide information. The information that they find can then be used to predict the course of a disease, and the likelihood of a disease to respond to a particular therapy.

Larry interviews Michael Rogers for this week's Innvations in Michigan Business. Michael is Vice-President of Communications for the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM). Michael talks about SBAM, including it's history, location and the different services that they offer.

SBAM focuses soley on helping small businesses, which is a trait that helps seperate them from other organizations. Michael also elaborates on some future events that SBAM is holding in the future, and explains how these events help bring different small business owners and entrepreneurs together. Larry also has Michael talk about "Power Suites," which is a program that SBAM uses to help provide professional services to small business owners.

For more information regarding the Small Business Association of Michigan visit http://www.sbam.org/

This week Larry Eiler talks with Jesse Bernstein, President of the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, on the "Lucy Ann Lance in the Morning" radio show. They speak about how businesses in Michigan have been successful in part to the facilities of higher education. There is a good concentration of a highly educated workforce that helps to keep this area vital for businesses, new and old.

Larry talks about how the funding of technologies and life sciences getting better in Michigan, and how this is helping compliment the region's businesses, and also help to bring in new company. He also talks about some of the new funding that goes into Michigan's automotive design engineering capabilities. They finish the discussion by touching on some of the other companies that are active and doing positive things in the south-eastern region of Michigan.

This podcast has Larry Eiler speaking with Mike Gould about the new and different ways for businesses to communicate with customers. Larry talks about a lot of the new media out there, including podcasts, webcasts, and blogs, and how Eiler PR of Ann Arbor, Michigan, utilizes these different types of media to reach their customers.

Larry also discusses different internet-related ways that companies can target their very specific audiences. He cites examples of different ways to optimize Google to help pull up your company for your potential audience and ways to refine this. There is also discussion of this podcast, and how this podcast has been able to focus on Michigan economy specifically, and Larry has been able to talk directly through this means about the different flourishing businesses in the state of Michigan.

They also discuss the different methods and tools that will utilize and facilitate these different technologies.

This week, Larry Eiler interviews Bill Hermann, the managing partner of Plante Moran. Plante Moran is a 1500 employee accounting and business advisory firm headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, with different offices across the Midwest and China. Plante Moran has been in business for over 80 years and serves middle-market companies that are entrepreneurial and across many industries. A lot of Plante Moran's clients are between the 20 & 200 million revenue range- the backbone of the economy. Bill has been at Plante Moran for his entire career, and has been managing partner since 2001, and in that time has lead the growth and development of the firm into new areas including international operations, manufacturing consulting business and the Plante Moran Trust.

Bill Hermann talks about "Great Lakes Strengths," which is a report Plante Moran published that point out different ways to look at this region in Michigan, and the economic and workforce opportunities available. Bill discusses research results, providing ideas and insights, and then talks about some opportunities for the future.

This week's "Innovations of Eiler and Pasick" has Lou Perry from WLBY-AM interviewing Michael Finney, CEO of SPARK. SPARK's mission is to advance the economic development of innovation-based businesses in the Ann Arbor, Michigan region by offering programs, resources, and proactive support to business at every stage, from start-ups to large organizations looking for expansion opportunities. Michael and Lou talk specifically about Pfizer, and the opportunities that we can gain, and what we can do concerning the downsizing of the company.

Larry Eiler interviews the new CEO of "JobApp Network," Fred Nussbaum, for this week's "Innovations of Eiler and Pasick." Fred has worked at Clarity, and then later Wingspan, before coming to head up JobApp Nework.

JobApp Network is a company that is based in Clinton Township, Michigan, and focuses on building resumes for both job seekers and employers. JobApp Network is a service and business model that uses both telephone services and the internet to help bring employers and future employees together. This service looks at many different attributes, including behaviors and background to fit employers and job seekers together.

Fred Nussbaum talks with Larry about JobApp Network's different methods and the different innovative ways that they are working with local businesses to be successful for all parties included. Fred also speaks about their successes and how the business model is working.