2018 Conference

• TED Launches “Choose Michigan” Campaign to Showcase Jobs and Attract Millennials

  Roger Curtis, director of the Michigan Department of Talent and Economic Development (TED), hosted a discussion about the lack of qualified STEAM talent to fill job openings in Michigan during his session, “Upping Michigan’s Talent Game: Attracting and Retaining STEM …

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• What Will Make Michigan No. 1? Statewide Leaders Say Talent, Infrastructure, Investment

  Michigan’s challenge for the future is getting students into the workforce. The bedrock of economic development is a prospering workforce, talent, infrastructure, and quality of life.

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• Detroit Can Be National Model for Collaboration on Healthy Communities

  By Kristin Bull The state of public health in Detroit is fragmented, expensive, lagging outcomes, and full of disparity. To rethink and transform it, experts say, will require collaboration, patience and persistence. That was the key conclusion of panelists during …

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• Workplace Gender Parity: Necessary but Complicated in #MeToo Era

  Women are problem-solvers and multitaskers; experts agree they should be hired, promoted and paid equal to their male counterparts. But creating a workplace culture of gender inclusion is complicated, and in the #MeToo era, there are unintended risks.

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• Peggy Noonan: To Rebuild Trust, ‘Be One of the Few’

  While intertwining humorous stories of her time in both politics and commentary, keynote speaker and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan spoke to the Conference pillar of “trust.” To rebuild trust and make America a more peaceful nation, the responsibility …

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• U.S. Speaker John Boehner: Progress Can Only Happen with Common Ground, Congeniality

  Drawing on humorous anecdotes and his down-to-earth reputation, former U.S. Speaker John Boehner took the filter off to share his unabashed opinion on everything from President Trump, to social media, marijuana use, and hyper-partisan politics gridlocking progress in Washington during a keynote address and candid conversation Thursday sponsored by Delta Air Lines.

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• Detroit Regional Chamber, General Motors to Launch NeighborHUB Grant Program

  MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich., May 31, 2018 – Today, General Motors (GM) and the Detroit Regional Chamber announced a new neighborhood grant program designed to boost activity in Detroit’s neighborhoods at the Mackinac Policy Conference. The NeighborHUB Community Grant program will …

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• Opioids in the Workplace Are Everyone’s Problem

  The best way to combat the problem is through awareness and education according to business and health care leaders, who discussed Wednesday how the opioid epidemic is affecting Michigan. The panel, “Opioids in the Workplace: Impacting Michigan,” looked deep into the role business can play to mitigate abuse during the first day of the 2018 Mackinac Policy Conference.

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• Political Pundits Talk Trump Tweets, Midterm Elections and the ‘Trust’ Pillar

  Former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., a regular commentator on MSNBC and CNBC, moderated a chat between Patti Solis Doyle, a campaign strategist and CNN political commentator, and former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts Jr. In between making predictions for the midterm and 2020 elections, the three took the opportunity to express their opinions on the polarizing tweets that have become a pillar of Donald Trump’s presidency.

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• PBS President Paula Kerger: Americans Hunger for Substance Over Sound Bites

  The media may be facing its most challenging and volatile period yet. Words like “fake news” are being constantly hurled to discredit personally damaging stories. A rise in social media has enabled ideologues to shade once irrefutable facts with doubt. Mergers between outlets have ceded local control, and the number of newsroom staff are being drastically reduced across the country. As the public’s trust in the media erodes, their once enshrined role as the arbiter of truth is very much at risk.

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