With state funding for higher education projected to inch
up only 2.5 percent for fiscal year 2008 and the ongoing
battle to rein in rising tuition costs, it makes sense
for universities in Michigan to look for or develop other
revenue streams.
Eastern Michigan University President John Fallon knows
this and is looking for the right person to fill the newly
created position of executive to the president (entrepreneurial
initiatives).
 |
Fallon |
The four candidates for this position are Richard Merchant,
president and CEO, Northern Area Health Education Center
in Potsdam, N.Y.; Diane Durance, president, Ann Arbor IT
Zone; Dion Johnson, principal performance consultant and
relationship broker, Discovery Group & Associates,
Inc.; and Michael Witt, president, Technology Enterprise
Development Company (TEDCo, Inc.), a statewide company
headquartered in Flint.
"The singular intent for this position is to generate
revenue for the University to use in achieving its mission," Fallon
said.
It is expected that this professional will focus early
on the possibilities associated with academic programs
and departments, University centers and institutes, institutional
supplier and vendor relationships, and associated corporations,
such as the EMU Foundation, and various stakeholder and
constituent groups and organizations, he said.
A concept paper, dubbed "The Venture Initiative" and
developed by Fallon, spells out two groups, essentially
a venture support system, that would work in tandem with
the executive assistant to the president (entrepreneurial
initiatives).
According to Fallon, these would include a board of advisers,
comprised of successful business people that likely will
be EMU alumni; and an Innovation Forum, made up of EMU
employees "known to be idea people" on campus, Fallon said.
The Board of Advisers will provide advice and direction
to the project. In addition to validating all major project
initiatives, this group would represent a source of contacts
and specific business expertise, and be comprised of individuals
with extensive related experience.
"These are people who know how to start entrepreneurial
businesses from the ground up," Fallon said.
The Innovation Forum will be developed both as an organizational
mechanism for promoting institutional entrepreneurship
at every level and as a major source of business ideas
and possibilities. This group will be comprised of selected
faculty and staff.
"This would be a group of campus people known to be 'idea
people,' or great thinkers," Fallon said. "These would
be people who see opportunities for the University to pursue
revenue-generating activities."
Another key element is the use of a venture fund worth
$1 million, an amount Fallon was able to garner from an
anonymous donor. The venture fund, which earned $65,000
in interest last year, would be used to provide seed money
to support entrepreneurial projects that have been identified
through early feasibility exploration and show revenue
potential.
Fallon has already identified some revenue-generating
possibilities, including having the University benefit
from intellectual property. He pointed to the Coatings
Research Institute, which currently has a $1 million contract
to conduct a variety of coatings research for the Air Force.
"At some point, they're likely to discover something that
has market potential and someone has to make that," Fallon
said. "Why wouldn't the University consider enterprise
that manufactures that coating?"
Fallon also pointed to the Textiles Institute, where research
is currently conducted to provide smart technology for
military uniforms. While that may have a limited application,
Fallon said textiles are always needed in the furniture
and automobile industries.
"Again, someone has to make this stuff," Fallon said.
Fallon also envisions leveraging the University's fixed
assets. For example, he sees facilities on campus that
could receive much more use, including Rynearson Stadium.
The stadium hosts five or six home football games a year
and an occasional track meet.
"That stadium seats 30,000 people and every one of those
seats has a value," he said. The stadium's not going away.
It has value. We only use that stadium a couple of times
a year. How can we use that in a way that can generate
revenue for the University?"
Leveraging fixed assets also could include providing payroll
and data processing services, at a cost, for local governmental
jurisdictions, he said.
In addition, Fallon looks for revenue possibilities from
branding which, in this case, includes the pursuit of exclusive
contracts with suppliers and vendors of consumer goods
and the royalties and/or fees that such contractual arrangements
represent, in return for the use of their products. These
products could include a full range of food and beverage
products, soft goods and other products purchased in large
quantities by the various groups, organizations and individuals
that comprise the campus community.
Outsourcing presents yet another possibility. This would
involve conversion of existing University costs and expenses,
particularly for non-core institutional functions, into
profit for public and private companies that both specialize
in various services and could provide superior quality.
Finally, there are opportunities to establish new enterprises
associated with the University that are focused exclusively
on generating unrestricted revenue, he said.
"There remains pressure among Michigan universities to
enhance and diversify their revenue bases as measures toward
continuing to maintain academic quality and enhance competitiveness," Fallon
said. "One avenue toward pursuing this is to develop new
approaches for generating unrestricted revenue for university
operations."
The following are synopses of each candidate's open forum,
presented in the order in which they came to campus.
Richard Merchant
As president and CEO of Northern Area Health Education
Center in Potsdam, N.Y., Merchant was responsible for the
start-up, administration and development of a nonprofit
501c3 corporation that provides workforce development solutions.
His primary responsibilities include strategic partnership
development with regional, post-secondary education institutions,
employers and economic developers. The organization has
created a database-driven Web site that serves as a primary
instrument in managing regional workplace development.
 |
Merchant |
"I see this position as being very, very similar to what
I do now," said Merchant, during his open forum Feb. 9. "I
see this as a situation of being embedded into multiple
levels of the community. This position says, "What does
this institution have to offer? What can it be?"
When asked what he would do first, Merchant said, "I
would listen. This is institutional money. I would feel
like a fool if I did not do that and talk to people to
see what they would want to do."
Merchant added the function of the job "can't be cookie-cutter,
but needs to be entrepreneurial."
"I would ask him (EMU President John Fallon) where he
sees low-hanging fruit, where we can accomplish something
toward our mission. He'll want someone to look at everything
and not miss an opportunity."
Merchant previously was interim executive director of
the Merwin Rural Services Institute at SUNY Potsdam in
Potsdam, N.Y., from 2002-2004. While there, he was responsible
for the Institute's various Northern New York consulting
contracts, economic development initiatives, public service
programs and the Northern New York Travel and Tourism Research
Center. The Institute served as a direct link between the
college and the communities, businesses and agencies in
the region.
Merchant received his master's degree in anthropology
from the University of Florida and his bachelor's degrees
in multidisciplinary social science and anthropology from
Michigan State University.
"I think it's essential that whomever you select for this
position has a common vision that you see as well," Merchant
said.
Diane Durance
At the Ann Arbor IT Zone, Durance provides management
services to technology companies and related organizations,
including Ann Arbor SPARK, the Washtenaw Development Council
and the University of Michigan Office of Technology Transfer.
 |
Durance |
Durance also manages Ann Arbor SPARK facilities, meetings
and events, accounting and reporting, and SPARK Business
Accelerator/Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti SmartZone education programs.
Ann Arbor SPARK is a public-private partnership for economic
development and the advancement of innovation-based company
creation and growth in the greater Ann Arbor region. SPARK
stakeholders represent universities, businesses, governments,
entrepreneurs and community leaders.
Durance said she will soon be managing SPARK's Traverwood
wet lab facility in partnership with the University of
Michigan. The facility is currently vacant and available
for research and pharmaceutical companies. She sees that
facility as a prime opportunity for EMU to benefit.
"As Eastern Michigan, you could come in with a coordinated
package, bringing in the expertise you have in all areas.
Why not get paid for a package that includes (providing)
accounting, human resources and payroll services?" Durance
said. "You could be an incubator service that provides
all of the fundamentals these companies need to succeed."
Durance said EMU has the expertise, with its administration,
faculty and staff, and also could provide real-world internship
opportunities for some of its students.
"You could engage science professors here to set up labs.
They could specify equipment here (for a company) to help
set up a state-of-the-art lab," she said.
Previously, Durance was president of HomeRun Services,
Inc., in Ann Arbor, from 2000-2004. She founded
and managed the residential remodeling business. According
to her resume, she built a staff of 40 employees and $2
million in revenues with 80 percent market recognition
within one year. She directed two University of Michigan
Entrepreneurial Multidisciplinary Action Project (eMap)
teams and secured financing from a New York City-based
seed capital firm.
Durance received both her MBA and her bachelor's degree
in business administration from Southern Methodist University.
Dion Johnson
Johnson is currently principal performance consultant
and relationship broker for Discovery Group & Associates,
Inc., in Detroit. He has an affinity for Eastern Michigan
University, having received two degrees here as well as
meeting his wife on campus.
 |
Johnson |
"I truly see new ways of growing revenue streams outside
the corporate world. This is a great opportunity to step
in and give back," Johnson said. "I can bring things I've
applied in a government and nonprofit sense, and assimilate
them into the educational environment."
Discovery Group & Associates is described as a venture
service company that offers innovative interventions that
benchmark performance strategies; provides in-depth testing
of and assessment of organizational culture; and gauges
businesses for "readiness" to change. Currently, through
his company, Johnson is operating as performance and planning
manager with DTE Energy.
Potential entrepreneurial opportunities at EMU should
be tapped from faculty, students, administrators and community
leaders, he said. He said that such ventures often emerge
to create a need rather than meeting current needs.
"What is it that you want to become? Have that filter
down to become part of the organization," Johnson said.
Prior to his work at Discovery, Johnson was manager of
strategic business development at Spalding Dedecker Associates,
Inc, in Rochester, Mich., in 2004-2005; and executive director
of strategic planning and executive assistant to the chief
administrative officer for the city of Detroit from 2002-2004.
Johnson received his master's degree in performance technology
and knowledge management from Wayne State University; a
master's degree in organizational development and operational
planning from Eastern Michigan University; and his bachelor's
degree in public law and government policy from Eastern
Michigan University.
"I look at this opportunity as going to Mars. We already
had the baseline of going to the moon," Johnson said. "Anything
in between is considered value-added."
Michael Witt
Witt presently serves as president of TEDCo, Inc., a statewide
technology development company headquartered in Flint that
does much of its business in Ann Arbor. He also sits on
the Board of Performance Genomics, Inc., in Halifax, Nova
Scotia.
Previously, Witt was executive director of MichBio, in
Ann Arbor, from 2003-2006. During his tenure, he managed
the statewide life science trade association and increased
its membership 265 percent, from 70 to 200 institutional
members. He also managed a $1.7 million Life Science Corridor
grant for BioConnections' internship and executive and
scientific staff recruitment program.
 |
Witt |
Witt described the new EMU position as "important" and
stressed higher education can play a significant role in
improving the state's economic landscape.
"We're well-positioned to do some significant things.
There are social needs in the state. People are out of
work. People need new training," Witt said.
"Having an economic development role is important for
this University. This is a good time. You won't replace
Ford. But, you can build several small companies."
While he said he has received some hints about potential
areas EMU could mine for new revenues, Witt said it is
important to first understand the institution before making
any presumptions about a place with 150 years of history.
"The first thing I would do is just listen. The answer
(for what direction to go) lies within the institution," Witt
said.
However, he did say he knows how to relate companies well
in an academic setting and suggested building relationships
with various companies that could, in turn, provide internship
or co-op opportunities to numerous EMU students.
"It's also a great recruiting tool. If you can provide
experience for students that leads to recommendations that
lead to jobs, you give the University a reputation," he
said. "If you provide good students to companies, the companies
will look to you in the future. It's important that students
have job opportunities. That will help the state."
To help accomplish this, Witt stressed faculty are key
and it is important to know their goals.
Witt' s experience also includes co-founding and managing
Cure.com, Inc., a Flint-based healthcare information and
software company; and founding and operating Technology
Enterprise Development Co., Inc., an enterprise development
and biomedical technology company in Flint.
Witt received his Juris Doctorate from Case Western University
School of Law and a doctorate of pharmacy from the University
of California-San Francisco.
