Engineers, manufacturers: Muskegon wants you
March 19, 2007
By Rod Kackleyz

MUSKEGON – The new president and CEO of Muskegon Area First is ready to conduct a talent search. Ed Garner believes it will take a strong effort to attract and retain the sharpest minds in the world of engineering to build what he envisions as a global center of advanced manufacturing in Muskegon.

Garner said that he is taking over the economic development agency “on the cusp of a lot of things happening in this area.” But he also believes that building a bank of manufacturing and engineering talent is going to be needed to move things forward. The effort to revitalize the Muskegon area is going to take more than talented people. It will require a strong core of local leaders.

Garner pointed to the need to continue the regional economic partnership known as Best Michigan. It is a seven-county alliance aimed at marketing the west side of the state. “I know all of the players, so I plan to continue working with them in the same vein. We are all interconnected. We need to build on those strengths.”

That kind of strong regional leadership is critical to moving the region ahead, according to Garner. During a Muskegon Area First reception that was held in his honor March 2 at the Muskegon Holiday Inn, he pointed to the Michigan Future Inc. report entitled A New Agenda for a New Michigan that was released in June 2006.

“That report shows that at the end of the day, it is local leadership that needs to drive the economic development effort,” said Garner. “We cannot rely on state and federal leaders. The people in this room are the ones that are going to have to lead this effort.”

Stability is good too. But that has never been the strong suit of Muskegon Area First. Garner is the fourth president in the seven-year history of the organization, taking over the position held by former President/CEO Jim Edmonson. Some might wonder about the condition of a group that has seen that much change at the top of its organizational chart.

”We have a good staff on board, and good direction on where we want to head,” Garner told MiBiz. “This is not a turnaround situation where you expect someone to come in and do a bunch of things to pull everything together. This organization is already together.”

Garner moves into the Muskegon Area First corner office with a long resume of economic development activity. Since 2003, he has been the economic development vice president of the Grand Haven, Spring Lake, Ferrysburg Chamber of Commerce. Previously he served as executive director for the Kent Area MicroBusiness Loan Services, an economic development group providing training and loans to small businesses. He has also been involved with the Muskegon Economic Growth Alliance, Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center (SBTDC), FMB Lumberman’s Bank (now Huntington Bank), and Westinghouse Electric Corp.

Garner is currently the board president of the Urban League of Greater Muskegon and the board treasurer for the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District. He previously served on the boards of the Muskegon Heights Public School District and Neighborhood Investment Corp. During his career, Garner has been recognized for having the best Satellite SBTDC Center in 1999 and he received the Jaycees Distinguished Service Award in 1998. Garner has a master’s degree in business administration from Western Michigan University and a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Michigan State University.

This article appeared in the [issue date] issue of MiBiz, read by upper management executives in West and Southwest Michigan. Print subscriptions are free to qualified individuals who do business in West and Southwest Michigan. For further information about MiBiz Network, visit www.mibiz.com.