December 7, 2003
The Muskegon Chronicle
By Dave Alexander

Grand Valley State University officials and Imad Mahawili were unknowingly on a collision course.

As GVSU officials and Muskegon community leaders worked to develop the Muskegon SmartZone based on
alternative energy research, Mahawili, 54, longed to pass on his technical knowledge and passion for
inventing to another generation.

Mahawili had just sold his highly successful Grand Rapids-based Micro C Technologies Inc. to Hitachi
Kokusai Electronics Inc. for a reported $6.7 million. With noncompete restrictions, he began to search
for his next project.

The London-educated, Silicon Valley investor and West Michigan entrepreneur said he wanted to inspire
young scientists to become involved in emerging technologies. He wanted to develop a “center for
performing technologies.”

At the same time, GVSU was searching for an executive director of the Michigan Alternative and
Renewable Energy Center in the Muskegon Lakeshore SmartZone at Edison Landing. University officials
were looking for someone who knew the science but had the skills to transfer that knowledge into
business.

The university and Mahawili found each other last summer when he was hired to head the energy center.
“I am here and I will be the workhorse,” Mahawili said. “I am going to be in the trenches. I bring an
underdog mentality. This is who I am.”

Mahawili blends technical know-how, an inventor’s inspiration and business development skills, with a
salesman’s pitch.

“Imad brings a unique combination of education and business experience to the job,” said Chris Kelly,
one of the partners in the Edison Landing business park now under development. The energy center is the
heart of the SmartZone and the key anchor of Edison Landing.

Just as interesting as his path through science and business is the personal history he brings to the
job.

Mahawili’s life’s path has gone from the streets of Baghdad, Iraq, to Petoskey. He has graced the halls
of London’s Imperial College and the offices of corporate America. He has invented devices and
developed businesses from Silicon Valley in California to Grand Rapids.

Born the youngest of eight children in Iraq, Mahawili was educated in a Jesuit school, graduating in
1965 from the Boston College-based institution. He said the Catholic priests taught him the English
language and “how to learn.”

An American Field Service program through the U.S. government changed Mahawili’s life with a one-year
student exchange program that brought him to Petoskey in 1965-66. He returned to Iraq as the Baathist
Party and Saddam Hussein were coming to power.

Mahawili’s father sent him out of the country for his college education, telling him “never to come
back.” Only now, with the U.S. occupation of Iraq, has Mahawili been able to resume communications
with his brothers and sisters who he says are “grateful” for the American action.

His education continued at the Imperial College of the University of London, a technical school were he
received a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate degree in chemical engineering. His doctoral dissertation
was on the oxidation of titanium tetrachloride, which has implications for the paint and pigment
industries.

“I loved science and mathematics,” he said.

Mahawili took his London-based education to become a chemical engineer for DuPont in Wilmington, Del.
During the energy crisis of the early 1970s, he worked on development of petrochemical products. But
Mahawili said he was not cut out for the corporate life and left for California in 1979.

He became a consultant as the Northern California semi-conductor industry was starting to take off.
Mahawili eventually became director of engineering for Genus Corp. of Mountain View, Calif., an
equipment manufacturer for semi-conductor companies.

“I was part of the front wave,” he said of what would become Silicon Valley. “I was the equipment guy
in the dugout. You have heard about Intel. Our first machine was sold to Intel. I was in the trenches
as an equipment inventor.”

He left the Northern California lifestyle in the early 1990s seeking a bit simpler life in his
“American home” state Michigan. He and his wife, Michele, live in Cascade and have five children. The
family has a second home in Grand Haven.

He joined four investors in 1996 to develop Micro C Technologies, another equipment manufacturer that
provided specific temperature control and measurement needs of the chip-making industries.
On the side, Mahawili developed an idea for a portable cooling device that could be used by physical
therapists to treat joint and muscle injuries.

He eventually sold Iso-Comforter to a Florida company in 1998. As for Micro C, the firm grew to 37
employees and eventually was sold to Hitachi Kokusai in 2000.

Over the years, Mahawili has accumulated 16 patents and has another five pending.
“I think we are very fortunate to have someone of Imad’s skills, business experience and
entrepreneurial spirit,” said Roger Morgenstern, Lakeshore area manager for Consumers Energy. “I think
that spirit is contagious. At Consumers Energy, we look forward to working with him and are excited to
see what the future holds.”

Excess power generated by the fuel cell at the energy center will be sold to Consumers Energy.
Mahawili said people should keep their eyes on the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center. He
predicts “sparks” will fly.

“I’m a dreamer ... I’m a survivor,” he said. “I think it comes from my father.”

FAXBOX:

Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center

• Where: Edison Landing in the Muskegon Lakeshore SmartZone on Muskegon Lake.

• Building: $4 million, 20,000-square-foot energy center built by WorkStage, a subsidiary of Steelcase
Inc. of Grand Rapids.

• What’s inside:Facility includes offices, business incubator, energy laboratory, conference center
and classrooms.

• Technology: Energy technologies include a high-temperature fuel cell, solar panel roof and nickel
metal hydride storage batteries.

• Projects: Initial research and development projects will be a manure-to-electricity demonstration
project and manufacturing equipment for LED white lights, a next-generation light source.