The spirit of entrepreneurism is alive and well
Monday, November 08, 2010
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Greg Main
President and CEO
Michigan Economic Development Corporation
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Greg Main is President and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the State of Michigan’s lead economic development agency, and is responsible for executing Governor Granholm’s economic development strategy.
From 2003 through June 2008, Mr. Main served as President and CEO of i2E, Inc. of Oklahoma City, a leading technology commercialization program, with responsibility for directing efforts to assist start-up companies in attracting risk capital and securing private equity funding. From 1998 to 2002, he was a general partner with Chisholm Private Capital Partners, a $66 million venture capital firm in Oklahoma City and beginning in 1994, a partner in Intersouth Partners of Research Triangle, N.C.
Appointed as Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce in 1991 after a national search to lead the state’s recovery from the oil bust, Mr. Main served as the state’s chief economic development officer, administering a $90 million budget encompassing 180 employees. He designed and implemented initiatives including the award-winning Oklahoma Quality Jobs program and Quality Jobs Investment Act. In addition, he was instrumental in establishing the Alliance for Manufacturing and the launch of the Oklahoma Capital Investment Board Venture Investing program.
Mr. Main, a Michigan native, began his economic development career as executive director and chief planner for the six-county, nonprofit Central Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Regional Commission (CUPPAD) in Escanaba for 13 years beginning in 1970. He joined the Michigan Department of Commerce as director of the Upper Peninsula office in 1983. From 1985 to 1990, his duties as director of the manufacturing development group included responsibility for marketing Michigan as a location for manufacturing investment. In that capacity, he directed State of Michigan offices in Brussels, Tokyo, Toronto and Lagos, Nigeria. He was deputy director of economic development in 1991 when he relocated to Oklahoma.
Education and Personal Information
Mr. Main was born in Belding, Michigan and grew up in Lansing. He graduated summa cum laude from Michigan State University in 1970 with a degree in urban planning. He has extensive training and post-graduate studies in general management, marketing management, business and real estate finance, sales and quality management.
He is past chairman and president of the Oklahoma Venture Forum; Science Museum Oklahoma board member; Oklahoma Academy executive committee member; and Creative Oklahoma board member.
Mr. Main and his wife Barbara have three daughters, two sons and eight grandchildren.
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October has been a stellar month for entrepreneurship in Michigan. When the president of the United States signs a law modeled in part after a program that started here, it’s a sign we are doing something right. The new State Small Business Credit Initiative, part of the Small Business Jobs Act newly enacted in Washington, is based on the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
