People in the news: March 14, 2022

People in the news: March 14, 2022

Here is the MiBiz People in the news report for March 14, 2022

Energy

  • Norman Kapala will serve as vice president of generation operations for CMS Energy, the parent company of Consumers Energy, officials at the Jackson-based utility announced last month. 
    Kapala joined Consumers Energy in 2008 as an engineer and has since held several leadership roles with the company. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Michigan Technological University, as well as a master’s degree in manufacturing management at Kettering University.
    In his new role, Kapala will lead the company’s fossil-fuel, hydroelectric and renewable energy generating units as the company transitions through its long-term Clean Energy Plan.
    “He embodies our culture and is a great leader to ensure safety and reliability across our plants,” CMS Senior Vice President of Operations LeeRoy Wells Jr. said in a statement.

Advocacy

  • Business Leaders for Michigan has made multiple organizational changes since the start of 2022. In January, the state’s business roundtable announced Lindsay Case Palsrock as its new vice president of public policy. Palsrok joined the organization after serving as executive director at Launch Michigan, a partnership of leaders focused on education policy. Palsrok also is the former senior director of government relations at the Detroit Regional Chamber, and worked at the Michigan Republican Party during the 2004 and 2006 campaign cycles and served as a legislative director in the state House.
    Earlier this month, Business Leaders for Michigan also announced the appointment of Ryan Tarrant, who takes over as chief operating officer on March 21. Tarrant has served five years as president and CEO of the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and previously held various positions in government and politics, including chief of staff to U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar and district director for U.S. Rep. Dave Camp.
  • Michigan Agri-Business Association President Chuck Lippstreu last month joined the board of trustees for the Michigan chapter of The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization focused on conserving land and water resources.
    Gov. Gretchen Whitmer reappointed Lippstreu to represent the agriculture sector on Michigan’s Environmental Rules Review Committee this year. He also is a member of the International Trade and Agricultural Policy Committee of the National Grain and Feed Association and the Economics Department Advisory Board at Grand Valley State University.
    Lippstreu has experience in the agriculture industry via several former roles, including communications for various Michigan farms and Land O’Lakes Inc. Lippstreu also directed speech writing for U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and advised the administrator of the federal Farm Service Agency. 

Manufacturing

  • Autocam Medical Devices LLC Executive Vice President Tom O’Mara will retire at the end of 2022 after 32 years with the global contract manufacturer.
    As the first sales and marketing manager at Autocam Corp., O’Mara quickly became part of the executive team. He led Autocam’s sales growth from $15 million in 1989 to nearly $400 million in 2005. O’Mara then transitioned to business development leadership with the corporation’s Autocam Medical division, where he led manufacturing sales growth from $15 million in 2007 to an expected $170 million in 2022.
    O’Mara will take on an advisory role with the company following his retirement at the end of the year.
    Autocam Medical also named Sara McMurray as vice president of sales and marketing. McMurray brings 23 years of experience in building sales organizations and expansions into new markets.
    “We are elated to have Sara join the team. I have known her for years and am confident that she will be a valuable asset to Autocam Medical,” O’Mara said in a statement. 

Law

  • Grand Rapids law firm Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey PLC hired former Perrigo Co. plc executive Rich Sorota as CEO. Sorota, who left Perrigo last year as president of the Consumer Self-Care Americas division, starts at Miller Johnson on March 21. He’ll become the law firm’s first-ever CEO. Sorota has more than 25 years of experience in executive leadership. He led Perrigo’s Consumer Self-Care Americas division following the July 2019 acquisition of global oral care company Ranir, where he had been president and CEO since 2015.

Health care

  • Carrie Kincaid last month was promoted to a newly created role as Priority Health’s senior vice president of market development. 
    Kincaid was the vice president of individual markets and has been with Priority Health for 16 years. In her previous roles, Kincaid led market research and intelligence that was integral to Priority Health’s acquisition of Care Choices in Southeast Michigan, assisted in implementing the Affordable Care Act, and launched telehealth primary care provider plans.
    In her new role, Kincaid will oversee and establish partnerships that support strategic growth within target markets.
    She is a graduate of Alma College and recently graduated with an executive master of business administration degree from Grand Valley State University. Kincaid also is an advisory board member in GVSU’s Seidman College of Business. 
  • Bronson Medical Group recently named Holly C. Adams as vice president and chief operating officer. In her new role, Adams will oversee all operations and financial performance of the Southwest Michigan-based medical group. Prior to joining Bronson in 2022, Adams held executive leadership roles at the Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, the Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, and the University of Texas Health Center.
  • Mercy Health Saint Mary’s has named Dr. Brandon Francis as chief medical officer. Francis will start at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s in mid-May and will succeed Dr. Matt Biersack, who was appointed as president of Saint Mary’s last August and has continued to serve as chief medical officer on an interim basis. In his role as chief medical officer, Francis will return to Mercy Health Saint Mary’s, where he worked from 2016 to 2019 as a neurointensivist on the Neuro Critical Care team. He’s been with Sparrow Health System in Lansing since 2019, serving as executive medical director of physician performance.

Food

  • David Petko has been promoted to executive vice president and chief supply chain officer of Byron Center-based grocery retailer and distributor SpartanNash Co. Petko joined the company in April 2021, and will oversee SpartanNash’s global supply chain, which serves 145 company-owned stores and more than 2,100 independent retailers and national accounts in the U.S. Petko, with 25 years of experience in supply chain and distribution logistics, previously held executive positions at New Hampshire-based C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. for 11 years.

Higher ed

  • Davenport University named Jodi Chycinski as its new vice president of admissions to lead the school’s admissions, recruitment and corporate outreach programs. Chycinski, a Davenport graduate who also received a master’s degree in business administration from Western Michigan University, previously served as associate vice president of admissions at Grand Valley State University.

— Compiled by Hannah Brock and Andy Balaskovitz

 

Hope Network’s Center for Autism appoints Moore as executive director

Maggie Moore plans to ensure program sustainability and expand services as the newly appointed executive director of Hope Network’s Center for Autism. 

The center provides onsite, in-home and telehealth treatment options for people with autism through its five locations in Holland, Grand Rapids, Kentwood, East Lansing and Livonia. Moore will oversee the operational, financial and clinical aspects of the center after serving as its clinical director since 2018. 

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the center to close its physical locations and move its patients to telehealth treatment. Two years later, the pandemic has created newer operational challenges, Moore said.

“It’s been interesting working through the last two years, essentially, and re-establishing the programs, but also maintaining staff,” said Moore, who lives in Ada. “During this time, it’s been hard for most organizations to maintain staff where our wages are competing with even big box stores like Costco. It’s hard for us to compete for staff.” 

Moore’s clinical experience also is helpful for informing her dedication to sustainability, which includes plans to renovate buildings and create space for new clients. 

Moore has a master’s degree in applied behavior analysis (ABA) from Northeastern University in Massachusetts. She was the clinical director at Little Star ABA Therapy in Indiana and has supported people with autism and their families for more than a decade. Moore also has served on the board of the Michigan Behavior Analysis Providers Association since 2019. 

Over the past two years, Moore said she has witnessed multiple ABA providers close or sell to for-profit organizations, but she wants to make sure the center remains part of the nonprofit Hope Network. 

As executive director, Moore hopes to launch speech and occupational therapy services in the future, but maintaining the center’s ABA and diagnostic services is her top priority. 

“First comes ensuring that we are sustainable in the next challenge,” Moore said. “So the next time something like COVID-19 comes out,  I want to make sure that we can make it through that battle.”

— Hannah Brock