Back to Business – Details, episodes & analysis

Leading a company isn't easy, especially in the new digital age. We speak with Robert from Twisthink about how he's setting his company up for success and building resilience in his team.

This podcast is sponsored by Comcast Business. Learn more at https://business.comcast.com/

Peter Marantette has lead the team at Reserve Wine & Food through a lot of challenges throughout the years, including COVID, staffing shortages, and inflation. We had a chance to sit down with Peter and learn more about how he's tackling one of the toughest industries out there and building resilience in his team and organization for the future.

This podcast is sponsored by Comcast.

How did we get into the situation where we are 35,000 housing units short of demand? What happens to people who can't find housing in their budget? 

We sat down with Brooke Oosterman, Director of Policy & Communications for Housing Next to learn more about how we got in this housing crisis to begin with, and what we can do to find homes for the many families and individuals that are looking 

Honor Construction knows what it takes to build multifamily housing at all price points. We sat down with Honor's President, Brad Laackman to learn more about the housing shortage in West Michigan, and how he's working to overcome those difficulties.

Tommy Brann finished his time in Lansing in 2022, but not before making a big impact and being named Legislator of the Year by MIRS. Andy Johnston, Senior Vice President at the Chamber and Brann joined the podcast to learn how Brann is reflecting on his time in the Legislator. 

Brann is also looking forward to joining the Wyoming City Council and making an impact closer to home.

Winter months often lead to slower economic activity. World of Winter is bringing visitors to our downtown.

Over 7000 people visited downtown during the festival's opening weekend. With two months and dozens of events to go, we're excited to see thousands more visitors and new art installations as the festival progresses. Many of these art installations are coming from artists with a worldwide audience.

In the Episode we speak with Richard App & Kim Van Driel of Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc. to learn more about what visitors can expect at World of Winter and learn more about the logistics of putting on the festival, and why this is an important event for businesses.

2022 was a dynamic year for the community. We checked in with President & CEO Rick Baker to wrap up the year and hear what he's excited for in the next year.

We checked in with Rick Baker in April as well. Find that episode in your feed to hear our discussion on the growth of Grand Rapids and West Michigan in the last decade.

Catherine’s Health Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit Federally Qualified Health Center. They provide a variety of high quality services in our community to those who might not otherwise have access to care.

On this episode, we sat down with Megan Erskine, CEO of Catherine's to learn more about the work that they are doing in our community. 

Learn more about Catherine's Health Center: https://catherineshc.org/

ArtPrize recently announced they were ending their original experiment started in 2009. This led to headlines like "ArtPrize is calling it quits". ArtPrize is in fact, not calling it quits. The original nonprofit is closing it's doors, but ArtPrize is finding new life with Kendall College of Art and Design, the City of Grand Rapids, and Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc.

We sat down with Tara McCrackin, the President of Kendall College of Art and Design to learn more about what's on the horizon for ArtPrize.

Crime is one of the most important issues for our members. Many don't realize the Chamber has been working with Silent Observer for decades to create resources to safely provide law enforcements with more tips to track crime. 

We sat down with new Director Maddison Moser and outgoing Director Chris Cameron to learn more about what Silent Observer does to help fight crime.

Learn more about Silent Observer: https://www.silentobserver.org/