JoAnn Crary, Saginaw Future Inc., president and CEO, has achieved status in three ways.
- She’s a rare female top executive in the profession of economic development.
- She was even more original among women when she started in 1993.
- And very few individuals, men or women, remain in the same public sector positions for 28 years.
“Today, we see much more diversity (in economic development) with women and with people of color, who are leading organizations around the country and around the world,” Crary notes, addressing the first and second points.
As for the third, she says, “There are still needs here. That’s why our team has stayed here. Our longevity brings a number of benefits that we have built upon.”
Indeed, Executive Vice Present and Program Manager Delena Spates-Allen have joined Crary for the entire ride, which began during the first year of Bill Clinton’s U.S. presidency as a cooperative and cost-cutting effort that united the Chamber of Commerce with the county and city governments.. Along for most of that time have been Tom Miller Jr., vice president; Greg LaMarr, communications and marketing director, Stephanie Bauer, chief financial officer; and Cessi Miller, business development manager.
Crary says she realizes she is a pioneer, but she prefers to focus on her work, and that of her top staffers.
Results? Saginaw Future lists creation and retention of 29.000 jobs, $7 billion in new investments spanning 1 million square acres, and more than 550 business expansions.
Her background would be unusual even for a man. She graduated from Vassar High School, and matriculated to Delta College and Ferris State University with the aim of becoming a high school teacher and sports coach. When she shifted gears into economic development, she boosted her resumes with further studies at Saginaw Valley and Central Michigan universities.
JoAnn knows how to pitch the Great Lakes region. She deflects questions about the steep decline of jobs in the auto industry and in overall manufacturing by pointing to 100 percent boosts in professional and business services, and 50 percent in education and health care. No longer are all the economic eggs in one basket. She points to ties with Nexteer, Hemlock Semiconductor, Covenant HealthCare and Morley Companies.
At the same time, she is a realist who acknowledges that actual unemployment is more than double the official rate, which overlooks such factors as part-time hours with limited benefits and long-term jobless people who have given up on searching. The result, she notes, is increased poverty, crime and other social ills, including growth of income and social inequality.
One Saginaw Future response is “Community Ventures,” which has placed more than 2,000 individuals in jobs through counseling and communication.
“It is so fulfilling,” Crary says, when a project comes to fruition, and you know you have contributed in a small way to provide meaningful jobs and a better quality of life for our residents.”
