]
West Michigan entrepreneurs and business owners will be honored for their innovative spirit during the Muskegon Innovation Hub’s annual Lakeshore Innovator of the Year award ceremony from 5-7 p.m. on July 31.
This year’s finalists comprise a diverse range of industries, including K-12 education, business development, fashion design, medical research and the food industry.
Visit the Muskegon Innovation Hub web page to register for the event.
KEITH CRANDALL, seqSight, president & co-founder
For more than 30 years, Crandall has been researching and analyzing DNA to advance medical and health care technologies. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence in recent years, Crandall has taken an innovative approach to furthering his mission.
Crandall and his company are at the forefront of implementing AI to analyze DNA sequencing, helping their biotech and pharmaceutical clientele facilitate their own research.
“Think ChatGPT, only instead of asking ChatGPT questions about where you should go to dinner tonight, you give it DNA sequence data,” Crandall said. “Our models pull out unique features of that data, like antibiotic resistance, genes and things like that from the sequence data.”
SeqSight’s platform streamlines the traditionally time-consuming and labor-intensive process of DNA sequencing, Crandall said. Clients simply upload their data, and SeqSight handles the analysis, he said.
“It’s a very computationally intensive, and our innovation eliminates a lot of that and frees up the bioinformation in these biotech companies to do other things other than the primary DNA sequence data analysis,” Crandall said. “Then they can take those results and advance their technologies.”
SeqSight has garnered national attention after participating in the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps, positioning it for a potential NSF Small Business Innovation Award.
“What excites me about our technology is being able to partner with these biotech companies to advance their medicines, therapeutics and agricultural interventions for infectious disease for pathogens,” Crandall said.
“All those things are really in the remit of this DNA sequence analysis, and our tools can really help in a significant way.”
MATTHEW CORTEZ, Muskegon Public Schools, superintendent
As the leader responsible for educating PK-12 students across Muskegon County, Cortez has embraced an innovative approach to preparing his students for the demands of the 21st century workforce.
“Innovation is the ability to think outside the box,” Cortez said. “It is changing your systems that are not producing toward your mission and trying to find a different way forward for a new generation of students.”
Muskegon Public Schools was recently named a Ford Next Generation Learning community — the first in West Michigan and fourth district in the state.
In partnership with Ford, MPS created the Innovation Academies of Muskegon, which develop personalized, career-based instruction, Cortez said. Students are introduced to career pathways early, explore options in middle school, and then join one of two academies for high school focused on either health & human services or industry, technology and design.
“We have a long way to go, but we're preparing ourselves to be that 21st century learning center that our students in our community deserve,” Cortez said.
“By doing this academy model with Ford Next Generation Learning, we are partnering with over 70 local businesses and institutions.”
Cortez said one of the final steps involves building a steering committee of Muskegon’s major business partners that will be hiring and directing the career paths of his students.
“This has been a huge community input for us as a district, and we've done a great job as a district of involving our community,” he said.
“So when you talk about innovation in our community itself, this is one thing that I really feel is affecting our entire community, not just our school district. I can already see the effects across our county.”
JANYELLE MILTON, J Marie Premium Sneakers, founder
When Milton first considered creating her own line of sneakers, she said she heard from many questioning her decision. Instead of letting the doubts deter her, she turned them into motivation.
“I know when I first started the brand, everybody said, ‘Sneakers are done already,” Milton said. “People said to me, ‘The sneaker industry is male and sports dominated.’
“So I think it’s important to be a trailblazer, and that’s one of the rewards of being innovative.”
Built around the tagline, “Conceived in Detroit. Handcrafted in Italy,” J Marie Premium Sneakers offers a line of stylish, functional footwear manufactured with 100 percent Italian leather.
For Milton, innovation is as much about ethics as it is about design, she said.
“Innovation to me is being a brand that is not just concerned with consumerism and lifestyle, but actually concerned about the environment and the society that they operate within,” she said.
“J Marie Premium Sneakers is a sustainable premium brand that not only offers products that are good for the environment, but we also give back to the environment.”
Part of that commitment to sustainability includes helping the next generation of young entrepreneurs understand the moral and ethical implications of consumerism, Milton said.
“It’s important we give back by working with other sustainable brands to understand it’s not just about a consumer, but a brand committed to the environment, sustainability and projects that push society forward,” she said.
LASHAE SIMMONS II, Black Wall Street Muskegon, founder and president
With her background in finance, Simmons identified a market and demographic that could benefit greatly from her expertise — entrepreneurs of color and their small businesses.
Her idea, Black Wall Street Muskegon, is a digital, incubator platform that provides social networking, collaborations and partnerships, she said.
“We take high-exposure events, profiles or portfolios and make them more comprehensive so that anyone in any stage of business has the ability to benefit,” Simmons said.
“If you are someone with an idea, we provide services for that, or if you're someone that's been in the business for over 10 years, we also provide services for that as well.”
The platform has become a key player in Muskegon’s small business renaissance and has earned her recognition in the media, including a feature by her alma mater, Western Michigan University.
Simmons is also responsible for the Black Wall Street Muskegon Expo, held each third Sunday in June. The event introduces small businesses to the broader Muskegon community.
“Innovation to me means coming up with creative ways to do things that maybe already exist, but don’t exist for each market or each individual,” Simmons said. “It’s making sure it’s equitable to all, and to be innovative you have to be equitable.”
BRIAN WOODS, Big Skinny's, owner
Building a food enterprise around pretzels might seem limiting, but Woods’ innovative thinking has turned that simple concept into a flavor-packed success story. And it all started with humble beginnings, he said.
“I’ve been making them for 20 some years for family and friends and family gatherings,” Woods said. “Everybody said you should sell them.”
That encouragement led to the launch of Big Skinny’s, which now has 19 retail locations across Newaygo and Oceana counties selling his signature seasoned pretzels.
“To be innovative in seasoned pretzels is just about being bold,” Woods said. “A pretzel is kind of like a blank slate. Coming up with the new flavors is the fun part.”
Woods credits the Muskegon Innovation Hub for helping take his business to the next level. In February, Big Skinny’s was one of three companies to receive a Hub Direct Grant of $10,000, which allowed him to purchase new equipment.
Being named a finalist for Innovator of the Year, Woods said, wouldn’t have been possible without that support.
“I’ve been to the Hub’s classes, and when I have questions, one of my first calls is to everybody here,” Woods said. “The Hub has become a second home.”
