Veterans Day Luncheon featuring Ingrid Tighe
November 11, 2025
Grand Valley State University's Office of the President and Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies this Veterans Day came together to honor the service and sacrifice of West Michigan and Laker veterans past and present. This year’s program explored the theme “Why I Served,” highlighting the personal motivations and experiences that inspire service and leadership.
We are honored to have welcomed Ingrid Tighe, President of the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center and a U.S. Army veteran, who shared reflections on her path of service and her continued leadership in Michigan’s business community. The program concluded with a panel featuring veterans who shared their reflections on their service.
Full Event Recording
Speaker
Ingrid Tighe
Ingrid Tighe is the President of the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (The Center). Joining the team at the beginning of 2023, Ingrid serves as the official representative of the MEP National Network in Michigan. She is responsible for The Center’s statewide network of five offices, its innovation and growth strategies, and for building and maintaining relationships with Michigan’s industry clients, partners and state and federal governmental stakeholders.
Previously, she served as Director of Economic Development for Oakland County where she led 200 staff members in four divisions focused on business development and international business attraction; community development and planning; and the county’s workforce development and veteran services.
Ingrid attended Vanderbilt University on a four-year R.O.T.C. scholarship and was commissioned as a U.S. Army Signal Corps officer upon graduation. She served from 1998 to 2005 with the 1st Infantry Division in Germany participating in NATO peacekeeping operations in Macedonia and Kosovo and later with the 1st Cavalry Division leading troops from 2004 to 2005 in the combat zone of Baghdad, Iraq. After honorably separating from the Army, Ingrid used the post 9/11 G.I. Bill to obtain her Master of Public Administration from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.