West Michigan Policy Forum

About Us

The West Michigan Policy Forum's role is to provide the leadership, education and voice of Michigan business to guide the administration and legislature in reinventing Michigan. Talking about our ailing economy without putting action to words is no longer acceptable if Michigan is to reclaim its rightful place as the engine of America's economic growth. Action must be the new "buzzword" in the arena of public policy.

The West Michigan Policy Forum (WMPF) is governed by four officers of the board and a board of directors. The WMPF also has a steering committee which is a group of business and community leaders throughout the state who support our mission and contribute to the reinventing of Michigan.

Officers of the Board

DOUG DEVOS
Chairman of the board

JIM DUNLAP
Vice chairman of the
board and treasurer

PETER SECCHIA
Secretary of the board

JARED RODRIGUEZ
President

Board of Directors

RICK BAKER
President & CEO
Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce

JEFF CONNOLLY
Vice President & President West Michigan Operations and Managed Care
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

DOUG DEVOS
CHAIR OF THE BOARD
President
Amway

JIM DUNLAP
VICE CHAIR & TREASURER OF THE BOARD
President
Huntington

MATTHEW HAWORTH
Chairman
Haworth Inc.

J.C. HUIZENGA
Chairman and Founder
National Heritage Academy

MICHAEL J. JANDERNOA
Managing Partner
Bridge Street Capital Partners

MARGE POTTER
Executive Director of Corporate Affairs
Continental Rail Gateway

JARED RODRIGUEZ
President
West Michigan Policy Forum

PETER SECCHIA
SECRETARY OF THE BOARD
Managing Partner
SIBSCO LLC

GINNY SEYFERTH
President
SeyferthPR

MIKE VANGESSEL

CEO

Rockford Construction

Steering Committee

RICK BAKER, Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce
JIM BROOKS, Brooks Capital Management, LLC

JANE CLARK, Holland Area Chamber of Commerce
JEFF CONNOLLY, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

TIM DAMON, Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce
DOUG DEVOS, Amway
JIM DUNLAP, Huntington Bank
DR. DAVID EISLER, Ferris State University
WES EKLUND, Fleet Engineers
MICHAEL FAAS, Metro Health
JOY GAASCH, Grand Haven/Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Area Chamber of Commerce
THOMAS HAAS, Grand Valley State University

MATTHEW HAWORTH, Haworth Inc.

MICHAEL HILL, Edify North

J.C. HUIZENGA, National Heritage Academy
MICHAEL J. JANDERNOA, Bridge Street Capital Partners

ROBERT KAMINSKI, Mercantile Bank of Michigan

RON KITCHENS, Southwest Michigan First
BIRGIT KLOHS, The Right Place Inc.
CINDY LARSEN, Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce

DOUG LUCIANI, Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce

PHIL MCCORKLE, Saint Mary's Health Care

ARNIE MIKON, Tower Pinkster

LARRY MURPHY, Varnum, Riddering Schmidt & Howlett

MIKE OLTHOFF, Nichols

CHUCK PERRICONE, Perricone Group

MARGE POTTER, Continental Rail Gateway

JARED RODRIGUEZ, West Michigan Policy Forum

BOB ROTH, RoMan Manufacturing

DOUG ROTHWELL, Business Leaders for Michigan

PETER SECCHIA, SIBSCO LLC
GINNY SEYFERTH, SeyferthPR

ROGER SPOELMAN, Mercy Health Partners

GREG SUNDSTROM, City of Grand Rapids

RANDY THELEN, Lakeshore Advantage

JOSEPH TOMASELLI, Amway Grand Plaza Hotel

JERRY TUBERGEN, RDV Corporation

MARY TUUK, Fifth Third Bank

BOB VAN DEVENTER, Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce

MIKE VANGESSEL, Rockford Construction

PETER VARGA, The Rapid

TED VECCHIO, Applied Mechanics Corporation

DOUG WAGNER, Warner Norcross & Judd LLP

JOHN WEISS, Grand Valley Metro Council

SEAN WELSH, PNC

LARRY WILLIAMSON, Comcast

Governance Structure

Partners

Partnerorganizations

History

In 2008, the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce (GRACC) established the West Michigan Policy Forum (WMPF) as part of its 120th anniversary. The inaugural WMPF event brought more than 600 business and community leaders to Grand Rapids to unite the Michigan business community.

The conference breakout sessions and speeches by various subject experts led up to the closing session, where attendees participated in real-time voting that targeted specific issues and desired outcomes based on three themes:

Economic Growth
Attraction and Retention of Businesses
Improve Government Functions

These themes were separated into seven subject areas and as attendees voted, the five WMPF policy directives, listed above, emerged as the top ranked results.

The second WMPF event took place in Grand Rapids September of 2010. Again, more than 600 business and community leaders attended and showed their support for moving Michigan forward, this time, attendees came from 24 communities throughout the state. The 2010 WMPF was held during a pivotal election year and the forum gave participants the chance to hear from Michigan gubernatorial candidates.

In 2011, the WMPF became an independent entity. The transition allows the WMPF to continue to advocate throughout Michigan for pro-business policy reform, work with various partners to build a strong Michigan job base through other chambers, business leader groups, organizations and associations.

In 2012, the WMPF convened again with more than 600 attendees from communities throughout Michigan recommitting to policy priorities approved in 2008 and 2010 while adding additional priorities based on the changing policy landscape. The organization's focus is now squarely focused on creating growth-positive policies in these areas:

Government
Health
Labor
Talent
Transportation & Infrastructure

West Michigan Policy Forum • 616.485.6303 • E-Mail

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