In Partnership With

Bay Future | Bay Future Focus: October 2023

October 3, 2023

Michigan Business Network

President & CEO’s Message

News travels fast, in this day and age, and good news travels even faster, it seems. Bay Future, Inc. is taking advantage of opportunities, recently shared with us, that have allowed our organization to share the stories of economic investment and growth in our community with national and international audiences!

We know sharing our story, from an economic development perspective, is critically important to community building for several reasons. Chief among them is that it plays a vital role in attracting and retaining investment. Specifically, investment from businesses, entrepreneurs, and government agencies representing grants, as an example, to our community. These investments lead to job creation, infrastructure development, and overall economic growth, which benefits the entire community. Not to mention communities with compelling economic development narratives are more likely to attract and retain talent. Skilled workers and talented professionals are often drawn to areas that offer economic opportunities, a high quality of life, and a sense of purpose. Sharing our story while highlighting the unique assets and attributes that make doing business in Bay County appealing works in concert to attract talented individuals and cutting-edge businesses but also to retain those individuals and businesses in our community, as well.

In this month’s newsletter, we will share with you a few recent examples of how we are telling our story to attract businesses and talent, nationally and internationally, to our community. I encourage you to take a few moments and check out our feature in Business in Focus and Trade & Industry Development magazines. We will also share with you an opportunity we had to tell a great economic development story (10 years in the making!) to an international audience that visited our community, last month.

As we share these stories, will you help spread the word to your regional, national, and international contacts by sharing them, as well? If so, I believe we will continue to experience growth of business and industry and talent within our community because those that we have shared our story with, will want to be a part of that story too!

Looking forward to sharing more exciting future investment news with you soon!

Happy reading,

-Trevor Keyes, EDFP

President & CEO

Bay Future, Inc.

Featured Content

Bay County Featured in Business in Focus

“Our Community is really embracing what the future could be.” – Trevor Keyes

In 2019, leaders in the mid-Michigan community of Bay City decided to put forward an aggressive economic development plan that set measurable goals for success and would set the path for future prosperity and growth in this re-emerging Midwestern town. They had been thoughtful in their methodology of getting community feedback to craft the goals and had agreed on the tactics they would implement to meet and exceed the goals. Following on from recent successes, they had taken a tried-and-true path of identifying the strengths and opportunities of the community and were finally ready to put their plan in to action and drive forward.

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This is the fourth time Bay County has been featured in Business in Focus. Check out the previous articles below:

2015 “Promoting Bay County to the World”

2018 “Big City Amenities with a Small Town Feel”

2021 “Working to Drive Bay County, Michigan Forward!”

Port Fisher Terminals Featured in Trade & Industry Development

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Bay County Feature

HL Mechatronics Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary in Bay County

Pictured (L to R): Mr. Seonghyeon Cho, Vice Chairman, HL Group Automotive Sector, Mr. Kevin Ross, President, HL Mechatronics, and Mr. Mong-Won Chung, Chairman, HL Mando Co. Ltd.

Last month we had the opportunity to celebrate and speak with leaders of HL Mechatronics and HL Group from South Korea at their facility in Bay County as they traveled to participate and recognize a decade of success and partnership.

10 years ago, HL Mechatronics, a part of HL Group (who changed its name from Halla Group in 2022 to HL “Higher Life” Group in celebration of 60th anniversary) was looking for a location to expand its research, engineer, sales and marketing operations, and our community was looking to secure advanced manufacturers and Research and Development, that would advance our future prospects in the mobility and automotive industry. “It was a perfect match,” Trevor Keyes, President & CEO of Bay Future, Inc., said in his address to company leadership.

In an article from the local news announcing the purchase and investment of the Monitor Road property at that time, Kevin Ross, President of HL Mechatronics was asked to look into the future and comment on what it looked like. “Our goal is to create a tech hub in this area to address future market needs. To meet this goal, we will be expanding with the best and brightest,” Ross said.

And that is exactly what has happened.

Bay Future, Inc. was honored to have the opportunity to meet with and address HL’s national and international leadership, and has been thankful and fortunate to work along side local company leadership here in Bay County for a decade.

Partners and recognition at the event also included Brenda Flory, Senior Business Development Manager for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) presenting a letter of commendation on behalf of Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

We look forward to future partnerships with HL, future investment, and future forward progress in the decades to come here in Bay County and the State of Michigan!

Investor Spotlight

McLaren Health Care & Saginaw Valley State University

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1452983548826443

McLaren Health Care, the three-state, fully integrated health care system, has announced a partnership with Saginaw Valley State University that will provide all qualified full- and part-time employees wishing to further their education with a 30 percent discount on tuition and all associated fees for in-person and online courses through the university, located less than 10 miles from McLaren Bay Region hospital in Bay City.

All McLaren Health Care employees throughout the state – regardless of job classification – are eligible for all undergraduate, graduate, and certification courses offered through the award-winning university, effective with the beginning of the 2023 fall semester.

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