Thursday, May 21

by Mary Kramer

7PM Presentation Begins
Listiak Auditorium
600 Elkenburg St, South Haven, Michigan 49090

The Series will open on Thursday, May 21, with Mary Kramer, Publisher of Crain’s business publications for Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and New York, and Chair of the Board of Trustees at Grand Valley State University. Kramer will offer her insights into the erosion of public trust in institutions, a topic of particular appeal in a presidential election year.

Mary Kramer, a seasoned journalist with more than 35 years of reporting, editing and publishing experience, joined Crain’s Detroit Business in 1989, In 1994, Kramer was named a Vice President of Crain Communications Inc. And in 2017, she was named Group Publisher, supervising Crain’s Cleveland Business, Crain’s Chicago Business and Crain’s New York Business in addition to Detroit.

Kramer is active in many Detroit-area business and civic organizations, including several that support at-risk girls and education. She is a trustee of the Skillman Foundation, a Detroit advocacy group for educational and economic opportunity for Detroit children; the Detroit Institute of Arts; and she chairs the Board of Trustees at Grand Valley State University. She was also the first woman to be elected President of the historic Detroit Athletic Club.

Thursday, June 4

by Alan Malory

7PM Presentation Begins
Listiak Auditorium
600 Elkenburg St, South Haven, Michigan 49090

On Thursday, June 4, motivational storyteller Alan Mallory will speak on “Reaching New Heights: Passion, Resilience and Agility in Climbing Your Own ‘Everest.” Mallory draws on his own experience in leading three members of his family to climb the world’s highest mountain.

Climbing Mount Everest is one of humanity’s greatest feats of physical, emotional and psychological endurance. In 2008 Alan Mallory and his family took on the challenge and became the first family of four to summit the world’s highest peak. It was a two-month journey filled with emotion, loyalty, adventure and terror.

Theirs is a story of staggering across ladders spanning seemingly bottomless crevasses, fighting exhausting bouts of altitude-related sickness, climbing through a blizzard in the dead of night, while nearly losing two family members. Theirs is a story of an exhilarating and unforgettably challenging climb. The Mallory expedition is an inspiring example of the importance of strong family values and maintaining a deep level of trust among team members. The story highlights many of the background experiences and adventures that prepared the Mallory’s to take on such a challenge, and explores the key traits that are essential for a safe and successful outcome to any team endeavor.

Thursday, September 24

by Patti Poppe

7PM Presentation Begins
Listiak Auditorium
600 Elkenburg St, South Haven, Michigan 49090

Patti Poppe was elected President and CEO of CMS Energy and its principal subsidiary, Consumers Energy, Michigan’s largest utility. Consumers Energy provides electricity and natural gas to 6.7 million of Michigan’s 10 million Lower Peninsula residents.

Poppe held a variety of automotive management positions and served as power plant director at Detroit, Michigan based DTE Energy before returning to her hometown of Jackson to join Consumers Energy in 2011. She earned a master’s degree in management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and received a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University.

At a time of unprecedented change in the energy industry, Poppe has focused on connecting the company more closely with its customers and adapting lean operating system principles. She also has led the company’s commitment to a triple bottom line in service of people, the planet and prosperity.

Thursday, October 22

by Jim Butterfield

7PM Presentation Begins
Listiak Auditorium
600 Elkenburg St, South Haven, Michigan 49090

Jim Butterfield is a Professor of Political Science and Allied Faculty in Global and International Studies at Western Michigan University. He specializes in Russian history and the states of the former Soviet Union. He has done field research, given lectures, taught courses, and done consulting in Russia and nearby countries during more then forty visits. He is a Fulbright Scholar (twice in Russia, once in Vietnam) and has directed study abroad programs in Saratov, Russia, and in Istanbul, Turkey.

Butterfield, whose presentations are clear and accessible, will explore the various reasons Russia acts the way it does toward the US and the West, drawing on such significant factors as its culture, religious Orthodoxy, search for identity, and the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Thursday, Oct 17

by David Myers

6:45pm Social Gathering – 7:30pm Presentation Begins
Integrated Learning Center, South Haven High School
600 Elkenburg St
South Haven, MI 49090

In a confusing era of alternative facts, fake news and civic leaders imposing fictions on reality, Myers will present lively and engaging insights. He gives examples of popular and potent false beliefs and explains how they develop.

He will also examine possible biases–and successful remedies–within his own field of psychological science.

Myers has researched and written on the subject of “gullibility” and along with other researcher-educators, finds the spread of misinformation troubling. “We feel distressed when public understandings radically diverge from reality-when people believe, contrary to evidence, that crime is rising, that new immigrants are often criminals…and that climate change is a hoax.” He notes that some misinformation is deliberate but that such things as sheer repetition, confirmation bias, statistical illiteracy, and group polarization also feed gullibility.

A long-time Professor of Psychology at Hope College, Myers is a gifted communicator of psychological science for the general public. His articles have appeared in four dozen magazines ranging from Scientific American to Christian Century, and he has authored 17 books including general interest and textbooks. Myers has received fellowships and grants from the U.S. Public Health Service and the National Science Foundation and is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology.

He is one of the most important authors of psychology textbooks while his scientific writings, supported by National Science Foundation grants and fellowships, have appeared in three-dozen academic periodicals.

His professional accomplishments have been recognized with several awards including an “Honored Scientist” award from the Federation of Associations in the Brain and Behavioral Sciences, by the Award for Distinguished Service on Behalf of Personality-Social Psychology, and by three honorary doctorates.

The presentation “Smart Thinking In A Post Truth Age” by David Myers was well attended. Here’s some photos from the event.

Watch the Video – Smart Thinking In A Post Truth Age by David Myers

Video by Richard Brunvand

SERIES LOOKS FORWARD TO 2020

Thursday, September 19

by Jennifer Granholm

7:30pm Presentation Begins (No Social Gathering)
Listiak Auditorium, South Haven High School
500 LaGrange Street
South Haven, MI 49090

As part of the 2019 Speaker Series of South Haven, former Governor Jennifer Granholm will speak on Top Trends Affecting Michigan. The program will begin at 7:30 pm. Due to the anticipated high number of attendees, the usual reception preceding the talk will not be held.

Admission is $10 with students, educators, and clergy admitted free. Tickets will be available at the door.

Tickets can be purchased online. Click here.

Since leaving office in 2011 Jennifer Granholm has been involved in numerous projects such job growth in clean energy, information technology, sustainability, climate change, and the development of public policy. Paired with her eight years experience as Governor and four as Attorney General, Granholm’s perspective will pose a compelling look at Michigan’s future.

She currently serves on the faculty at UC Berkeley teaching courses in law and public policy, and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, and the California Institute on Energy and the Environment. She is chair of the American Jobs Project, a multi-university research initiative focused on state-based policies to create jobs in clean energy, and does research in the subjects of artificial intelligence, employment and automation. She also serves as a Senior Contributor to CNN.

Granholm is also the Managing Partner for the Sustainability Group of Ridge-Lane, LLC, is the CEO of Granholm Mulhern Associates, and serves on several boards of companies and nonprofits. A senior contributor to CNN, she is also the co-author of the political bestseller, A Governor’s Story: The Fight for Jobs and America’s Economic Future.

Governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011, Granholm pioneered clean energy innovation, economic development, and led the state through the national crisis in the turn-around of the American automotive and manufacturing sectors. During her terms, the state attracted almost 4,000 companies and Site Selection magazine repeatedly named Michigan as one of the top three states in the nation for business locations or expansions. Under her leadership, Michigan was twice recognized by The Pew Center on the States as one of the best-managed states in the nation.

LOOKING AHEAD

Watch the Video – Top Trends Affecting Michigan, Jennifer Granholm

Video by Richard Brunvand