About Us

Who We Are

Business Leaders for Michigan, the state’s business roundtable, is dedicated to making Michigan a Top 10 state for jobs, education, widely shared prosperity and a healthy economy. We are a private, nonprofit organization composed exclusively of the executive leaders of Michigan’s largest companies and universities.

2023 Retreat Board meeting

Member Impact

Our Members Drive

40%

of the State’s Economy

Our Members Generate Over

$1 Trillion

in Annual Revenue

Our Members Employ

540,000

People in Michigan

Our Members Educate More Than

Half

of All Michigan Public University Students

Business Leaders for Michigan

Our work is concentrated on developing strategy, raising awareness, advocating policy and championing initiatives that grow the state’s economy. Our members are united around a shared vision to do better by our kids, invest in our people, accelerate our economy and get the fundamentals right. We’ve spelled out what that means in Compete to Win: Michigan’s Path to Top 10, a comprehensive strategy for how government, community, education and business leaders can improve Michigan’s economic growth.

All our organizational activities are geared toward achieving the goals outlined in this plan. What’s more, we keep our focus on the future by continually researching and benchmarking new data and strategies that can help advance Michigan’s growth.

Recent wins that advance our long-term goal of making Michigan a Top 10 state

Improved

Economic Competitiveness

Advanced

 K-12 Reform

Expanded

Talent Pathways

Strengthened

the State’s Fundamentals

Our History

Our organization’s roots are in Detroit. First founded in the 1970s, we existed for decades as Southeast Michigan-based Detroit Renaissance, a regional business roundtable. Given the economic challenges experienced by the State of Michigan as a whole, however, our expansion to a statewide organization in 2009 was natural. We now emphasize the development and expansion of jobs and economic growth across the entire state.