Latest news with #Duggan
Forbes
15 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
This Cancer Survivor, Now Biotech CEO, Is In A Race To Help Others Live Longer
Maky Zanganeh was born in Tehran in 1970, nine years before the Islamic Revolution convulsed Iran. She remembers one night in particular, when the military police tear-gassed a house at the end of the cul-de-sac next to where her family lived and sprayed it with machine gun fire. She and her two older sisters were home alone. 'In the morning, we woke up at 7 o'clock and had to go to school as if nothing happened,' she says matter-of-factly. 'That was my life when I was in Iran.' Mauricio Candela for Forbes That preternatural composure and no-nonsense attitude has helped Zanganeh navigate a life filled with more twists and turns than a Persian bazaar. A couple years after that horrific night in Tehran, Zanganeh's parents, both architects, fled Iran for Germany. She got a degree in dentistry, then an MBA, but ended up working for an American medical robotics outfit, where she met Bob Duggan, a prominent Scientologist, serial entrepreneur and eventual billionaire with whom she would have a son and later marry. She earned hundreds of millions as an investor and executive, speaks four languages (Farsi, German, English, French), survived breast cancer and runs, as co-CEO with Duggan, Miami-based Summit Therapeutics, a Nasdaq-listed biotech that has minted her a $1.5 billion fortune of her own. That wealth has landed Zanganeh, now 54, on Forbes' list of America's Richest Self-Made Women (at No. 23) for the first time. She is one of 38 self-made female U.S. billionaires on the list, and one of just five to have made a billion-dollar-plus fortune in health care. When she and Duggan took over Summit in 2020, the company had less than $1 million in revenue, tens of millions in losses and just one promising drug in its pipeline, an antibiotic that was shelved in 2022. In less than five years, Zanganeh and Duggan—who married in December—have become biotech stars. Key to their success: licensing an overlooked cancer drug candidate from a company in China. That drug, ivonescimab, now seems likely to be a blockbuster. In a clinical trial last year, it outperformed Keytruda, the world's best-selling drug, which generated nearly $30 billion in 2024 sales for Merck. Investors have driven up Summit shares 575% over the past 12 months, giving it a recent market capitalization of nearly $21 billion, despite having no revenue. 'I think of her as probably the most underrated executive in all of biotech,' says Ken Clark, a partner at law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, who for more than three decades has worked with hundreds of biotech companies and served on multiple boards—including that of Summit Therapeutics. According to Clark, Zanganeh stands out because of how she and Duggan, neither of whom comes from a traditional biotech background, work together to question established wisdom and get things done quickly in unconventional ways. Ivonescimab is now in multiple Phase III trials for different forms of lung cancer, and Summit plans to submit an application for FDA approval by the end of the year. It can't come too soon. Even after advances in treatment and detection of lung cancer over the past two decades, 125,000 Americans die from the disease each year—more than twice the number of deaths from any other cancer, per the National Cancer Institute. What's novel about Summit's drug is how it goes after the cancer in two ways. It stimulates the immune system to attack the cancer cells while also starving the cancer by cutting off blood supply to the tumors. Based on the clinical trial in China last year, the two-pronged approach works. Those on Summit's drug went a median 11.1 months before the cancer returned, compared to 5.8 months for those taking Keytruda. The results, announced last September, led Summit's stock to more than double in four days. Zanganeh's journey from schoolgirl in Tehran to Miami biotech CEO took an unusual route. In 1984, five years after the Shah of Iran was overthrown, her parents moved with her to Germany. Zanganeh settled down with an uncle in Oldenburg, a small city about 30 miles from Bremen, while her parents continued to shuttle between Europe and Iran. Old-fashioned values prevailed: good manners, good health and lots of studying. 'Education was a top priority,' Zanganeh says. Her older sisters both went to medical school in Strasbourg, France. She chose to study dentistry instead and graduated from Louis Pasteur University (now the University of Strasbourg) in 1995. She soon realized dentistry was not for her. 'It was like being in a box every day, doing the same thing,' she says. In 1997, a friend of her sister's told Zanganeh about her job at a U.S. company called Computer Motion, which manufactured robotic arms used to perform minimally invasive surgery. Zanganeh was fascinated and landed a job in the Strasbourg office. Her father convinced her that if she was going to go into business, she would need an MBA, so studying part-time she earned one from Schiller International University in 1998. At 28, Zanganeh was promoted to oversee Computer Motion's business in Europe and the Middle East, which involved visiting surgeons in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, introducing them to what was then a new technology. That's also when Zanganeh began working with Computer Motion's CEO, Bob Duggan, who had invested in the company back in 1989. Duggan, now 81, was the yin to Zanganeh's yang. She had been a diligent student and dedicated employee who earned an advanced degree. He had spent at least five years at UC Santa Barbara and UCLA without earning a degree, was a passionate surfer and had worked for himself, except for a brief three-year stint, since he started mowing lawns as a teenager. He's an idea guy with an analytical mind who thinks and talks fast, while Zanganeh excels at process and execution. 'We're very simpatico,' Duggan says. 'She knows all the details and she's got a photographic memory. I'm a visionary. I can see around corners.' In 2003, after Duggan sold Computer Motion to Intuitive Surgical, they began looking for the next big thing. Zaganeh, who was then working for Duggan's personal investment firm, became intrigued with cancer drug developer Pharmacyclics, a money-losing public company with a potentially promising drug—she says she picked it from a list of 15 companies that came in via fax from an analyst. One of Duggan's sons had died of brain cancer, so the company's purpose resonated. Both Duggan and Zanganeh invested in Pharmacyclics in April 2004; Zanganeh sold her Intuitive Surgical shares and borrowed from the bank to come up with the cash. By 2008 Duggan had increased his stake to the point where he controlled the Sunnyvale, California–based company and installed himself as CEO. Zanganeh also joined, first as vice president of business development and later as chief operating officer. In 2011, armed with a fresh early-stage cancer drug (the first one failed), Duggan began talking up a partnership with Johnson & Johnson, which needed to boost its cancer drug pipeline. Zanganeh made it come to fruition. 'She's a force of nature. She is so thoughtful, so prepared, so data-driven, and then she takes that and makes things happen,' says Michael Gaito, global chairman of investment banking and health care at JPMorgan, whose firm advised Pharmacyclics in when it was sold to AbbieVie in 2015. Zanganeh negotiated a worldwide partnership with J&J that allowed the smaller Pharmacyclics to book the U.S. revenue from the new cancer drug, rather than the typical arrangement in which it would go to the big pharma partner. She also negotiated upfront payments over two years of $400 million. 'The terms of it were revolutionary at the time,' Gaito says. Adds Summit board member Clark: 'She really drove it.' Pharmacyclics' drug, Imbruvica, ended up being a blockbuster treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, one of the most common forms of leukemia in adults. It is far less toxic than the chemotherapy that was the previous standard treatment. A surge in Pharmacyclics' stock price first landed Duggan on Forbes' Billionaires list in 2013, the year Imbruvica got FDA approval. Two years later, drug giant AbbVie bought the company for $21 billion. Zanganeh, who had invested about $1 million in the company, walked away with $225 million before taxes. The cash was especially welcome since it enabled Zanganeh, who had been raising her son, Shaun, on her own, to spend more time being a mom. Back in 2006, when he was born, Zanganeh was traveling so much for work, researching investments with Duggan, that her mother, who lived in France, raised Shaun until he was 5, with Zanganeh flying to France every two weeks to visit. (Duggan recently acknowledged that Shaun is his son.) In 2019, Zanganeh was on a trip to France to visit her father, who was having surgery to remove a cancerous tumor, when she found a lump that turned out to be Stage 2 breast cancer. She had surgery at the same hospital as her dad, then flew home to the U.S., where she started chemotherapy two weeks before Covid-19 lockdowns began in March 2020. It didn't go smoothly: Her heart and lungs practically shut down and she had to be hospitalized. She had bone pain and chronic vomiting. 'I was really, really sick,' she says. 'All of the time, you have this fear. What if it metastasizes?' She says the silver lining was that she got to experience the same challenges as many of the patients her industry exists to serve. During this time, Duggan targeted another struggling biotech. He spent $63 million buying 60% of Summit Therapeutics' shares and became CEO in April 2020. Seven months later, chemo treatments behind her, Zanganeh joined as chief operating officer and board member. In July 2022, she was appointed co-CEO. After initial plans to develop a new antibiotic sputtered, the pair hired a handful of former Pharmacyclics employees and sent them on a quest to find a new cancer drug—anywhere in the world. Fong Clow, a Pharmacyclics veteran originally from China, suggested looking in her home country. In mid-2022 the Summit team zeroed in on ivonescimab, which was made by a Hong Kong–listed firm called Akeso and already in Phase III trials. At the time, there was some hesitation in the industry about partnering with a Chinese drugmaker. In March 2022, the FDA declined to approve a lung cancer drug that Eli Lilly had licensed from China's Innovent Biologics. That's one possible reason Akeso, which had presented some promising research at ASCO, the big annual oncology conference that year, didn't attract big pharma. It wasn't a problem for Zanganeh and Duggan. 'They're just not bound by conventional thinking,' says board member Clark. They were, however, bound by Summit's finances. In September 2022 the company had just over $120 million of cash on hand and a market cap of about $200 million. But Michelle Xia, the founder and CEO of Akeso—who had worked for Bayer and other pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. after getting a Ph.D. in molecular biology in the U.K.—bonded with Zanganeh and Duggan. The two teams quickly discovered they had similar entrepreneurial cultures. 'They found me, and I think it's a perfect fit,' Xia says. In December 2022 the two companies agreed to license Akeso's drug for $500 million upfront (Summit had to borrow from Duggan and Zanganeh to cover the sum) and $4.5 billion in potential milestone payments if ivonescimab gets approved. Zanganeh is optimistic on that front. Ivonescimab is undergoing 11 Phase III trials around the world. Results so far have been mostly positive, though on May 30 the company reported that it missed one of two primary targets–for overall survival–in one of the trials, sending Summit shares plummeting 30% that day. In a June 1 note, Cantor Fitzgerald biotech analyst Eric Schmidt wrote, 'We think the markets got it wrong,' explaining that the trial showed very positive results for the other target, time without disease progression–and that this particular trial is for a small subset of lung cancer patients. As a cancer survivor, Zanganeh knows there is no time to waste. 'The speed of [our] decision making is fast,' she says. 'You want to make sure that you can really help all these patients.' Disclosure: Maky Zanganeh, Summit Therapeutics' co-CEO, published a book in February with Forbes Books, a licensed partner of Forbes.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Duggan makes a show of the 2025 Mackinac Policy Conference amid undercurrent of political tension
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan speaks to the Lansing Economic Club during an event in East Lansing, Mich., on Feb. 6, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) MACKINAC ISLAND – After a long Memorial Day weekend, politicians, business professionals, lobbyists and public service workers traveled to Mackinac Island for the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce's annual Mackinac Policy Conference, with political division intersecting at almost all points with policy goals throughout the three day event. The conference typically features a host of panel discussions centered on economic development, education, housing, and politics at a state, national and international scale, and this year was no different as panelists pointed to concerns with Michigan's lagging approach to education, outlined the impact of uncertainty on tariff policies and federal funding and pointed to opportunities to build up the state's efforts in the manufacturing and technology sector. While some lawmakers came together for civil discussions in line with the conference's motif of civility and bipartisanship, political divides served as a backdrop throughout the conference, as the split Michigan Legislature remained concerned about the state budget and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan took pot shots at politicians over partisan bickering. Although members of Michigan's Congressional Delegation touted their ability to work together on issues affecting Michigan – like getting a new mission for Selfridge Air Force Base or protecting the Great Lakes from invasive species – the relationship among state legislative leaders was a bit more frosty. During an annual reception ostensibly highlighting civility, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, House Speaker Matt Hall, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt and House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri spent a tense hour that served as the four leaders' first meeting as a group debating the merits of each party's strategy to negotiating legislation. The back-and-forth between legislative leaders was just one example of what Duggan, who is running for governor as an independent, criticized as a broken system. Another example: The Democratic Governors Association began running a digital ad attacking Duggan, who was a member of their party until last year, claiming he has a 'long, corruption-riddled history,' just one day after Duggan spoke about the Democratic and Republican parties relying on attack ads to win their elections. Duggan told the Michigan Advance that Democrats 'are nothing if not predictable' after the ad campaign was announced. 'They hate Republicans in general, and they hate Donald Trump in particular,' Duggan said. 'But today, I've gotten them to broaden their platform; now they hate me, too.' 'Once again, after facing the tiniest bit of scrutiny, Mike Duggan resorted to another temper tantrum by immediately lying and comparing himself to Donald Trump,' DGA Spokesperson Sam Newton said in a statement after the Michigan Advance published Duggan's response to the ad. 'Well, he's right about one thing: both Duggan and Trump are corrupt and wrong for Michigan.' Although some panels confronted Trump's blunt-edged approach to diplomacy, federal funding and tariffs head on, U.S. Ambassador to Canada and former Michigan Republican Party Chair Pete Hoekstra offered an optimistic vision for the two countries' relationship, saying they could become a global powerhouse on energy and manufacturing if they're able to mend fences that have been stressed since Trump took office in January, proposing to implement punishing tariffs and speculating about making the sovereign nation a 51st state. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel criticized the business-as-usual approach she felt attendees were taking in their usual networking and lobbying efforts as the President works to expand his power and reshape the federal government. 'I look around the Grand Hotel and, you know, the Mackinac policy conference, and there's this sense that everything is normal and that everything is the same as it's ever been, and people are negotiating with each other for different sorts of policies they want to see implemented. And yet, I don't think they understand that anything can be undercut by the federal administration at any time,' Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told the Michigan Advance on Wednesday. Nessel has helped file 17 different cases against the Trump Administration, challenging several policy changes including Trump's executive order excluding certain newborns from birthright citizenship. While several candidates for governor and U.S. Senate were present at the conference — with Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the early favorite for Democrats, making it a stop on her book tour — none got quite as much attention as Duggan, who was shown to be pulling equal amounts of support from Democrats and Republicans in a poll released last Tuesday. Duggan delivered a keynote address Wednesday and participated in a conversation with Rocket Mortgage founder and philanthropist Dan Gilbert on Thursday. Speaking on another panel Thursday afternoon, April Ryan, White House Correspondent for The Grio, underscored Duggan's arguments about partisan politics, telling Fox 2 Detroit Anchor Roop Raj Duggan's polling shows 'the system is broken.' 'Certain groups felt, that are now in power — now I'm going to say it — They felt like they weren't heard. And the problem is we have to find a way to get everyone under the umbrella. If you get this person, I'm not going to be heard. If you get that person, I'm not — it's such a polar opposite, and the system is broken,' Ryan said. 'We've got to find a way to fix it. That's why independents are on the rise, and people are listening, because people don't feel heard. People want to feel seen.' However, Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who launched a Democratic bid for governor in March, took the helm for several announcements, including more than $107 million to support infrastructure workforce development, $769,000 in grants to support programs aimed at reversing population decline in the state, and a $3.5 billion commitment from the state's largest energy companies — DTE Energy and Consumers Energy — to purchase technology, equipment and services from Michigan-based businesses in support of the state's energy manufacturing sector. Notably absent from the conference: U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Twp.), who declared his candidacy for governor in April. Polling points to James as the early favorite among Republicans, compared to former Attorney General Mike Cox and Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, who are also pursuing the Republican nomination. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, left, and state Sen. Kevin Hertel, D-St. Clair Shores, right, discuss Senate Democrats' priorities during a panel in the lobby of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the first night of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 27, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Howard Crawford, left, Matt Elliott, center, and Mona Hanna, right, speaks at a panel about the impact of cutting federal funds for higher education research during the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 27, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) State Sens. Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton), center, and Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan), right, joined Skillman Foundation President and CEO Angelique Power, left, to discuss Michigan's education system during the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference. May 28, 2025 | Photo by Kyle Davidson Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau President Claude Molinari, left, Pistons Sports and Entertainment Vice Chairman Arn Tellem, center, and Detroit Sports Commission Executive Director Marty Dobek, right, participate in a panel during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, a Democratic candidate for governor, on the porch of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, on the porch of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz on the porch of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democratic candidate for governor, is interviewed by the Michigan Advance on the porch of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, a Democratic candidate for governor, speaks during a press conference on the porch of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet, D-Bay City, on the porch of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Michigan Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Former Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, left, and Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Twp., right, at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Michigan Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Michigan state Rep. Joseph Aragona, R-Clinton Twp., discusses cryptocurrency policies in the lobby of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the first day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 27, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra speaks on the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall holds a press conference on the porch of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Former Gov. Rick Snyder on the porch of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan delivers a keynote address during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan delivers a keynote address during the second day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 28, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Skillman Foundation President and CEO Angelique Power and U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) at the Mackinac Policy Conference's Women in Leadership panel on May 28, 2025. | Kyle Davidson U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) at the Mackinac Policy Conference's Women in Leadership panel on May 28, 2025. | Kyle Davidson U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, left, and Office of Defense and Aerospace Innovation Executive Director John Gutierrez, right, discuss Michigan's role in America's defense industry during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers a keynote address during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers a keynote address during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, left, is interviewed by Michigan Advance reporter Kyle Davidson, right, during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) MIGOP Chairman state Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, center, and state Rep. Bryan Posthumus, R-Rockford, right, discuss the future of the Michigan Republican Party Chad Livengood of The Detroit News during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, a candidate for U.S. Senate, on the porch of the Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island, Mich., during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, in the lobby of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) U.S. Reps. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, Bill Huizenga, R-Walker, and Kristen McDonald Rivet, D-Bay City, discuss bipartisanship during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet, D-Bay City, speaks during a panel with bipartisan members of Congress during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Walker, speaks during a panel with bipartisan members of Congress during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, speaks during a panel with bipartisan members of Congress during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, speaks during a panel with bipartisan members of Congress during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, right, speaks with Dan Gilbert, left, during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Twp., left, and Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Twp., participates in a PAC reception during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Michigan House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri, D-Canton, participates in a PAC reception during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance) Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, participates in a PAC reception during the third day of the Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., on May 29, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
Axios
2 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Two takeaways from business-focused Detroit mayoral debate
Candidates for Detroit mayor butted heads on what constitutes "experience" during a debate Thursday evening at the Mackinac Policy Conference. Why it matters: In the debate and throughout the conference, candidates are showcasing their platforms, leadership abilities and willingness to work with businesses, while courting potential supporters — including those with deep pockets. State of play: The annual convening of political and business leaders is organized by the Detroit Regional Chamber, whose political action committee board members could be among business leaders to offer support. The board will meet in June to discuss if they'd endorse a mayoral candidate before or after the primary. Those debating were City Council member Fred Durhal III, City Council president Mary Sheffield, former nonprofit CEO Saunteel Jenkins, Pastor Solomon Kinloch Jr. and former police chief James Craig. Here are two takeaways from the debate, which included rebuttals, unlike previous discussion forums. "Experience matters," as Jenkins said and others expressed. But candidates disagreed about what having experience means, and whose history of impact inside or outside government will help Detroiters the most. "Talk to the people in the neighborhood and see whether or not they agree with the past performance. It doesn't matter how experienced you are if your experiences don't change the experiences of the people that live in this city," said Kinloch, who has argued that Detroiters want to see a different kind of leader. Durhal said that he disagreed, that "we are in a critical time here in the city of Detroit, and we cannot turn that over to someone who has to have on-the-job training." Weighing in on Duggan: Candidates were asked what Mayor Mike Duggan has done right and wrong on business issues. Jenkins said the mayor did well attracting business and jobs, and rebuilding confidence in the city. Now, though, Detroit needs to assure the same growth is happening equitably in neighborhoods outside greater downtown. Craig said Duggan did a "phenomenal job" returning services to Detroiters after the bankruptcy, but the next mayor needs to make it easier to open a business here. Meanwhile, Sheffield highlighted Duggan's partnership with the City Council and the mayor's "foundation," while saying poverty needs to be dealt with and neighborhoods need more investment.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Detroit mayoral candidates battle for a spot in Mike Duggan's shadow
MACKINAC ISLAND ― When Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan took part in his first mayoral debate, in 2013 on Mackinac Island, he was fighting for a spot in the shadow of state-appointed Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, who led the city through bankruptcy before handing control back to elected leaders in 2014. Last week, five leading candidates for mayor took the island debate stage to battle for a spot in the shadow of Mike Duggan. In 2013, the city was shedding its paralyzing debt in bankruptcy court and preparing to usher in a new era of investment, service restoration and hope. That era, financially, is coming to a close, with long-deferred pension payments coming due, stimulus money drying up and the specter of dramatic federal funding cuts looming under President Donald Trump. Each of the five candidates debating at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference sought to ride a precarious line ― promising to maintain the trajectory of economic progress fostered by Duggan, who is stepping down at the end of this year to run for governor as an independent, and pledging to deliver more direct results to the neighborhoods most in need of investment. 'We're that phoenix that has been rising from the ashes. We need to make sure that it doesn't crash into a window,' said mayoral candidate Fred Durhal III, a Detroit city councilman whose father, Fred Durhal Jr., was a candidate on that 2013 debate stage. 'The next mayor will face a completely different financial reality than the current mayor,' mayoral candidate and former council president Saunteel Jenkins said during Thursday's debate. For Solomon Kinloch, pastor of Triumph Church ― the only candidate at the debate without government experience ― it's particularly important to establish himself as the candidate who could best take Duggan's ball and run with it. 'While we come from a dark place of dismal debt, (Duggan) gave us a great fiscal foundation for us to do bigger and bolder,' he said. Former Police Chief James Craig, appointed in 2013 by Orr, pointed out he's the only candidate who served directly under Duggan, arguing that practical experience gives him an edge: 'There's no book for this. You need someone who can plug in and do it right and do it the first time.' Candidate Mary Sheffield, who has been president of the Detroit City Council since 2022 and is the frontrunner in the race, according to a Target Insyght poll released last month, said she wants to keep Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison in his role, and to expand existing initiatives around youth crime diversion and robust mental health strategy. And she believes she's best positioned to maintain a business-friendly posture. 'I will make sure that Detroit is the best place in America to start a business,' she said. Kinloch and Durhal each pinpointed a key element in that upcoming election. 'A majority of the electorate is not even engaged in the democratic process,' Kinloch said. 'The question is ― who's protecting and speaking and communicating for the people who aren't in the room,' Durhal said. Those may have been the most telling comments of the week. Four other candidates ― Todd Perkins, DaNetta Simpson, Jonathan Barlow and Joel Haashiim ― weren't invited to appear. The five candidates debated the issues in front of a crowd of newsmakers and moneymakers, and faced a handful of groans, chuckles and heckles. But it was a far more muted crowd than those that await them back home. More from Freep Opinion: Democrats better hope Michigan Gov. Whitmer changes her mind about presidential run Improving the quality of K-12 education, and with it the potential for more families to stay in the city, remains the largest hurdle in Detroit's path to prosperity. Everyone agrees about that. Detroit's public schools do not fall under the mayor's purview. There's an elected school board ― once sidelined by emergency management and still sensitive to interference ― that is responsible for driving the district forward. But, everyone also seems to agree, the mayor's office has a key role to play in offering support in the areas of transportation and after school programming. 'I think it's important for the next mayor to build on that and fill gaps,' Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told the Free Press on the island Wednesday. 'The wrong leader could put us backwards. Leadership matters. Who is mayor matters … From a school district point of view, I'm hopeful that (Detroit's next) leader understands collaboration and seeking to understand problems, rather than just reacting to them.' Kinloch wants to appoint a chief educational officer to coordinate support services for the school district. Sheffield wants to expand the Community Education Commission, a Duggan-era entity that operates in northwest Detroit, to support bussing and accountability measures for both traditional and charter schools. But there was little discussion during Thursday's debate on improving overall public transit in the city, which Vitti says is a primary issue for families with children in Detroit schools, both for getting kids to school and getting parents to work. More From Freep Opinion: Medicaid cuts could drive Michigan hospitals closer to insolvency Meanwhile ― and this is a hell of a meanwhile ― Michiganders are also facing 2026 races for governor and U.S. Senate, each race with its own implications of immense proportions. Most of the candidates in those races were fiercely making the rounds on the island last week. Duggan, who is running for governor as an independent, having abandoned the Democratic Party, introduced an elaborate, statewide school improvement plan that he framed as a systemic disruption that he believes would upend Michigan's two-party political system: boosting school budgets and early reading programs, career and technical education programs and threatening to fire school principals and superintendents who don't improve student performance within five years. 'Now look at that list and tell me which thing would Republicans or Democrats disagree with. There's nothing partisan about this,' Duggan said about his plan. There is, in fact, plenty that Democrats and Republicans would debate about his plan. But the message was strong. And his opponents have their work cut out for them. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democratic candidate for governor, intends her own disruptions. She calls investing in education "the whole ballgame," and sees robust mental health support for kids as key. She wants to do away with antiquated business tax breaks and incentives. And she wants to build a vast light rail across the state. Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, another Democratic gubernatorial candidate, has healthy outstate name recognition, according to a Glengariff Group poll released at the conference. As a sitting sheriff, he has the strongest public safety background in the race, promising significant reforms for both police accountability and effective crime prevention. Candidates for governor, including Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and former Republican Attorney General Mike Cox, U.S. Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township, and state Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, have more than a year to stake their own claims to succeed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who spent the week on Mackinac celebrating recent bipartisan-flavored wins with Trump backing a new fighter mission at Selfridge Air Base and efforts to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. But unlike the mayor's race, there'll be another Mackinac Policy Conference next May before those elections take place. Things generally don't change on Mackinac Island. That's kind of the point. Horse-drawn carriages, pristinely maintained historic landmarks, the faint, ever-present odor of horse manure. It's an oasis of old-timey charm, where cars are banned, isolated from Michigan's mainland, and far removed from the problems of everyday life. The annual Mackinac Policy Conference, now 45 years in ― minus a COVID-19 cancellation ― is supposed to be about progress, growth and solutions. But those solutions tend to develop at the pace of a snail making its way up the steep hill to the island's plantation-esque Grand Hotel. It all lends a sense of deja vu. Back in 2013, Detroiters were trying to figure out who to put in the mayor's office in an election of gargantuan importance. Detroiters are back in the same position. This time around, after more than a decade of debt relief, federal aid and modest-to-impressive quality of life improvements across the board and unquestionable progress, the most pressing issues are the same ― crime reduction, school improvement, affordable housing, neighborhood stability and diversifying the city's economy. In 2013, the city was approaching bankruptcy, and had nowhere to go but up. This time, Detroit has everything to lose. Khalil AlHajal is deputy editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press. Contact: kalhajal@ Submit a letter to the editor at and we may publish it online and in print. Like what you're reading? Please consider supporting local journalism and getting unlimited digital access witha Detroit Free Press subscription. We depend on readers like you. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit mayoral candidates vie to replace Mike Duggan | Opinion
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Mike Duggan, Dan Gilbert chat about downtown Detroit and what Bill Clinton saw in 1991
'You can't be just book smart being a mayor, you've got to be street smart — which you've proven," Dan Gilbert, the billionaire businessman, told Detroit mayor and 2026 gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan on Thursday, May 29, as they shared a stage at the Mackinac Policy Conference. For about 40 minutes, the two leaders had a formal one-on-one, focusing mostly on Detroit and the improvements in the city since Duggan took office as mayor in January 2014. Their chat touched on an array of Detroit subjects, including the controversial Renaissance Center redevelopment plan, the expected future downtown Apple Store and the surprise discovery about the city that future U.S. President Bill Clinton made during an early 1990s visit. The mayor gave Gilbert credit for his firm's numerous investments that helped to dramatically revive downtown, attracting many new visitors and new residents. Duggan recalled how on weekdays in downtown Detroit in the 1980s, people would arrive at 8:30 a.m. to start work, and by 5:30 p.m., nearly everyone was heading back out for home. 'If you were still on the streets at 6 o'clock, it was empty ― I am not exaggerating," Duggan said. Duggan said he was part of a group in fall 1991 that welcomed Bill Clinton to the city for a presidential campaign visit. The event ended around 5:30 p.m., and the gregarious Clinton, who was then still just an Arkansas governor, was adamant on going out to walk around downtown and shake hands and introduce himself to people. 'I said, Governor, that's not really going to work," Duggan recalled. "He said, 'Oh no, you haven't seen me work. I can do this anywhere.' I said 'Oh no, you really don't understand.' "He said, 'What's your Main Street. I said Woodward. He says, 'We're going.' ' Clinton ended up outside near the vacant yet then-still-standing J.H. Hudson department store. It didn't take long for the future president to realize that his Detroit hosts weren't exaggerating about downtown's desolation. "And he's on the street — 'I'm Bill Clinton. I'm running for president,' " Duggan said. "And people walked around him like he's a homeless guy. He looks up and down the street and says, 'Nobody is here.' And I said 'I was trying to explain this to you.' " More: Duggan's $4.5B education plan includes firing unsuccessful principals, superintendents In 2025, downtown Detroit is a different story. 'You come downtown today, there are more people on the street and weekends than there are at noon at lunchtime. It is a completely transformed city," said Duggan, a Democratic mayor who is running for governor as an independent. Duggan marveled to Gilbert about the influx of new retailers to downtown in recent years, many of them tenants in Gilbert's Bedrock-owned buildings, including Nike, Gucci and the athleisure brand Alo, which is set to open this summer in the new Hudson's Detroit development. 'What's amazing now is we get calls from retailers all over the country," Gilbert said. 'It used to be us calling them and begging them.' Duggan asked Gilbert whether there has been a formal announcement yet for one of the worst-kept secrets in Detroit: the expected opening of an Apple Store on Woodward Avenue, just north of the Shinola Hotel. (Also in a Bedrock-owned building.) Gilbert stopped short of offering any confirmation for an Apple Store coming to 1426-1434 Woodward. He did say, however, "it's not us, they want to announce it themselves." The conversation soon turned to the city's riverfront, and how it, too, once had few visitors, but thanks to years of investments and improvements, the RiverWalk is now an incredibly popular destination for Detroiters and city visitors from all walks of life. Then Duggan added: "And if we could just get somebody to take down two towers of the Renaissance Center and build Navy Pier sitting in that hole in the middle, it would be perfect.' Bedrock and General Motors are collaborating on that $1.6 billion redevelopment proposal for the RenCen that calls for demolishing the complex's massive concrete podium and two of the five original 1977 towers, and then using the vacated space to create a park and entertainment district around the site that would be comparable to Chicago's Millennium Park and Navy Pier. The proposal was first unveiled late last year, but hinges on some $250 million to $350 million of potential public incentives, most of which would require state-level approvals that haven't yet been forthcoming. Responding to Duggan's reference to the RenCen redevelopment, Gilbert said, "If we get a governor that can support us in that, that would be great, too." Dugan: 'The good news is I think you already have a governor who supports you." Gilbert: 'She does." Duggan: "We just got to get a few legislators on your side.' Near the end of their chat, Gilbert said people from all over the country have been calling up Bedrock to tour downtown Detroit and get pointers on urban planning and "placemaking." That includes members of the family behind the retail giant Walmart, he said, who recently visited for possible ideas for the corporation's hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. 'You've done so many amazing things," Duggan told Gilbert. "I will say this. I think, at the end of the day, what you are doing on the riverfront with the Renaissance Center, if you pull that off, it will be the biggest accomplishment for the city." Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@ Follow him on X @jcreindl This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Duggan, Gilbert chat about Detroit and what Bill Clinton saw in '91
