Bill Ford
Executive chairman, Ford Motor Co.
Ford’s vision for a reinvented Michigan Central Station came to fruition with a reopening that drew national accolades for turning a rotting eyesore into a showpiece for Detroit.
Mike Duggan
Mayor, city of Detroit
Detroit’s three-term mayor announced he won’t seek a fourth but would instead run for governor as an independent, after presiding over a decade in which the city has transformed. In 2024, he also welcomed the world for the NFL Draft and got demolition of the
long-shuttered Packard Plant underway.
Santa Ono
President, University of Michigan
Ono broke ground on the
long-dreamt-of UM Center for Innovation, the university’s biggest move ever into the city and one that will shape business in the city in the future, while also outlining a growth plan in Ann Arbor and a medical expansion into Oakland County.
Claude Molinari and Alexis Wiley
Co-chairs, 2024 NFL draft
The co-chairs of Detroit’s NFL Draft pulled the event off to rave reviews, setting an attendance record for the event and bringing Detroit’s comeback to the surface of the national conversation.
Vinnie Johnson
Founder and chairman, Piston Group
The auto supplier and former Detroit Piston won a long-running court fight over whether his company really qualifies as minority-owned.
Mary Barra
Chair and CEO, General Motors Co.
Barra outlined a plan to move the automaker out of the Renaissance Center while at the same time enlisting help from Dan Gilbert’s Bedrock to find a future for the iconic office complex.
Tom Shea
CEO, OneStream Software
The financial software company grown from the ground up in Southeast Michigan carried out one of the year’s biggest IPOs.
Greg Lehmkuhl
President and CEO, Lineage
Lehmkuhl built the world’s largest cold-storage company that became the year’s largest IPO after a meteoric growth-by-acquisition story.
Johnnie and Alexa Turnage
Founders, Black Tech Saturdays
The husband-and-wife team have brought energy to Detroit’s startup scene with Black Tech Saturdays meetups that have become a huge grassroots hit and drawn thousands to Detroit’s Newlab.