November 2017 Issue

TC Powers Up: Local energy companies continue to innovate

By Ross Boissoneau

From using the sun to making buildings more energy-efficient, several area companies are finding ways to decrease their clients’ utility bills and help the planet at the same time. Here we profile some local firms, showcasing what they are doing, why they are doing it and how it is helping everyone’s bottom line ... not to mention the environment.

Leelanau Solar LLC, Northport

What it does: Owner Tom Gallery is an engineer by trade who spent 35 years in the automotive industry. He worked in the alternative energy business on the wind side from 2005 to 2008. With the increasing …

Community Foundation Celebrates 25 Years of Impact

We live in a country and culture that is remarkably willing to give in ways that benefit our neighbors and causes that matter most to us. We each have a personal narrative or story that motivates our giving or has helped develop our passions.

For some, giving is a family tradition that has been passed from generation to generation. Perhaps others have benefited from, and have been inspired by, the giving of those that came …

Embracing a Higher Deductible: Employees with 'skin in the game' engage in more consumer-driven behavior

By Jennifer Petterson

Healthcare costs have significantly outpaced general inflation in recent decades, averaging 1.4 percent above the Consumer Price Index over the past 10 years. For this reason, employers who sponsor employee benefit plans have increasingly favored Qualified High Deductible Health Plans, or HDHPs. Employers believe that greater use of HDHPs will reduce inflationary pressure on healthcare spending, and, in turn, lower the cost of their health care spending.

The economic theory behind HDHPs is simple: If …

Opiate addiction affecting hiring practices of local businesses

By Craig Manning

Drug use in the workplace is rising.

Drug use in the American workforce is at its highest point in 12 years, according to Quest Diagnostics’ annual Drug Testing Index. In 2016, the positivity rate in employment-related drug tests was 4.2 percent. It hasn’t been higher since 2004, when it hit 4.5 percent.

According to Chris Hindbaugh, executive director of Traverse City’s Addiction Treatment Services, the Grand Traverse area is no exception to the national rule. …

Making It in Northern Michigan: Great Lakes Potato Chip Co. stacks its sales growth

Six years ago, restaurateur Ed Girrbach was thinking about starting a new business.

It helps to know that the former co-owner of Pangea's Pizza in Traverse City enjoys potato chips, but when he crunched the numbers for potato chips, he really liked what he saw.

Potato chips are a $7.2 …

By Clark Miller

New Faces Join Grand Traverse Nonprofits

By Mary Bevans Gillett

Are Urgent Care Clinics the New Hospitals? Increase of clinics a direct response to uncertainty in healthcare

As the owner of Bayside Docs Urgent Care in Traverse City, Dr. Michael Parker is at the center of one of the hottest trends in medicine: urgent care.

Urgent care clinics are growing rapidly as patients seek to avoid long waits and higher costs at busy hospital emergency rooms and …

By Rick Haglund

Wishing Time: What Seven Nonprofit Organizations Would Love to Receive

No harm in wishing, right? Just ask these seven area nonprofits. That’s exactly what the TCBN did in the spirit of the upcoming season of good cheer and giving. Specifically, we asked these local organizations to dream up three wishes at three different value levels that will either help the …

By Lynn Geiger

Term Limits in Michigan: It’s time to ask, 'How’s that working for us?'

At the age of 32, Tony landed the job of a lifetime. He’d studied hard, worked his way through college at the family pizza business in Midland, completed internships and diligently prepared for his future.

Now he was given the opportunity to fulfill his passion.

Tony proved to be very …

By Bonnie Alfonso

The Captain Class: The Hidden Force That Creates the World’s Greatest Teams

by Sam Walker, Random House, May 16, 2017, 352 pages

Hardcover $28; paperback $18; e-book $14

In a nutshell: The dynamics of high-performing sports teams and the people who lead them are analyzed in depth.

Who is it for? General audiences, managers, personnel directors, sports fans.

There is a common …

By Chris Wendel

A ‘Desert’ Surrounded by Water

A “desert” isn’t something you’d expect to find in a region that’s home to the world’s largest fresh water supply. But it’s a serious reality to hundreds of area families and their children faced with a barren landscape of quality child care options. It’s a problem that not only poses …

By Doug Luciani

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