Every founder and business owner is challenged with sourcing, attracting, recruiting, and retaining talent. In this post-pandemic world, the demands and desires of employees have changed.
Do you know what’s most important to your current people and the key positions you’re looking to fill?
How are you adjusting to the changing demands and establishing a team that will grow and scale with you and your business?
Hear from experienced experts on what they’re seeing work best in recruiting, retention, HR, and building a culture that lasts.
Startup Grind Lansing
Director
Lingco Labs
Co-Founder
StaffBright
President, CEO
Reuben Levinsohn has been a business man and entrepreneur since his early twenties. While studying Business Finance at Michigan State University, Reuben bought a national home improvement franchise which he built up from scratch to over 40 employees and one of the largest painting companies in Michigan. While running his business he also began acquiring commercial and residential real estate investment properties.
Understanding the importance of financial planning, and having a very positive experience with his own financial advisor, he sold his franchise and became a financial advisor with the goal of having a positive impact on others.
Reuben provides solutions for businesses in the area of health and ancillary benefits, retirement plans, key person protection, business buy-sell funding, and owner and partner financial strategies.
He is also an investor and co-founder at Blue Owl Coffee in REO Town. His role is focused on brand and location expansion strategy, real estate, and space negotiations.
Another startup he is investor and co-founder at is Lingco. It is an adaptive / individualized, web-based language learning platform, custom tailored for university level language instructors. His role is CFO, handling financials, legal, funding, and putting together additional team members.
Reuben is also an investor and advisor at WiGo trips. WiGo is a platform where anyone can organize and post their dream trips. He advises on financial matters, funding strategies, etc.
Other business ventures include securities trading software company Su2Systems; automotive suspension and air pressure technology company, AKTV8; REO Town Ventures; RAM Properties; and LRS Properties.
When he is not spending time on one of the above ventures he is usually with his family (wife Rachel, daughter Victoria - studying abroad in S. America, son David - freshman at EL Highschool, son Joseph - kindergarten), ultra light backpacking in some crazy place with his fly rod, or flying his single engine plane as a private pilot.
Angie is a Human Capital Consultant who works with financial advisors to integrate workforce and organizational design into business plans. Angie believes that when entrepreneurs apply the same rigor to securing and leveraging human capital as they do with financial capital, business prospers.
Angie has spent five years at a global, direct selling company with operations in over 100 countries. Angie has worked with organizations to balance the need for stability and productivity within work activities. Previously, she spent a decade in the financial services industry, specializing in financial planning and business development. She is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner since 2006. Angie's sole focus is on supporting advisors in their business development efforts. She does not act in a financial advisor capacity.
She holds an MBA from Michigan State University and a BA in Organizational Studies from the University of Michigan.
Angie lives in East Grand Rapids with her husband and two daughters. She serves as the VP Finance of The Junior League of Grand Rapids, an organization of women committed to promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of women and improving communities. In her free time, she enjoys reading, running, and relaxing on the lakefront.
Staffing leader with proven track record of success in high demand results driven environments. Currently I am the president and CEO of StaffBright, a metro Detroit based recruiting firm.
At StaffBright we connect great people with great companies while jamming to great music.
Startup Grind Lansing
Co-Director
As Co-Director of Startup Grind Lansing, Julie connects founders and entrepreneurs to the resources they need to launch and grow. As a consultant and coach, she has worked with a number of startups, helping to secure tens of thousands in funding to expand sales nationally and globally.
Her own path took her from an Emmy award-winning career as an Executive Producer in TV news to small business owner and successful entrepreneur, named one of Lansing’s “10 Over the Next Ten” by the Chamber of Commerce in 2017.
Julie launched her own agency full-time in 2018, growing mConnexions to six figures within six months.
During the Pandemic, she continued to scale her agency while locking arms with other entrepreneurs to help them weather the economic storm. Her Facebook live series, “Expert Connexions” became so popular that it launched as a TV show on the Lansing ABC station, where it aired following Good Morning America every Monday for a full year before going digital in 2022.
You can also catch Julie hosting a podcast for women, called Think Tank of Three, and leading the Legal Marketing Association’s Voices & Strategies digital content hub, as co-editor.
Washington Avenue Ventures
Chapter Director
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Startup Grind Lansing
Chapter Co-Director
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Anderson Economic Group
Chapter Operations Director
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