Event Details

The 3rd annual Revitalization & Business (R&B) Conference at University of Michigan Ross School of Business will highlight Detroit as a city alive and on the move. The conference will explore the role Detroit’s businesses play in creating healthy communities and in building a healthy city. The R&B conference will also serve to connect Michigan students – future business leaders – with today’s influential leaders in Detroit.

At 10AM on Friday, George W. Jackson, Jr. will deliver a keynote for the conference. He became interim President & CEO of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) in February, 2002, and was elected to the position on a permanent basis in April 2002. The DEGC is a private, nonprofit corporation devoted exclusively to supporting Detroit’s economic development projects and initiatives by providing technical, financial and development assistance to the City and the business community. The DEGC also serves as the professional and administrative staff for the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), the Economic Development Corporation of the City of Detroit (EDC), Tax Increment Finance Authority, and Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (DBRA). The DEGC is the lead organization for implementation of permanent revitalization improvements (the Lower Woodward Improvement Program) for Super Bowl XL, held in Detroit on February 5, 2006.

In 2006 Mr. Jackson assumed the responsibilities of Chief Development Officer for the City of Detroit. This position includes the responsibility of overall coordination of City economic development activity, as well as supervision of the City Planning and Development, and Environmental Affairs Departments.

Mr. Jackson is also the past Chairman and serves as a Board member of the Next Energy Corporation, a corporation committed to making Michigan a world leader in alternative energy by advancing the use of alternative energy through groundbreaking research, design, manufacturing, education, commercializati