On Wednesday, February 27th, the BLI hosted Paul Saginaw of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses and Eileen Spring the President and CEO of Food Gatherers and invited them to sit down and talk to us as a community. Looking back on Zingermans and its original vision of a good sandwich and now looking at the literal Community of Businesses that have impacted Ann Arbor and the surrounding areas. This selfless approach to business also helped bring Food Gatherers to fruition, as a nonprofit that helped to distribute 6.3 million pounds of food.

The BLI brought these speakers in to help spread community awareness of the fantastical food opportunities here in Washtenaw County. Both Paul and Eileen were happy to open up about their past experiences and explaining how they came to be leaders in their own sense and in a sense to the community. While Paul and Eileen discussed their successes they also opened up about their failures and how they moved past these issues.  

These speakers coming into the BLI are coming to help share their experiences with students in order to improve their leadership skills and strategies. The BLI is also hosting many more events of this nature in order to help share leadership throughout the University of Michigan and the surrounding community.

About the BLI Speaker Series:

The BLI Speaker Series offers an opportunity to explore the rich body of research around leadership development and to hear from faculty, organizational leaders and alumni who have worked to develop their own leadership capacity.

Next Speaker Series Event: 
What's going on in the world of work? with Jerry Davis

Wednesday, March 20 | 5-7 PM | Weiser Hall 1010