By Zachary Gorchow
President of Michigan Operations
Posted: January 3, 2022 2:38 PM

With the start of 2022, some of the Capitol community's longest-tenured, most influential leaders are retiring or moving to new positions.

Not all of these changes happened in concert with January 1 but some of them were close enough.

Among those who are moving on (apologies to anyone I overlooked):

• Rob Fowler, longtime head of the Small Business Association of Michigan;
• David Gregory, longtime partner and lobbyist at Kelley Cawthorne;
• Mike Hansen, longtime president of the Michigan Community College Association;
• Roger Martin, co-founder of Martin Waymire;
• Charlie Owens, longtime head of the Michigan chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, who moved up to a regional role within NFIB's national organization;
• Rich Studley, longtime president of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce; and
• Ray Telman, longtime head of the Middle Cities Education Association.

Particularly on the business side, this is a lot of turnover. Mr. Fowler, Mr. Owens and Mr. Studley have helmed their organizations for many years.

Let's take a look at who is taking the helm at these organizations:

• Brian Calley, the former lieutenant governor who has spent the last two years transitioning into succeeding Mr. Fowler;
• Partners Rob Elhenicky, Dave Ladd, Carrie Linderoth and Melissa McKinley continue in their roles leading Kelley Cawthorne;
• Brandy Johnson, who was in the Whitmer administration and before that founded the Michigan College Access Network, succeeds Mr. Hansen;
• Mr. Martin and his co-founder, Dave Waymire, sold the firm to three top leaders at the firm, Josh Hovey, Angela Minicuci and Andrea Poole (Mr. Waymire will continue working at the firm another year);
• Amanda Fisher, a longtime official for NFIB Michigan, succeeded Mr. Owens;
• Jim Holcomb, a fixture around Lansing for many years and with the Michigan Chamber for the past 13, completed a two-year transition into succeeding the retiring Mr. Studley; and
• Peter Spadafore, previously the deputy executive director at the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators, succeeds Mr. Telman at Middle Cities.

Best wishes to those moving on as part of the – as Mr. Gregory adeptly labeled it – #GreatGraduation. Congratulations to those succeeding them – familiar faces around town who have been working for years for these kinds of new opportunities.