Good evening, everyone:

It’s not my custom to write about corporate personnel changes here in Detroit, as noteworthy as many of them are. But I’d like to make an exception tonight.

Just a few days ago, Bedrock announced that its CEO, Kofi Bonner, is retiring at year’s-end and will be replaced by Jared Fleisher.

Bonner has been a powerful champion for Dan Gilbert’s operations, overseeing the redevelopment of the Book Tower and Building, the completion of the Brush Park “City Modern Development,” and the construction of the Hudson site, among many other projects. Bedrock and the city of Detroit have been beyond fortunate to have him guiding the firm’s work over the last five years.

Jared has been a friend and co-conspirator with Kresge for nearly 15 years. I first met him when he was an attorney with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Squire, Patton & Boggs. He made a presentation on federal transportation policy at a Living Cities meeting in D.C. It was at the same time the QLine project was getting traction. I asked Jared if he might be willing to serve as an adviser to Kresge on the project. Somewhat to my surprise, he agreed. It may have been one of the most important investments any foundation could have made.

Over the next many years, Jared became the below-the-radar driver of the M-1 Rail project, working in close tandem with the institutional leads on the project: Dan at Bedrock, Matt Cullen, Roger Pensky, and Laura Trudeau and me at Kresge. Just a quick story to make the point.

When Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood traveled to Detroit to announce a major “New Starts” grant to M-1, he learned that the City of Detroit’s plans to extend the project up to Eight Mile was a mirage, to put it politely – the proposed financing simply wasn’t there. LaHood was furious and announced that he would instead award the $25 million to Governor Snyder for statewide bus rapid transit. I woke up the next morning to the newspaper headline of “Light Rail Project Dead.”

Light rail dies a sudden, painful and expensive death in Detroit

By Bill Shea

Crain’s Detroit Business

December 13, 2011, 12:00 PM

Rumors began to swirl in recent days that Detroit's Woodward light rail project was on the chopping block because of the hopeless fever swamp that is the city's financial situation.

I hadn’t finished the article before Roger Penske called and said, in effect, I guess we’re done: we’ve lost our support from the Secretary of Transportation, the Federal Transit Administrator, the Governor, and even the Mayor – we have no choice. But I asked Roger to hold off saying anything until we could consult with Jared.

To make a very long story short: despite LaHood being lobbied by Senators Stabenow and Levin and by Representatives Dingell and others, he stood his ground. But Jared somehow arranged for LaHood, FTA Administrator Rogoff, Governor Snyder, Mayor Bing, and the entire congressional delegation to meet with Gilbert, Cullen, Penske, and me in the mayor’s conference room.  What then happened is an almost unbelievable story (see Chapter 20 of my book 😊). We (by which I mean almost entirely Roger) convinced LaHood to give us 90 days to meet certain conditions; LaHood said that if we did, he would find another source of $25 million. We did, and he did. All because Jared was able to work his magic.

And that certainly isn’t the only example of his being instrumental. We needed to pass a half-dozen bills to authorize the creation of a regional transit system. We needed to thread the needle of skeptical legislators and county commissioners. And on and on. Each time, it was Jared’s strategic sense and logistical skill that made it possible.

In the middle of all of this, Jared moved to Detroit and became a resident. And he became part of Bedrock, first as vice president of government affairs for Rocket Companies (and later at Rock, the Gilbert family office). He has been indispensable to a staggering number of legislative efforts on behalf of the company, including their most recent purchase of the Renaissance Center.

It’s impossible for me to imagine a better leader at Bedrock. He is respected as a brilliant strategist and a completely straight shooter. He is a profoundly generous and humble partner to Kresge (and countless others). He is an ardent believer in the city of Detroit and its people. We are so very lucky to have him take on this new role.

Congratulations Jared – and to Dan and the entire Bedrock organization.

Rip

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