Stories

It’s another perfect summer day in Houghton, Michigan. Brad King is on-the-go developing plasma thrusters for small satellites at his internationally recognized start-up company. While the day is literally a blast for Brad, what comes next is exceptional. 5 minutes after leaving his office, Brad is at the Houghton County Marina climbing aboard his restored…

Dr. Meredith LaBeau is a self-described “weirdo” who is just as intense about cross country skiing at lunch as she is about managing a process engineering team making printed circuit boards. As she describes it, “You can hope to have three things in life. You can have a job you love, a place you love,…

Just outside of Chassell, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Rob and Anne Cooke’s home sits on ten densely wooded acres. To the left are another ten acres, and to right, forty more. Rob notes, “In Detroit, our house would be worth about two million — but here, the location makes it priceless. ” It’s a natural…

You might not expect that a software developer and analyst would prefer to see his kids digging in the dirt instead of playing on iPads, but Brett Hillstom doesn’t fit the typical picture of an IT guy. As one of 16 kids growing up with the UP woods as a backyard, he and his wife…