February 21, 2019 – Thunder Bay, Ont.

The decline in blue-collar jobs over the last generation has left many cities struggling, neighbourhoods have become rundown and young people have been forced to move elsewhere in search of better opportunities.

One way out of the decline is through innovative industry clusters to take advantage of emerging technologies.

It may sound like a pipe dream, but it has worked to both provide employment and to rejuvenate a city economically and culturally, says an expert in technology and entrepreneurship.

“Innovation has become a way to attract residents back to those decent-sized cities that have suffered economic downturns,” Thomas Coke says. “It’s also a way to modernize those big cities and make them better places to live.”

Coke’s experience is with Michigan and, in particular, his hometown of Grand Rapids. As part of Lakehead University’s Research & Innovation activities, Coke will offer insights into how technology has spurred the rebirth of communities in that Great Lakes state.

“We’ve really put a lot of effort into attracting young tech talent, realizing that tech is going to be a way forward,” he explains.

Boasting degrees in economics and law, Coke’s work has been in venture capital, angel investment and crowdfunding. He’s currently chief marketing officer with Argonomo, a firm specializing in the digitization of business. He was recently named president of SafeWhistle, a company developing encrypted software for whistleblower complaints.

The rejuvenation of Michigan has been around financial technology, or FinTech.

And it’s not just Detroit, the auto capital of the U.S., that’s bounced back. Smart zones or hubs with small-business development centres have been a boon to places such as Kalamazoo, Flint and Marquette, where big tech companies can find highly educated engineers and technologists who would rather not live in Silicon Valley or big cities like Chicago and New York.

“It’s just tech innovation,” says Coke. “It might be medical devices, specifically manufactured products. It’s innovation across the board, which has become a way to attract and maintain talent in a given area, and get people excited about living in these smaller towns.”

The experience of his hometown is instructive. Its most famous son is former U.S. president Gerald Ford, and it was historically known for its furniture industry. Today, the largest employers are in health care. With an appealing outdoor lifestyle and highly regarded colleges and universities, it’s luring and retaining top talent.

“Every city is going through change. The history of Thunder Bay is very similar to what we saw in Michigan,” Coke says, noting the decline in grain, rail and forestry — jobs that market forces and automation have altered forever. “Those jobs are never going to come back. People have to re-train themselves and be more innovative. Companies have to be more innovative if they want to stay afloat.”

One significant element of this resurgence is the willingness of successful companies and wealthy families to support civic projects and provide funds to spur new developments, even if many of the start-ups eventually fail.

“It’s energized the ecosystem quite a bit,” Coke says.

“A lot of this is applicable anywhere. The only difference I see between Ontario and Michigan is your government is a little bit more supportive than ours is traditionally. You have a bit more beneficial public funding than we have. But we do a great job of mixing public and private to get to where we need to go,” he adds.

Coke’s presentation takes place Tuesday, Feb. 26, 3-4 pm at Ingenuity Alley (CASES Atrium). For more about R and I Week, which is a showcase for research and innovation happening at Lakehead University, visit lakeheadu.ca/ri.

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Media: For more information or interviews, please contact Brandon Walker, Communications and Marketing Associate, at (807) 343-8177 or mediarelations@lakeheadu.ca.

Lakehead University has approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and 2,000 faculty and staff in 10 faculties at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead is a fully comprehensive university: home to Ontario’s newest Faculty of Law in 44 years, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and faculties of Engineering, Business Administration, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities, Science & Environmental Studies, Natural Resources Management, Education, and Graduate Studies. Maclean’s 2019 University Rankings place Lakehead University among Canada's Top 10 primarily undergraduate universities and in 2018 Research Infosource named Lakehead Research University of the Year in its category for the fourth consecutive year. Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.

Competition officials presented, middle from left to right, Matthew Etreni, Ryan Ferguson, Sabeera Azhar, and Dylan Paxton with a cheque for $3,000 for placing first in the ACHIEVE case competition.

February 9, 2018 – Thunder Bay, ON

Lakehead University accounting students Dylan Paxton, Matthew Etreni, Ryan Ferguson, and Sabeera Azhar earned first place in the case competition held at the ACHIEVE Conference, February 1 and 2.

ACHIEVE is Canada’s premier undergraduate accounting conference, hosted by one of the most distinguished and largest business schools, the Ted Rogers School of Management. This year’s case competition dealt with persevering in the face of pressure from superiors to bend the rules.

Sixteen teams from across Canada participated in the two-day conference at the Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel in Toronto, which included an accounting-based case competition, guest speakers, and networking events.

“I was extremely fortunate and proud to compete with such amazing representatives of Lakehead University, against very strong accounting teams across Canada,” said Paxton, who is also the President of Lakehead University’s Accounting Club.

“ACHIEVE was a once in a lifetime experience. Our win was due in no short order to the hard work of the Lakehead University Accounting faculty who invested their own time to help us prepare for the competition,” he said, adding that the support provided by Dr. Sayed, Dr. Lento and the rest of the Accounting department was second to none.

“We look forward to defending our title next year,” Paxton said.

The first place win comes with a trophy and $3,000 in prize money to share between the students. The Lakehead University Accounting team also won the BASC competition held in Winnipeg last year.

"I am so glad that I had the opportunity to represent my school at one of the biggest accounting competitions in the country,” Azhar said. “As I come to the end of my undergraduate studies at Lakehead University, I want to thank all of my professors for their hard work and dedication to my education, which has allowed me to be successful at the Achieve Competition and Conference,” she said.

Ferguson agreed. “ACHIEVE was a great networking opportunity and an excellent learning experience,” he said. “I was proud to represent Lakehead over the weekend. Winning this competition is a testament to our professors’ dedication to teaching.”

“What we experienced and what we learned this weekend is something that will undoubtedly stay with us through the rest our academic, professional, and personal lives. While competing, we used everything we’ve learned these past three or four years and it paid off in the end,” Etreni said. “I am beyond proud to represent Lakehead and I look forward to competing again.”

“We are very proud of our students’ accomplishment,” said Dr. Bahram Dadgostar, Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration. “Their performance demonstrates the quality of the business program at Lakehead University.”

The Faculty of Business Administration is accredited by both the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA). Fewer than five percent of business schools in the world have AACSB accreditation and only 15 business schools in Canada have this dual accreditation.

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Media: For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact Brandon Walker, Media Relations Officer, at (807) 343-8177, or mediarelations@lakeheadu.ca.

Lakehead University has approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and 2,000 faculty and staff in 10 faculties at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead is a fully comprehensive university: home to Ontario’s newest Faculty of Law in 44 years, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and faculties of Engineering, Business Administration, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities, Science & Environmental Studies, Natural Resources Management, Education, and Graduate Studies. Maclean’s 2018 University Rankings place Lakehead University among Canada's Top 10 primarily undergraduate universities, as well as first in Total Research Dollars, second for Citations, and third for Scholarships and Bursaries. In 2017, Research Infosource named Lakehead Research University of the Year in its category for the third consecutive year. Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.