What is a Local product council?

ULI Michigan’s Local Product Council Program aims to provide opportunities for local members in specific land-use disciplines to study issues in depth, share information, and network with Michigan professionals in similar industry sectors. The program is based on selective and committed membership and intensive, high quality programming created to emulate ULI’s National Product Council Program. Jim Bieri currently serves as the Chairman of the ULI Michigan Local Product Council Initiative.

ULI Michigan Local Product Councils:

-Housing & Community Development

• Chair: Doug Brown, ASTI Environmental
• Vice Chair: Richard Burtstein, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn
• Vice Chair: Tim Loughrin, Robertson Brothers Homes
• Programming CoChair: Jenifer Acosta, Jenifer Acosta Development
• Programming CoChair: Kate Baker, Oakland Housing

-Small Scale Development

• Chair: Cathy Clark, Bedrock
• Vice Chair: Marty West, Plante Moran
• Vice Chair: Emery Matthews, Real Estate Interest
• Vice Chair: Bill Watch, First Commercial Realty
• Programming CoChair: Olga Stella, Design Core

-Sustainability & Technology

• Chair: Michael Johnson, SmithGroup
• Vice Chair: Robin Boyle, Wayne State University
• Vice Chair: David Nelson, Nelson Companies

Local Product Councils:

• Provide a forum for information exchange on the “state of the art” in the development field
• Develop and maintain an informational and response capability for addressing development problems and opportunities
• Provide an appropriate focus on the major social and economic goals and issues of the day
• Provide input to influence community attitudes and lifestyles regarding development
• Apply research to innovative applications in land use planning
• Seek meaningful ways for all councils to relate to and interact with each other
• Capitalize on the efforts of ULI’s membership to strengthen the Institute’s overall impact

More information:

• The councils are capped at 30 members, members are expected to be active participants and attend all LPC meetings
• All LPC members must hold current membership with ULI
• Prospective Product Council members must submit an application, members are selected and appointed by the Chair of the council and the executive leadership team
• Local Product Councils are governed by members and self-organized
• The council holds meetings 3 times each year, all of which are held during existing ULI events
  • The ULI Michigan Annual Real Estate Summit
  • The ULI Michigan Emerging Trends
  • Joint Local Product Council Meeting with all 3 councils
• The LPC Program is fee based with an annual fee of $125, members are also expected to register for events where meetings will be held. Local Product Council members must hold a current ULI membership.
• Applications open at the beginning of each calendar year with only a limited number of spaces available on each council. If you wish to join a council after the beginning of the year, you may request to join a council as a guest and apply for council membership during the next application cycle. To inquire about becoming a guest on a council email ULI Michigan staff here.

****ULI Michigan will be accepting Local Product Council Applications beginning in December 2023 and they will close March 29th, 2024. The electronic application is below. In the interim if you are interested in joining a council, please reach out to ULI Michigan staff for an opportunity to join as a council guest. For more information on Local Product Councils email ULI Michigan Manager, Corissa Green at [email protected].