MACKINAC ISLAND – What makes a great workplace?  How do you build employee morale and loyalty during belt-tightening times?  How do you attract more minorities, women, and working mothers to work for you?  These and other questions will be probed Saturday morning during the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce Policy Leadership Conference’s First Man’s Forum moderated by Michigan First Gentleman Daniel Granholm Mulhern.

Mulhern will moderate the session beginning at 7:45 a.m. Saturday, May 31, in the Grand Pavilion at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.  The conference starts tonight and runs through Saturday.

Assembling a wide array of business leaders as “conversation starters” at different tables during breakfast, Mulhern will moderate a discussion themed “Tough Times – Great Workplaces.”  One of Mulhern’s priorities as First Gentleman is to help Governor Jennifer M. Granholm make Michigan known as the best place to work in the country.

“It is the Governor’s vision that when you say ‘Michigan,’ people do not say, ‘rust belt, labor-management strife,’” Mulhern said.  “Instead, we want people to think of Michigan and say, ‘a place with an incredible history of innovative products and services’ and a place that is developing the most outstanding workplace culture in the world.  This forum will brim with ideas for businesses to take back to their workplaces to nurture and grow, because we are featuring leaders from some of the best places in Michigan to work.”

Among the “conversation starters” at the breakfast tables will be Leslie Murphy and Bill Hermann of Plante Moran, recently named by Fortune Magazine as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” – one of only three companies in Michigan to receive the honor.  Also serving as “conversation starters” will be Marcia Hyde of Valassis and Debra A. Hanses of Republic Bancorp, the other two Michigan-based companies that made the “100 Best” list in Fortune Magazine.

Other “starters” will be Cindy Pasky of Strategic Staffing Solutions, Marcie Brogan of Brogan & Partners, Bruce Duffey of DP & Company, Maja Freij of ACCESS, Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm, Mary Kramer of Crain’s Detroit Business, and Rod Gillum of General Motors.

“The purpose of this session will be to have business leaders share ideas with other business and political leaders about how we create more great workplaces in Michigan,” Mulhern said.  “It also will serve as an opportunity to delve into this topic to start a dialogue with the business community and state government about how we can make our state a showplace for great workplaces in the country.”