Investor and Seasoned Emergiing Business Expert 

 Selected to Keynote ACE 13 Forum for Entrepreneurs 

"The Entrepreneurial Soul of America: Comparisons of Silicon Valley and Michigan"

To Be Discussed by Terry Cross, Longtime Leader of Entrepreneurial Economies

in New York, California and Michigan

ACE 13, the 13th annual forum for entrepreneurs and emerging company leaders and investors, announced its keynote speaker will be a widely known investor and corporate officer and director with roots on the East Coast, West Coast, Europe and for the past 25 years, Michigan.

He is Terry Cross, founder of Windward Associates of Rochester Hills and a longtime leader in the investment communities in Silicon Valley and New York City.  He will discuss "Returning to Michigan, The Entrepreneurial Soul of America: The Important Comparisons between Silicon Valley and Michigan."

ACE (Annual Collaboration for Entrepreneurship) is Michigan's leading entrepreneurial educational and networking forum and is run by a team of technology business, civic, educational and community leaders from across the state.  ACE annually has a series of experienced panelists who are leading existing business and provide their ideas and guidance to new and emerging companies.

ACE annually draws 1,000 to 1,400 guests to the seven-hour event.  This year for the first time, ACE will take place at Burton Manor in Livonia January 31 from 2 to 9 pm.  It has been held at Washtenaw Community College and Skyline High in Arbor for the past several years. 

Cross's principal speech is slated at about 6 pm after a series of educational panel sessions to cover investment, business development, sales, marketing, human resources and other disciplines tied to starting and developing entrepreneurial and emerging businesses.

"I will draw on my experiences over many years of serving as an investor and director of many high tech businesses in Michigan and Silicon Valley, and an active participant for many years in

similar forums on both coasts," said Cross.  "I know Michigan's entrepreneurial people today are especially interested in finding and engaging investors as well as learning through stories of other firms how to sell, market, hire and retain top people, defining their product to meet existing and developing market needs," he explained.

Founder of Windward Associates, LLC, Cross has been an Angel investor and businessman for over 50 years. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of Great Lakes Angels and a founding member of The Michigan Venture Capital Association. While he has served on many boards over the years, his current board memberships include: Monarch Antenna, a Delphi Corp. spinout, NextGen Metabolomics, RetroSense, NextCat, InfoReady, RazorThreat, Ardent Cause, Productive Resarch, Fusion Coolant Systems, and Joshi Biochemicals. Cross served as the first Executive in Residence for Entrepreneurship at The School of Business Administration at Wayne State University in Detroit, where he administered the prestigious Adams Entrepreneurial Fellowship and received the 2005 Distinguished Alumni Award. He currently manages The Adams Fellowship for The Community Funds of Southeast Michigan through The Automation Alley Foundation.

Cross was a co-founder of Sonoma Photonics, which recently sold to Northrop Grumman. He was a founding investor in three startups from MIT's tech transfer department and served on the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity. In September of 2007, he was named to the Task Force for A World Financial Center by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, one of Korea's most prestigious institutions. He was employed by Kidder, Peabody in various financial services and investment banking activities in Detroit, New York and San Francisco for 28 years and then moved back to Michigan to become involved with the state's rejuvenation and renewal focus. 

Newspaper Advertising Declines Forecast

The drop in newspaper advertising, now a longtime trend, is forecast to continue to decline according to eMarketer, a research and survey firm.

Total ad revenues will decline from $22.5 billion forecast for 2012 to $21.5 billion in 2013, $21 billion in 2014, $20.63 billion in 2015 and $20.4 billion in 2016. That's a 9.5 percent decline over these five years, reports eMarketer.

How I Learned  to Support 

At Eiler I did some marketing work for Operation Never Forgotten (ONF), a pro bono client that is an all volunteer national non-profit communications service that connects our military and civilian worlds through non-partisan public service announcements (PSAs). ONF's PSAs for deployed troops, wounded warriors, fallen heroes and military families include signs in airports, food stores and malls, TV and radio broadcast and outdoor advertising.  My experience with ONF got me interested in the Tough Mudder and here's my story:

Standing atop a twenty-five foot wooden tower attempting to subdue my fear of heights enough to be able to jump off into a pool of freezing cold water, I seriously questioned why I signed up for the Tough Mudder in the first place. Granted finishing this twelve-mile, twenty-five obstacle laden course would provide a great sense of accomplishment; but in all honesty, I was in it for the Facebook pictures that would showcase me competing these dangerous feats to all my friends. I laughed to myself when I realized I had helped create the monster I was now facing.

Wounded Warrior provides programs and services to severely injured service members during the time between active duty and transition to civilian life. They focus on four tiers of mind, body, economic empowerment, and engagement. In order to provide such services to our service members and their families, they depend heavily on charity with their largest fundraiser being the Tough Mudder. This obstacle course was designed by the British Special Forces to test participants' strength, stamina, mental toughness, and camaraderie, and it has raised over $3.7 million to date.

After four hours and multiple scratches and bruises, I finished the Tough Mudder. I felt a great sense of pride after I crossed the finish line covered head to toe in mud, but not as much pride as when I later posted my official Tougher Mudder finisher badge to my Facebook wall.

Emily Rozanski

Sales & Marketing

Waldorf Astoria Chicago