DETROIT ? Jim Hayes joined the Sports Illustrated Detroit office in 1967 and then the native New Yorker spent the next decade falling in love with the Motor City. Hayes, most recently the publisher of Fortune, has taken on a new job in his new home ? co-directing the Detroit Homecoming, an attempt to recruit former Michiganders who have made it big in business and sports or received their college education in the Wolverine state so they will ?take action and do something positive for the city.?

The invitation-only Detroit Homecoming will be held Sept. 17-19. The agenda is filled with unique experiences such as dinner in the not-yet-open David Whitney Building on Grand Circus Park, tours throughout the city, dinner inside the refurbished Globe Outdoor Activities Center on Detroit?s riverfront and a concert on the stage at Chene Park. All the activities have one goal in mind: to show off possibilities in Detroit.

And possibilities, hopefully, will turn into new start-ups based in the rapidly evolving Detroit downtown in and around Harmonie Park and the Fox Entertainment and sports district, or taking the philanthropic path by investing in educational funds, culture and the arts. Hayes hopes his efforts will help attract 200 or so billionaires, sports stars, company presidents, venture capitalists, journalists and entertainers to be feted by metropolitan Detroit?s top entrepreneurs, business managers and politicians.

During the event, Gov. Rick Snyder, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Quicken Loans Chairman and Founder Dan Gilbert, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist Eli Broad, Bloomberg L.P. CEO and President Dan Doctoroff, Capri Capital Co-Founder Quintin Primo III, General Motors CEO Mary Barra and others will address the influential group.

?What we?re doing is preparing a prospectus to guide these expats from inspiration to hard action,? Hayes said. ?If we do it right, Detroit Homecoming could become a powerful first step in reaching out to our expats. We plan to have one a year, plus we?ll initiate regular connections to our expats. We want to reconnect, reinvent, reeducate and reinvest in Detroit.?

Detroit Homecoming wouldn?t be happening without the help of Keith Crain, Hayes said. He assigned Crain?s Detroit Publisher Mary Kramer, who has become the other co-director.

?I?ve really been quite taken with the skill, ability and commitment of my colleagues at Crain?s Detroit Business,? Hayes said. ?It wouldn?t have come together as quickly without their help. They have done a dazzling job of pulling together lists of accomplished expats. Part two is we now want to dazzle them when they are here in a substantive way.?

For more information, click on DetroitHomecoming.Com But as the event public relations contact pointed out, attendance is by invitation only.

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