MACKINAC ISLAND – A program begun at the first Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference that Governor Rick Snyder attended as chief executive got a major boost Thursday at a press conference that included Snyder.
Executives for both DTE Energy and CMS Energy announced that their companies would spend $1 billion each over the next five years on Michigan-based suppliers through the Pure Michigan Business Connect program.
The two firms were the first to make a commitment to the program when Snyder and Michigan Economic Development Corporation President Mike Finney announced it on the porch at the Grand Hotel in 2011.
At their time their commitment was to spend $250 million on Michigan suppliers over five years.
Since 2011, a number of other companies and financial institutions have joined the program.
Snyder said the program has become the new model for businesses getting together and finding ways to help each other build their firms.
While both DTE and CMS had pledged to spend an additional $250 million on Michigan companies in five years, they both exceeded those totals in just a couple years.
Gerry Anderson, CEO of DTE Energy, said one major effect of the program is that it has dispelled any thoughts that Michigan does not have high-quality suppliers.
And John Russell, CEO at CMS, said the program will help create thousands of jobs in the state.
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