With over 40 years of automotive and managerial experience, Mike Straney has many things to offer to the companies he volunteers with. Since it the incubator opened, he has been an asset to burgeoning client companies working with OU INC.
A self-described “mechanical engineer who never sat down and designed a thing,” Straney’s engineering experience and diverse managerial positions for General Motors and American Axle and Manufacturing, taught him to be a leader. Shortly after retiring in 2005, he decided to continue to put his skills to good use in a new setting.
“I became the first volunteer advisor at OU INC, and became the chairman of the Advisory Board for the first OU INC client company, GS Engineering, in April 2006,” Straney recalls.
Over the past nine years, he has advised eight other companies from both OU INC and the Macomb-OU INCubator. Currently, Straney works with two OU INC clients. He serves as chair of the advisory board for iTrack, LLC and is an individual advisor to Zeta 5 Industrial Tooling Performance, LLC.
Straney sees a mutual benefit to working with client companies. “The OU INC client companies benefit from the advice given by their volunteer Advisory Board members and the volunteer Advisory Board members benefit from seeing a small startup company full of questions and concerns grow into a focuses company executing their business plan and hiring people…a true win-win situation.”
With over 40 years of automotive and managerial experience, Mike Straney has many things to offer to the companies he volunteers with. Since it the incubator opened, he has been an asset to burgeoning client companies working with OU INC.
A self-described “mechanical engineer who never sat down and designed a thing,” Straney’s engineering experience and diverse managerial positions for General Motors and American Axle and Manufacturing, taught him to be a leader. Shortly after retiring in 2005, he decided to continue to put his skills to good use in a new setting.
“I became the first volunteer advisor at OU INC, and became the chairman of the Advisory Board for the first OU INC client company, GS Engineering, in April 2006,” Straney recalls.
Over the past nine years, he has advised eight other companies from both OU INC and the Macomb-OU INCubator. Currently, Straney works with two OU INC clients. He serves as chair of the advisory board for iTrack, LLC and is an individual advisor to Zeta 5 Industrial Tooling Performance, LLC.