Written by Kelli M. Titus
Bernie Scibienski sits with Jon Gallinger, Director, Government Affairs, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas on his right, and Andrew Leech, CEO & President, Oemeta, Inc., and Julie Cohen, Director, Federal Affairs, Johnson & Johnson on his left at a White House briefing on growing American manufacturing.
Bernie Scibienski of Sustainable Energy Technologies (SET), a client of the OU INC business accelerator, recently travelled to Washington D.C., to discuss America’s economic growth and development.
Business Forward, a company that connects business leaders to Washington officials, and The White House Business Council invited Scibienski to attend the briefing, due to his business knowledge and community involvement.
“The briefing was an open two-way dialogue,” said Scibienski. “We need permanent research, development tax credits, a road map for new firms, training programs for skilled trades, agriculture and infrastructure repairs.”
While in Washington D.C., Scibienski was one of 37 representatives from across the country who were chosen to discuss with Senior White House officials and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker how to strengthen the economic competitiveness of America’s manufacturers. Scibienski says that to do this, we must “do more to attract young people to agricultural and manufacturing jobs.”
Participants of the White House briefing shared industry visions and listened to administration initiatives. The event included panel discussions led by industry leaders on using public-private partnerships to encourage innovation, preparing workers for highly-skilled manufacturing jobs and creating opportunities for entrepreneurship.
“The business leaders briefing the White House bring experience from some of America’s most successful companies,” said Jim Doyle, president of Business Forward “They can provide valuable insights into how policymakers can help manufacturers develop a strong workforce, open new markets and maintain the recent increase of manufacturing jobs.”
SET develops unique, cost effective solutions to environmental problems. They create technologies that help the environment and community by creating cost efficient, state-of-the-art processing systems in order to decrease pollution and diminish waste.
SET is one of several companies within the Panter Group, a set of family owned businesses started by Ron Panter, along with Panter Master Controls, PMC Medical Staffing and Placement Management Center.
The Panter Group and SET have been business accelerator clients with OU INC for over two years. Throughout their engagement, OU INC has assisted them with resources and tools to grow their business focused on their advanced grease interceptor system. Those services included enhancing their business growth and marketing plans, technology evaluation and validation, and financing including a business accelerator fund grant of $40,000 through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the Small Business Development Center.
“This is a great example of how assisting a company with their growth also impacts the community as well,” said Amy Butler, executive director of OU INC. “Bernie serves a key role in all of the Panter Group affiliate companies and uses that experience as well as his background in serving the region in economic development activities including development of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy.“
Along with his work for the Panter Group, Scibienski is also an adjunct professor at Baker College, director at HRB & Associates and member of the I-69 International Trade Corridor and Genesee Global Action Team. He finds his work with HRB and the Panter Group very rewarding, as they contribute to growing and evolving businesses.
“OU INC is an under utilized resource,” Scibienski said. “There is a wealth of talent there. They have been incredible partners.”
OU INC business accelerator helps young business ventures in the areas of energy, medical devices and information technology.