KEDA Board & Staff
Board of Directors
Executive Committe
Kevin Codere
CHAIR
President,
Peninsula Copper Industries
Brian Baccus
VICE CHAIR
President,
Peninsula Powder Coating
Matt Krause
SECRETARY
Chief Administrative Officer,
Aspirus Keweenaw Hospital
Jerry Wuorenmaa
TREASURER
(Ex Officio)
Executive Director,
Western Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Region
Board of Directors
Full Board
Brad Barnett
(Ex Officio)
Executive Director,
Keweenaw Chamber of Commerce - Keweenaw CVB
David Rowe
CEO,
MTEC SmartZone
Mary Babcock
(Ex Officio)
City Manager,
City of Hancock
Ryan Heinonen
CEO,
UP Health System – Portage
Jeff Ratcliffe
Executive Director,
KEDA
Andrew Lahti
President,
Andrew Lahti Contracting
Amy Isaacson
(Ex Officio)
Supervisor, Baraga Township
Executive Director, Baraga County Housing Commission
Debbie Stouffer
(Ex Officio)
President,
Baraga County Chamber of Commerce
Tom Tikkanen
(Ex Officio)
Commissioner,
Houghton County & Superior Properties
Ian Repp
AVP University Marketing & Communications,
Michigan Technological University
Tess Ahlborn, P.E.
(Ex Officio)
Keweenaw County Director, MDOT Center for Structural Durability at Michigan Tech
Tim Gasperich
(Ex Officio)
Supervisor,
Charter Township of Calumet
David Vlahos
President/CEO,
Superior National Bank
KEDA Staff
Jeff Ratcliffe
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jeff has a wide range of community and economic development experience. Over his 25 year economic development career in small rural communities he has worked with manufacturers and commercial businesses to identify financing and operational problems, obtain expansion financing and address management issues; worked with manufacturers and commercial businesses to solve employee screening, training, infrastructure and regulatory issues; worked with identified prospects to provide custom site location information package incentives and numerous business locations resulting in new jobs and millions of dollars in new investment; identified, packaged and managed infrastructure development to serve business expansions and locations; counseled start up and existing businesses, reviewed business plans, facilitated strategic planning, provided ongoing financial review and packaged loans for bank and EDC-managed revolving loan fund financing.
Sam Stonelake
BUSINESS RETENTION SPECIALIST
As KEDA's business retention specialist, Sam's primary role he will be to conducting visits to manufacturing and other companies as directed by KEDA for purposes of determining needs, issues, and growth opportunities and providing appropriate referrals and follow up. Sam will also work to ensure effective communication with KEDA’s membership and provide support to various KEDA projects and initiatives.
Sam comes to KEDA with over 12 years of project and operations management and a dedication to getting the job done. Sam’s 10 years with Home Depot gives him a strong background in operations and project management, customer service, working with small companies, process management, problem solving, and a results oriented, goal driven approach.
Nikki Madisen
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT