June 8, 2026

Ferris State President: “rock-star” trustees and the talent urgency facing Michigan

Facts from the Front Porch – Mackinac Island Edition

Pink reflects on the value of Michigan’s appointed university boards, noting that Ferris has benefited from “rock stars as board members” selected through a thoughtful gubernatorial appointment process that considers competencies, geography, and alumni balance. He adds that appointed members tend to focus on service to the institution rather than on “self-promotion and political careers.”

Pink emphasizes that this process results in strong governance, rooted in balanced expertise and alumni representation, which helps keep GVSU focused on student success.

Their discussion then turns to Michigan’s long-term economic and population challenges. As the state slips from 19th to 40th in personal income and struggles to grow its population, Pink stresses that Michigan didn’t arrive at this point overnight and won’t reverse course quickly. The state must stop “starting over” every time leadership changes. He warns against letting major reports “sit on a shelf” and urges future leaders to build on, rather than discard, the work of the Growing Michigan Together Council.

A major theme: talent. Business leaders continue to cite talent shortages as their top concern, and Pink argues that Michigan must shift its culture around higher education. He highlights Ferris State’s recognition as an “opportunity university,” where students benefit from both high access and strong post‑graduation earnings—evidence that a four‑year degree still delivers real value.

Pink closes with a call for creativity and urgency to attract and retain talent in Michigan. He says talent is the key to restoring economic strength, supporting employers, and building the state’s future.

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(00:00:02):
Welcome to the Hashtag Facts Matter Podcast.

(00:00:04):
I’m Guy Gordon with Eric Lufer from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan and

(00:00:08):
this is Facts on the Front Porch,

(00:00:10):
the Mackinac Island edition.

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We’re joined by Bill Pink, President of Ferris State University.

(00:00:15):
Bill, welcome.

(00:00:15):
Good to see you, Guy.

(00:00:16):
Good to see you.

(00:00:17):
Good to see you.

(00:00:18):
Kind of a little bit of a tectonic shift in higher learning today.

(00:00:23):
It is.

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We learned today that President Guskiewicz is resigning from Michigan State.

(00:00:30):
I had a chance after we heard about that to talk to a friend of mine who’s a MSU

(00:00:35):
trustee and a bit of shift in thinking on her part on a best way to put together a

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Board for a University and we see the difference between U of M,

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MSU and Wayne State where they’re elected versus the appointed of Ferris and all

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the other directional schools and so on.

(00:00:57):
So talk a little bit from your perspective on how to put the board together and

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what you see as the differences.

(00:01:05):
Yeah,

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we’ve been,

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I would say we’ve been blessed in our time at Ferris that we’ve had just rock stars

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as board members,

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both when we arrived up until today.

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And with the appointments

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Office of the Governor that makes those appointments that will will scour the state

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in terms of understanding and finding and learning about different individuals who

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may have interest.

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Also in our sharing with them of what our

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I think that’s what the present board looks like in terms of who’s on our board,

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the competencies that are there presently as far as background is concerned,

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part of the state,

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even to the point

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Those who are alum versus those who are not.

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All those factors go into that selection and I love the fact that we typically can

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keep a very balanced board when it comes to alumni versus not alumni.

(00:02:05):
alum because what it does is it keeps those folks who are very familiar with us and

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have a heart for us,

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have had that for a long time,

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combined with those folks who just bring new ideas to the table,

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all those things,

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I believe,

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go into

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of what we have today as what I call a very effective board.

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And they have passions for the university rather than perhaps passions for their

(00:02:27):
own self-promotion and political careers,

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which could be a problem.

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And they take it personal.

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Personal from the standpoint of wanting to do a good job as a board

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Board Member, right?

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So if the governor appoints me and if the Senate approves of me,

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I want to do the work that is going to honor the fact that they selected me.

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And so, and being able to do that and making sure that you stay in a board member’s

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Lane of a board member there’s a balance that happens there that I think that as

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you get great board members on board they they understand that they get that and

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they keep in mind that at the end of the day it’s about what we can do for the

(00:03:05):
betterment of the university because if our if the university is thriving that

(00:03:10):
probably means our students are thriving and that’s a good thing

(00:03:13):
So we’re up at the Detroit Chamber Conference.

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Part of the agenda this year is the idea that Michigan’s house is on fire.

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We heard from Michigan Future that the personal income we’ve fallen from 19th to

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40th among the 50 states.

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Population isn’t growing.

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Three years ago we were up here talking about the same issues and ultimately that

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led to the growing Michigan Together Council that you are part of.

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How do we turn the tide here?

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It seems to be it’s a tanker that’s not gonna pivot on a dime,

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but we can’t just keep doing this every year,

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can we?

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No, and you said it, Eric, understanding that it took us a long time to get here,

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So it’s probably going to take us a little while to get away from here.

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But that also means that you put the things in place and you follow the plan in

(00:04:03):
place to make that turn.

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So when you think about the work that the Population Council, that those recommendations

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of saying,

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look,

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we’ve put together a lot of people in those processes that came up with these

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strategies.

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Okay, well, you got a bit of a blueprint there, so what do you do with that?

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One of the worst things that I have been a part of are those

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And you put time and effort into it only to find a report that just sits on a shelf somewhere.

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And that does good for no one.

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As a matter of fact, you told me that you wasted my time.

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So it is important that documents like that and the work of documents like that,

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that that not only continues,

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but that our next leadership takes that and really is able to move it to that next

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level and not just think,

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okay,

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well,

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this was another governor’s work,

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so I’m going to trash this and we’re going to start all over.

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I’m tired of starting over.

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An issue you and I talked about in past encounters here was the whole notion that

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we’ve still got to break through this cultural problem that too few Michiganders

(00:05:11):
think that a four-year degree delivers on the investment.

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and I was with the top 50 auto executives today and then in the Mish Auto.

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They all said the same thing.

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Look, business climate’s important.

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Regulatory reform, permitting reform, all important.

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But number one is talent and you’re not giving us that.

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But it’s because we’re not feeding those schools.

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Everybody’s fighting for the same thing.

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So help me unravel that knot.

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Is it getting better?

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Is it getting harder?

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Especially with AI, I think there’s a discouragement

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So, guy, I’m gonna brag on my campus a little bit.

(00:05:52):
Imagine that.

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Never happened before.

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I know.

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I know that’s a surprise to you.

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I feel the porch shaking.

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So, a year and a half ago, when the Carnegie Foundation did release their report of

(00:06:04):
What they called aside from our classification of Carnegie classification when they

(00:06:09):
released the report that looked at for the first time They’ve never done this

(00:06:12):
before it looked at two things access and earnings They looked at all 4,000 of us

(00:06:19):
and ask the question about access and earnings.

(00:06:22):
So access, how easy or how hard is it to get into the institution?

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Earnings, do you make money?

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I mean, it’s the value proposition of higher education.

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Right, it’s the ROI.

(00:06:30):
That’s it.

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Out of all 4,000 of us,

(00:06:33):
There were only a little bit,

(00:06:35):
I think a shade over 400 of us that were called opportunity colleges and

(00:06:41):
universities.

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And what that meant is that our access was high and the earnings were high.

(00:06:47):
So in other words,

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These 400 plus institutions were institutions that the data showed,

(00:06:53):
not just the schools saying it,

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the data showed that not only are students able to get into your institution with

(00:07:00):
little to no issue,

(00:07:01):
but also when they graduate,

(00:07:04):
They are going into good paying jobs, living wage jobs.

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So it’s not just moving up the ladder, it’s being able to get on the ladder in the first place.

(00:07:11):
That’s exactly it.

(00:07:12):
And we were one of those 400 plus that were rated as an opportunity university.

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What that told us is what people have been telling us for a long time just anecdotally.

(00:07:21):
Now we got the data to show it.

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that a Ferris State graduate leaves and they are able to get good paying jobs.

(00:07:27):
Those are the very people that I want to send to all of those auto folks that you saw earlier.

(00:07:33):
I want to send those folks to all of these industry folks that we know are telling

(00:07:37):
us the same thing.

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And when I came to Michigan 10 years ago,

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For some reason, I think it was the same message, talent, talent, talent.

(00:07:46):
That’s 10 years ago, right?

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And here we are 10 years later, we’re still having that conversation.

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We have to think creatively about how we attract and keep our people in Michigan.

(00:07:56):
That all ties together with everything we just talked about.

(00:07:59):
It’s about the talent.

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It’s how you’re going to grow the income of the state.

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It’s about how you’re going to attract business and people to the state and get us

(00:08:08):
back on the track we were 50 years ago.

(00:08:11):
I know you have a busy schedule, so we don’t want to keep you much longer.

(00:08:13):
Thanks for taking the time to visit with us.

(00:08:15):
Always happy to.

(00:08:16):
Thank you guys so much.

(00:08:17):
And this is a beautiful day to be out on the porch, that’s for sure.

(00:08:20):
One last thing.

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Enjoy that.

(00:08:21):
Go Dawgs.

(00:08:22):
Go Dawgs.

(00:08:24):
You beat me to it.

(00:08:26):
Bill Pink, thanks very much.

(00:08:27):
Thank you.

(00:08:28):
And thanks for joining us on this edition of the Facts Matter podcast.

(00:08:31):
We will have future conversations here on the porch throughout the week.

(00:08:36):
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This has been a Facts Matter Podcast,

(00:09:29):
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Ferris State President: “rock-star” trustees and the talent urgency facing Michigan

In this special limited series of the #FactsMatter podcast – Facts from the Front Porch – Guy Gordon and Eric Lupher sit down with Dr. Bill Pink, President of Ferris State University, for a timely, wide-ranging discussion of university governance, Michigan’s population and economic challenges, and the state’s talent pipeline. Pink reflects on the value of Michigan’s appointed university boards, noting that Ferris has benefited from “rock stars as board members” selected through a thoughtful gubernatorial appointment process that considers competencies, geography, and alumni balance. He adds that appointed members tend to focus on service to the institution rather than on “self-promotion and political careers.” Pink emphasizes that this process results in strong governance, rooted in balanced expertise and alumni representation, which helps keep GVSU focused on student success. Their discussion then turns to Michigan’s long-term economic and population challenges. As the state slips from 19th to 40th in personal income and struggles to grow its population, Pink stresses that Michigan didn’t arrive at this point overnight and won’t reverse course quickly. The state must stop “starting over” every time leadership changes. He warns against letting major reports “sit on a shelf” and urges future leaders to build on, rather than discard, the work of the Growing Michigan Together Council. A major theme: talent. Business leaders continue to cite talent shortages as their top concern, and Pink argues that Michigan must shift its culture around higher education. He highlights Ferris State’s recognition as an “opportunity university,” where students benefit from both high access and strong post‑graduation earnings—evidence that a four‑year degree still delivers real value. Pink closes with a call for creativity and urgency to attract and retain talent in Michigan. He says talent is the key to restoring economic strength, supporting employers, and building the state’s future.