InvestUP CEO Summit draws more than 100 business leaders

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - More than 100 business leaders came together for the InvestUP CEO Summit in Marquette Thursday. The summit featured guest speakers, a panel discussion and a Q&A session.

Discussions included creating new funding sources amid state and federal uncertainty, and the impact of the U.P.’s aging population and housing availability. InvestUP CEO Marty Fittante says the summit brings leaders together to ask the right questions.

“What can we do to move forward, what actions can we take to effectuate change that will provide prosperity for the Upper Peninsula, so we’ve got 150 leaders in the room this morning, it’s the right collection of leaders, and at the end of the day, it takes U.P. leaders to solve U.P. problems,” Fittante said.

One of the speakers was Neel Kashkari, the President/CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. He says businesses in the Upper Peninsula are keeping a close eye on global markets.

“There’s some cautious optimism, some cautious pessimism. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the economy right now, everything from tariffs and the outlook for tariffs to what’s happening in the Iran war, oil prices are now spilling over into other parts of the economy,” Kashkari said.

Fittante was also presented a check for $1.4 million from the Kobasic Foundation for InvestUP’s ISD Homebuilding Partnership.

“It’s meaningful not only to that ISD partnership program that we have that has now built five homes, one of which is sold, and those net proceeds go back into the school, touching 140 students already, but it also signals, hopefully, a challenge to other community and business leaders about what is possible,” Fittante said.

This was the fifth year for the InvestUP’s CEO Summit.

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