Welcome.

It's fun to be up here with a more diverse
group and M.P.P. class actually our M.P.P.

class is really diverse but we've got all
different sorts of people here today so

wonderful to see everybody thank you so
I'm Liz Gerber I'm the director of

the program and practical policy
engagement and I'm really pleased to

invite everybody to this in our inaugural
pitch competition which in addition to P.

the Office of graduate career services

here at the ford school and I also want
to offer a shout out to Jennifer and

where's Peter Peter who have really
moved this effort along and who

are of course amazing partners so we hope
you'll find this fun and dynamic event.

And we're going to you're going to
have a chance to hear our students

talk to you about their summer
internship experiences in 3 minutes or

less we think this is an important
skill for them to have to be able to

very clearly and
concisely articularly applied policy

the real world policy experiences that
they've had in a powerful way and so

we've got our judges who are going to be
helping both assess their performance and

then also provide feedback to the students
and in the spirit of continuous learning.

I want to say that this program is
exemplary of the kind of event that P 3

is going to be.

Doing partnering with other units around
campus we think that we can have the most

impact when we have great partners
were small and we want to be big and

we want to have a big impact so this is
a good example of the kind of partnering

that we want to be able to do and I want
to echo Michael's thanks to Phil and

Kathy power for the generous gift from the
power foundation that is helping to make.

All of this possible so
again let's give Phil and Kathy and

I thank.

Our other judges who I'm
going to introduce now so.

The students of course will be introducing
themselves as part of their pitch So

who is an M.P.P. alone $2008.00

she is the director of Policy and Research
the movement Advancement Project or

map which is a leading policy were
who where she leads policy work and

work designed to understand and
increase the capacity of the L.

G.B.T. movement and she's also a member
of the Ford school's alumni board so

thank you Naomi.

Next we have Kelly Michaels who
joined the university in 1998 and

was appointed vice president for
communications in 2017

as vice president miss Michaels oversees
all aspects of both internal and

external communications for
the university including communication

policy media relations advertising and
marketing and creative editorial and

design services so
thank you Kelly next we have.

Relf Johnson who is an M.B.A.
along 1902 he is the for the Americas

region at the consulting firm of McKinsey
all you consulting people out there.

During his professional career he
held other positions at McKinsey

the Cuyahoga County Welfare
reform agency and

the General Motors Corporation Ralph
is the past chair of the U.

of M.
Alumni Association Board of Directors

the university's annual fun and
the Ross School of businesses along

board of governors so welcome and
thank you for coming.

Next Cathy power who is

principal power foundation she is
a dynamic community volunteer and

activist and she has provided energy and
leadership to such organizations

as Planned Parenthood of Michigan where
she chaired the board is that correct.

Chaired the board and
also I know she's very active and

passionate about the Humane Society
of your own valley and

then last but
not least I'll introduce Phil Power.

He's a B.A. you want me to say
what year you graduated Phil.

That's right thank you but.

That wasn't a test I
just wanted to you know.

Phil is a former newspaper publisher and

served on the University of
Michigan's Board of Regents from 187

to 1999 he's a member of
the Ford School Committee and

we welcome him in that capacity he was
the owner of the home town communications

network an award winning group of 64
community newspapers in Michigan and

the upper Midwest Phil founded the Center
for Michigan in 2006 I think and

do tank that encourages
greater understanding and

involvement in public issues amongst
America's citizens I'm sorry amongst

Michigan citizens I'm going to just
add in here that the Center for

Michigan publishes the outstanding
bridge magazine and

Phil shared with me just a minute
ago that they just hit 1000000

readers on bridge magazine in
just 5 years so if any of you.

If any of you are not readers of bridge
magazine add yourself to that 1000000 it's

well worth it it's amazing journalism
I think it's the best journalism in

the state and that not just saying I can
fill a gap year here it's the real truth.

And he also helped form the Corporation
for a skilled workforce and

serve as vice chairman of the Michigan
Economic Development Corporation So

thank you Phil for being here as well.

And with that I'm going to turn
it over to the students so

we'll have the 1st student come up and
please enjoy their pitches good luck.