Temple Israel's Robert Sosnick Family Life Center, in Conjunction with The Caring Community, Presents an Afternoon of Music Business & Professional enior Unplugged: A Musical Events„ at the Senior Adult Program Brain Influx ePrize is looking for 450 Thursday, August 17,2006 1:30 PM Open to the public Free of charge Bring your friends for all the fun! Partially funded by the David Arthur Stulberg Memorial Fund & the Harry & Phyllis Kellman Memorial Fund. Co-sponsored by The Temple Israel Treasures. ,- _for additional information, please contact Kari K. Provizer, ACSW, in_tne Robert Sosnick Family Life. Center at Temple Israel at 248-661-57 (Y. George Cantor Special to - the Jewish News Temple Israel 5725 Walnut Lake Road • West Bloomfield, MI 48323 1141220 Skyline & The Back Street Horns The erry Ross Band igh line •Persuasion •Cassens Murphy Band •Simone Vitale Band •intrigue •Sun Messengers •Radio City Newsmaker Joyride Hot Ice L04/10 -ROSS STEALING IHT-EATIIIHMINT Call for free video consultation 248-398-9711 34 August 10 • 2006 iN • Since 1972 1142900 E very week since ePrize was founded in 1999, Josh Linkner has held a full company huddle. "It's a way of communicating directly; sharing success stories, handing out thank-yous and fostering a climate of collaboration',' says Linkner, the Pleasant Ridge company's CEO. Those huddles are going to be a little •harder to organize in the next few years. Linkner recently announced plans to expand the ePrize workforce by hiring 450 new employees over the next three years. His little company which devises and runs on-line interactive promotions for major corporations is going big time. "It's going to be a challenge he says. "Our management philosophy has always been a yin-and-yang sort of thing — creativity balanced by accountability; come up with fresh ideas but make sure they can be executed. Maintaining that environment in the larger company we're becoming will be interesting." Gov. Jennifer Granholm already has weighed in with her view Her office describes ePrize as "a pretty excit- ing company" and an example of how Michigan is "successfully diversifying the economy into the knowledge-based jobs." The ePrize announcement came a few weeks after Google said.it will bring 1,000 new jobs to its office in Ann Arbor. "That means more competition for us, but that's a good thine says Linkner. "Part of the reason we've grown so quickly is that we are based in Michigan and didn't have the sort of competitive pressures for top talent we would have had on the coasts. "But we are sitting at the white hot center of internet growth. We can deliver immediate and measurable results to a client, and so more and more advertis- ing dollars are shifting in this direction. We are high on everyone's radar because we have run 2,200 of these promotions for 62 of the top 100 brands in America." The company is looking to hire soft- ware engineers, graphics designers, sales peciple and those with experience as project managers. But to Linkner, those are merely convenient categories. "What we really want are people with humility, creativity and passion:' he says, "people with raw intelligence who are execution oriented with excellent corn- munications skills; people who know how to work on a team and with a sense of-urgency. When we find someone like that, we'll make a place somewhere because bringing out the best in people like them is what has allowed us to grow from within. "One of our mottos is, `Bite off more than you can chew, and then chew as fast as you can. Our expectations are very high and we want to move people out of their comfort zones. That can be painful and so this isn't the'place for everyone. "But some people find it such an attractive environment that we antici- pate no problem in getting them to come here from out of state. Once they actually see this area, they jump at the chance to move here. Michigan really can reverse the brain drain." Linkner is an example of that. He went to college in Florida but decided to come home when it was time to start his company. "I liked the idea of being part of this Jewish community," he says. "I liked the fact that there are great values here. It isn't the fast life that you have to bring up your kids in, as in other parts of the country. "I just happen to like it here."