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MM. INITIATIVE

maya, a Chaldean community leader, and
son-in-law of successful retailers Ed and
Juliette Jonna. (Ed Jonna, whose brothers
are the construction executives, founded
Merchant of Vino with his wife in 1974
and sold his six stores to Whole Foods
Market in 1997 for about $41 million in
stock. The couple's sons, Matt and Marc,
own Plum Markets in Ann Arbor, Bloom-
field Township and West Bloomfield.)
Jonna Construction also built the
Weight Watchers headquarters.
Not all metro moguls have fresh
ties to "the old country." As the great-
grandson of European Jews, tech in-
dustry entrepreneur Josh Linkner is
an all-American success story.
The 39-year-old founder and
chairman of ePrize, a Pleasant Ridge
interactive marketing and promo-
tions innovator, founded his first
company as a University of Florida
undergraduate. He sold that com-
puter assembly business to one of his
suppliers, starting an entrepreneurial
streak. A year after graduating in 1994, he
created an Internet business development
firm in Detroit — GlobalLink New Media
— that attracted a buyer four years later.

This third-generation American sees
creative thinking as a key to success. "Being
a leader today is different than it used to be,"
Linkner suggests. "An effective leader needs
to focus on creativity and innovation."
That same can-do spirit, he says, can
lift Metro Detroit and Michigan into a
new economic era – with Chaldean-Jew-
ish cooperation as an example. "It's im-
portant to focus on finding ways to col-

PRESENTING SPONSOR

Bank of America.

"We worked hard...and did
what was necessary to
succeed. I think that's how
the Chaldean and Jewish
communities parallel."

Lessons for region

At ePrize, where he served as CEO for 11
years, the staff has grown to nearly 250.
Branches are open in New York, Chicago,
Dallas, Atlanta and Los Angeles. Clients
include Microsoft, AT&T, Chase, the Gap,
Coca-Cola, Nike, Kellogg's and other ma-
jor brands.

GOLD SPONSORS

WAY N E STATE
UNIVERSITY

meijer

- James Jonna, Chairman, Jonna Companies

laborate for a common cause," Linkner
says from ePrize headquarters. "To build
a region together, we need to focus on
building bridges."
These models of achievement, of mak-
ing the American Dream come true, are
another area of affinity for neighbors with
long connections in the Middle East and
Metro Detroit.

DMC

DETROIT MEDICAL CENTER

SILVER SPONSORS

The authors are writers for Tanner
Friedman, a marketing communications
firm in Farmington Hills.

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"From there on, we began
to be partners on most of our
real estate deals," adds Najib
Samona, a 64-year-old ac-
countant educated in England.
"Over time, we bonded to-
gether as one family. ... I don't
give much thought to the idea
that Harvey and his father are
Jewish and I am. Chaldean."
The partnership has profes-
sional benefits. "Najib's friends
and contacts in the Chaldean
community and ours in the Jew-
ish community have opened
the doors to opportunities that
we may never have had," says
the younger Weiss, educated at
Oak Park High and WSU.

Similar
opportunities
arose for Earl Ishbia, raised in
a Jewish family On Detroit's
northwest side. A compa-
ny he co-founded in 1969
has grown into Sherwood
Food Distributors, which
ships more than 16 million Earl
pounds of goods weekly from
warehouses in four states. An-
nual sales exceed $1 billion, but
Ishbia never forgets whose origi-
nal patronage was crucial.
Chaldean grocers were a
"huge factor in the early stages
of the growth of our business,"
he recalls, noting that supermar-
kets and other merchants left
Detroit after .1967 rioting. "'This

els," • notes the Mumford
High and WSU graduate,
cn
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0 whose father came from
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Turkey.
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These experiences can
be an instructive example.
"Rather than isolate or
segregate the two commu-
nities, I see the opportu-
nity where they can align and
draw on each other's resources
and experiences," suggests Na-
jib Samona of \Vest Bloom-
field. "That is the case with our
business and am sure that this
will become common in the
future."

03

CO

Ishbia

Najib Samona

was the start of our company,
and we grew our business with
the people in the community."
Like the Weiss and Samona
families, Ishbia feels economic
ties uniting Jews and Chal-
deans are unremarkable. "The
core values are very similar in
both communities – a strong
sense of community, religion
and being very good role mod-

Lawrence
arech

COLLEGE

411:Mrik. OF BUSINESS

DFARBoRN

- Justin Fisette and
Kaylee Hawkins

'ks;R)

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