Business & Professional

PROFILE

Turning 'Em Around

Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News

F

rom Jewish centers to cities like
Pontiac. From synagogues to
pharmaceutical firms. From large
corporations to small businesses. They all
seem to get into financial trouble at least
once in a while — and even more so in
today's depressed economy.
But Fred Leeb of Orchard Lake has
been coming to the rescue for these types
of operations for the past 15 years — as
a "turnaround man." Basically, he helps
identify the strengths, weaknesses, risks
and opportunities of businesses and non-
profits. He sometimes incurs the wrath
of management, but usually successfully
completes what he sets out to do: Turn the
place around; restore it to a sound finan-
cial condition.
Most recently, Leeb served for 15
months as emergency financial manager
for the city of Pontiac, appointed by Gov.
Jennifer Granholm, through the Michigan
Department of Treasury, after the state put
the city into receivership. His task was to
straighten out the finances for the central
Oakland County city of about 66,000,
famous for its General Motors plants and
the Silverdome, former home of Detroit's
Lions and Pistons.
Before quitting in June with a budget
surplus and praise from many, Leeb
underwent repeated clashes with the
mayor and city council and suffered vol-
leys of anti-Semitic insults from residents.
But he's proud of his accomplishments
with the Fred Leeb & Associates side of
his business. He's even more proud of
his work through the years in the other
side of his business, named Nonprofit
Management Group, in which he often
assists Jewish centers and synagogues
around the country.

Contentious Atmosphere
Leeb left Pontiac because things "became
pretty contentious at times and I felt it
was best for me, and the city, to move on,"
he explained.
But he points out, "We successfully
bucked the downward economic trend
that hit Pontiac extremely hard due to the
bankruptcy and closing of GM plants in
the city."
"While many other cities and school
districts raised taxes or conducted mass
layoffs," he said, "we were creative and
generated a surplus of $1.4 million in the
2009 fiscal year and about a $3 million

30

August 12 • 2010

"The entire 15
months was just
an ongoing battle
between the mayor,
the seven-member
city council and me.
The mayor felt he
should be the city's
financial manager
and I wasn't needed.
Of course, the anti-
Semitism didn't help
the situation."

- Fred Leeb,

former emergency financial manager

of the city of Pontiac

Business consultant Fred Leeb

surplus for nine months (through March
31) so far in fiscal 2010."
"I think we provided a good posi-
tion for my successor," who is Michael
Stampfler, also appointed by the governor,
Leeb said.
"We did pretty well for a city whose GM
employment has shrunk from 20,000 to
3,000 and whose police force has dwin-
dled from 170 to 70."
Leeb said in recent weeks that Pontiac
reached a contract for city employees
with Blue Cross Blue Shield that will save
the city $500,000; signed new agree-
ments with the Teamsters and American
Federation of State County and Municipal
Employees; a tentative agreement with
the police officers union where city work-
ers agreed to pick up 20 percent of the

costs of their medical benefits; signed a
contract with the Ashley Group to manage
the city-owned Phoenix Plaza to operate
concerts and other events through 2015,
thus helping improve the downtown busi-
ness climate; eliminated the water and
sewer fund deficits and extended a con-
tract through October with United Water,
a national company hired to supervise the
city's water system several months ago.
Despite these efforts, Leeb notes, the
city still has a $4 million gap in revenues
and expenses for 2011 and could expect
more cost-cutting and possibly some
layoffs.
"But I'm proud that we restored some
national credibility to Pontiac by having
the Fitch Rating System upgrade our city
bonds," he said.

Anti-Semitism
Leeb also went through a budget skirmish
with the Pontiac City Council, but got the
budget approved by the state-mandated
June 30 deadline.
"The entire 15 months was just an
ongoing battle between the mayor, the
seven-member city council and me," Leeb
bemoans. "The mayor felt he should be
the city's financial manager and I wasn't
needed. Of course, the anti-Semitism
didn't help the situation."
Residents often insulted, derided and
slandered Leeb, who is Jewish, at council
meetings, and one person publicly told
him, "Your people betrayed Jesus and
caused him to be killed."
City leaders had been mostly silent dur-
ing these tirades, and no one apologized to