business & professional Got A Challenge? Here's To from page 52 Danny Samson has built a career on solving tough problems. Allan Nahajewski Contributing Writer F Council and co-chair of the Steering Committee of the Energizing Connections for Healthier Oakland. In addition, she is a member of the Strategic Leadership Team Great Start Collaborative-Oakland. Andrew B. Wachler was profiled in the July/ August 2014 edition of or fewer than four months, Danny Samson, 43, has been CEO of Digerati, a Detroit-based company dedi- cated to solving complex problems. The job is a good fit. "I enjoy a challenge he says. "I am a determined individu- al. I truly believe if you focus and work hard, you can accom- plish and overcome the challenges that are put in front of you:' For Samson, life's challenges have included fighting wild- fires out west and spending a year in Israel after college. "I've been very fortunate to be put in uncomfortable places where you have to overcome. You figure your way through it. Building upon those, you feel you can take it all on." One challenge that Digerati was asked to tackle was to help students find internships and to help employers find interns. "Finding and retaining talent is a big issue in Michigan:' Samson says. "We researched the problem as it exists today. It's a complex issue with a thousand variables. That's the fun of these challenges. We then developed a website called InternlnMichigan.com using a sophisticated matching tech- nology, which is just now hitting the marketplace. It was ini- tially funded by the New Economy Initiative." The Detroit Pistons also have tapped Digerati to develop a system to analyze data about their fans to better serve their customers and market to them. "We use the same methodology to solve each challenge Samson says. "It's really a matter of understanding the prob- lem and the processes that are involved, then breaking down every single step of any process to understand how best to attack it." Samson grew up in Southfield, attended Southfield-Lathrup High School, before earning a degree in English and litera- ture at Michigan State and a master's degree in urban studies at Wayne State. Samson and his wife have five children — daughters aged 11, 9 and 7, and twin 5-year-old sons. They live in Huntington Woods and belong to Temple Emanu-El in Oak Park. Samson's first full-time job after college was as a sales assis- tant for the Jewish News. "I had good mentors there. I learned that if you work hard and keep going, the benefits will present themselves. That may sound corny, but I used to make sales calls and deal with rejection. I just kept forging ahead, and ultimately understood that it's all about hard work, building relationships and being able to communicate with people. If you can do those things, you're going to be successful:' For 10 years, Samson worked for the Sterling Group, a real estate and investment company. One of the firm's investments was in Digerati, a company started 13 years ago by two engi- neers from the University of Michigan. Samson worked with Digerati for eight years through the Sterling Group before the opportunity arose to become Digerati's CEO. Digerati's offices are on the 34th floor of the Guardian Building in Detroit. "I'm passionate about Detroit:' Samson says. "I've been working here for 20 years. How can we attack problems in our community? There are a hundred different ways, and when you start to talk about them all, interesting solutions can arise:' Samson says Digerati's approach sets it apart from other companies. At our core, we're made up of engineers who approach a problem differently from how a software developer might. When you marry those two things, that's when it gets 54 September 11 • 2014 JN Ambassador Magazine, a Detroit-based maga- zine focused on local personalities and life- All 14 style. Wachler has been Wachler practicing health care law for more than 25 years. He counsels health care providers and organizations nationwide in a vari- ety of health care legal matters. 1111 Danny Samson interesting. You're coming up with unique ideas to solve age- old problems:' Digerati is a private company with 25 employees. "We tend to take on spot projects, then develop software around those projects:' says Samson. "We own the intellectual property around those projects,and even spin off different companies from those projects. "The technology we develop typically has a variety of applications. For example, matching technology can work in a million different ways — from helping someone find a job to helping someone select a wine. Those types of technolo- gies are limitless. We're in conversations regularly with people from all over the country who come up with any number of ways to use technology that we've developed, then give us ideas for new technology:' An odd career path for an English major? Samson doesn't think so. "It may not seem like it, but it's been a logical path:' he says. "Everything I've done — from the real estate side to urban planning to the technology that we're working with now — all centers around economic development in some form:' Samson says Digerati is regularly in a hiring mode. "We're frequently on the prowl for engineers, developers and library scientists:' Even English majors. "I don't view English majors as a box for teachers:' he says. "For me, it's developing skills around communication, which has a thousand different iterations — from sales to problem- solving and everything in between. How do you get your mes- sage across? You could have the greatest product in the world, but if you're not communicating what it is and how it solves someone's problems, you're not going to see the success you deserve:' ❑ For more on Digerati, visit www.digerati.co . On behalf of Shuman Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM in Walled Lake, Bob Shuman, dealer, past president of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association and past chair of the 2014 North Shuman American Auto Show, donated $50,000 to the Foundation for Excellence (FFE) —Walled Lake Schools. The Foundation will fulfill Shuman's goal of reaching out to students who want to be involved in Walled Lake Schools' performing arts programs, but need assistance. co Daniel Cooper Adam Cooper Daniel and Adam Cooper, founders of Cooperbrothersfilmsinc, had exciting news with their most recent movie, The Fourth Wall. It recently came in first place at two different film festivals. At the Hollyshorts film festival, sponsored by Latino Art Beat, in Hollywood, Calif., their movie won "Best in Show" for the youth (under 21) category. They were awarded a $40,000 scholarship to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.