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“Lyft is a company
with tikkun olam at
its core. Our mission
is very simple: to
improve people’s
lives with the world’s
best transportation.”

— ELLIOT DARVICK

TOP: Elliot Darvick, Lyft general
manager for Michigan and Ohio,
shares the front seat with Lyft
driver Mellisa Nelson of Detroit.

mother does prior to lighting the
Shabbat candles.”

UP-LYFT-ING OTHERS

At Lyft, Elliot’s appetite for mobility,
aptitude for technology and adher-
ence to humanity align in a way that is
both obvious and iterative. Lyft, for the
appless, is an on-demand transporta-
tion company driven “to reconnect
people through transportation and
bring communities together.”
Elliot has found kindred company,
entrepreneurial energy and passion-
ate pursuits at Lyft. In his own words:
“Lyft is a company with tikkun olam at
its core. Our mission is very simple: to
improve people’s lives with the world’s
best transportation. You can find so
many examples of this mission brought
to life in the decisions the company
makes, from programs like Round Up
& Donate, where we have been raising
millions of dollars for nonprofits by
letting passengers automatically round
up their fares for charity, to the fact
that we literally buy carbon offsets for
every Lyft ride to make your trip car-

bon neutral.”
Two years on — two years in which
the company’s valuation more than
doubled to $15.1 billion — Elliot lives
to Lyft. He obsesses over both sets of
his customers: the riders who hail cars
via the app and the drivers who pick
them up. Greater than the technol-
ogy that brings people together or the
mobility that gets them where they are
going, there’s the humanity in both the
driver’s and passengers’ seats.
The front passenger seat — if you are
like many Lyft riders including Elliot.
On the ride I took with him, he had
myriad questions and compliments
for our driver, a medical assistant at
Wayne County Jail who sometimes
ends up being the Lyft home for people
she served inside when they’re done
serving their time.
In the process of honoring the
humanity of everyone involved, Elliot
has made local out of global — no
small service to a San Francisco-based
company with its hundreds of millions
of rides and autonomous ambitions.

BY WAY OF EXAMPLE

DCFC. Lyft is sponsor and partner
of the Detroit City Football Club,
a National Premier Soccer League
team with a feverish fan base and
a renovated New Deal-era stadium
in Hamtramck. “DCFC and Lyft
have a shared value set,” according
to Elliot. “Bringing people together
and empowering them to build com-
munity.” Fans who ride to the game
get dropped off at a special Lyft Gate
directly in front of the stadium; driv-
ers get free tickets. While their logo
adorns the team jerseys, Elliot says,
“It was important that it be in DCFC
rouge and gold and not Lyft pink. We
live by the mantra ‘be yourself ’ and
this is a team beloved for its colors.”
SisterFriends. Elliot is quick to
point out that Lyft “isn’t just for get-
ting to the bar or the ballpark.” To wit,
he worked with the Detroit Health
Department to give free rides for at-

risk pregnant women. Through men-
torship and partnership, SisterFriends
Detroit addresses women’s “barriers
to accessing quality prenatal care,
social isolation and stress that can
put their babies at a higher risk of
being born too small or too early.”
MusicTown. In the Motor City’s gig
economy, you never know who will be
behind the wheel of your Lyft. Elliot
and his team count many aspiring
and professional musicians among
their drivers and, through a partner-
ship with Entercom ( formerly CBS
Radio), they can park their cars and
book free time at MusicTown’s state-
of-the-art recording studio. Some
may even be featured among the 50
live performances a year at the Lyft
Lounge at MusicTown.
RTA. A Mackinac Future Leader
and enthusiastic transit rider — “I
take the FAST bus down Woodward to
work most mornings” — Elliot threw
Lyft’s support behind the Regional
Transit Authority, joining 250 other
companies and community organiza-
tions calling for a vote on the RTA.
Lyft, he believes, is not a competitor
but a complement, with one in five
rides nationally starting or ending at a
transit stop.
I had planned to come over to
Elliot’s just to retrieve the notebook he
graciously carried around in his Lyft-
branded, jam-packed backpack during
the DCFC game (I took mental notes).
But when I mentioned my dryer had
stopped working mid-wash, he insisted
I bring the hamper full of wet laundry
to his house, apologizing in advance
that he would need to “keep his head
down” while I was over.
Elliot has his head down to write
performance reviews — for the
employees he will be bringing to their
new Detroit office and driver service
center — before flying out to California
to meet up with Elizabeth and Olivia.
His typing is audible over the wrinkle-
release cycle. “My team is amazing,” he
says. “I am lucky.” •

Jewish Historical Society of Michigan Honors Maddin Hauser Attorney

The Jewish Historical
Society of Michigan hon-
ored Robert Kaplow, an
attorney and shareholder
with Southfield-based
Maddin Hauser, with
its Leonard N. Simons
Lifetime Achievement
Award.
This award was given
in recognition of Kaplow’s
distinguished service and
Rob Kaplow
his lifetime commitment
to the support and advance-
ment of the mission and purpose of the

12

August 9 • 2018

jn

Jewish Historical Society of
Michigan. This is only the
fourth time in its history
that the JHSM has ever
presented the award.
“This award is a testa-
ment to Rob’s devotion
to community service in
general and his dedication
to the Jewish Historical
Society of Michigan in par-
ticular. We’re pleased and
proud that Rob has been
recognized for his ongoing
contributions to this worthwhile orga-

nization,” said Steven Sallen, Maddin
Hauser’s president and CEO.
Serving as JHSM president in 2002,
Kaplow oversaw a strategic update to
the organization’s mission statement
and prepared the organization to partic-
ipate in “350 Years of Jews in America”
celebrations. He helped launch “Settlers
to Citizens: A 21st Century Tour of
Historic Jewish Detroit” for religious
school students and oversaw the cre-
ation of JHSM’s first-ever website.
In 2005, Kaplow helped to form the
JHS of Michigan Heritage Foundation,
an organization created to support

JHSM’s mission and operations. He
has served as its chair since its found-
ing. In addition to the various JHSM
programs he works with, Kaplow also
volunteers with JARC, is active with the
Financial and Estate Planning Council
of Metropolitan Detroit, the Planned
Giving Advisory Councils of Detroit
Public Television and the Karmanos
Cancer Institute.
Kaplow’s practice at Maddin Hauser
is concentrated in estate planning,
wealth preservation, and personal and
corporate income tax planning. •