44 | JANUARY 9 • 2020
here’s to
business SPOTlight
The Community House, a nonprofit resource and destination in Birmingham
for personal, professional, recreational and philanthropic pursuits, will hold its
annual Bates Street Society dinner in February. Individuals are inducted into
the society based on their significant charitable contributions that align with the
work and mission of the Community House. Among this year’
s inductees are
Dr. Brian Berman, chairman, Department of Pediatrics, Oakland University
William Beaumont School of Medicine and pediatrician-in-chief of Beaumont’
s
Children’
s; Dr. Ora Peskovitz, Oakland University president; Hannan Lis,
principal, the WW Group Inc.; Keith Pomeroy, owner of Pomeroy Financial
Services and founding board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art
Detroit; and Linda Solomon, photojournalist and author.
how we differentiate ourselves
from car ownership. Our true
competition is behavior —
changing the way we think about
integrating multimodal trans-
portation into our lives. For
example, shifting the instinct to
drive downtown into taking a
bus there and a Lyft ride home.
Beyond that, we’
re going to con-
tinue leaning into our unique
set of values, which brings to
market programs like Round Up
& Donate, where every ride in
Metro Detroit can be rounded
up and donated to the Detroit
Public School Foundation.
6. How has your Jewish identity
followed you through your
business success?
My Jewish identity is inextricably
linked to my personal values.
Deeply believing in concepts
like tikkun olam has led me
to companies like Lyft, which
has built a business on the
idea that we can improve lives
through transportation. My
values also guide how I interact
with our communities and my
team members; for example,
to embrace the idea of b’
tzelem
elohim (in God’
s image) means
you naturally seek out equality
and act with compassion.
7. What do you miss most
about living in Michigan?
Most obvious is the community
of friends we left behind. The
love of Detroit, the Midwestern
sensibilities, the closeness of
the Jewish community — all of
these things added up to quality
friendships I know are rare in
life, especially when you consid-
er my wife and I had only lived
there as a family for three years.
From a career standpoint, I
can’
t speak highly enough about
how open people are to collab-
oration, both in the business
community and within local
government. Because of the lows
Metro Detroit has experienced
over the years, my sense is there
is a genuine enthusiasm to
experiment and try new things
that might not have been present
in the past. That’
s powerful, and
I’
m very bullish on what happens
from here. One way or the other,
it will always be home for me.
continued from page 42
Dr. Ora
Peskovitz
Keith
Pomeroy
Dr. Brian
Berman
Hannan Lis
Linda
Solomon
FEBRUARY 14-16
MUSIC HALL
Br
oadwayI
nDetr
oi
t.com | ti
cketmaster
.com
Char
ge by phone: 800-
982-
2787 | I
nfo: 313.872.1000
Gr
oups (
10+): Gr
oups@Br
oadwayI
nDetr
oi
t.com (
subject: The New Col
ossus)
Open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner
Catering and carryout available
Gift certificates
27925 Orchard Lake Rd., North of 12 Mile, Farmington Hills
248-489-2280
www.honghuafinedining.com
FINE CHINESE DINING
“A wonderful adventure in fine dining” ~ Danny Raskin