NOVEMBER 10 • 2022 | 33

B

ill Ford (William Clay Ford Jr.), 
executive chair of Ford Motor 
Company, gave his chief of staff, 
Mary Culler, a stealth mission about five 
years ago. Bill tasked Mary to look at the 
city of Detroit and explore places where 
Ford could have a presence. His vision not 
only related to mobility but also building 
and engaging community. 
Mary worked with the city to look at 
countless buildings and walked around 
many districts within the city block-
by-block-by-block. One day, Bill called 
Mary and pondered an idea that they first 
didn’t believe could be a reality but were 
ultimately able to pursue. This led to the 
acquisition of the former Michigan Central 
Station, a once-elegant 18-floor skyscraper 
about a mile west of Downtown Detroit. 
Their ambitious efforts continued when 
they recruited Joshua Sirefman this past 
February to be the CEO of the endeavor.
It would be far loftier than the typical 
real estate purchase. They view “The 
Station,” their name for Michigan Central 
Station, as the centerpiece of a 30-acre 
community at the nexus of Detroit’s 
Corktown and Southwest neighborhoods. 
The plan would have academics, startups 
and community leaders gather to “address 
pressing societal challenges and help usher 
in a more accessible, sustainable future for 
all.”
For Sirefman, it would be a return to 
Detroit after beginning his career in the 
city creating and operating a program 
through Islandview Village Development 
Corporation, a nonprofit community 
redevelopment organization that focused 
on transforming a depressed industrial 
corridor into a model urban industrial area.
He co-designed citywide grassroots 
industrial retention programs as a 
member of the Detroit Economic Growth 
Corporation team. Sirefman, now 54, 
shared fond memories of starting his career 
here, including early mentorship in the city 
and being invited to several meals with 
community members.

NEW YORK SUCCESS
From his early years in Detroit, he served 
as COO of the New York City Economic 
Development Corporation — and later as 
interim president. He has been chief of 

staff for the deputy mayor of Economic 
Development under the office of former 
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 
a senior executive to a leading real estate 
firm, and a consultant to such institutions 
as the New York Public Library, Bloomberg 
Philanthropies and Cornell Tech, which 
includes a joint academic venture between 
Cornell and the Technion-Israel Institute of 
Technology.
He later became a co-founder of 
Sidewalk Labs, developed within Google, 
where he served in the roles of president, 
chief development officer and senior 
adviser. Sirefman launched Sidewalk 
Labs alongside Detroit native Daniel 
Doctoroff. Its mission was focused on 
improving “urban infrastructure through 
technological solutions and tackling 
issues such as cost of living, efficient 
transportation and energy usage.”
“Josh is a true visionary who combines a 
remarkable appreciation for the importance 
of place-making with an understanding 
of technology and an ability to get things 
done,” Doctoroff told the Jewish News. 
“For a project like Michigan Central, he is 
uniquely suited to create something truly 
great.” 
Sirefman said, “I would characterize Dan 
as one of the most important people in my 
life, both professionally and personally. We 
first worked together in the Bloomberg 
administration where I had several roles, 
including serving as his chief of staff when 
he was deputy mayor. And then we had that 
second professional chapter in co-founding 
Sidewalk Labs. He’s an extraordinary indi-
vidual. I don’t even know how to character-
ize how much I have learned from him — 
probably the greatest mentor in my career 
and also a great friend.”

A ‘UNICORN’ JOB
Mary Culler viewed the head of the 
Michigan Central Station as a “unicorn” 
job. “We needed somebody who could real-
ly transcend taking a place and making it 
something that matched the vision for the 
project,” Culler said. 
As she began to identify candidates 
in other states who could make the 
project sustainable, Sirefman came to the 
forefront because of his track record across 
many relevant projects. His experience 
understanding adaptive reuse, building 

continued on page 34

