Legacy Council| Edward Lowe Foundation
Entrepreneur Emeritus| Edward Lowe Foundation
“When I think growth, I no longer think numbers. I think strategy,” says Moe Alakoli, CEO of PALLETCO. “It’s much easier to think in numbers, but it’s not sustainable.”| Edward Lowe Foundation
September 2025 is a big month for the Edward Lowe Foundation. Not only are we celebrating our 40th anniversary, but we are also embarking on a new phase: For entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. I am so excited about this, as our founder Ed Lowe believed entrepreneurs learn best from each other. | Edward Lowe Foundation
Our programs| Edward Lowe Foundation
We often hear second-stage business owners express frustration over constantly needing to tell employees what to do rather than seeing them take initiative and solve problems without prompting. Granted, having proactive employees is partly due to hiring — getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats. Yet I also believe that the ability to listen plays an important role in enhancing your team’s performance.| Edward Lowe Foundation
Launched in 1947 as a modest residential painting company, Martin Specialty Coatings has evolved into a diversified firm that provides complex coating solutions and construction services to commercial, healthcare and government clients. Innovation is a core value for Martin, one that has enabled the Shreveport, Louisiana-based company to triple its size in the past few years, exceeding $20 million in annual revenue and 100 full-time employees.| Edward Lowe Foundation
A mission| edwardlowe.org
Driven by the belief that everyone deserves access to healthy meals, Innovation Food Service (IFS) provides nutritious, high-quality meals to schools, childcare centers, senior living facilities and businesses. Founded in 2002 by Thomas Lane, a trained chef, the Twinsburg, Ohio-based company has been growing steadily since its inception. Last year alone it served 7,000 daily lunches to schools in northeast Ohio.| Edward Lowe Foundation
Pharmacist O.K. Grettenberger launched LorAnn Oils (named after his wife, Laura, and daughter, Ann) in 1962, aiming to provide pharmacy customers with quality essential oils in smaller quantities than they could buy at the time. Fast forward to 2025: the Lansing, Michigan-based company has grown to more than $23 million in annual revenue and 70 employees.| Edward Lowe Foundation
Researchers from Grand Valley State University (GVSU) have been conducting a multi-year study to see how seasonal timing and sequence of prescribed burns may affect restored prairies. This marks the first research in the Great Lakes region to investigate multiple rounds of seasonal burns and compare repetitive fire treatments with alternating ones. “Land managers typically conduct prescribed burns in the...| Edward Lowe Foundation
Jami Moore is the president and second-generation owner of JEM Tech Group in Clinton Township, Michigan, which specializes in power and cooling within data centers and other mission-critical IT spaces. Moore’s father, James Edward Miller, started the company in 1979, and Moore joined in 2000, taking over when her father retired in 2001. Since then, Moore’s two sisters have joined the family business, and during the past two decades JEM has not only quadrupled its annual sales and number o...| Edward Lowe Foundation
By Dan Ducoté The secret to building a successful business is having a culture that’s crystal clear and embraced by all your employees. It’s how we started Enginuity Global in 2018 — and were able to grow from a team of four to more than 100 employees within five years. It’s how we plan to grow Big Rock Leaders. A...| Edward Lowe Foundation
Packing a punch on both environmental and economic fronts, Encore CO2 is commercializing technology that recycles carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into valuable new products.| Edward Lowe Foundation
On September 3, the Edward Lowe Foundation will celebrate 40 years of championing the entrepreneurial spirit. This is a pretty remarkable milestone, particularly when one considers that more than 30% of nonprofits fail within 10 years.* We’ve come a long way over the past four decades, and I like to describe our evolution as characterized by five phases.| Edward Lowe Foundation