Ten Ann Arbor-area companies earned FastTrack Awards from Ann Arbor SPARK on Friday, Sept. 25. For the first time, the program expanded beyond high-growth firms to honor a small business and a community leader.
The ceremony at the Vanguard Hotel marked the debut of two categories: the Washtenaw County Small Business Award and the Cunningham-Limp Washtenaw County Community Builder Award. Both were presented alongside the traditional FastTrack honors, which go to companies that have posted 20% or greater revenue growth for at least three consecutive years.
"We're still celebrating the sustained business growth that has always been at the heart of FastTrack," said Phil Santer, chief operating officer of Ann Arbor SPARK. He added that the new categories recognize "other forms of success and impact" across Washtenaw County, calling the expansion "a natural evolution of the program."
The FastTrack 10
This year's honorees ranged from first-time recipients to a company earning its 10th FastTrack Award. The full list: Positive Scenarios Consulting, Wolverine Pickleball, Optilogic, GM&T Engineering Inc., Blumira, In Parallel Architects + Builders, Treetown Tech, Genomenon, Rydberg Technologies and InfoReady Corporation.
Among them, Blumira builds cybersecurity tools for lean IT teams, Treetown Tech helps inventors move from concept to commercialization, and Genomenon uses AI-driven genomic analysis for rare-disease diagnostics. InfoReady's software platform is used by more than 65% of the nation's leading research universities to manage internal grants and fellowships.
Wolverine Pickleball, founded by Christy Howden and Leslie White, has grown into a regional destination through leagues, tournaments and social events.
New honors
Bird Dog Baking, an Ypsilanti bakery and café at 100 W. Michigan Ave., took the inaugural Small Business Award. The shop is known for naturally fermented sourdough breads and grain-forward pastries, sourcing flour from regional organic growers and working with local farmers.
Julius Buzzard, executive director of Growing Hope, won the first Cunningham-Limp Community Builder Award. The award recognizes leaders who have strengthened communities through the built environment. Buzzard was chosen from five finalists, including Joe Halsch of Jim Toy Community Center, Howden of Wolverine Pickleball, Ashley Schafer of Main Street Area Association and Mark Smith of Mi-HQ.
Cunningham-Limp presented Growing Hope with a $2,500 contribution in Buzzard's honor. Lindon Ivezaj, chief operating officer of Cunningham-Limp, said the company partnered with SPARK to bring the award to Washtenaw County for the first time.
Keynote and what's next
Don Hicks delivered the keynote. Hicks is managing director of Multiverse Investments, president and CEO of Optilogic, a second-year FastTrack honoree, and proprietor of the Blue LLama Jazz Club in Ann Arbor.
He previously founded and led LLamasoft, a 13-time FastTrack winner, for 20 years before exiting in 2018. His remarks covered building companies in the region and the implications of AI for entrepreneurship.
Chris Sing, principal at Rehmann and an Ann Arbor SPARK board member, returned as emcee.
The FastTrack Awards are part of a2Tech360, SPARK's annual innovation series running through Friday, Oct. 2. The series closes with Tech Trek + Tech Talk, a free public event from 1 to 5 p.m. on Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor.
