MML CapCon 2023 Program

GENERAL SESSION SPEAKERS

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks Michigan State Senate

Winnie Brinks is the Senate Majority Leader. She is proud to have earned the historic distinctions as the first woman to ever hold this position in the Michigan Senate, as well as being the first woman to represent Grand Rapids in the Michigan Senate since Eva McCall Hamilton was elected in 1920. She cares deeply about clean drinking water in Michigan and has worked tirelessly on efforts to reduce the prevalence of

toxic PFAS chemicals in it. In addition to accessible, clean water, her policy passions include improving equity in maternal health care, reproductive rights, reducing prescription drug costs, and helping uplift local communities and organizations. Before being elected to the state House, where she served two terms, Brinks was a caseworker at The Source, helping businesses and nonprofits improve workplaces and retain employees. She also worked as the director of a community-based corrections agency and as a school paraprofessional. Brinks is a graduate of Calvin College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish with a concentration in sociology. She and her husband Steve, a Spanish teacher, live in Grand Rapids and are the parents of three daughters, Olivia, Annalise and Emma.

Christopher Coes Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, U.S. Department of Transportation

Christopher Coes serves as the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy. Coes previously served as Vice President for Land Use and Development at Smart Growth America (SGA), Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, Professor at George Washington University, and Deputy Director and Senior Advisor for the Transportation for America campaign. Emily Doerr has served since October 2020 as Executive Director of the Michigan State Land Bank Authority. She has spent 15 years serving in various community and economic development and real estate development positions around the state and has her MBA from Detroit Mercy. She serves on the board of McFarlan Senior Housing Corporation in Flint, Hostel Detroit which she founded in 2011, and Detroit Mercy’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship. In her “free time” she runs Flint

Emily Doerr Executive Director, Michigan Land Bank Authority

City Bike Tours to showcase cultural, historical, and geographic assets of Flint. She is excited to speak on how the State Land Bank has supported attainable housing development in communities across the state!

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MAXIMIZING THE MOMENT!