ANN ARBOR ? The Detroit Institute of Arts’s Crystal Gallery will serve as the venue for Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest’s Fall Cycle Awards Ceremony Feb. 7, where teams competing in the Emerging Company and New Business Idea tracks will compete for a top prize of $5,000 each.

Speaking at this year?s event will be Jan Garfinkle and Ray Schiavone. Garfinle is the Managing Partner of Arboretum Ventures and current president of the Michigan Venture Capital Association and will provide perspectives on Michigan Venture Capital.

Ray Schiavone, the evening?s keynote presenter, served as president and chief executive officer for Ann Arbor based Arbortext until 2005 when it was acquired by Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) in Needham, MA. Schiavone led the transition of Arbortext from an XML-based authoring company to the leader in multi-channel publishing. Schiavone brought more than 14 years of diverse domestic and international experience to his role at Arbortext. Schiavone plans to share his experience of developing strategic business initiatives resulting in dramatic increases in sales revenues and valuable new alliances.

The networking reception, with appetizers and cash bar, begins at 6:15pm. All are invited to attend. The event is free, however, pre-registration at is required. The program will follow at 7 pm.

First place teams from the Emerging Company and New Business Idea paths will be recognized with cash awards of $5,000 and $1,000 respectively.

In addition, each winning team will receive hours of valuable professional services. Runner-up teams in each category will be recognized with commensurate in-kind services. All teams participating in the business plan competition receive written feedback from a minimum of three venture industry experts. Teams must be present at the event to win and to receive their plan feedback.

9 Emerging Company teams competing for the top prize include:

Greenview Data

ThreeFold Sensors

Hybra-Drive Systems LLC

Global Automotive Products

MediaBalance, Inc.

AxleShoX

Rapid BioSense

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The AST Group

To register, click on GLEQ.Org