John and Jennie Stinson believe the key to America’s success is a strong work ethic. That conviction drives their support for the Mackinac Center.

High school sweethearts, John and Jennie earned degrees from the University of Michigan. As a graduate student in environmental sciences engineering, John developed AI software to quantify global wheat crop production by using satellites. This experience led to a 25-year career in software development.

After 9/11 disrupted the world economy, John and Jennie started over. John created several devices to improve medical imaging, while Jennie worked to place these products in health care facilities all over the world. The two designed 15 different devices between 2004 and 2017, moving from their garage to a 7,000-square-foot facility.

John has found that small companies can quickly respond to the needs of large health care facilities, and he now coaches start-up companies to do just that. But he is concerned that the state of Michigan no longer values the free-market system. Fostering innovation and competition is the hallmark of a healthy policy environment, John says, and it allows families, businesses of all sizes, and the human spirit to thrive.

John and Jennie have always valued a strong work ethic — John credits his father for instilling it in him — and both are concerned about its future. New policies, they say, increasingly discourage the work ethic that made America the most prosperous nation in the world.

John and Jennie believe the crux of the problem is that people – and too often our political leaders – view important choices through the lens of emotion. Schools are not teaching the skill of critical thinking anymore. The way forward, the Stinsons say, is to shift power from government to families by putting education funding in the hands of parents and guardians.

Good policies encourage the economy and population to grow, but the Stinsons see energy policies as one place where Michigan falls short. John is especially pleased with the work of Jason Hayes, the Mackinac Center’s expert on energy and environmental issues, to educate consumers on sensible energy policies and counter voters’ tendency to embrace pleasant-sounding but unfruitful policies.

“We were refreshed,” said Jennie, describing the couple’s introduction to the Mackinac Center’s work. “It is so good to see there’s a group that holds the same values of individual rights and responsibility that we do, and is actively working to make our state into a better place.”