Steve Ingersoll: Optometrist, Entrepreneur, Educator

By Sally Sanders, Sal Shoots Photography

With a bachelor's degree in biology and a doctorate in optometry, Steve Ingersoll may seem like an odd fit as the head of the Front Porch Renaissance Group. Well, life has a way of unfolding, one thing leading to another. Such is the case with this man.

Steve specializes in the cognitive aspects of visual function. He lectures nationally and internationally on the topics of visual processing and visual thinking.

Logically, his understanding that humans are naturally visual learners brought him into the realm of education. He is considered an authority on problems with reading, attention deficits and other learning disorders.

Subsequently, he created an educational model encompassing visual learning and associated hierarchies of muscular and cognitive development. The model includes Integrated Visual Learning (IVL) and Icon Curriculum Mapping, forming the basis of charter schools in Michigan and California. Bay City Academy and Grand Traverse Academy in Michigan and Great Valley Academy in Modesto, Calif., are based upon the Smart Schools educational model.

However, educational programs are more effective if synergistically designed into the communities surrounding them. That's where the Front Porch Renaissance Group comes in.

It's not complicated. Synergy, quite simply, is the key.

Synergy, in general, may be defined as two or more agents working together to produce a sum greater than the parts. Synergistic strategies unite efforts; in other words, they all work together.

Combining quality education, the arts, preservation of community heritage and historic architecture — along with community beautification and complementary business development — is the underlying thesis of Front Porch Renaissance Group.

Bay City, Mich., is aesthetically appealing and strategically located — a walkable community with multiple business districts surrounded by extraordinary housing stock. It has existing community assets to expand and improve, along with rich historic architecture to restore and preserve. With its grand collection of Victorian neighborhoods, it is the perfect bedroom community for the Great Lakes Bay Region. And these features make Bay City the ideal community for the Front Porch Renaissance Group.

Steve is optimistic that the tri-cities will soon be the hottest economic engine in the state. He understands that improving the quality of life in Bay City promotes the positive social fabric that leads to economic stability.

The Front Porch Renaissance Group believes in Bay City.