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Micheline (pronounced Mish-a-leen) Maynard is an experienced business writer, broadcaster and educator. She is an expert in both transportation and the food business.
Known as Micki, she is the founder of two Substack newsletters. Her newest, Intersection: Everything That Moves is a digital update of her 2003 book The End of Detroit, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2023. It picks up from her book’s publication to explore automobiles and their impact on consumers, including the advent of electric vehicles.
Her CulinaryWoman Newsletter looks at topics in the turbulent restaurant industry. It is one of Substack’s top 100 food newsletters.
She has been a contributing columnist at the Washington Post, where her work was featured in Voices Across America, part of Post Opinions. She also contributes to The Takeout, a food news site.
Maynard is known for her work with The New York Times, where she was the award winning Detroit bureau chief and a senior business correspondent.
She was senior editor of the daily Boston-based NPR program Here & Now, which broadcasts to an audience of 4.5 million listeners on 450 stations. She also led the acclaimed public radio project, Changing Gears, which looked at the future of the industrial Midwest, and she has taught at the University of Michigan, Arizona State University and Central Michigan University.
Her most recent book is Satisfaction Guaranteed: How Zingerman’s Built A Corner Deli Into A Global Food Community, published in 2022 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. It looks at the history, business principles and future of the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses in Ann Arbor, Mich. Satisfaction Guaranteed was named a Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan in 2023.
Her earlier book, The End of Detroit, predicted the collapse of the American carmakers and the rise of import carmakers in the U.S. well before both happened. She has published three other books. She is a fan of baseball and classic film, and resides in Ann Arbor.
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Awards
In 2009, Maynard was named the 11th winner of the annual Nathaniel Nash Award, which honors a Times reporter who excels in business and economics coverage, at home or abroad.
Maynard and a team of Times reporters shared two awards from SABEW, a business journalists’ group, for their coverage in print and online of the General Motors bankruptcy.
The Changing Gears team received a regional Edward R. Murrow Award in 2012, as well as a National Headliner Award.
Her book, Satisfaction Guaranteed, was named a Michigan Notable Book for 2023 by the Library of Michigan. It also was named one of the Best Business Books of 2022 in the Management and Workplace Culture category by Porchlight Books.
Scholar
At the University of Michigan, Maynard most recently was a lecturer in the Lloyd Hall Scholars Program. She has taught MBA students at the Ross School of Business since 2000.
Maynard was the director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University from 2014 to 2015. She created the podcast, How To Cover Money, which became one of the most popular business podcasts on iTunes.
Maynard twice served as a Reynolds Visiting Professor of Business Journalism, at ASU in 2014, and at Central Michigan in 2013. At CMU, she created classes in business journalism and media entrepreneurship.
During 2012, she was a Hoover Fellow at Stanford University.
In 2010, she was a Reynolds Distinguished Visitor at Washington and Lee University in Virginia.
She was named a media fellow by the Japan Society of New York in 2002, and also was a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan in 1999-2000.
And in 1989-1990, she was chosen as a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Business and Economics Journalism at Columbia University, receiving a graduate certificate.
She holds an undergraduate degree from Michigan State University, where she received the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award, and has a certificate in business and economics journalism from Columbia.
Author
Maynard wrote The End of Detroit: How the Big Three Lost Their Grip on the American Car Market, which foresaw the collapse of Detroit carmakers. Published by Random House in 2003, it appeared in paperback in 2004 and has remained in print.
The German newsmagazine Stern dubbed her “the bravest woman in Detroit” for writing The End of Detroit, and her book has been used as a text at a number of universities. It also inspired the name of a rock band.
The Selling of the American Economy: How Foreign Companies Are Remaking the American Dream was published in 2009 by Random House. The book was excerpted in The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune, and featured on National Public Radio.
Earlier books include The Global Manufacturing Vanguard, published in 1998, and Collision Course, published in 1995.
Appearances
Maynard is a regular guest on national and international television, such as PBS NewsHour, CNBC’s Squawk Box, ABC’s 20/20, The Today Show, and BBC World News.
She appears frequently on NPR programs including Here and Now, All Things Considered, Morning Edition and on public radio’s Marketplace. Her appearances also include Stateside on Michigan Radio and Texas Standard on public radio stations across that state.
She is an experienced public speaker, including appearances at Harvard, Dartmouth, Columbia, Michigan, Michigan State, The University of Nevada Reno, Wayne State and Indiana State.
She has spoken to the non-profit and civic groups including the Massachusetts Specialty Food Association, Boston Center For Adult Education, Southern Automotive Conference, Women In Restructuring Confederation, US-China Chamber of Commerce, Economic Club of Grand Rapids, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, and the Ann Arbor City Club, as well as many civic organizations and libraries.
She is a regular panelist on Lions, Towers and Shields, the classic film podcast from The Incomparables network.
Culinary Background
A trained cook and enthusiastic student, she studied with Patricia Wells in Paris and took classes at Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa and Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor as well as the Viking Cooking School in Greenwood, MS and the New Orleans Cooking Experience.
Her food writing has appeared in the Times, the Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Michigan Alumnus, and on a variety of websites including Epicurious, CityLab, Journeywoman, and Gadling. She is a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, and her work has been nominated for a James Beard Award.