Josh Sirefman
CEO, Michigan Central
This episode will air May 22, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. ET
Innovation can’t really happen without collaboration. We’re building an environment where people — technologists, artists, entrepreneurs — are constantly encountering others. That’s where new ideas come from.
Summary
In this episode of Leadership Matters, Alan Fleischmann sits down with Josh Sirefman, a pioneering urban strategist and the CEO of Michigan Central, to explore what it takes to reshape cities for the 21st century. With roots in New York and a career spanning public service, private enterprise, and tech innovation, Sirefman shares his journey from early community development work in Detroit to co-founding Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs, to now leading one of the most ambitious urban transformation efforts in America.
Mentions & Resources
Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story by David Maraniss
Guest Bio
Joshua Sirefman is the Chief Executive Officer of Michigan Central, a 30-acre tech and cultural hub where leaders, thinkers, communities, and creatives come together to accelerate bold ideas and technologies that shape our collective future.
Previously, Sirefman co-founded and served as president of Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs. He also founded and led a development services firm that oversaw complex, large-scale projects for corporate, nonprofits, and government entities, including creating Cornell University’s tech program in New York City and developing its Roosevelt Island campus.
Sirefman has held key leadership roles, including leading former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s economic development team, as well as Senior Vice President at Brookfield Properties, where he oversaw U.S. development.
A native of New York, Sirefman’s career started in Detroit, where he transformed a declining industrial corridor into a model urban area with Islandview Village Development Corporation and co-designing grassroots industrial retention programs with the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation.
He is an active board member of the New York Restoration Project, Fist & Heel Performance Group, and the University of Michigan’s Taubman College Urban Tech Program Advisory Board.
Sirefman earned a master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University.
Transcript
Transcript will be uploaded upon the episode’s premiere.