By Matt Wolfe

2016 Industry Leader of the Year Matthew Simoncini is making a difference in Detroit

Born, raised, and educated in Detroit, Matthew Simoncini is one of the city’s most visible and enthusiastic supporters. A product of Detroit Public Schools and a graduate of Wayne State University, Simoncini is a true believer in Detroit’s resurgence. “We’re at a turning point for the city, finally”, he said during a recent interview. “I really believe that unlike any other time in my life, Detroit is on an incline and not a decline.”

As President and CEO of Lear Corporation since 2011, Simoncini has been positioning Lear to be part of that growth. In 2015, the Southfield, MI based automotive supplier began acquiring properties within Detroit. The company bought two Detroit buildings in 2015; the 50,000-square-foot Hemmeter Building on Centre Street that will house Lear employees, and a building on State Street in Capital Park. Located in close proximity to Wayne State University and the College for Creative Studies, that building will house an innovation and design center for automobile seats as well as software development. Simoncini has also involved Lear in a city-led effort to establish an auto supplier industrial park near the junction of I-94 and I-75.

Simoncini’s efforts to revitalize the city go beyond an economic impact. He won the Detroit Free Press Automotive Leadership Award for suppliers in 2013 in part for spearheading the development of a program for Detroit schools that teaches mentoring skills to college-bound high school students. The renewed presence of Lear in Detroit, where it was originally founded in 1917, has had a positive impact on many people’s lives including Simoncini’s. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have some personal satisfaction from seeing the Lear logo flying downtown again.”