Steven M. Mitchell is Chairman of Mitchell Research & Communications, Inc., a national marketing research, public affairs/public relations, political polling and consulting company headquartered in East Lansing. He founded the company in 1985 after working on the national staff of Reagan-Bush 84.
His company has worked for political, business, association, and media clients in more than 40 states. His clients have included governors, U.S. Senators and Members of Congress, state legislators, mayors, cities, townships, colleges and universities, corporations, major associations, labor unions, TV stations, and major daily newspapers.
He has served as pollster and analyst for a wide variety of media clients in California, Illinois, Florida, Missouri, Illinois, and Michigan. His Michigan media clients have included WJBK-TV and WDIV-TV in Detroit, WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids, Detroit News, and Detroit Free Press. From 2001-2014 he was a regular guest on Flashpoint, a public affairs program that airs right before Meet the Press on WDIV-TV, the NBC affiliate in Detroit. He has been a pollster for FOX 2 Detroit since 2014.
He is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America and is one of only 10% of all public relations professionals to have earned the APR designation from PRSA.
Steve graduated from Ishpeming High School in 1963 and from NMU in 1967 with a dual major in Political Science/History and a minor in speech. He received a distinguished alumni award from NMU in 2004.
Mitchell, of West Bloomfield, was appointed to the Board of Trustees by Governor Rick Snyder on November 14, 2012, for a term beginning January 1, 2013 and continuing until December 31, 2020. He replaced an old friend, Jack LaSalle, whose term expired on December 31, 2012.
“As a graduate and a former ‘Yooper’, it is a real honor to have the opportunity to serve on the NMU board. Northern is a great school and it is my hope to make a small contribution towards its continued greatness!”