Kughn Elected AAA Michigan Chairman
24 March 1998
Kughn Elected AAA Michigan Chairman
DEARBORN, Mich., March 24 -- Southeast Michigan business
leader Richard P. Kughn, a AAA Michigan board member since 1987, was elected
to a one-year term as chairman of the 1.7-million-member organization at the
annual meeting of its board of directors today in Grand Rapids.
Kughn is chairman and president of Kughn Enterprises, an entity founded in
1979 to manage his business and philanthropic interests. Kughn retired as
vice chairman of the Taubman Co., where he dedicated 30 years of his career to
shopping center development.
Kughn also is chairman emeritus of Chesterfield's Lionel L.L.C, the
nation's largest manufacturer of electric toy trains; principal owner of The
Whitney Restaurant Corp. of Detroit, and chairman, CEO and treasurer of
Longbow Productions in Studio City, Calif.
He is a board member of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce and
chairman of Metropolitan Realty Corp.
He also is on the boards of the Detroit Renaissance Foundation and the
Edison Institute for the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. He was
named 1995 Executive of the Year by the Detroit Executives Association.
Elected vice-chairman is Amy S. McCombs, president and general manager of
KRON-TV in San Francisco, Calif., and a director of AAA Michigan since 1987.
She is president and chief executive officer of Chronicle Broadcasting. She
is past president and general manager of WDIV-TV in Detroit.
At the annual membership meeting, which also took place today, four
directors were re-elected to three-year terms on the board. They are:
* Charles E. Allen of Detroit, chairman, president and CEO of Graimark
Realty Advisors, Graicap and New South Africa Pizza Co. Graimark is a real
estate development, investment and asset management company based in Detroit.
Graicap is a full-service investment banking firm. New South Africa Pizza Co.
holds the Domino's Pizza master franchise for South Africa.
Allen serves as vice chairman of the American Automobile Association and
has been a member of the AAA Michigan board since 1987 and was chairman in
1992-93.
* Thomas A. Duke of Charlevoix, who has served on the AAA Michigan board
since 1975 and was chairman in 1984-85. He is a third-generation builder-
developer and is past president of the Builders Association of Metropolitan
Detroit. He is past chairman of Metropolitan National Bank of Farmington and
of the First State Bank of Charlevoix. He also is a past director of
Manufacturers Bank and Trust of Florida. Duke also served five years on the
Farmington Township Board of Trustees.
* William R. James, of Bloomfield Hills, who is immediate past chairman
of AAA Michigan. He has been a AAA Michigan board member since 1985. He is
managing partner of James Communications Partners, which operates cable
television systems in 10 states. He is a former executive vice president of
Capital Cities/ABC and president of its cable television division. At Capital
Cities, he was president and general manager of WJR radio in Detroit and
president and publisher of The Oakland Press.
* Hans Schuler of Marshall, who has been a member of the AAA Michigan
board since 1978 and was chairman in 1989-90.
He is chairman and president of Schuler's, which operates restaurants in
western Michigan. He became chairman of that business in 1982. He serves on
the board of the Michigan Historical Center Foundation, the Marshall Economic
Development Advisory Council, the Kellogg Foundation's Underground Railroad
Committee and Junior Achievement. He is a current member of the Detroit
Presidents Organization and the Futures 2020 Task Force for the Michigan
Department of Agriculture.
SOURCE AAA Michigan
