The right introduction changes everything.

Connecting industry, government, and academia — a decade of earned relationships, activated on your behalf.

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The right introduction, at the right moment, between the right people — that's worth more than any report.

Over twenty years of working at the intersection of industry, government, and academia, we've built something that can't be replicated overnight: a stable of best-in-class leaders who trust each other, work well together, and are ready to engage on your behalf.

When you bring a challenge to GAIN, you're not getting a generalist. You're getting the person who has navigated that exact terrain — whether that's federal grant strategy, factory floor transformation, state economic development, or national media positioning. We know who to call, and more importantly, they take our calls.

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What we do

We work where the problems are hardest.

Policy + government

Federal and state navigation

Navigating federal programs, state incentives, and grant funding landscapes.

Academia

Research aligned with Industry

Community and regional economic development across state and national levels.

Factory ops

Global operational expertise

Transformation strategy from operators who've run facilities at scale.

Communications

National PR and media

Shaping how manufacturing tells its story at the national level.

AI + Technology

Innovators and Investors

Navigating AI adoption, workforce transition, and operational change at scale

HOW WE ENGAGE

Peer to peer. No posturing.

We don't pitch decks at executives. We sit across the table — or on the call — as people who've been in comparable rooms, navigated comparable problems, and earned the right to speak candidly about what works and what doesn't.

That means you'll hear an honest read on your situation before we discuss scope. It means we'll tell you when you don't need us. And it means that when we make a connection — whether to a federal program, a research institution, or another executive — it carries weight because our word is on it.

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Why this work matters

Manufacturing's future will be built by the people willing to collaborate across the old lines — between companies, between sectors, between states. GAIN exists to make those collaborations happen faster, smarter, and with the right people in the room from the start.

Cynthia Hutchison

FOUNDER

Cynthia Hutchison is the founder of GAINgroup, a peer network built on a pattern she kept seeing: the people who needed each other most were never in the same room. Years in development and leadership roles taught her that the bottleneck was never information; it was connection.

She took that insight global at the World Economic Forum. After seeing her work at Automation Alley, WEF invited her to support its Advanced Manufacturing Hub program as a Global Fellow, serving as liaison to hubs in 12 countries. Under her leadership, the hubs united to lead industry into the future, and the partnership she developed became the basis for a current Forum program. She then served as CEO of the US Center for Advanced Manufacturing, the Forum's exclusive partner in North America, representing America's major manufacturing states on the world stage.

Before that, she was Vice President of Automation Alley and founded Band of Angels, a national organization supporting people with Down syndrome. This work led to appointments by both Republican and Democratic Michigan governors, and Crain's Detroit Business named her a Notable Woman in STEM.

Cynthia launched GAINgroup to put the right people in the same room.

Our Network

  • George Jackson

    GRANTS PROFESSIONAL

    George Q. Jackson, GPC, is a grants professional and strategist with nearly two decades of experience helping nonprofits, universities, and public-sector organizations fund their missions. Rather than working as a grant writer alone, George operates across the full grants lifecycle, from readiness and prospect research through proposal development to post-award management and reporting. He has generated millions of dollars in funding and managed multi-year, grant-funded projects with budgets exceeding $5 million. George holds the Grant Professional Certified (GPC) credential and is a of the National Grant Management Association (NGMA)-Michigan Chapter.

  • Jason Nolte

    EXECUTIVE LEADER + TECHNICAL STRATEGIST

    Jason Nolte is an executive leader and technical strategist with 20+ years of experience leading complex organizations through rapid growth and technological evolution. With a career spanning deep-tech engineering at General Motors—where he led first-generation EV battery integration and held 10 patents—to venture capital and private equity operations architecting $1B+ corporate carve-outs, Jason offers a rare blend of operational grit and commercial vision. He serves as a trusted Interim CEO/CTO and Innovation Lead for companies looking to commercialize disruptive technologies, optimize global supply chains, and build scalable institutional value.

  • Stacey Weismiller

    CEO, AMFI

    Stacey Weismiller is President & CEO of the American Manufacturing Futures Institute (AMFI) and leads The Industrial Future Studio, where she serves in fractional executive roles in industrial strategy. Drawing on her global experience with the World Economic Forum, she drives growth and delivers tangible value to the manufacturing community through strategic client relationships and project leadership. A Western PA native, Stacey has a deep appreciation for manufacturing’s role in American infrastructure and economic development.

  • Eileen Gilbert

    DIGITAL PRODUCT STRATEGIST + OPERATIONS LEADER

    Eileen is a digital product strategist and operations leader specializing in Connected Vehicle (CV) and Software‑Defined Vehicle (SDV) ecosystems. With deep experience leading product strategy, cross‑functional operations, and digital transformation inside global automotive environments, Eileen brings clarity and structure to the complex intersection of hardware, software, cloud, and customer experience. She excels at translating ambiguous business goals into actionable product roadmaps, operational frameworks, successful commercial relationships and measurable outcomes. Eileen’s talent in environments where teams must align across engineering, product, UX, data, and business functions to deliver cohesive, customer‑centric digital experiences enhance our abilities to deepen our technical value.

  • Jen Fetterman

    B2B TECHNOLOGY MARKETING + GTM

    Jen’s expertise is in B2B technology marketing and GTM. She is an executive who loves building things: teams, categories, growth engines, market positions, and companies. She has held leadership roles at enterprise SaaS and industrial technology companies navigating some of their most important inflection points: entering new
    markets, repositioning company narratives, launching products, scaling
    go-to-market organizations, and translating complex technologies into
    sustainable revenue growth. With a firm belief that the strongest companies don't simply build better products, but align strategy, teams, and customer experience around a compelling market vision.

  • Harper Kidder

    OPERATIONS SPECIALIST

    Harper has spent 25+ years working alongside people with disabilities, and 5+ in data analytics. Both taught him the same lesson: systems should be built for people, not the other way around. That thread runs through his work in AI, where he has held roles focused on making the technology useful, accessible, and honest about its limits. Today, at GAIN Group, Harper helps manufacturing leaders adopt AI and navigate change without losing sight of the people doing the work.

Let's Talk

Tell us your challenge. We'll tell you who you need to meet.

No retainer required to start a conversation. We respond within one business day — directly, not through a coordinator.Connect me with the right person.