Detroit Economic Club

The objective of the Club was to promote an interest in, and to enlighten its members on governmental, economic and societal issues.

The logo of the Club is an Aladdin's Lamp, which Crow selected because it was the Greek symbol for enlightenment.

The club presents, on average, 35 meetings per year where the speaker(s) takes the podium/stage and addresses whatever their topic is.

In addition to the newspaper coverage that the speakers receive, a number of radio stations use to broadcast the meetings, and was carried to about 400,000 Metro-Detroit area homes.

The first Black speaker was Lester Granger, President of the National Urban League, on January 19, 1948.

Lester Skene Bork, Walker Lee Cisler, (who was also one of the founding members of the National Academy of Engineering) Russel A. Swaney, Theodore H. Mecke, Jr., Wesley R. Johnson, (also served as President of Woodall Industries and Libbey Owens Ford Plastics before retiring and serving the DEC) Gerald E. Warren, William R. Halling, (served on the Board of Directors for: Compuware and KPMG, LLP and also the third-longest presidential term for the Club) and Elizabeth "Beth" Chappell, who served the Club for 15 years, which is the second longest term after the Founder, Allen B.

[citation needed] The current President and CEO of the Club is Steve Grigorian, who has served since 2017.

The Detroit Economic Club’s Career Readiness Academy is a 6-month program that brings high school and Young Leader (YLs) members together for monthly meetings that aim to teach skills that will help the students navigate their high school journey and forges mentor-mentee relationships.