Lee Chatfield’s first official move as CEO of Southwest Michigan First this week was to set a nondiscrimination policy — that included LGBT protections — for his new workplace. That wasn’t his plan. In fact, much of his first week on the job hasn’t been what he envisioned when he accepted the position, based in Kalamazoo, to guide economic development across seven counties in the southwest corner of the state.
But the Republican, whose political career was launched by opposition to gay marriage, said he is seeing things differently these days. “That’s not my role anymore,” he told Bridge Michigan.