Bentgen of St. Ignace To Speak at LSSU

Jill Bentgen, founder of Mackinac Straits Fish Company of St. Ignace, will speak on the success of her business at Lake Superior State University Wednesday, February 13. Her company specializes in smoked Great Lakes fish, fresh whitefish and lake trout fillets, a whitefish sausage called Lake Links, and whitefish and lake trout spreads.

The St. Ignace native founded Mackinac Straits Fish Company in 1994 following a career in food product development with Procter & Gamble. The company faced hurdles to the commercial production of smoked fish, but Ms. Bentgen worked with microbiologist John Troller to revise outdated regulations and, in 1997, the state approved the operation. Her business grew as Northwest Airlines began serving the company's smoked whitefish fillets on its trans-Pacific flights and American Spoon Foods offered the company's products in its retail stores and mail-order catalogs. Whole Foods Market in Ann Arbor began selling her products several years ago.

In August 2000, Mackinac Straits Fish Company purchased Mackinac Fish Market in St. Ignace, which ships dressed, whole fish to distributors in New York, Chicago, and Detroit, sells fillets to restaurants in the Straits area, including Grand Hotel, and maintains a retail shop at its processing facility.

The university's chapter of Students in Free Enterprise chose Ms. Bentgen as its 2008 Upper Michigan/Northern Ontario Entrepreneur Lecturer and is bringing her to campus for this program, which is open to the public and free of charge. She will speak at the Cisler Center at 7 p.m.