Sunny Reddy's Astonishing Story: From Student Struggles to a Power Play for Wayne State’s Board!

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Hi everybody and welcome to APN Play. Thanks for tuning in. Our guest today is small business owner Sunny Reddy, candidate for Wayne State Board of Governors. Sunny, good morning to you.

Good morning to you too.

Thank you so much for joining us. I have a hundred questions about the position you're running for, but let's start with hearing a little bit about yourself.

Thank you very much. And first of all, thank you very much for having me here. My name is Sunny Reddy. Been living in Michigan for 35 years now. A little bit about my background. I landed in this country in 1989, December. I never seen the snow in my life. That's the first time. And landed in this country with a thousand dollars my dad gave me. Apart from the tuition we paid. One semester we paid. And December, it was so tough. You know, my, my both parents are farmers.

Oh, okay.

They're not rich, they're. They're not well educated. They're farmers. My mom want, her dream was for me to have a good life. And she heard about America. She said, you know, that's a great country. You want to go, I will fully support you. I mean, she supported me like anything. Unfortunately, she's no longer there. Both parents. I lost both parents. So I landed in this country. 89, December.

You were how old?

21.

Oh, okay.

Baby, baby. Didn't know anybody actually. It was so new for me.

Yeah.

And some, it's basically some people suggested me, you know, you can do this, you can do this. And next day I started working in a gas station. Got a permit from school and started working at the gas station. And New York, it's a full service. You cannot customers.

Oh, that's right. New York and New Jersey.

Yeah. So they used to make me stay outside so that I don't miss any customers. And especially on weekends we get the New York Times, New York Post, big bundles with coupons and everything you have to shuffle, you have to put together. My hands used to freeze every five minutes. I go and put my hands, hands in a boiling water and then come back. I was crying sometimes. And summer following summer I worked so hard. I used to work 20 hours a day and I paid off my dad's thousand dollars return, my thousand dollars and then built my life. And I'm not a big town person. I like small places. I loved Michigan. I ended up meeting Dr. Ralph Kumler from Wayne State University. And one of the meeting and I talked to him and he said, you know, come over, I'll help you. So my background was a chemistry in India. So he Got me here into the hazardous waste management master's degree at Wayne State University. Okay, Wayne State University. So I came over here, I worked. You name a place I worked. Starting from Domino's, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Burger King, everywhere I worked, I worked so hard. A strong feeling that I want to survive. I want to prove, I want to send a message to my mom that I am successful. So I couldn't see her. I mean, she didn't see me successful, but she might be watching me.

She's watching. So you got your degree from Wayne State?

I got the master's 1994. Master's in chemical engineering.

Okay, and then what happened?

So it was that. That was a tough year to graduate. I couldn't get the job.

1994.

Right, 1994. Then my roommates were in computer science. They said, why not learn some classes? And then you can probably get a job in the computer science. Took me two months on seriously, sit down and learn some languages. I ended up getting the job in the IT industry.

Okay.

Ever since I stayed, I worked in IT industry. I worked for Chrysler Call Center. So for somehow I ended up working for always Telecom. So Chrysler Call Center. I worked there is a tele. Used to be in Southfield. There used to be one of the telecom company. I worked for them. So pretty much my background is a telecom client.

Yes.

That's how I ended up starting a telecom company.

What's the name of your company?

V. OIP Office. Wipe Office.

Okay.

Wipe Office is my company. In fact, actually this month we are.

Celebrating 20th year and your company is located in Troy.

Located in Troy.

You're a small business owner because your employee. How many employees do you have?

I have six employees here and I have offices across the world. Because my business is in my business, I'll bring the money back to the U.S. i'm supporting. I'm working with the multinational companies who opens their office around the world. So they need a callback service, phone service. So what I do is I sell my services to them. They pay here. If not for me, they ended up taking the service from the foreign company. The money goes to the foreign company. So I'm bringing the money back to them.

Yes, yes.

I'm proud of myself.

So you're a small business owner, live locally in Bloomfield Township, I think. And you're a candidate for Wayne State Board of Governors.

That's right.

So let's first of all tell the audience what is Wayne State Board of Governors? Governors, what do they do?

So Wayne State. So let me give you a Little background. In the United States, only four states, the board is elected by people and Michigan is one of them. Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Nebraska. Okay, within Michigan, there are only three universities elected by people.

Let's see. University of Michigan, Michigan State and Wayne State.

You got it, you got it, you got it.

University of Michigan. They call that board the Regents.

Regents.

Michigan State. They called that board what?

Trustee?

The trustees. And then Wayne State is. Board of Governors. Okay, so this is the governing board of Wayne State University.

That's right.

Elected by the people.

Elected by the people of Michigan.

Wow.

Okay. It's a statewide election, so it makes tough. But I met so many people, I made so many friends. You won't believe it. No matter where I go, they're so welcoming. And when they see what I'm doing, they really appreciate what I do. Because it's a voluntary job. It's not paid.

Oh, okay.

However, I'm excited. They promised me that they're going to give me a free parking every time I go.

Every time you go to a meeting.

That's right. That's right. Every time I have a meeting, they said I can get a free parking. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

How many people on the board?

There are eight board of governors.

Okay, so there's eight board of governors. And in this election cycle, how many openings are there?

There are two openings.

Two openings. And I believe you said there's four candidates.

Four candidates running. Yes.

Okay, so why are you running? What do you want to do with Wayne State?

I'll tell you, it's my mom's dream too. My mom told me, you know those colleges, she heard from the other, other people that, you know, they have a great college's great education and that' I believe. And I. And moreover, I graduated from Wayne state and after 35 years, I'm so. I'm. I'm very successful. I'm, I'm. I'm so happy. This country is a land of opportunities that it is true. And especially Michigan. I love Michigan. So I'm successful businessman and I'm so happy for my daughter too. She, you know, I have only one daughter, she graduated. So when I look at the schools, there are some things I can fix it. One of the things is affordability. Yes. Tuition costs are going so high. I mean, a common students cannot afford. So I said, you know what? There has to be a way to keep the tuition low. I did that in my business. I know how to cut the cost, unnecessary cost, and making sure that the pass on those savings to the students. So just personal, my Personal experience. I graduated from Wayne State. By the time I graduated from Wayne State I had about $26,000 with the 26% interest rate on my credit cards because I was not eligible for loans. So I know how tough it is.

Were you not eligible for loans because you were international?

I didn't have my citizenship at that time.

Okay, right. Because non citizens at the time were not eligible for student loans.

That's right.

I don't know if that's changed or not.

I don't think so.

But that seems like something that should change.

Right, right. So it was so tough. I know how tough it is. I've been talking to the people, I mean parents also, you know, they would like to send their kids. That's what one the main reason is I want to keep the tuition slow.

Do you know what the Wayne State tuition is?

Wayne State tuition Recently they increased 4.5% right now and in state about 24,000. That's expensive.

That's very expensive.

That's expensive. And I do agree there are some things need to be done. But I think there is a lot of wastage also. We can cut and that's what I did it in my business. We can do that again. And also there is a lot of people alumnus who are succeeded a lot. I would like to bring them in, I would like to make them partner. I mean people don't know people busy with their lives. But we need to go to them, we need to educate them. You know what the school needs help. I started doing in fact actually last year I started doing. I'm a continuous. Basically every month they take some money from my account to support the kids. So I started doing that.

Yeah.

And I would like to encourage all my other alumnus to do the same thing. There are businesses partnership with the businesses. You know what my business looking for some interns always I would like to see. No one approached me. So I would like to do that. I would like to go to the small businesses, medium businesses, see what their needs are and then large businesses do some research. Bring the more research more funds to the university. So that's one of my goals.

It seems like tuition reduction across the board is a non partisan issue, right?

100%.

Everybody should be fully 100%.

Of course I have a partisan on the other side also some of the things I don't like it.

Yes, let's talk about it.

So let me also tell you security being in the camp in downtown. I had myself mugged one time back when I was in school. I know how tough it is my daughter. Every time my daughter calls my wife, first thing she asks is, how are you? We are worried about. As a parents, we are always worried about it. Right. And especially Wayne State being in downtown. I want to make sure that I would like to work a law enforcement. They're doing a great job. There's no question about it. You know what? Wayne State is doing great job.

Wayne State University has its own police force. Yes, yes.

And they're great. They're wonderful. And I would like to work with them. I would like to help them, making sure that, you know, they are supported. So that's my. Another goal.

Well, what about the encampments and everything we're hearing and reading about over this past year?

I believe in free speech, of course, but free speech should not cross the lines. Should not, I can say, create an inconvenience to the other kids. I heard some of them, they were stopping the kids going to the classes. That's not right. I mean, you have every right to protest. There's no question about it. I believe in free speech. But they went beyond. I really appreciate. The president took action right on time.

What happened?

I think pretty much they were. In addition to the incumbents, they were basically harassing the rest of the students.

This is what we read. I wasn't sure.

And then also free speech means free speech. I mean, it's both two sides. Then there's an issue. I mean, both should have a right to speak. You cannot suppress one or the other. And that's what had happened. I think. I think she acted pretty good. The new president. I happen to meet her.

It's a very tough time. It is for colleges right now all over the country. But Wayne State in particular has a lot of issues because of the local community and, you know, the student population.

Right.

Being as diverse as it is.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Exactly. Exactly.

Yeah.

Current board also. I was just looking at it. You know what I'm. They may be good. I'm not sure, but I can. I felt like I can contribute. I will be the only businessman, 100 business owner who will be on the board.

Right.

So that can. I can bring the value to the Wayne State Board many ways.

Right.

And I ran the business for 30 to 35 years now. I'm very successful doing the business. And my family, both. My wife and I are both in the business.

So is your wife a small business owner?

My wife is a dentist. She's a small business owner.

So she's like me. I'm a solo practitioner.

Yeah.

I run my own law Firm. So she runs her own dental practice.

Dental practice, right.

It's hard.

It's hard.

It's hard to be. To provide the professional service and wear the business hat.

Exactly.

It's very difficult.

Exactly, exactly, exactly. And she's been working over the weekends, actually Saturday, Sunday and Sundays for all her life.

Same. Yes.

My daughter complains and she's 23 now and she's been. Mom, you've never been there on the weekends for me.

Yeah.

You know, I can understand my daughter point of view.

Right.

You know what, she's very helpful. She wants to work with people so she knows, she understands one of the things. Actually a lot of parents sometimes like, you know, people are visiting from out of the country. Out of the country to United States. Right. They won't have insurance. So if there is emergency, she always treat them free.

Yeah.

Just to make sure that she takes care of people.

Right.

She encourages me to do the same thing. And I do, I do too. I, I am involved in a lot of philanthropy work also.

Like what?

Last year, doctor, sorry, police officer in Detroit, Loren Coates, if you remember, he got ambushed and killed. He had about. Sorry. He had a 9 year old daughter, 13 year old son. This is 2022. It happened. I don't remember the case, but Lauren Coates is the artist's name. And I raised $16,000. I did the matching actually with the community. Oh, wow. I presented the check at the police headquarters.

So how did this even happen? Did somebody approach you? Did you read the news? How did this happen?

I put myself into the police officer's case. I have a friend of mine, a police officer, he mentioned one time every morning they leave home, they tell their family the goodbye because they don't know whether they will have.

Yes.

So that's, that's devastating. We all have a good life. We know we can go back. But you know, these officers, they're putting their life on the line for us.

Right.

So I felt so bad, I put myself into it. I said, you know what? These kids at least let me do something rather than, you know, doing. Some people talk about it, but they don't come out. So I took initiative, I did that. And even the pandemic time, also I have a good friend, Jim Branstead is one of the state senator. He's good friend of mine. Jim and I worked. He actually raised about $12,000 for the food bank in Wallach.

Oh, okay.

So I do. I actually, in fact 25 kids in India who lost their parents, both parents in pandemic. So I Adopted them. I'm paying their school tuition till from. Until 12th grade. So I want to see them succeed one day. I want to see them succeed.

Definitely a philanthropic heart.

Yeah. I don't have anything. My daughter tells me, you know what, dad and mom, you do whatever you want to do. You don't have to worry about me. You send me a good school.

Yeah, good.

So I want to see. It makes me happy when somebody, you know, benefited from me and succeeded in their life. I would like to see that circling.

Back to the police officer. I had a guest on this program not too long ago. He was the captain of the Blueville Hills Police Department. He was telling me that nobody wants to be a police officer anymore, but.

He wants to be a police officer.

Nobody wants to inherit the grief associated with that.

They put their lives every day on the line for us. And, you know, not only police officers, the military too.

Yes.

Recently, President Biden's administration wants to waive the tuition. My view, it's good to help waive.

The tuition, not the loans.

Loan waiver.

Okay.

Yes, it's good to help, but it's not sending the right message. I mean, there are a lot of hard working people. They send their kids physical jobs. They do. They send their kids to the school. They ended up paying the loans and everything.

Yeah.

And then you know what? Not only that, I heard it's the lowest enrollment in our military now. And we need to encourage them. How can the kids get encouraged? I mean, until now, kids go to military, join in military so that they can pay their tuition. Right. But when they're getting a free loan.

Waiver, it's a disincentive to enlist.

We're not doing justice to this. I mean, we need to help, but we need to make them responsible too by paying their loan. We are not sending a right message.

Right.

They need to learn the responsibility.

So this is interesting. You want to work to reduce Wayne State's tuition, but you're against the loan forgiveness. That Biden, did he pass it or is it only on the table? I haven't followed that story.

I believe they are going to pass.

Okay.

Because probably this is the election year, you would like to sign it.

Okay.

That's what I. It's my personal feeling he's going to sign it.

Okay.

But it's not the right message to send it to our kids.

Well, I agree with you that if we could hit at the, the high tuition rates, that's half the battle. So it does. I agree with you that it maybe it starts that whole Issue could be better addressed within the university by lowering the tuitions.

100. Yeah, 100. And maybe work with the banks. Maybe reduce the interest rate. Give them a little bit more time. Give them a little bit more flexibility. There are a lot of things we can do but still making them responsible for their own Right. So that's what I believe in.

So we talked about tuition, we talked about free speech, we talked about safety a little bit. What. What's Wayne State doing? Right. Can you point me to a single policy or initiative or something they've done that you are 100% in agreement with?

Wayne Said. I mean Wayne State is a reason also being in in Detroit Metro. It's one of the university which encourages the research. Automotive research.

Okay. Yes.

A lot Wayne State does in the automotive area. And also new thing. When I started my master's hazardous waste management is a. The Wayne State was the only school in the country offered that specialization. Thanks to Dr. Ralph Kumler. He's no longer here. We lost him. But he started the program. And you know, there are some things. Vincent has a great professor and they go out of their way for the research and everything.

Yes.

So I like their research.

Yes, they are research oriented. Actually my son not long ago cold called a bunch of professors, history professors and political science professors because that's his leaning. And somebody actually got back, returned his email and they're now talking about research projects and my son hopping onto a research project with his professors. So they are my limited experience with Wayne State professors. I agree with you. Research oriented, very giving and extremely impressive credentials.

It is.

You're talking about Ivy League educated individuals who have taken up positions at Wayne State University.

Right. Wayne State changed a lot when I went to school now and it's good for her.

I feel like it's not just a local school anymore.

That's right.

It attracts faculty and staff from around the country. And I don't know about the student body. I don't know if it's a large out of state student body or international student body.

Masters when I went to school even now it had large students coming from other countries especially for the masters which it encourages and when said should to partner with some of the foreign universities to do some research with other countries. That's where I think probably I can contribute.

Oh yes.

There are a lot of great universities like IITs in India.

Yes, of course.

I would love to actually make a connection.

This is brilliant.

Yes, that's one of my goals.

Tell the audience what's IIT IIT is.

The Indian Institute of Technologies to get into IITs. It's tougher than getting to MIT. Yeah, it's easier to get into MIT than get into IITs and a lot of research going on in IITs and IIM management schools. Indian Institute of Management, they're great schools. And my goal is to connect Wayne State with one of them within my. If I can, if I get elected, I would like to probably take a delegation, meet with them and then make a connection. That that's my goal.

Yeah. This is actually. It's a win win for everybody.

100%.

Yes.

And Michigan is a great state. There's a lot of synergies between the Wayne State and IITs. I mean automotive research. And we can probably bring IITs closer. Both IIT and Wayne State.

Is there an opportunity for the candidates to debate one another?

I do have a primaries on 24th. We have three candidates running right now, so it has to be down to two.

Oh, okay. August 24th.

August 24th is the primary.

But what I was wondering. I ran for Bloomfield Hills School District school board back in 2018. Do you remember?

I think I do.

Does that sound right? And the League of Women Voters had hosted a candidate forum for all of us who are running and we got a chance to debate one another. Does that happen for the board of governors or not?

I don't see in the past and I probably would love to have the debate. Yeah, I didn't see anything happen in the past.

I thought the primary was today. You're telling me there's no.

This is mine is a delegate primary. Delegates will vote for me.

Okay.

So that's state convention for Republican parties on August 24th in Flint.

So the delegates vote for you to represent the Republican Party in the general for the board of governors. Do I have that right?

Yes.

This is a complex. This is a little bit complicated.

It is complex. And I am probably one of the person who started campaign very early. I started last September.

Okay.

I've been going traveling the state, everywhere I am. And then one thing, whether I lose or win, I made so many great friends by traveling. I love them all. You know, they're great supporters of me. And then there is a synergies matching. I mean, when I talk to the people, they love it. You know, there are some instances when they hear what I want to do. They came to me and hugged me. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. The delegate convention on August 24th. We were actually talking about this earlier. So let's. This. I did not know this existed audience and so I'm going to have Sunny educate us a little bit. What is this delegate convention and how does one become a delegate?

So there are. Oh, delegate convention. So delegates right now, each party. I think I saw the ballot, Democratic Party as five delegates. Four are running in my precinct.

Yes.

And then the Republican Party has three delegates. Only two people are running. So it looks like people are not noticing.

Right.

Delegates has the power to decide for the party. Like for example, my position. They are the one votes for me.

Yes.

So majority of the votes, whoever gets it there, they'll be on the ballot from the Republican Party.

And in my district, I don't think there's anybody running for delegate in the Republican part. Well, actually I looked at the ballot. I don't think anybody's running for these positions. I don't know if people know about these positions.

No, I think they're not. Yeah, they're not probably reaching out to the people, I think.

Yeah. So for anybody who's watching today, there's a primary and I know there's positions for delegate which actually have great importance even though people might not know what these delegates do. And then you're telling me on August 24th there's another. No, the delegates who have been elected then vote for.

So August 24th is the college, the college boards and the judicial. Also candidates to represent. Even though it's a non partisan, but they are basically coming through the party. Party nominates them.

Well, Sunny, I will refrain from commenting on the judicial candidates today.

So these are the ones. These are the ones. Pretty much their representation. So delegates will vote for them.

Okay. Okay.

Very good. And then also the Michigan State Board of Education too. There are two candidates running for Michigan State Board of Education.

Okay. Well, these are kind of the positions we see on the ballot, but we don't terribly understand or really pay attention.

To unless you know the person. We don't know who is.

Exactly. Yes. Yes. I think I mentioned to you I noticed this Wayne State Board of Governors for the first time actually back in 2018 when I was on the ballot. So these are just positions that a lot of people don't think about until they get to the voting booth and.

People not well educated. Also when I told them I'm running for Wayne State Board of Governors, they think that it's a Wayne county or sometimes the university itself.

It's confusing.

Exactly. A lot of people don't know that it's a statewide election.

Well, we're almost out of time. If you had to give kind of closing remarks for what you can bring to Wayne State University that other candidates can't bring, what would you say?

I can say probably my business background, my business experience. I want to make sure that the tuition is affordable.

Yes.

Provide the security in the campus. One last thing, I just want to make a comment that. Students are not taught what they need. Rather, you know, they were influenced by certain people. I don't have any objection that if somebody wants to change their sexual orientation, but at the same time, I have a 23 year old daughter. Okay. If a man, until yesterday, if a man, he decided to be a woman and he wants to share bathroom with me, I said no, no, that's not acceptable for me. So I'm sure. But it's their personal choice. I have no problem with it.

Well, I think generally we don't have any problems with people's personal choices. But at some point, and I don't know when, but at some point, personal choices do infringe on, you know, somebody else. Somebody else. And that's when decisions have to be made. I don't know what the answer is and I don't know. Fortunately, I'm not a decision maker. But yeah, in general we shouldn't have a problem with the private decisions that individuals make. But at some point they do affect the neighbor, the other student, et cetera. And that's when decisions have to be made.

Exactly, exactly. You need to understand the other people too.

So thank you so much for coming onto the show. We wish you well every success and hope you come again sometime.

Thank you, Anjali, I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.