Christie Howden, CEO and co-founder of Wolverine Pickleball in Ann Arbor, has won the 2025 Energy Champion award from the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM). The award honors Howden for making environmentally conscious choices during the building of her 39,000-square-foot pickleball facility.
“It was a very pleasant surprise. I didn’t realize I was doing anything extraordinary. I was just doing my thing,” Howden says. “Then they emailed me and said that I had been nominated and won.”
Howden and co-founder Leslie White opened their first Wolverine Pickleball facility in 2020, and then a new, expanded facility in December 2023. During the process of building the new facility, Howden committed to many energy-efficient procedures and utilized lighting, HVAC, and refrigeration rebates from DTE Energy. She also took advantage of major renovation incentives while building the Northville Pickleball Club, a new 50,000-foot space set to open in September…