A Troy-based tech conglomerate is taking advantage of Michigan's ongoing economic transformation to grow.

Marty Tibbitts, Founder of BOSSdev, puts it this way: "The benefit of being here in Michigan is that there are a lot of hardworking, brilliant people here who are really good at project management, and a great number of them are hungry for opportunities."

Entrepreneur-inventor Marty Tibbitts started what's becoming a tech empire with Back Office Support Systems Inc. in St. Clair Shores, a provider of back-end management and billing systems for telecommunications providers.

Then came BOSSdev, an interactive company that bought the assets of a company called Offshore Creations, which offered offshore software development services from the Ukraine.

Today, BOSSdev operates in software development in three cities in the Ukraine, with about 140 employees. Their services are sold by a sales organization of 12 people in the United States.

BOSSdev now offers:

* Interactive Services, which includes creative work in Web site development, Flash, rich media and social networking. Included is a lot of work in what used to be called "advergaming," which O'Green now calls "branded Flash games."

* Public safety, through a subsidiary called ETS Development Group LLC of Albuquerque, N.M., which offers jail management systems and software, a product developed for a customer by the team in the Ukraine which BOSSdev eventually decided to commercialize.

* Visual collaboration, through a new product that's about to be released called Spinscape. O'Green said the product will let users collaborate in real time, brainstorm, product-manage, organize and more, including the ability to add e-mail, text, music, pictures and video to the mix.

* "Deep code" .Net development for a variety of clients.

The company has just taken 16,000 square feet of gorgeous office space at 700 Tower Drive in Troy as its new headquarters. So far about 20 people work there. The company will retain its 6,000-square-foot BOSS space in St. Clair Shores.

O'Green said he believes the company will continue to grow rapidly thanks to Spinscape, and in the creative work of developing social media and online virtual world applications.

The company also rents server space from Ann Arbor-based Online Technologies Corp.

Tibbitts, a human biology graduate of Stanford University who worked as a stockbroker for several years before creating and launching his companies, is a member of the Young Presidents Organization and TEC Detroit and recently was named a “40 Under 40” honoree by Crain’s Detroit Business.

O'Green, for his part, has more than 20 years of experience as a financial services executive. Prior to joining BOSSdev, he led Volkswagen of America's North American business strategy initiatives. Before that he was president of VW's North American finance companies. O’Green has also held executive positions with two of Michigan’s largest marketing firms where he integrated brand-building marketing programs, product launches, event marketing, meetings, press events, video and film. He has a bachelor's degree in history from Michigan State University and a law degree from the University of Detroit.

More at www.bossdev.com.