GLOBAL RESPONSE NORTH
the project. His hands were already full at home. When he heard we can visit together, just me and him, he agreed. He also heard we could try our hand at some of the best trout fishing in the world. We flew using a connecting flight into Eagle River, Wisconsin, met a private pilot they hired and he flew us to Iron River. The landing strip, fondly called Stambough International, is a 2,000-foot gravel runway on the top of a hill. The unmanned airport has no towers. You land just over the edge of a cliff. When you take off the plane goes down before it goes up. It’s was thrilling. It’s easy to fall in love with Iron River. We met the leaders of the community, rode AVT’s with Jim, and Steve got to go fishing. Before we left, we agreed to have weekly phone calls. The calls progressed. Ron Basso, a lobbyist, was looking for State call center contracts. Steve flew back to do the feasibility study. He picked out a building, met lots of local people, and got comfortable with the idea. The family started a new company, Global Response North. Jim called every 800 number he could find asking where the call center was located. He stumbled upon Michigan State Park Reser- vations and found that the calls were being answered in Maryland. Bingo! We were all flab- bergasted. Why would the State of Michigan, with the second-largest park system in the Unit- ed States, hungry for jobs, outsource them to Maryland? Our timing was perfect. The parks contract was up for bids. Ron got the message all the way to Governor Granholm. She said those jobs are not allowed to leave the state. The contract was for both software and call center services. Steve said we couldn’t do the software but we could do the services. We asked the State if we could bid on only the call center. They said no. However, they handed a list of call centers to the bidders and told them to use one that is located in Michigan. Global Response North was on the top of the list. Global Response North was chosen by the winning bidder and things were about to get exciting. Before winning the contract we also asked for an infrastructure grant. It was approved. However, it wasn’t nearly big enough for the
Herman Shooster - 2010, Jim Cederna, a business coach, came to us with a simple vision; bring jobs back to his home- town. With a popu- lation of 1,200, it seemed unfeasible.
Jim Cederna
Jim’s hometowm is Iron River. Located in the ‘Rust Belt,’ or the Upper Penisula of Michi- gan, above Wisconsin. It is a town the was built around mining. The mines were shut down. The cheap ore was gone. As a young man, Jim, watched the miners coming and going to work, a sad sight, he will never forget. He told me, the most important thing you can do for your friends, family, communities, and companies is to help them grow. I sincerely believe him. Undaunted, Jim heard about call centers serving in India and wondered why we can’t do the same in his backyard. Altruistic to a fault, all Jim wanted was jobs for his community, nothing for himself. We were intrigued. His contacts directed him to Global Response. He met Wendy at a tradeshow. She directed him to me. In our first discussion, we talked about the basics; high-speed internet, infrastructure, people, and most importantly a customer. He said they have plenty of empty buildings and that the school system uses high-speed inter- net. So, we both knew it was possible. But, that still left a big gap. We had a conference call with the local Economic Development Council (EDC) and met some sharp people. Jim Gibula, the local banker said, ‘I think the state owes us one.’ They applied for a feasibility grant and enticed us to visit. They got the grant and we took the bait. I thought it would be refreshing to have the government on our side. My son, Steve, was not too excited about
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