Transcription of Dana Eidsness for the show Maine, Iceland & the World Beyond #168
Lisa: Those of us who have lived in Maine for a while, or even haven’t lived in Maine for very long, are interested in ways in which we can push Maine out there as a wonderful place to live. A great place to raise a family. And also a place to have a sustainable life. Meaning, a job and a worthwhile career. In Love Maine Radio studio today, we have Janine Cary, is is President and State Director of International Trade at the Maine International Trade Center, and Dana Eidsness, who is the Director of the Maine North Atlantic Development Office.
We’re really grateful that you took the time out of your busy schedules to come in and talk to us today. I’m particularly fascinated because even though I am a doctor, and I think about health and wellness from sort of a body focused way, really in order to have a well life, a healthy life, you have to have a good job. You have to be able to live in a sustainable way wherever you are. We’re talking about Maine. Both of you are very interested in this and also interested in what this means as far as outreach.
How we are connecting with other parts of the world in order to make it possible to live in a sustainable way within our state. Janine, let me talk first with you. What does it mean to be President and State Director of International Trade at the Maine International Trade Center? What is that your role entails?
Janine: Sure. Well, I think that you addressed some of that in terms of connectivity with global markets. We basically at the trade center help Maine companies connect, whether it’s on the import side, the export side. We work also in terms of business attraction and investment. One of our new initiatives in the last few years is Invest in Maine. Getting Maine on the map in terms of overseas markets. Then we also have Study Maine, which is about international student attraction.
If you add all of those up, it really is all about basically getting Maine recognized as a global player on the economic side and also as an important place in terms of representing the US and being open to international groups.
Lisa: Dana, you’ve been in your position for about a year now. What is it that you do as the Director of the Maine North Atlantic Development Office, and how is this related to the work that Janine is doing?
Dana: Well, it’s similar in some ways. But I get to focus on a region, which is what I love about my job at this point. I’m focusing on Northern Europe, the Nordic companies, eastern Canada, Iceland, and Greenland. What I really like about this position is it enables me to develop relationships in each of these places and then return to them. For instance, we were just invited to a conference in Reykjavik, Iceland. Invited by the President of Iceland, President Grimsson, and at that conference I met with people I’ve been corresponding with for the past year and can now actually call the past Prime Minister of Greenland a friend. Someone who cares deeply about doing business with Maine. Wants to see success.
It’s these types of relationships that I’m building. What’s a little bit different about my program is I am working to increase trade and investment activity between Maine and the North Atlantic region, but I’m also working to define Maine’s space in the conversation about Arctic affairs. You may hear in the news that climate change is very real and the Arctic ice is melting rapidly, which is making mineral deposits, oil and gas reserves that were inaccessible before, now quite accessible.
There’s a bit of a rush to go after these natural resources. Where I see Maine in this situation is logistically we’re in a good place to serve any projects that are going on. We have climate science to contribute from our universities. We have companies that have expertise in things like technologies for harsh weather environments, that sort of thing. I’m working to connect Maine companies with some for the infrastructure projects that are going on.
Lisa: Janine, how is Maine viewed by the world? What is your impression of the brand that Maine puts out there?
Janine: Well, I think it depends on what part of the world you’re talking about. Certainly we have some recognition in Europe, particularly northern Europe. A lot of that is because of old trade lanes and routes. Typically they know, if you go over to Europe, particularly UK markets, as I said northern European markets, they’ll know New England. They’ll know New York. They’ll know Boston. And generally what I have to say is we’re about two hours north of Boston for our largest city.
There is recognition for Maine lobster. I mean, all the things we talk about, there’s recognition on the tourism side. There’s not a lot of recognition on what are some of our major industry areas. When you go to Asia, and Latin America, even less. In fact I’ve had sometimes people ask me if Maine is a province of Canada. You have to always start out with the base thought that there’s not a lot that comes with the name Maine yet. It really, a lot of that depends on how much marketing has gone on to date in terms of usually tourism, food products, things like that.
But usually we’re starting fairly from scratch, which actually can be pretty refreshing as well.
Lisa: In our discussion with Peter Peterson from Eimskip, it was clear that one of the reasons that that company was attracted to Portland as a port was economic. Maine is closer, it actually is costing less to get goods back and forth. There was some very real strategic reasons for locating here. This is something that you alluded to. Old trade routes. This is something that we have had in the past. We have been connected with the rest of the world previously in ways that maybe people from Maine don’t understand.
Janine: Sure. I mean I think that a few things, when you’re talking about economic. I also think that people like John Hanshaw at Maine Port Authority did a great job in terms of developing that port and having it ready and turn key for a shipping line like Eimskip to come in. You do have to have the infrastructure in place to accommodate trade. I would say that for a few years in there we had let some of that infrastructure go awry or not be putting money and resources into that.
I think that was a turning point. I also think that yes, as things were getting more expensive at some of the other ports and as they will start building up again now that we’re getting further away from the financial crisis, you’re going to have a lot of congestion in some of the ports to the south of us and that made it a much more attractive alternative when Eimskip was out looking and we were courting a number of different groups to be looking at the port and what we have for capacities here.
Lisa: Dana, what did you do before you became the Director of the Maine North Atlantic Development Office? Tell us a little bit about your background.
Dana: Sure. I grew up in Maine and I have worked at the Maine International Trade Center before. I joke that this is my third tour at the Trade Center. I worked there years ago as a trade specialist. Then went on to work for the Maine manufacturing extension partnership. Then returned to the Trade Center and ran the [Lewis and Auburn 00:37:38] regional office at that time. Then went to Vermont and I was actually the State Trade Director in the state of Vermont. Did some other things between then and now, including running a non-profit.
When this opportunity came up, it was very appealing. Again, the regional focus was very appealing to me.
Lisa: The reason that I ask this is because we talk about Maine’s lumber, blueberries, lobster. But we also have Maine people. As you said, you grew up in Maine. You have a BA in International Studies. You have studied Chinese language. I mean, you’ve been to other parts of the world. Yet, you came back to Maine to try to globalize the state. This is important for people to understand that they don’t have to get an education somewhere else and then leave. They can come back and work here and succeed.
Dana: Right. I think the foundation for my international interests started here in Maine. I went to Portland High School and was exposed to a lot of international information. I took several languages while I was there. Chinese was my favorite, so that’s the one I stuck with. I was able to take international history courses. It really started here. I think certainly at that time in the 80s there was a large international population at Portland high school, which got me interested about other places as well. My family is here, too.
I did go to school in California, but came back because I missed my family. My mom still lives on [inaudible 00:39:18] hill in the apartment where I grew up and my sister is on the west end.
Lisa: Janine, you’ve also been affiliated with Maine for quite some time. Tell me about your background.
Janine: Well, I am technically an import, as I qualify myself. Basically I grew up in northern coastal Massachusetts. Had been coming up to Maine quite a bit with my husband, whose family had been coming here for many years. Had a place out on Peak’s Island. After living the rat race in downtown Boston for a while, and we were ready to make a change once he was out of school, we decided let’s make a go for it in Maine. He did have a job, so that was good at the time. I was the unknown and had been actually involved in international trade in Boston before. It was a little challenging back then to find companies that … Really there were only the large companies like the L.L. Beans and Cole Haan of the time.
I remember applying to all of them and wondering if I was going to be able to land something that utilized my background and skills, which at that time were focused mostly around Europe. I was working for an Italian import company and ended up, that was right when we started to have more and more of the seafood industry that was going global. Fell into a seafood export company that was looking to grow in Europe. It was a great fit and I grew along with them in terms of their outreach in China.
We were probably one of the first into China on the US side. Certainly on the East Coast side. Really, I developed my skills hands on in those markets. I had studied in France for a while at the Sorbonne and so I had a comfort level in terms of continental Europe to start with. There’s so much more going on now that’s been really, really fun watching. I’ve been in Maine over 25 years now and watching the transition of us just getting so much more globally active right down to the small enterprises out there that are even just start ups that they look at the global market right from the beginning. That wasn’t the same 20 years ago.
Lisa: You raise a really important point and that is that the trailing spouse. I believe that’s the official term, is the trailing spouse. The spouse of the person who has gotten a job in Maine. It often presents an issue. I know in medicine and in law, if you’re a doctor or a lawyer and you get a job here, what happens to the person that comes with you? In generating jobs for Maine that are more global, you are going to be able to help that aspect of the economy as well. You’ve been able to experience this from the beginning when there weren’t as many of that type of job for the trailing spouse.
Janine: Right. And it is, it still is, a challenge. On our Invest in Maine initiative, when we’re talking to companies like an Eimskip or an [inaudible 00:42:42] or a lot of the international companies that have come and set up shop here, we actually work with them quite a bit. We get called on quite a bit with that trailing spouse issue. Even asking us about educational systems and where are there enclaves that are more open to international students coming in and you want it to be a good fit.
Then what are the opportunities. The nice thing is most of the time, at least the companies we’re working with, the spouses have lived in different places overseas. Have really some great skill sets. It’s a challenge, but I think that actually we’re going in a really good direction in terms of having more diversity and jobs for trailing spouses and opportunities for the students that come in.
Lisa: Education is an important piece. Earlier this fall I worked with CIEE and wrote a piece about CIEE, which is located a few blocks down from us here in Portland. That global connection that is being made between students and teachers and Maine and really all parts of the world. Even in global education Maine is becoming a leader.
Janine: Yeah. Definitely our academies and some of our secondary schools are getting more and more diverse and actually reaching out and bringing in international student populations. I think that … Dana was talking about Portland, which is truly diverse and hasn’t really had to do a lot of outreach. But once you start getting to more rural communities that happens. It’s just I think wonderful in terms of students, particularly in rural communities, that then suddenly have their eyes opened and are meeting people from all different parts of the world. Suddenly the world seems much smaller.
You always will have those contacts to be able to go and visit. You may at some point choose to do some studies there. It’s starting it young, I think, is probably one of the most important things that we do in terms of as a whole economy, feeling comfortable in the global marketplace. I don’t know if you want to add on your experiences there, Dana.
Dana: Well, I’m just thinking about the group that’s coming from Iceland in May of next year. We’ve got a group of 50 MBA students from Reykjavik University coming. It’s interesting how that came about. Actually the head of the student group that’s planning this trip is the president’s cousin. It was through some relationships that we developed in Iceland that this came about. But I think the reason they’re looking at Maine is because it’s an appealing place to set up a potential educational exchange.
They like the feel of Portland. They like the urban feeling of Portland. The ability to have an outdoor, healthy lifestyle in Maine. It’s very easy for us to have connections with folks in place like Iceland. I think that’s true of a lot of places. I think in terms of the younger students, when parents are looking for a place to send their kids to school, they’ll look at Maine and it’s a good choice. It’s a safe place to send their kids. They know they’ll be well educated and they’ll get lots of fresh air and outdoor time.
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Lisa: I’m thinking about my own daughter who’s 13. The other day she was looking at her Instagram account and she was looking at the weather. She was saying, I know the weather in Miami is this, and New York is this. Even through social media and through staying connected with friends that our children make, even at a very young age, we’re starting to understand that the world is much smaller than we thought. We can relate ourselves to people who are living elsewhere. That must actually come in handy as you’re trying to promote Maine throughout the world.
Janine: Absolutely. I mean I have a lot of hope and also really feel strongly that the younger generation that’s coming in right now is very much more globally oriented. I can remember when I first used to go out and talk in schools as I do quite often, at a lot of different levels, the first question I would ask is how many here have been out of the state. How many here have been out of the country. You’d have very few hands raised. It still is quite expensive, however you know, our proximity to Canada, as you go further north and west, those hands raise for a lot of the … Even the Canadian travel, I often say to people, I remember one time when we were throwing out one of those brainstorming crazy ideas, that every junior in the state of Maine should at least go to Canada once.
This is a low hanging fruit of an international experience. You go to downtown Quebec City and you know you’re in a different country, in a different language, in a different feel. That’s our number one trading partner and our number one investor. And, about 30 percent of the population has some Canadian, French-Canadian actually, lineage. I think that the Internet has had such a huge influence on our kids and the laptop initiative, having every kid having access to that, no matter what economic background they’re from really has made a change.
I’ve seen the change in kids around the state. You [can’t 00:50:20] think that Portland is representative of so many parts of the state. It’s really been wonderful to see that evolution over a very short period of time.
Dana: Yeah. I have a seventh grader who was just issued a laptop and she was keeping me updated on volcanic activity in Iceland while I was over there. That was all thanks to the laptop.
Janine: One of the other things I always say along with this laptop initiative, is it actually forced our teachers into the 21st century. Suddenly a kid’s pulling up information on a topic and the world is his or her oyster in terms of what information is relevant to what we’re talking about. It also, really I think, opened up an avenue for a lot of our teachers in terms of doing research on the Internet. Becoming Internet savvy. Connecting. Then we have a very strong internship program at the Trade Center.
I think probably one of the more robust ones in the state of Maine. I still remember when we would get, sometimes we would get interns from overseas. Their Internet skills were so much worse than our Maine students. I said, “Wow.” Now, that’s caught up obviously over time, but I particularly remember some French students coming over and we had to train them how to do research on the Internet and even some of the elementary things, because they were one of the later countries to actually embrace it.
That was another wake up call of this initiative and the fact that our kids are so well-versed on it. Now, we all take it more for granted, but it was really a game changer and really gave some initial advantage to the students coming out of it. I think that you’re just seeing more and more of that playing a role.
Lisa: We’re almost in 2015 and I know that there are a lot of interesting things that have been happening in the global trade and the North Atlantic trade areas. Can you talk to me a little bit about that, Dana?
Dana: Yeah. Some of the things coming up in 2015 on the North Atlantic front are we’ll be looking at some trade shows, probably for off-shore energy companies for the most part in eastern Canada and in potentially northern Europe as well. We’ll be looking to put together a procurement program where we are looking for tendering opportunities in Newfoundland and Labrador and Greenland. Specifically looking for opportunities for Maine businesses to supply the Thule air base in Greenland
We’ll be identifying these opportunities and getting them out to businesses throughout the state and then providing some counseling to help them make these connections and make this business happen. There’s some interesting activity going on through the North Atlantic Development Office where, again as I said, we’re working to define Maine space in Arctic affairs and how to be a part of that conversation. We’ve been working with the Arctic Council, which is the inter-governmental forum that looks at what’s going on in the Arctic and addresses issues like climate change, environmental stewardship, shipping, because with the ice melting, it’s creating more passable waterways over the north west passage.
How do we deal with that responsibly? There are a lot of things going on within the Arctic Council and the US is taking over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2015. Maine will be participating in this through a working group called The Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment Working Group. I will sit on that working group and will bring in Maine resources as appropriate. As things come up with that. There’s also another organization that’s sort of an offshoot of the Arctic Council, which is the Arctic Economic Council.
That forum is looking to the Arctic Economic Council, which is made up of businesses from all of the Arctic countries. Looking to plant some Maine businesses within that so that they can advise on things like infrastructure projects, responsible shipping, environmental issues, climate science, those sorts of things. Those are areas where I think Maine has a lot to offer.
Lisa: There’s a lot. That’s a lot going on in 2015. Anything that you would add Janine?
Janine: Well, we’ll be also active in a number of other markets outside of the North Atlantic. We have at least two food initiatives that are coming up. We actually have a Maine Pavilion coming up at the Fancy Foods Show in San Francisco, which has a large Pacific Rim buyers mission coming in as part of that. Equal opportunity outreach, both on the national market and international markets. We’ll have a presence at the Brussels Seafood Show, which is a very important one for the state of Maine. Particularly with lobster and our seafood exports.
On the life sciences, we are having a booth at the Arab Health Show in Dubai. Another growing market in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and the Middle East in general. Have quite a few medical products, companies that are growing there. We’ll I’m sure be announcing a trade mission over the next 12 months. It hasn’t been discussed yet where exactly we’ll be surveying companies in terms of their activities and watching some trade flows. More to come.
Lisa: How can people find out more about the Maine International Trade Center and the Maine North Atlantic Development Office?
Janine: Well, it’s all listed on the website. Which is MITC.com. We also have an Invest in Maine.net website for business attraction, if people are involved in that. And a Study Maine.net website, which lists all of the high schools and colleges that are involved in terms of international student attractions. Those are our three primary vehicles and the North Atlantic Development Office has its own section within the MITC website.
Lisa: Well, I’m excited about all of the things that you’ve been describing. I’m really proud to be a citizen of the state of Maine. To have my family from this state. I know that the work that you’re both doing is only going to serve to benefit my family, other Maine families, and to really contribute to wellness. I think it’s appropriate that you’d be a part of Love Maine Radio.
We’ve been speaking with Janine Cary who is the President and State Director of International Trade at the Maine International Trade Center. Dana Eidsness, who is the Director of the Maine North Atlantic Development Office. Thank you for coming in and thank you for the good work you’re doing.
Janine: Thank you.
Dana: Pleasure to be here.
Lisa: You have been listening to Love Maine Radio, show number 168. Maine, Iceland, and the World Beyond. Our guests have included Peter Peterson, Janine Cary, and Dana Eidsness. For more information on our guests, and extended interviews, visit Love Maine Radio.com, or read about them in the winter issue of Old Port Magazine. Love Maine Radio is downloadable for free on iTunes.
For a preview of each week’s show, sign up for our e-news letter and like our Love Maine Radio Facebook page. Follow me on Twitter as Dr. Lisa. See my running travel, food, and wellness photos as bountiful one on Instagram. We’d love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of Love Maine Radio. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also, let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here.
We are privileged that they enable us to bring Love Maine Radio to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our Maine, Iceland, and the World Beyond show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. You have a bountiful life.
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