Robin K. Cooper of Albany Business Review recently interviewed Jim Siplon about what brought him to JUST Water and EDC Warren County.
Upon completion of a design at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to reduce their water consumption, Jim moved to Glens Falls, New York to become Chief Operating Officer of JUST Water, a position he held for six years before taking the role as EDC president in 2020.
Jim credits his earlier work with communities in rural Fiji as the template for how he runs his businesses, telling Albany Business Review, “We invested in wells, giving villages access to the same aquifer where we were getting our water. We built 40 wells while I was there. They built 200 more after I left. The goal was to protect the factory and improve the well-being of the community. The model worked. It is a template for how I do everything.”
This translates to his work in Warren County by visiting rural communities and listening to residents’ concerns regarding broadband internet access.
Jim goes on to say that increasing rural broadband technology and improving the housing market are two main goals for the EDC.
He told Albany Business Review, “We have an opportunity to attract talented people who can carry a job with them. Maybe a financial analyst wants to move here. If we have housing for them, they might join a town board and become a financial steward. Maybe they will help the volunteer fire department figure out their annuity costs. If someone like that moves here, it means we will be stronger.”
