Connecting the dots

Report finds North Dakota has most fiber-to-the-home of any state

BY KRIS BEVILL

The race to connect homes and businesses with high-speed Internet access is ramping up, and North Dakota says it has taken an early lead. A report released Dec. 29 claims North Dakota has more miles of fiber-to-the-home than any other state, providing gigabit-speed Internet access to 50 percent of the state through 40,000 miles of fiber optic cables. The process has taken years to complete, and it’s not over. The state’s telecommunications leaders say their goal is to have 100 percent of the state covered by 2019.

“This is an industry where if you’re not constantly investing, you’re falling behind,” said Jasper Schneider, acting administrator for the USDA rural utilities service, during a news conference to announce the report’s findings. Schneider admitted the four-year timeline to complete 1G access to the entire state is aggressive, but said he believes it is realistic, adding that Internet access is now a necessary part of life. “Broadband touches every part of our lives,” he said.

Schneider noted that the Internet is changing the way people do business and said that Internet connectivity also needs to be high-speed in order to meet growing data demands and provide businesses with the competitive edge they seek.

Seth Arndorfer, CEO of the Dakota Carrier Network, said the North Dakota Broadband Report highlights the commitment of the state’s service providers to installing high-speed Internet access. DCN and its 15 independent rural telephone companies invested $1.3 billion to install the 40,000 miles of fiber throughout the state and will continue to invest in expanding that network, he said.

David Cruthers, executive vice president and general manager of the North Dakota Association of Telecommunications Cooperatives, said the report served as both a celebration of what has been accomplished as well as the launch of the expansion to the remaining 50 percent of the state. “It’s really been a group effort,” he said, adding that the expansive coverage area would not be possible to achieve otherwise.

Challenges Remain

Schneider said the report, which emphasized the work of rural telecommunications service providers, complements the work of the Dakota Fiber Initiative — which was formed in response to entrepreneur and investor Doug Burgum’s 2013 challenge for North Dakota to become the most connected state in the nation. While the goal may have so far been met, there is much work left to do, particularly in the state’s urban areas, where funding assistance is not as readily available and infrastructure challenges are more complex.

On average in the United States, only 5 percent of households have fiber Internet, but an estimated 50 percent of homes in North Dakota have access to fiber, according to a report recently released by USDA Rural Development, the North Dakota Association of Telecommunications Cooperatives and Dakota Carrier Network.

Schneider said he is aware that some of the state’s most populated areas currently have the slowest Internet connection speeds, but he believes that issue will be resolved over time as providers, such as Midcontinent Communications, commit to investments in those areas. In November, Midcontinent drew support from Burgum as well as Sen. John Hoeven and Fargo-area leaders when it announced plans to provide gigabit access to its entire service area, including Fargo and other areas of North Dakota, by the end of 2017.

If North Dakota is to meet its goal of 100 percent connectivity by 2019, it will require continued collaboration among telecom- munications companies and state and federal agencies, industry leaders said. The financial cost of installing fiber optic cables is significant and could be aided through federal and state support, they said. Schneider said the USDA has already invested more than $330 million in telecommunications and broadband projects in North Dakota, and the agency expects to continue to fill out the state’s connectivity map. On a state level, financial incentives for providers such as sales tax exemptions for infrastructure could be helpful, but Schneider said industry representatives will focus first primarily on educating legislators about broadband infrastructure and its impact on the state’s economy. PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561, kbevill@prairiebizmag.com

Go-To Guy

Grand Forks Region EDC leader Klaus Thiessen goes above and beyond to help new and existing businesses succeed

BY KRIS BEVILL

After more than a decade in his role as president and CEO of the Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corp., Klaus Thiessen knows just about everyone in business in the region and has earned a reputation for exceeding expectations in assisting new and existing businesses.

Whenever Bill Burga has a question related to business, the first person he reaches out to is Klaus Thiessen. As president and CEO of the Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corp., Thiessen is in the business of helping business people so he is likely to say that’s simply part of a day’s work. Still, Burga, who serves as head of operations-America for LM Wind Power, says Thiessen regularly goes over and above what could be considered his call of duty.

“If I call Klaus and say, ‘Where do I go to shop for research grants?’ He knows. Virtually anything that has to do with our business, he is my go-to guy,” Burga says. “There’s virtually nothing that he would say ‘that’s not our job’ or ‘I can’t help you there.’”

Northern Neighbor

Thiessen’s humble, in-it-together attitude blends well with upper Midwestern culture, though he is actually a native of Canada. He got his start in economic development in 1980 when he joined the Winnipeg (Manitoba) Business Development Corp. as a business development officer. He worked in that role for about four years before being lured away to take a private sector job with accounting consulting firm Touche Ross

Management Consultants. “I moved for the wrong reasons: a nice office and more money,” he says. “But I didn’t really care for the job.”

Thiessen spent most of the next two decades moving back and forth between private and public sector positions. He helped establish Manitoba’s technology commercialization program — Manitoba Technology Accelerator — and moved to Calgary, Alberta, to work for Canon, but he never lost touch with his contacts in the Winnipeg economic development circle. When he decided to move back to Winnipeg he found a position as business development manager at the economic development corporation, which had been newly restructured and renamed Winnipeg 2000. After six months he was named interim CEO of the organization. A year later, he was offered the position full time. He served in that role until he was recruited to the CEO role at the Grand Forks Region EDC in November 2003.

Thiessen says his extensive U.S. network, built over 15 years while serving on the International Economic Development Council, made him a desirable candidate for the Grand Forks job. He continues to place high value on networking and describes his job as being “people based and communications based,” noting that the diverse people and topics he deals with on a daily basis are what he likes most about economic development. “I think you can’t find a better position in terms of where your work changes, literally, every day,” he says. “You become a real generalist — an expert at absolutely nothing, but you can dig yourself into a hole talking about anything. It’s exciting and it’s satisfying, too, when you see initiatives that are successful.”

Thiessen has seen many initiatives and projects reach successful outcomes in his 11 years in Grand Forks, resulting in more than 1,700 new jobs created by EDC clients since 2004, according to the North Dakota Department of Commerce. In November, the state commerce department recognized Thiessen’s successful efforts with the 2014 Governor’s Choice for Economic Developer of the Year.

“Klaus focuses on the fundamentals of economic development and consistently and collaboratively drives projects and initiatives,” Commerce Commissioner Al Anderson said in a statement announcing the award. “Since he joined the EDC he has been setting the stage for opportunities the region is realizing today. Under his leadership, the region has maintained a focus on new wealth creation that results from primary sector growth.”

Long-Term View

Paul Lucy, director of economic development and finance for the commerce department, has been working with Thiessen since he joined the EDC and says he has always been impressed with his ability to bring together diverse groups of people to work toward a common goal. “He does that in a way that allows everyone to have a voice and play a contributing role,” Lucy says. “Klaus [also] has a quality that all the best economic development professionals possess — the ability to stay focused on dealing with opportunities and challenges in front of him today, while being able to successfully position his community and region to identify and pursue strategies that will create opportunities for long-term sustainable economic growth. That is not easy to do and I believe Klaus is one of the best at this.”

Thiessen is currently involved in several large, long-term projects with the potential to impact the entire region. He serves as the Grand

Forks point of contact for the Valley Prosperity Partnership, which is a five-year initiative focused on economic development at a regional scale. Thiessen sits on the group’s steering committee along with representatives from business, higher education, health care and economic development groups throughout the Red River Valley and says he looks forward to the VPP coming to the forefront during North Dakota’s legislative session. He firmly believes the VPP’s work has potential to have a successful long-term impact on the region.

Also looming large on the radar for both the near- and longterm is the build-out of the region’s unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry, with emphasis on Grand Sky, a UAS business development park located west of Grand Forks and adjacent to the Grand Forks Air Force Base. “The whole UAS industry opportunity is something we’re really going to focus on for 2015,” Thiessen says.

Lucy says the commerce department has worked closely with the EDC to position North Dakota and Grand Forks as a “hotbed” for UAS development, and Thiessen has been at the center of the effort. “He was particularly involved as it relates to making sure a long-term strategy and necessary infrastructure are in place to take North Dakota from being a supporter of developing the UAS industry to someday being the epicenter of the UAS industry activity in the U.S.,” he says.

In some cases, having a long-term view toward economic development also means sticking by clients during hard times, and Thiessen and the EDC have proven their commitment to clients in difficult situations on several occasions over the past decade. When LM Wind Power was forced to lay off workers during an industry downturn a few years ago, the EDC put the company in touch with local Job Service leaders to organize job fairs for affected employees and Thiessen spoke out in support of the company, expressing confidence that the location would bounce back. A year later, the company did just that, announcing it would hire nearly as many positions as had been cut, thanks in part to a federal tax credit netted with help from the EDC.

Thiessen also takes satisfaction in the work the EDC has done with Cirrus Aircraft, which endured a difficult period several years ago, but has since recovered and expanded its operations. “They’ve turned the corner … and it’s one of those industries — a technology-related industry with a high profile — and we’re really proud and gratified to see that moving forward,” he says.

A steadfast commitment to building long-term relationships and diverse, impactful industries in the region is a calling card of Thiessen’s, but he wastes no time in pointing out that successful economic development is a team effort, within the EDC and throughout the community. “I’ve got a great team and volunteers so it’s not about one individual — ever,” he says. Among the community groups Thiessen counts in the EDC’s corner is the University of North Dakota as well as the local Chamber of Commerce, which is a bit unique when considering EDCs and chamber groups are often competitors. Given Thiessen’s team-player philosophy, however, it is not all that surprising.

“One of the most important things in economic development, no matter where you are, is to avoid turf warfare,” he says. “Because at the end of the day, if the ultimate goal is a good one, whomever takes the credit is fine as long as we can support one another.” PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561, kbevill@prairiebizmag.com