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<DIV>Thank you, Nick.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I hope this sparks the attainment of a clue. Idaho could be so much
more.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Warren Hayman</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=NGIER@uidaho.edu href="mailto:NGIER@uidaho.edu">Gier, Nicholas</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, June 06, 2010 5:19 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] LMT article for
Warren</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><!-- Converted from text/plain format -->
<P><FONT size=2>BOISE - Since its startup in 2004, Clearwater Analytics has
grown to 115 employees. In the past year alone - through the height of the
recession - the Boise company has added 25 full-time employees and is looking
to hire more.<BR><BR>"We have an immediate need for 10, and could probably
hire between 12 and 24 over the next two years," CEO Courty Gates
said.<BR><BR>Idaho's unemployment is at a record level, yet Clearwater
Analytics and other local high-tech companies are having a difficult time
finding people for key positions. The area's labor pool may be big, but it
lacks depth - experienced or specialized high-tech workers. And that could
hinder the state's ability to compete nationally and globally in the high-tech
industries.<BR><BR>"Without a doubt the prevailing opinion on the coastal
states is you probably cannot grow a tech company very big in the state of
Idaho because the talent pool isn't there," said Bob Lokken at a business
innovation conference last week. Lokken founded ProClarity, which was acquired
by Microsoft; he recently launched WhiteCloud Analytics.<BR><BR>Biomark, a
Boise company that makes electronic identification tags for fish and wildlife,
recently had an opening for an experienced electronics technician. Given the
national unemployment rate, the company expected the resumes to come pouring
in. They did, but not the right ones.<BR><BR>"We received over 100 resumes for
the position, but the experience level was not there. It's been a little bit
of a shock to us in this economy," Biomark President Dean Park said.<BR><BR>At
Clearwater, which provides daily, Web-based investment portfolio reporting,
"Hiring is top of mind for us, there's no question," Gates said. The company
reports on more than $500 billion in assets for more than 2,000 institutional
investors, including Yahoo, Oracle and U.S. Bank.<BR><BR>"If you are going
from five employees to six employees, you can interview a lot of people, and
you just want one really great person. But when you are going from 100 to 120,
it is the same 20 percent growth, but it is harder to get 20 people of the
same quality," Gates said.<BR><BR>The company could quickly fill the positions
by lowering its hiring standards, but that could jeopardize its standards and
reflect poorly on Idaho's reputation, he said.<BR><BR>"We really believe our
employees are our greatest asset and we try very, very hard to get the
absolute best. It is a challenge. It really is a challenge," Gates said. "We
are extremely picky."<BR><BR>GAP, ISOLATION AND NO CUSHION<BR><BR>A February
report commissioned by the State Board of Education shows a significant gap
between the business reality and Idaho's education system.<BR><BR>In 2009, the
computer programming field generated an estimated 395 job openings in Idaho,
yet the state produced only 24 graduates in that field. The information
technology field had an estimated 929 openings with only 162
graduates.<BR><BR>Boise State, College of Western Idaho and other Idaho higher
education institutions have been ramping up their computer sciences
programming to try to close this gap.<BR><BR>"Boise State has improved. They
have done a really good job. I have seen some really good positive results,"
said Gabe Halleus, human resources director for CRI Advantage.<BR><BR>But new
graduates aren't enough.<BR><BR>In the past three years, CRI Advantage has
more than doubled in size, going from 60 employees to 125. Currently, the
company has five open senior-level positions, said Halleus, who does about 40
percent of the company's senior-level recruiting out of
state.<BR><BR>Recruiting out-of-state workers is a hurdle because of Boise's
geographic isolation and lack of a "cushion" - the availability of comparable
jobs.<BR><BR>"For someone coming into Boise it is perceived as a risk. If I
want to join a technology company in Boise, what if it doesn't work out? Am I
going to have to leave? Are there other technology jobs in Boise? For someone
coming in from out of state, I think it is daunting," Gates said.<BR><BR>"If
someone is in the Seattle area or Denver, they are there because they like it
there. I think there is inherent friction in terms of getting people to move,"
he said.<BR><BR>Boise companies have to get job candidates "over that
hurdle."<BR><BR>"Once people are in Boise, they fall in love with it," Gates
said.<BR><BR>LETTING GO OF THE PAST<BR><BR>Standing on the shoulders of Micron
and Hewlett-Packard while touting its great quality of life, Boise was able to
put itself on the map of burgeoning high-tech communities, but high-tech
leaders say Boise can no longer expect to ride those coattails.<BR><BR>"I've
found that whole discussion of quality of life as our big competitive
advantage to be the wrong tactic," said Mark Rivers, Brix & Company CEO
and 2009 Idaho Innovator of the Year.<BR><BR>The cities Boise competes with
are places like Bend, Ore., Boulder, Colo., Portland and Seattle - all with
great quality of life, he said.<BR><BR>Idaho needs to make its mark as a
business-friendly state with a talented and plentiful employee pool and
high-quality education system.<BR><BR>"It's kind of wishful thinking for our
government to expect to pull in a bunch of businesses because we have a
beautiful place to live. That should be the icing on the cake," Biomark's Park
said.<BR><BR>Halleus said Idaho lawmakers and leaders have done a good job
advocating for the state's mining, ranching and agricultural industries, but
not its high-tech industry.<BR><BR>Lokken agrees. The state's political,
public and private leaders need to get out of the past and into the future, he
said. "You've got to stop living out of what used to work," he
said.<BR><BR>Micron and Hewlett-Packard can no longer be expected to carry the
weight in a region Lokken says may be a "victim of its own success." Boise
needs to develop a cluster of small- and medium-sized high-tech businesses to
complement the big names.<BR><BR>"This valley did so well for so long, I think
people just assumed that they could do whatever they wanted and there would be
economic success and high-paying jobs," he said.<BR><BR>Most importantly,
Lokken said, Idaho's education system needs to catch up with the 21st century
and then stay ahead of the curve.<BR><BR>"The bell has rung," he said. "I hope
people are paying attention. We need to work on our education
system."<BR><BR>Today's Idaho schools are not "going to fund the next
generation's economy," he said. "It makes it hard to recruit talent from
outside. They are not like, 'Hey you guys have world-class schools. We should
bring our family there and then find a job.' You don't hear that a
lot."<BR><BR><BR></FONT></P>
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