170 leaders attended Friday's meeting
MARQUETTE -- Operation Action UP is the only private sector economic development organization in the state.
At their annual meeting Friday afternoon, community leaders came together to promote economic growth in the area. This year's theme was Natural Resources: The Next Generation.
"We have looked largely at the economic downturn that the nation, as a whole, has experienced over the past couple of years, and we recognize that the U.P. is largely unaffected by that. As we look closer, we came to the realization that was largely because of benefits of the natural resources of the local economy," says Operation Action Co-Chair Brett French.
A panel of experts from Kennecott Mineral Company, Cliffs Natural Resources, and Holli Forest Products discussed their role in the local economy and answer questions from the audience. For many, this was a high point of the meeting.
"Just the education piece and understanding the mining and the forestry issues and concerns, community concerns, those sorts of things," explains mBank employee Shelby Bishoff.
The goal of today's meeting was simple: walk away with a better understanding of U.P. businesses and what makes them successful. And that's what the 170 community leaders who came today will take back to their workplace.
"The growth of our community and employing folks in the community, so that's probably the most important thing to me is obviously business development for the bank," Bishoff says.
The next meeting for Operation Action UP is next January.
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