September Update from our President and COO

As the fall season approaches, I hope with all the certainties and uncertainties life has to offer us, you are able to navigate the situation with family and friends. I also hope you are able to give yourself time to engage in the activities that make you happy and joyful.

From GWI’s side, we have been able to make good progress on a couple of important things:

• For the second year in a row, we have been voted as one of the best places to work in Maine (small business category).  This is an accomplishment we are extremely proud of.  We try to intentionally have an environment where respect, trust, transparency and empowerment are lodestars of our corporate DNA. In today’s world where we all desire to work with peers and colleagues who value participation, allow each of us to contribute and all together provide meaning to the efforts we expend, this is an honor we deeply cherish. It is always a work in progress and we aim to keep it going forward.
• We are looking at how the intersection of in-place and remote work is going to manifest itself for us over the next weeks and years. To that end we are conducting employee workshops to understand and collate all the various perspectives and then subsequently create high-functioning, flexible ways of working that include hybrid work options while at the same time evolving our workspace.
• We have been busy following the progress of the Maine Connectivity Authority and doing our part to inform all the stakeholders about the importance of affordability, reliability of service, digital inclusion and transparency of process. This is an tectonically important moment in the history of Maine economic development efforts as the high speed broadband infrastructure that will be put in place, thanks to the federal and state funding that is being channeled, will define the opportunities our society will be able to access for the next 30 to 50 years.
• We are going to be working on coming up with creative ways to communicate with you; one idea we have been seriously considering is short, fun and content-rich video podcasts. If there are topics you would like to see us cover in 2022, don’t hesitate to contact us or post on Facebook and we will definitely take it into consideration.

One last quick note: as a manic soccer fan and previous competitive player, the show Ted Lasso on Apple TV is an absolute gem (fyi, it does have salty language). If you can watch it, please do.

Be well and take good care.

Kerem Durdag,

President and COO, GWI