Courtesy Jim Siplon (2021)
The Warren County EDC named Jim Siplon President at their meeting this morning. Siplon had been interim president, since last year when the previous president, Ed Bartholomew, unexpectedly died after a surgery.
"Obviously, Jim, we owe you a significant amount of thanks here," said EDC Board chair Matthew Fuller during the meeting. "Filling Ed's shoes is no small task."
Fuller said that Siplon hit the ground running and has earned respect both in North Country region as well as in Albany.
"I’m truly excited about it," Siplon said in an interview after the meeting. He said he has spent his life building individual businesses, and is happy to work with multiple businesses on a regional basis. Moving from the interim to the permanent position has meant that he can think more in terms of years, not months, he said.
Town of Queensbury Supervisor John Strough agreed with Matt Fuller and added, "Jim was handed a herculean task" to fill Bartholomew’s shoes but that Siplon has the energy to do it. Strough is on the board of the Warren County EDC, which voted unanimously on the promotion.
According to a biography of Siplon on the EDC’s “Upside Blog,” last summer, as chief operating officer of JUST, "Mr. Siplon led the successful effort to create in Glens Falls an environmentally sound alternative to bottled water: Spring water drawn from the Adirondacks and served in 100 percent recyclable plant- and paper-based packaging." JUST Water is sold worldwide.
Siplon previously served as the Managing Director of FIJI Water, is a former senior executive at MCI, GE, Roll International and Teleflora. He served in the U.S. Air Force and holds an undergraduate degree from Utah State University and an MBA from Boston University, the blog post says.
Bartholomew had a very large footprint on economic development in the area. He worked on many boards and chaired others. Slowly, his positions are being filled. Last month, Glens Falls appointed Jeff Flagg director of economic development for the city, another role that Bartholomew had filled. [See our coverage, here.]