PETOSKEY – glimaNorthwest is reaching out to the IT community in Petoskey in hopes of beefing up its 100-member chapter in Traverse City.
glimaNorthwest President Chris Barber said Petoskey is the second largest metropolitan area in the region and includes a lot of businesses that want to learn more about the latest technologies.
Petoskey is considered part of our foot print, Barber said. Weve decided now to reach out to adjoining communities and Petoskey is the first market wed like to bring into our programming.
Petoskey will be treated like a new glima chapter, he said. Barber and his board will attempt to recruit 30 to 50 interested parties and introduce them to Automation Alley Executive Director Ken Rogers and glima Chairman Phil Bertolini. A membership meeting will be held in late summer or early fall. North Central Michigan College will serve as the core of the Petoskey sub chapter.
North Central Michigan College Director Tom Nathe said manufacturers are excited about getting a resource for networking and sharing information with their peers, Barber said. What weve recognized in this region is we can use technology to bridge the gap between us and more metropolitan markets down south.
While Petoskey, like Traverse City, will not be a hot bed of technology, glimaNorthwest has discovered users of technology the businesses themselves need the educational aspect that glima provides.
Weve taken the traditional glima chapter focused on IT professionals and tailored it to IT users, he said. We see lots of IT users in Petoskey.
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