Mainebiz Special Editions

V O L . X X I V N O. X V I 60 FA C T BO O K / D O I N G B U S I N E S S I N M A I N E C E O I N T E RV I E W Mainebiz: You have clients and employees nationwide. Why invest in Maine? Joshua Broder: Maine is our home. We have around 400 employees across 17 locations, but 115 of them area in Maine. Labor is tight in Portland, but it is all across the country. We have been suc- cessful at adding high performing team members in Portland, year over year. We are only our people — starting over in a new city with diff erent people is not an option. We have offi ces all over the country and continue to hire into them, but we won't let go of the great people we have in Portland, or force a move. We love our hometown. MB: What factors went into choosing Portland for your new headquarters? JB: We fi rst had to decide we wanted better space. From there, we had to decide if we wanted to stay in Portland or move to the suburbs. While we could have saved money moving to the suburbs, staying in Portland was a no-brainer for us. As a services com- pany, workforce is our most important diff erentiator and greatest challenge, and we wanted a place that was going to be welcoming to in-town employees walking to work, and our whole team who enjoys the culture, food and night- life in town. Many of our Portland-area employees are millennials living in town, but even our suburban dwelling employees like a great lunch spot or a cocktail with colleagues after work. MB: Has recruitment been a challenge? JB: We have been fabulously successful attracting and retaining entry-level and mid-career employees to work at our Portland HQ by having a strong team culture, expectation for excellence with a peer group to back it up, and by off ering a lot of responsibility on day one, and opportunity to advance quickly. Tilson is constantly growing and taking on new, larger and more complex projects, so people get promoted quickly, get to learn new domains and technology, and get to work with new teams. Our former receptionist is running multi- million dollar projects on the cutting edge of wireless networking, and is widely respected nationally by her cli- ents and peers. Our engineering direc- tor started as a project assistant, within a year was running a multi-million dollar project, a year later was a director run- ning our new national wireless con- struction division, and now, just a few years later is selling and executing on eight-fi gure technology projects with 150 people working for her. MB: What have been the most effective strategies for recruiting and retaining talent? JB: Hiring veterans and hiring the best people and respecting the peer group by insuring our best employ- ees are surrounded by their equals. Building an alumni network and cel- ebrating the success of employees who fi nd their next steps elsewhere. Tilson is a place where the peer group sets the pace. When we have employees interview, we have them meet several Tilson employees and get a sense for the people they will be working with. We know that for high-octane people, they can feel the vibe and know they have found their tribe. Also, Tilson has worked with the University of Southern Maine, University of Maine, and Southern Maine Community College on interns and recruits. Tilson's engineering director, Kelly Brewer, is an adjunct professor at USM, and has teamed with educa- tional institutions to build a world class engineering team in Portland. It has been incredibly eff ective — doz- ens of employees through those pro- grams. We do the same thing in other cities around the country. MB: What recruiting strategies haven't worked? JB: Hiring high-octane accom- plished people who are not also team focused, hiring senior level people from large companies. We have doer- leaders. Professional managers who don't also do, don't make it in our team environment. Joshua Broder Title: CEO Company: Tilson Technology Headquarters: Portland What the company does: Deployment systems for cellular carriers; data services and supply chain solutions. In 2017, Tilson Technology Management moved from its offices on Commercial Street to a new 16,000-square-foot space at 16 Middle St., also in Portland. Tilson plans to add up to 100 employees in the next three years. Mainebiz spoke with CEO Joshua Broder about his decision to expand in Maine. B y J e n n i f e r V a n a l l e n F I L E P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY 'I have lived and built my life here' Joshua Broder, CEO of Tilson Technology in Portland, invested in a new headquarters in Portland. The company now has 400 employees, including 115 in Maine.

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