Approximately 16 months ago, I became the owner of Elmet Technologies (formerly Philips Elmet). It was previously owned by Philips Electronics and has been located in Lewiston since 1929. We employ approximately 270 employees in our company with more than 220,000 square feet in our manufacturing facility.

My purpose for writing this column is to explain the role Gov. Baldacci and Commissioner Jack Cashman of the Department of Economic and Community Development played in making my purchase possible.

Without the assistance of the governor and Commissioner Cashman, and their commitment to keeping jobs in Maine, I would not now own Elmet Technologies.

Let me explain. I worked for Philips for 20 years. The first 13 years I worked here in Lewiston and was then promoted to the Philips corporate offices in Somerset, N.J. Working directly for the president of Philips Lighting North America, I was responsible for the sale of lighting products in the U.S. During seven years at corporate, I regularly asked if I could purchase Elmet. It was not a core business for Philips, but I knew it had great potential if managed with a new focus.

I also knew the workers in Lewiston were something special. In the year 2000 in Rome, the team from Elmet won Philips’ worldwide quality competition. The team had finished in the top three in past years, but this was indeed a fantastic accomplishment – especially since the competition includes all Philips companies, not just the lighting factories.

Philips finally agreed to sell me the business in December 2002.

Then I had to raise the money to buy it. After months of meeting with local banks and investors, I had little success. I had no idea what to do. It was difficult to even get my foot in the door.

Finally, I decided to call the governor’s office. There was a chance that if I didn’t buy Elmet, it would be closed or moved to another state and a significant number of jobs would be lost. I knew Gov. Baldacci would be interested in my situation because he has indicated on many occasions he wants to keep Maine jobs in Maine.

The governor’s office asked me to meet with Jack Cashman, which I did. However, during the meeting, the governor walked in, spoke to me for awhile and pledged to do whatever he could to make my deal work.

Both he and Mr. Cashman were true to their word. They immediately put me in touch with attorney Severin Beliveau and Union State Capital, a Portland company that worked to put me in touch with banks and investors.

The going was tough, mostly because it’s not easy to buy a business from a large, international company. But everyone was wonderful, including Gov. Baldacci, who called me several times to find out how things were going.

In the end, all went well. Officials at Citizens Bank decided to take a chance on me and the rest, as they say, is history.

Elmet’s performance has exceeded expectations in its first year. We have also reinvested more than $2 million in new equipment and technology during this time. This will allow us to grow our customer base worldwide and enter into new exciting markets.

None of this would have been possible without the governor’s personal involvement and his administration’s goal of keeping Maine jobs in Maine.

I had never met Gov. Baldacci before he walked into that first meeting, but I now feel I can pick up the telephone and call him or Jack Cashman, and they will be there for me.

Gov. Baldacci obviously has an open-door policy that is effective, welcoming and responsive to businesses. All I can say is thank you. It’s a pleasure doing business in Maine.

Jack Jensen is the president and CEO of Elmet Technologies Inc. in Lewiston.

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