NMU Class of 1969 alumnus Scott Holman of Freemont, Mich. was recently appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to fill a vacancy on the NMU Board of Trustees left by the resignation of Stephen Gulis, Jr. Holman will serve the remainder of Gulis Jr.’s eight-year term, which expires on Dec. 31, 2018.
Holman previously served on NMU’s Board of Trustees from 1997-2004 after being appointed by Gov. John Engler, and was chairman of the body briefly during his tenure.
North Wind staff writer Luke Londo had the chance to interview Holman, and following is the transcript of that interview.
North Wind: What have you been up to since you left the Board of Trustees in 2004?
Scott Holman: I sold my two businesses to my three sons. That would be Baycast Incorporated and Baycast Technologies, and they have gotten started. In that time I have helped to start a bank in Saginaw, and that is called First State Bank.
We have worked on that and developed three branches and a main office. I have also worked on my property in Baraga County for the logging and recreation and so forth and that’s called King Lake Wilderness, LLC. And pursued my hobbies.
NW: One of the things that has happened since you left is that NMU implemented a WiMAX system. I understand you had something to do with that. Could you please explain?
SH: I think for Northern this is really exciting. It’s really an outreach into the community and into the entire Upper Peninsula for Northern.
What we’re trying to help with is the expansion into rural areas. I own Grand Island, and the lighthouse station and power grid and everything we have created by ourselves out there.
Of course, you’re not on the main grid, so you have to use solar panels, wind generators and so forth. We were able to provide a relay station for Northern to send internet up to the Big Bay area and the school system in Big Bay.
NW: In an interview recently with the Mackinac Center, you said you had 23 family members who are NMU graduates. What is it about Northern that’s inspired a Holman family tradition?
SH: Well I think first of all I have to give credit to my grandfather, who was a miner, but he considered education so important that he educated six of his children, my aunts and uncles and my father, and to get an education at Northern. Two of them became teachers, two of them became dentists and then it carried on through the next generations.
NW: It’s been 10 years since you served on the NMU Board of Trustees. How do you think the issues and board have changed since then?
SH: Well it’s a little early for me to tell since I’ve only attended one session, which was our “strategic planning session,” but frankly I felt like there wasn’t 10 years, I was just attending the next meeting.
I think some of the issues are the same, some are a little different. But I’m looking forward to work with this board.
NW: Individually, what is on your checklist for the Board during your term?
SH: My goal is to be there to help and to do what I can to continue to make improvements at Northern and make it a great place for students to get their education.
NW: What are your thoughts on the presidential search?
SH: Frankly, selecting a president is the main, most important task that an NMU board of control, the Board of Trustees, has as its job. It is so important because it does influence education, it influences the growth of the university, and it is something that carries on for an unknown number of years with a new president.
So that is the one of the most important things an NMU board can do.
NW: You were tapped by Governor Snyder on Friday, Feb. 7 to fill a vacancy on the NMU Board of Trustees, and three days later, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which you chair, endorsed Governor Snyder’s re-election. Is there a conflict there or is Snyder just the right man for the job?
SH: Well I don’t think there’s a conflict at all. That endorsement had been planned before I even knew about the vacancy. There was no connection or relationship between the two.
And besides, that endorsement comes from the Michigan Chamber Board as a whole and not from one individual. Snyder, we believe, has done a lot for creating the right atmosphere in Michigan for jobs and for businesses to operate, and so we feel as the Michigan Chamber that he is absolutely the right man for the job in the next term.
