By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
For 29 years, Sue Clark has been luring business to Bowling Green.
Known for her strong language, irreverent humor and dislike of early morning meetings, Clark has the ability to put together the necessary puzzle pieces for prospective businesses.
“I’m pretty blunt,” Clark conceded. “Probably more blunt than I ever should be.”
But it’s a formula that has paid off for Bowling Green.
“She changed the town,” Mike Marsh, one of the city’s economic development office founders, said about Clark.
Prior to the creation of the city’s economic development office in 1988, Bowling Green State University had been the sole large employer in the city. But when the state began cutting funds to BGSU, the city knew it had to search for other employers to put roots down in Bowling Green.
“We wanted to diversify our economy,” said Marsh, who was one of the economic development foundation’s original board members.
But the city didn’t want just any industries.
“We wanted clean manufacturing,” Marsh said.
The first person hired for the director’s job had experience in economic development, but no connection to the city. She did not last long.
Then Clark took a chance on the job – and the board took a chance on her.
“Sue was a terrific hire,” Marsh said. “She didn’t have a background in economic development, but she knew the town and loved the town.”
Acre by acre, the city acquired land for business and industrial parks. And brick by brick, new manufacturers built in Bowling Green.
“In tough times she did a great job retaining businesses. In good times, she did a great job attracting them,” Marsh said. “The tax base has swelled.”
“Every time I saw her I asked, ‘How many jobs?’ To me, it was all about the jobs,” Marsh said.
Clark recalled being inexperienced when she took the position.
“I didn’t have any background in economic development, but I knew the community. I sort of learned it by the seat of my pants,” she said.
The economic development office has always had a strong board to direct its efforts. Clark still remembers board member Dick Newlove’s cautionary words when she took the job.
“He said, ‘If I hear you use the term networking, or see you in the northern part of the county – you’re gone.’” The former director had apparently spent most of her time “networking” outside of Bowling Green, Clark explained.
Clark has served five mayors – Ed Miller, Wes Hoffman, John Quinn, Dick Edwards and now Mike Aspacher.
“The mayors have always been extremely supportive. I have enjoyed working for every single one of them,” she said.
Former mayor Dick Edwards frequently referred to Clark as “my favorite Mother Superior. She always has a way of getting my attention.”
With Clark, economic development meetings were “always lively, sometimes interesting, and often to the point,” Edwards said.
And the results were welcomed.
“The growth has been phenomenal,” Edwards said. “She really helped to change the economic development landscape of the city of Bowling Green.”
“I’m enormously grateful to Sue for her profound impact on Bowling Green,” he said.
It was during Clark’s leadership that city officials began annual tours of manufacturing sites in the city.
“It’s one of the things I’m most proud of,” Clark said. Company representatives no longer view the “government” visits with fear or suspicion, she said.
“They’ve become so accustomed to us doing it, they share things with us,” she said.
Edwards recalled the comfortable way that company officials talked with Clark.
“It always impressed me – they all knew her,” Edwards said. “It was very reassuring in my role as mayor.”
Clark said she never had to inflate Bowling Green’s qualities to attract business to the city. Its location, utilities and workforce help sell the community.
“Our location is ideal,” right by Interstate 75 and eight minutes from the turnpike. “You couldn’t ask for a better location in a small town.”
And then, there’s the rural work ethic.
“They stay till the job is done. They are loyal. They get to work on time,” Clark said. “There are a lot of employers who give credit for their success to their employees and their work ethic.”
Over nearly three decades, Clark has seen many companies come to Bowling Green, and others pass up the city for other locations. And she shares the successes with those who helped.
She considers one of her greatest successes as getting the second Cooper plant to move here. At the time, the company was on the verge of moving its existing plant to another community because the Ohio EPA had declared Wood County as being “non-attainment” for air quality standards.
With the help of then State Senator Betty Montgomery, the region shed that poor EPA ranking. Then municipal administrator Colleen Smith promised the city would build an extension of Fairview Avenue – and got it done.
“I was very proud of the community stepping up and doing what needed to be done to keep that plant,” Clark said.
Clark is also particularly proud of landing Southeastern Container, which is a huge electric customer for the city.
“I never could have pulled that off without Daryl Stockburger,” the former city utilities director, she said. “I’ve always sold Bowling Green on its great electric.”
As for mourning “the big one that got away,” Clark was troubled for a while about the Best Buy warehouse that was considering Bowling Green, then instead went in near Findlay.
“It kind of haunts me,” she said.
The deal rested on a zoning change needed for the warehouse. The zoning was not granted. And it stung.
“Early in my career, I probably didn’t have all the finesse I have at 29 years,” she said. “In retrospect I’m glad we didn’t get it because warehouses don’t create many jobs.”
During Clark’s decades in economic development, the biggest change has been the internet opening the city up to companies around the world.
“That gave us exposure that we never had before,” she said. “Internationally, people have found us.”
Bowling Green is currently home to manufacturers with home bases in Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan and India.
“It amazes me,” Clark said.
So that means that Clark has been asked for some unusual accommodations from overseas companies – such as when four Japanese companies were here at once. Clark found a Japanese grocery store in north Toledo to meet their food needs.
“They were always asking me to bring in a sushi restaurant,” she said. There is a sushi establishment in Bowling Green now, but Clark takes no credit.
“The job was always different. It wasn’t just about the buildings and the utilities,” she said.
One Japanese family asked Clark to help their children, who spoke little English and were entering Ridge Elementary.
“I sat with the teacher and the parents, and got an interpreter from BGSU,” she recalled. “I was very proud of BG Schools for stepping up and saying, ‘We can do this.’”
For the past few months, Clark has been coaching Kati Thompson, who is taking over the position.
Clark has no definite plans for her future, but added, “I’m not somebody who can sit at home very long.”
“I’m very, very lucky to have fallen into this,” she said. “I have loved doing this. I absolutely wish for everyone to find a job they couldn’t wait to go to everyday.”
