One wouldn’t necessarily think the world of politics has much to do with selling furniture.

If you would have asked Alpena native Joe Gammons that question years ago he would have agreed. Not so today.

“Politics actually provided a great foundation,” Gammons said of his training for owning an office business store. “It’s about personal interaction with customers and networking. Customers have to like and trust you — that’s important.”

Today in Fort Myers, Fla., Gammons owns Office Furniture and Designs Concepts, a business that started out in 2003 with $2 million in sales that today has grown to $20 million. Not bad for a guy who before moving to Florida was working in the office of Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.

The story of how Gammons ended up in Florida is an interesting one. It involves perseverance, faith, hard work and family. Through it all he never has forgotten his northern Michigan roots — still keeping in contact with the area through The Alpena News each day. In fact, as he reflects over his life, he kiddingly jokes “not bad for a guy from Alpena.”

Part of those roots involves the importance of philanthropy, something that is very important to him. Today, in addition to running his very successful business, being involved in numerous service organizations and community groups and balancing the demands of a very active family, he has assumed the chairmanship of the Lee Health Foundation, which just completed its goal of raising $100 million to complete the Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida.

Gammons said when people first mention Florida, they often think retirees, like his mother Sharon, a retired school teacher from Alpena Public Schools. The reality is, however, there are just as many younger families living across Florida as well who need to help serve and attend to the needs of the retirees.

“There are 13 high schools in Naples alone,” Gammons said.

The need for a children’s hospital to service this region is huge, he added.

The children’s hospital will open within the next few weeks and once it does, the new chairman of the foundation has his sights set next on three other major projects. First, he wants to expand the cancer center. Second, he wants to double the size of the Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers. And finally, he hopes to build a new outpatient facility for the Lee Memorial Health System in Bonita Springs.

And, Gammons explained, the reality of running a children’s hospital is understanding that such facilities more often than not lose money. Thus, perhaps a fourth, but unofficial goal at this point, is continuing the fundraising efforts for the new Golisano Children’s Hospital.

They are lofty goals but Gammons is confident the people of southwest Florida will rally around the vision and continue their contributions to the foundation. Certainly he has read what people in Northeast Michigan have done with the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan, and with his foundation work in Florida he has witnessed firsthand a similar philanthropic spirit.

And like his success in business — connecting with people and then making them feel special — he will utilize that same approach in his role as chairman of the foundation board.

When he started out in the office furniture business, he jokingly remembers that the only thing he knew about office furniture was “I knew how to sit at an office desk.”

Obviously he turned that knowledge into a successful endeavor.

With him at the helm of the foundation, I would expect a very similar successful run.

And if things get tough, all he needs to remember is to turn to his roots, where the “seeds of success” first were planted.

Bill Speer can be reached via email at bspeer@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 354-3111 ext. 331. Follow Bill on Twitter @billspeer13.