Baker Newman Noyes leader to retire after 24 years with Portland accounting firm

Photo / Courtesy, Baker Newman Noyes Dayton Benway, managing principal of Baker Newman Noyes, will retire from the firm at the end of 2024.

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By Renee Cordes

After six years at the helm of Baker Newman Noyes and more than 24 years with the Portland-based accounting firm, Managing Principal Dayton Benway plans to retire at the end of 2024.

Benway, who joined the firm in 2000 as a member of its health care practice, is leaving to spend more time with family as he maps out his next professional move, the company said.

Over the next seven months, he plans to work closely with the firm's management committee to ensure a smooth transition process and to work with his successor, who has not yet been chosen. Out of 330 total employees, 165 are based in the Portland office.

“I have always believed there is a time and place for every leader,” Benway said in Tuesday's announcement. “We never own the role or the seat, we merely hold our leadership positions temporarily and do everything in our power to make things better than how we inherited them.

"I have always done anything and everything I could to make BNN better for our employees, our clients and our communities."

Before taking on his current role, Benway led the firm’s health care consulting group and sat on the company’s management company. His previous experience includes working as a Medicare auditor with the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. He is a 1997 graduate of the University of Southern Maine, where he majored in accounting.

“We are tremendously grateful to Dayton for his passion and dedication to BNN’s employees, clients and community partners and wish him all the best in this new chapter,” said Rick Cyr, a principal of the firm. “We are equally thankful that Dayton will be part of a thoughtful and deliberate transition process to ensure his successor can help guide BNN forward with all the wisdom, insight and expertise Dayton has given to the firm for so long.”

The firm said it has started the search for its next managing principal and plans to have the position filled later this year.

Tri-state footprint

Baker Newman Noyes, with roots going back nearly 100 years, was formed in Portland in 1995 when Newman, Noyes & Associates merged with partners of KPMG Peat Marwick Portland.

In addition to its Portland base, Baker Newman Noyes serves clients around the world from full-service offices in downtown Boston and Woburn, Mass., as well as Manchester and Portsmouth, N.H.

Based on $33.1 million in Maine-based revenue during 2022, Baker Newman Noyes is ranked No. 2 among the state's largest accounting firms in the 2024 Mainebiz Book of Lists, behind No. 1 BerryDunn.