🔒Business leaders demonstrate vision and grit

As is often the case when Mainebiz honors business leaders, these companies and names should be familiar to our regular readers.

In each case, the leaders we honor this year with our Mainebiz Business Leaders of the Year awards have already been regularly featured on these pages.

But it should be noted that we are honoring them for the impact they have had on the business community and on Maine itself, creating jobs, generating significant revenue and taking steps to be good citizens in the communities they serve. We are proud to honor the following:

Melissa Smith, president and CEO of WEX Inc. (large company leader): In the profile by Digital Editor James McCarthy, Smith talks about how there “is more energy and innovation that comes with being a global company.” She has overseen the growth of WEX to $1 billion in revenue, up from $854 million the year before and $817 million her first year as CEO. Last year, the company made an acquisition worth roughly $1.5 billion, including cash and stock. She believes in giving back, as demonstrated by WEX’s $800,000 in corporate contributions. And, interestingly, Smith comes from the northern Maine town of Winn, pop. 401, and now runs a company with 2,700 employees, including 750 in Maine. She’s demonstrated that a Mainer’s grit can be put to good use at an NYSE company.

Bob and Carmen Garver, owners of Wicked Joe Coffee and Bard Coffee (small company leaders): The Garvers moved from a city that a lot of people think is pretty nice, Santa Cruz, Calif., because they wanted a better way of life in Maine. They started Wicked Joe Coffee in 2004 and have helped create a better way of life here by getting certification as a B Corp and from the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. They’ve established Wicked Joe and Bard as socially responsible, while selling 100% organic products. At the same time, the companies have grown, hitting $6 million in sales, ensuring that the Garvers’ good deeds don’t go unnoticed.

David A. Greene, president of Colby College (nonprofit leader): As mentioned, if you’re a dedicated reader of Mainebiz, you’ll recognize this name. Greene has taken bold steps not only to improve the Colby campus and make it more attractive to prospective students, but has led the effort to energize Waterville’s long-dormant downtown. Greene has taken a visionary approach to building not only the school, but the surrounding area, mending a town-gown divide.

Heard on Main Street

Burgess Advertising & Marketing is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a move to more modern offices at 6 Fundy Road, Suite 300, in Falmouth. The agency spent 28 years at 1290 Congress St. in Portland. President and CEO Meredith Strang Burgess says the firm had its origins in a breakfast meeting in December 1986 with Oliver Payne, Alan Brewer, and Jack Stanyon. The meeting “flowed into lunch, drinks and dinner, by the end of which the four had decided to become an ad agency, Brewer Stanyon & Payne Inc.,” Strang Burgess said in a release. The agency set up shop at 100 Commercial St. with two clients: the Samoset Resort and O’Loughlin Real Estate. By September 1989, it moved to 1290 Congress St., where it spent 28 years. (The Mainebiz Real Estate Insider recently reported it will become a dental office.) Strang Burgess eventually became the sole owner and the agency has gone through two name changes. Today, the agency has 10 employees and clients include Maine Housing; New England Cancer Specialists; Efficiency Maine;  Chalmers Insurance; Dielectric; Educate Maine; ITS; Greater Portland Health and more.