🔒IN SHORT

New hires

Midcoast Federal Credit Union in Freeport hired Tena Wallace as vice president retail services in Thomaston. Wallace has 30 years of customer service experience within the financial industry.

James W. Sewall Co., a natural resources, energy and infrastructure consulting firm in Old Town, hired Finn Bondeson as civil staff engineer in the firm's engineering group.

Waynflete, a private school in Portland, hired Mary Jane Pagenstecher as director of performing arts. Pagenstecher, who will begin her role in August, currently serves as director of fine and performing arts at Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Md.

Pine Tree Society, an organization in Bath serving Maine children and adults with disabilities, hired James Belanger as finance director.

Jensen Baird Gardner & Henry, a law firm in Portland, hired Jeffrey Herbert, Mark Balfantz and Joseph Carleton Jr. as attorneys. Herbert is a member of the firm's real estate practice group, Balfantz is a member of the firm's government services and land use and planning practice groups and Carleton has practiced condominium and homeowner association law for 30 years, representing major developers and large homeowner association clients.

The Maine Real Estate Network in South Portland hired Barry Harder as a broker.

Dawson, Smith, Purvis and Bassett, a CPA firm in Portland, hired Benjamin McCartney as a member of its business valuation team. McCartney was previously a member of Toyota North America's management development program.

OTELCO, a wireline telecommunications company in New Gloucester, hired Kendra Carter as marketing coordinator and Paul Archambault as a voice and data network engineer based in Portland. Carter worked most recently at WEX Inc. while Archambault was a senior product development architect for FairPoint.

Hussey Seating in North Berwick hired David Holdsworth as a dealer sales manager for the Midwest market and Shane Milburn and Jeffrey Wilson as applications engineers. Holdsworth was previously with Wayne-Dalton a Division of Overhead Door Corp., Milburn was a mechanical engineer at Kleenline Corp. and Wilson was a senior design engineer for the Kurt J. Lesker Co.

Malone Commercial Brokers in Portland hired Brandon Mitchell as an associate broker, Cheri Bonawitz as a commercial broker and Karen Rich as a broker. Mitchell joined the firm after several years in commercial real estate, Bonawitz is a Certified Commercial Investment Member and a member of the Maine Commercial Association of Realtors and National Association of Realtors and Rich specializes in all aspects of sales and leasing of retail, office and industrial properties.

Promotions

Cross Insurance, a subsidiary of Cross Financial Corp. in Bangor, promoted Louise Tardie to benefits division manager at its Bangor office. Tardie was most recently an employee benefits account manager.

CBRE|The Boulos Co., a real estate agency in Portland, promoted Catie Seavey to associate broker.

Midcoast Federal Credit Union in Freeport promoted Liza Reno to vice president retail services, Bath and Edgecomb and Dana Orenstein to vice president business development and mortgage loan officer.

Diversified Communications, an international media company in Portland, promoted Jonathan Bass to marketing manager. Bass most recently served as senior marketing coordinator.

Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington promoted Michael Worthley to lead pharmacy technician. Worthley was previously a pharmacy technician.

Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution promoted Brian Ballute to senior vice president, CFO and treasurer; Mark Jones to senior vice president, director of lending; Jeff Roberts to senior vice president, director of information technology; Jeff St. Laurent to vice president, retail lending manager; Mark Hodgdon to vice president, digital banking manager; Michael Jean to vice president, business loan officer II; Joe Reardon to assistant vice president, Westbrook branch manager; DeAnn Lewis to vice president, information security officer; Tammy Tracy to assistant vice president, business banking office manager; Travis Vacchiano to business banking officer; Ashley Parker to customer care officer; and Cara Chase to customer relationship associate.

Dream Local Digital, an online marketing agency in Rockland, promoted Sierra Hayes to senior project manager, Kasey Ahlquist to client strategy and brand manager and Kimberly Grindle to senior marketing strategist. Hayes was previously office coordinator and project manager while Ahlquist and Grindle were marketing strategists.

Norway Savings Bank promoted Deb McPhail to senior vice president, deposit operations; Rob Harville to vice president, commercial lending; Kelly Sturmer to vice president, market manager; Tici Conant to assistant vice president, commercial administration; Janel Danforth to assistant vice president, retail strategies analyst; and Pam Gaudet to assistant vice president, commercial administration.

Health Access Network, a community health center in Lincoln, promoted Nicole Morrison to CEO. Morrison, who has 20 years of management experience in health care, had served as interim CEO since August.

First National Bank and its parent company, The First Bancorp in Damariscotta, promoted Monique Bearce to branch manager of both of the bank's Rockland locations and Angela Parent to assistant branch manager in Rockport. Bearce was previously assistant branch manager at the bank's Rockland Park Street location while Parent was branch supervisor.

Appointments

The Land & Garden Preserve in Seal Harbor elected Sam McGee as chair of its board of directors. McGee, who was elected in November and will transition to the chair role this spring, has been a board member at the Preserve since 2007.

Milestone Recovery, an addiction recovery program in Portland, added Russ Donahue, Marc Foster and Kinna Thakarar to its board of directors. Donahue is senior consultant and principal at HDS Consulting, a marketing communications firm Freeport; Foster is an associate broker with Vitalius Real Estate Group; and Thakarar is an attending physician at InterMed, works at the Virology Treatment Center in Portland and is an assistant professor of medicine at Maine Medical Center/Tufts University School of Medicine.

The Susan L. Curtis Charitable Foundation, a statewide youth development organization in Portland, announced its new trustees including Bob Stevens, partner at Curtis Thaxter LLC; Chris Norton, vice president, investments at Rogers Norton Wealth Management Group of Raymond James; Elyse Corbett, owner of Bella Vita Counseling; Michael Geneseo of Michael Geneseo Illustration & Design; Kylie Mason, senior project manager at Sebago Technics; Lisa McIlwain, director of human resources at Southern Maine Health Care; Michael Norton, director of external communication and community relations for Hannaford Supermarkets; and Bryan Wiggins, brand strategist for Pulp + Wire. Officers for 2018 are Rocky Cianchette, chair, president, Main Line Fence Co.; Matthew Cyr, vice chair and project manager, Zachau Construction; Laura Beckmann, clerk, vice president of benefits, UNUM; Bob Nadeau, treasurer, vice president, commercial lender, Bangor Savings Bank; and Susan Thomas, immediate past chair, partner, Epstein & O'Donovan LLP.

The Maine Real Estate & Development Association, a statewide organization of commercial real estate owners, developers and related service providers based in Portland, elected Donald McFadden, director of environmental services at St.Germain Collins, and Mark Stasium, senior vice president in the commercial real estate lending division at Camden National Bank, to its board of directors.

Thornton Tomasetti, an international engineering firm, announced that Gunnar Hubbard was appointed to the American Institute of Architect's 2018 Committee on the Environment Advisory Group for a three-year term. Hubbard is principal and sustainability practice leader in the firm's Portland office.

Bernstein Shur, a law firm in Portland, said Joel Moser was appointed to the International Association of Assessing Officers Task Force on Contracting for Assessment Services. The five-person group will meet virtually and in-person throughout 2018 to develop best practices and guidelines for municipalities that contract out assessing services. Moser is a shareholder with the firm.

The city of Portland selected members to serve on the Office of Economic Opportunity's Advisory Team in order to help guide its direction and core priorities. The team will advise the city and Office of Economic Opportunity on the strategic vision to maximize the current assets and address gaps affecting Portland's immigrants and refugees, people of color and youth. The committee, appointed by a selection committee and the city manager, includes Mohamed Abdirahman, Mufalo Chitam, Julie Chase, Guillerme Bila, Donna Gaspar Jarvis, Chanel Lewis, Ahmed Al Manshidawi, Georges Budagu, Ophelia Hu Kinney, Julia Brown, Sally Sutton and Victoria Rodriguez.

Achievements

Burgess Technology Services in Bath attained the Microsoft Silver Cloud Solution Provider competency. The competency, as described by Microsoft Corp., indicates that a company “demonstrates consistent capability, expertise, and commitment” in selling and deploying Office 365 solutions to small and mid-sized businesses.

Christine Black, member service specialist at Infinity Federal Credit Union in Bangor, was selected to represent the state of Maine at “Crash the GAC 2018” by The Cooperative Trust and Credit Union National Association. The credit union also announced its annual award winners. Black was honored for “Build Relationships Founded on Trust;” Fred Lizotte won the “Easy to do Business” award; “Employee Advocates” were Caitlin Field and Tim Drapeau in Small Business Services, Terry Vetrano in Member Engagement Contact Unit and Operations and Shane Drake for providing mortgage training and support to the branches; and the cross-functional team led by Peter St. Onge, Don Cohen, Tim Villemaire, Ginny Perusse, Erika Fecteau and Liz Withee were recognized for collaborating and developing the channel and process of selling mortgages to the Federal Home Loan Bank.

Katahdin Bankshares Corp., parent company of Katahdin Trust Co. in Houlton, said it was named to the “2018 OTCQX Best 50,” a ranking of over-the-counter stocks traded on the OTCQX Best Market last year.

Lisa Botshon, an English professor at the University of Maine at Augusta, received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to Portugal, where she will teach graduate and undergraduate classes at the University of Lisbon this semester. The university said it was also named a “Top School” in Military Advanced Education & Transition's 2018 Guide to Colleges & Universities and a “Military Friendly School” by Victory Media.