In short from Aug. 23, 2010 | A roundup of new hires, promotions, accolades and appointments from Maine's business community

New hires

Dr. Mark Eggleton recently hired dentist Rebekah Blanchette to his family dental practice in Bangor.

The Acadia Hospital in Bangor recently hired Deb Sanford as vice president of patient services and risk management. Previously, Sanford was a patient care administrator at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Fluid Imaging Technologies Inc., a water quality instrumentation manufacturer in Yarmouth, recently hired Faith Baker as assistant director of marketing. Previously, Baker worked as a contracted business writer and marketing consultant.

FOX23 WPFO in Portland recently hired Barry Gabloff as a local sales manager. Previously, Gabloff was employed at WCSH 6 in Portland.

KG Partners, an advertising and public relations firm in Portland, recently hired Mark Kunert as assistant creative director and Bryan Wyatt as public relations senior account executive. Previously, Kunert worked at St. John & Partners in Jacksonville, Fla., and Wyatt was vice president at DPR Group Inc. headquartered in Germantown, Md.

Maine Medical Center in Portland recently hired Cheryl Ramsey as director of leadership development in human resources. Previously, Ramsey was owner of Hobelaid Consulting Services.

Bangor Savings Bank recently hired Darrell Gill as branch manager of its new branch location at 883 Forest Ave. in Portland. Previously, Gill worked for TD Bank.

Berry Dunn McNeil & Parker, a certified public accounting firm in Portland, recently hired Nicole Becnel as a consultant in the firm’s government consulting group, Verna Lynch as a senior consultant in the firm’s management and information technology consulting group and Angela Thompson as a staff accountant in the firm’s tax services group.

Harriman, an architecture and engineering firm in Portland, recently hired Peter Pinkerton as interior design studio leader.

Paragon Commercial Real Estate in Portland recently hired Shawn Gilbert, Jennifer Small and Diane Churchill as associates.

Putney Inc., a pet pharmaceutical company in Portland, recently hired Derek Chapman as manager of portfolio growth initiatives and marketing.

Legacy Publishing Co. in Westbrook, a producer and publisher of personal development products for families, recently hired Kevin Varney as the manager of its Auburn sales center. Previously, Varney was a sales manager at CTA Call Center in South Portland.

Michael Wilson, a lawyer and CPA, was recently hired as chief financial officer of Portland Public Schools.

Pen Bay Healthcare in Rockport recently hired Brooks Betts as senior leader in IT. Previously, Betts was vice president of information services and chief information officer at Lincoln County Health Care.

Berry, Dunn, McNeil & Parker in Portland recently hired Max Donlon as a staff accountant.

Bangor Savings Bank recently hired Susan Landry as mortgage development officer for Androscoggin County.

Tractor Supply Co. recently hired Tim Morancy as the manager for its new store in Sanford.

Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International in Kennebunk recently hired Kathy Ostrander as a real estate agent.

Modern Pest Services in Brunswick recently hired Dick Vautrinot as general manager of its new wildlife division and Elaine Gammon as marketing manager. Previously, Vautrinot owned and operated Accurate Wildlife and Gammon was an account executive at Idexx Laboratories.

NE Moves Mortgage in Waltham, Mass., recently hired Anthony Cilea as a senior loan officer. He is responsible for overseeing the origination of loans in the Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage offices of Kennebunkport and Cape Elizabeth.

Central Maine Community College in Auburn recently hired Christopher Paradis as a corporate training coordinator with the Department of Corporate and Community Services.

Sanford Institution for Savings recently hired Don Cohen as vice president, senior retail banker. Previously, Cohen was a senior mortgage consultant at Lenders Network in Portland.

Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems in Bangor recently hired Gregory Roraff as the president and chief executive officer of the Blue Hill Memorial Hospital. Previously, Roraff was CEO of Marlette Regional Hospital in Marlette, Mich.

Bernstein Shur, a law firm in Portland, recently hired attorneys J. Colby Wallace and Kathryn Wallace to the firm’s tax, trusts and estates practice group.

Macdonald Page & Co., a certified public accounting firm in South Portland, recently hired Ivanka Stefanova as a staff accountant.

Tilson Technology Management, an information technology project management company in Portland, recently hired Eliza Mathias as director of business development. Previously, Mathias was project manager for Goold Health Systems in Augusta.

Promotions

Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems in Brewer recently promoted Glenn Martin, chief internal audit and compliance officer, to vice president and general counsel following the retirement of Leonard Giambalvo on July 12.

Kinney Office Systems in Bangor, a division of A-COPI Imaging Systems, recently promoted Dean Parent to president.

Bangor Savings Bank recently promoted June Usher to branch manager of its Portland branch at 180 Middle St.

Cummings, Lamont & McNamee, a certified public accounting firm in Kennebunk, recently promoted principal Cindy Keohan to managing director.

Town & Country Federal Credit Union in South Portland recently promoted David Libby to chief executive officer and president. Previously, Libby was chief operating officer and executive vice president.

Leann Sebrey was recently promoted to director of nursing for the Homecare and Help at Home division of Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice in Rockland, a member of the Pen Bay Healthcare family of services. Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice also promoted Heidi McCaffery to director of hospice and palliative care.

Appointments

Shamrock Sports Group in Portland recently appointed the following to its board of directors: Bill Ryan, president and owner of Oxford Plains Speedway; Patrick O’Reilly, accountant and consultant at Macdonald Page & Co.; Carl Hansson, chairman and owner of TSS Photography; Corrine Vitolo, CEO of SmartSports; Gustavo Arenas, retired senior vice president of Advanced Micro Devices Corp.; and Joel Wuesthoff, director of Protiviti.

The Foundation of the Society for Marketing Professional Services recently announced that Allison Sovetsky, a college, university and hospital market specialist at Woodard & Curran in Portland, has been awarded the SMPS Foundation’s Ron Garikes Student Scholarship for 2010.

People’s United Financial Inc. recently named John Barnes, president and CEO of People’s United Bank in Portland, as president/CEO and a member of the board of directors.

The Maine Community Foundation in Portland and Ellsworth recently elected Andrea Cianchette Maker, vice president for corporate affairs at Martin’s Point Health Care in Portland; Candace Sanborn, managing partner at Encompass Marketing & Design in Auburn; and John Witherspoon, president and CEO of Skowhegan Savings Bank, to its board of directors.

Gov. John Baldacci recently nominated the following people to serve on the Maine Public Employees Retirement System Board of Trustees, the Maine Labor Relations Board and the Maine Workers’ Compensation Board of Directors: Catherine Sullivan and Richard Metivier to the retirement system board; Patricia Dunn, Karl Dornish and Richard Hornbeck to the labor relations board; and Glenn Burroughs and Emery Deabay to the workers’ compensation board. The governor also appointed Tim Glidden as acting director of the Maine State Planning Office and nominated Angela Faherty for appointment as the commissioner of the Department of Education.

Company news

Norton Financial Services in Cumberland Foreside recently announced that president Peter Fendler, principal Richard Sawyer and financial consultant Kieth Tong were awarded the Accredited Investment Fiduciary designation from Fiduciary360.

The University of New England’s College of Pharmacy recently received a Maine Technology Institute grant of $480,000 to develop a biotechnology cluster. The grant, which is matched by $678,000, will fund the establishment of a drug analysis and development facility in Portland. UNE is pursuing the project in collaboration with the Maine Medical Center Research Institute and the city of Portland’s division of economic development.

The Maine Technology Institute awarded a grant of $500,000 to the University of Maine at Orono. The grant, which is matched by $500,000, will allow UMaine to purchase a floating LIDAR system to measure wind velocity from the near surface to the 300-foot offshore turbine hub and beyond.

The University of Southern Maine’s Department of Environmental Science was recently awarded a $175,000, three-year National Science Foundation grant to support the development of an applied energy curriculum, which will allow USM to offer energy-related courses and a certificate. The grant will help develop and implement a renewable energy curriculum that will prepare employees for all aspects of work in Maine’s energy sector.

Saddleback ski resort in Rangeley recently announced that its new Decade Pass is now for sale.

Northeast Bancorp, the parent company for Northeast Bank in Lewiston, recently declared a dividend of $0.09 per share, payable on Aug. 27 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Aug. 6.

The National Cancer Institute recently awarded $3.5 million to the Maine Medical Center Cancer Institute to develop new and expanded programs to increase outreach to the underinsured, underrepresented and disadvantaged populations in Maine for the continuum of cancer care. MMCCI was also chosen to be a member of the National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program network.

Portland-based CouponEvolution.com, featuring coupons from locally owned and area businesses, is now operational.

Ecomaine in Portland, a nonprofit group that handles recycling and waste disposal for area municipalities, recently announced that it has broken its own recycling record by processing more than 66.8 million pounds of material in one year, from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010. The nonprofit’s previous record of 61.4 million pounds was established last year.

The Orono Public Library, designed by WBRC Architects and Engineers in Bangor, was recently awarded a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Kennebec Savings Bank recently announced that Danielle Moszczenski, an employee in the bank’s investment management and trust department, has completed all the requirements of the certified trust and financial advisor designation from the American Bankers Association Institute of Certified Bankers.

The Island Institute in Rockland recently received a $50,000 grant from Time Warner Cable.

The Norway Water District recently announced it will receive a $437,000 low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the replacement of a 100-year-old cast iron water main.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced it will provide a $247,500 investment to Charles A. Dean Memorial Hospital in Greenville. The funding will enable the hospital to purchase moveable equipment for new and expanded health care facilities, as well as update its imaging technology.

Ocean Renewable Power Co. in Portland recently received $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy under phase two of the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs.

The Northern Border Regional Commission recently announced that a grant award process has been put in place to begin to accept applications for federal assistance, with a goal of awarding approximately $1.3 million by Sept. 30.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee recently approved $17.2 million for improvements at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery. The funding is included in the fiscal year 2011 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs spending bill.

The U.S. Army recently awarded General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products a contract in the amount of $24,861,751 for 130 advanced lightweight grenade launchers, to be produced in General Dynamics’ facility in Saco.

Gail Kingsley of Libby O’Brien Kingsley & Champion, the chair of Avesta Housing, recently co-hosted the opening of Florence House in Portland with Elaine Rosen, president of Preble Street.

Thirty-one students were recently inducted into the second class of the Maine Medical Center/Tufts University School of Medicine Medical School Program.

Gritty McDuff’s Brewing Co. in Portland recently announced its Halloween Ale will be in retail stores and on tap in bars and restaurants by late August.

Evangeline restaurant in Portland recently announced it has added a new menu called Le Menu de la Nuit.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently awarded a combined $9,404,866 to the Somerset Telephone Co., the Hartland and St. Albans Telephone Co. and the West Penobscot Telephone and Telegraph Co. to expand broadband service in rural and unserved communities in the Somerset and Penobscot regions.

U.S. Cellular recently completed construction of an additional cell site in Winterport Station to increase coverage there, along Route 1.

Linda Buckmaster, employment and training coordinator for Women, Work and Community in Augusta, was recently accepted into the 2010/2011 Sector Skills Academy, jointly operated by the Aspen Institute’s Workforce Strategies Initiative and Public/Private Ventures.

WBRC Architects and Engineers in Bangor recently announced that Jill Simpson, a project designer, has passed her architectural registration examination and is now a licensed architect in Maine. The firm also announced it has signed on to the American Institute of Architects 2030 Challenge and has set its goal of achieving carbon-neutral buildings by the year 2030.

The Maine Center for Enterprise Development recently announced this year’s Top Gun 2010 class: Janet Eugley, EchoHeart; Kevin Grant, VetEnvoy Inc.; Tom Hall, Hall Web Services; Amy Ireland, Zum Sport; Ogden Morse, AcademicMerit; Christopher Stickney, MTK-Technology Group; Sergei Breus and Mary Alice Hurvitt, Maine Blue Stream Power; Steve Brown, Pure Secure; Beth George, Spelt Right Inc.; Steve Jordan and David Hinson, Benevoltek Inc.; Scott Moffat, VFG Energy Systems; and Adrianne Zahner, Turtle Love Co.

Laura Thibodeau, president and owner of Springborn Staffing in Portland, recently achieved her professional in human resources designation by passing an examination administered nationally by the HR Certification Institute.

The U.S. Department of Education recently awarded a combined $2,721,249 in grant funding to the following eight Maine colleges under the department’s Student Support Services Program: $255,504, Northern Maine Community College; $310,996, the University of Maine at Presque Isle; $252,505, Washington County Community College; $579,180, the University of Maine at Orono; $293,863, the University of Maine Farmington; $500,188, the University of Maine at Augusta; $290,517, Central Maine Community College; and $238,496, York County Community College.

The U.S. Department of Justice recently awarded a combined $1,712,794 in Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program funding to the Maine Department of Public Safety, Washington and Penobscot counties and the cities of Calais and Bangor for criminal justice and drug enforcement initiatives.

Spotlight

The Maine Migrant Health Program recently launched its new Mobile Medical Unit on the farm roads and fields of rural Maine, according to a press release from the organization. A team of care providers including some combination of physicians, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, social workers, health educators and interpreters, staffs the vehicle to provide care to mostly immigrant farm workers.

Maine Health Access Foundation provided a $125,000 grant and an additional $75,000 challenge grant that Maine Migrant Health Program was able to match with federal and private funds to purchase the state-of-the-art mobile unit.

Each year the mobile units visit up to 50 towns in Maine, in Washington, Hancock, Knox, Kennebec, Aroostook, Androscoggin, Franklin, Cumberland and York counties.

Accolades

The Maine Credit Union League recently honored Hugh Keene, chair of its board of directors, with the Alexander Ferguson Award for Outstanding Credit Union Volunteer.

Central Maine Power Co. in Augusta was recently ranked number one in residential customer satisfaction among large electric utilities in the East, according to an annual study by J.D. Power and Associates, a global marketing information services company.

Virginia Caruso, a financial advisor at Edward Jones in Brunswick, was the company’s first hall of fame inductee of this region.

Fisher & Phillips, a labor and employment law firm in Portland, recently announced that Jonathan Shapiro, regional managing partner, Eric Uhl and Melinda Caterine, partners, and Philip Moss, of counsel, have been selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2011.

A poster presented by University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine professors Kathryn Thompson, Renee LeClair, Barbara Winterson and David Manyan received the outstanding presentation award at the International Association of Medical Science Educators.

Rick Bagnall, voluntary benefits specialist at Allen Insurance and Financial in Camden, recently achieved membership in the Million Dollar Round Table, an association of financial professionals.

The town of Rangeley was one of eight communities selected as America’s Best Summer Lake Towns of 2010, by the online edition of Budget Travel magazine.

Maine Cancer Foundation recently presented the following awards: The 2010 Carroll Award was presented to The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor; Susan Rowan, executive director, was presented with a special Carroll Award; and the 2010 Founders Award for extraordinary volunteerism went to Doug Stewart. Also acknowledged for their contributions were Sheri Danforth, Burgess Advertising, and Dave Marchese, Marchese and Associates. Oxford Networks, Saco Biddeford Savings Institution, Maritime Energy and Town and Country Credit Union were saluted for their support of the foundation in the past year.

The GO MAINE commuter assistance program and its marketing team Buxton Communications and Engine 5 Design received the 2010 TDM Creative Excellence Award from the Association for Commuter Transportation Patriot Chapter.

Mark Fenton of Steamatic of Greater Portland Inc. recently received the 10-year longevity award for service and the 2008 and 2009 Outstanding Contractor Awards for superior performance in air duct services from Steamatic Inc.

The National Newspaper Association recently named www.fenceviewer.com, The Ellsworth American and Mount Desert Islander website, the best community newspaper website in the country.

The Camden Harbour Inn in Camden was recently selected as one of 51 favorite splurges worldwide by Sherman’s Travel, a luxury travel magazine and popular website.

In Princeton Review’s annual The Best 373 Colleges, College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor is noted for offering an outstanding undergraduate education.

Morris Yachts in Trenton recently received the 2010 Best Boat of the Year, Bristol Award by Cruising World magazine.

Gifford’s Ice Cream in Skowhegan recently signed on as the official ice cream of the second annual Dempsey Challenge.

Sixty-seven lawyers from Portland-based law firm Pierce Atwood were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2011.