In Short from July 14, 2008 | A roundup of new hires, promotions, accolades and appointments from Maine's business community

New Hires

Lance Foss and Mary Ellen Bruce, formerly of Lemon Tree Caterers, have joined the staff at The Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites in Saco.

Oakhurst Dairy in Portland recently hired John McCartney as distribution manager in its new logistics division. Previously, McCartney worked for the United Parcel Service.

PDT Architects in Portland recently hired Katherine Fischer and Paul Nelson as designers.

MEMIC, a workers’ compensation insurer in Portland, recently hired Jennifer DeWitt as a summer safety intern. DeWitt is a student at the University of Southern Maine.

Kleinschmidt, a Pittsfield-based energy and water-resource consulting firm, recently hired John Slagle as a licensing coordinator at its Falmouth office.

D. Scott Mangiafico recently was hired as a financial advisor at the York office of Bancnorth Investment Group Inc., a registered broker for PrimeVest Financial Services Inc. that offers services through TD Banknorth branches.

Ascendant Energy, a solar power company in Rockland, recently hired Greg Dorsey as a project manager.

D. Gallant Management Associates, a human resources consulting firm in Portland, recently hired Michelle Pritchard as a senior associate. Previously, Pritchard worked for L.L.Bean Inc. in Freeport.

The American Heart Association recently hired Darcy Evans as regional director of quality improvement initiatives in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Previously, Evans was the stroke program manager at Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Oxford Networks in Lewiston recently hired Patrick Stevens as a sales engineer, James Harder as an account manager and Karin Bisson as customer sales representative and receptionist. Previously, Stevens was a network engineer at Bangor Hydro-Electric Co., Harder was an account manager for Clear Channel Radio and Bisson was a medical secretary at Pediatric Associates in Lewiston.

The town of Baileyville recently hired Luke Lazure as town manager. Previously, Lazure was a business analyst and assistant vice president at Citigroup in Portland.

Northeast Bank, based in Lewiston, recently hired Jeff Wright as assistant vice president and business development manager at its Brunswick branch. The bank also recently hired Barbra Esposito as business development officer at its Portland branch.

Harriman, an Auburn-based architecture and engineering firm, recently hired Joe Barbarino as an electrical designer.

Tilson Technology Management, a consulting firm in Portland, recently hired Aaron Mosher as a senior consultant and Joel Valverde as a summer sales intern.

WoodenBoat Publications Inc. in Brooklin recently hired Todd Richardson as advertising director for its WoodenBoat and Professional Boatbuilder magazines, as well as ProBoats Events Online, a Web-based product.

Putney Inc., a company in Portland that develops generic drugs for companion animals, recently hired Stacey Vaughan as senior director of business development. Previously, Vaughan was director of business development at Catalent Pharma Solutions in Somerset, N.J.

The Maine Center for Enterprise Development, a business incubator at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, recently hired Steven Bazinet as executive director.

James W. Sewall Co., a geospatial, engineering and natural resources consulting firm in Old Town, recently hired David Levine as vice president and Bill Sharp as product manager. Levine and Sharp will lead Geospatial Solutions, a new division at the firm that offers geographic information system services.

MetLife of Greater Maine in Cumberland Foreside recently hired Dan Bellemare as a financial services representative.

Weichert, Realtors - The Waterglen Group in Portland recently hired David Roberts as a sales agent.

Promotions

Norton Insurance & Financial Services in Cumberland recently promoted Rick Doane from director of operations to chief operating officer.

LeRoux Kitchens in Portland recently promoted Leslie Khordsandi from store manager to senior buyer for the company’s three stores in Portland, Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. and Portsmouth, N.H.

Oakhurst Dairy in Portland recently promoted James Lesser from director of marketing to vice president of sales and marketing.

Bull Moose Music recently promoted Tia DiBiase from head clerk at the company’s Scarborough location to store manager at its Lewiston location.

Jessica Hargreaves recently was promoted from short-term managed disability analyst to senior short-term managed disability analyst at Disability RMS, a reinsurance provider in Westbrook.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in South Portland recently promoted Michael Burton from director of sales for the large group market to regional vice president of sales.

Kennebunk Financial Services, a division of Kennebunk Savings Bank, recently promoted Ryan Hale from financial planner to vice president.

Baker Newman Noyes, an accounting firm in Portland, recently promoted the following to senior manager: Dayton Benway, Celine Couillaut, Rick Cyr, Nickolas Ireland and Jamey-Marie Richio. The firm also recently promoted the following to manager: Kristin Corey, Dan Flack, Melinda Irish, Patricia Williams and Tiffany Wilson.

In addition, the firm also promoted the following to tax senior: Krista Daniels, James Gaddis, Desmond Gilliard, Brandi Good and David McKellar. The firm also promoted the following to audit senior: Kristin Brown, Erica Desfosses, Andrew Dunne, Craig Frey, Lindsay Kennan, Dennis Labbe, Keith Morin, Linda Murray, Julie Sulzberger and Natalie Walsh. Pamela Cooke and Aimee Plowman were promoted to health care consulting senior. Jeff Mansir was promoted to information technology consulting senior. Hope Dvorak was promoted to information technology staff consultant.

Appointments

Deborah Gallant, president of D. Gallant Management Associates, a human resources consulting firm in Portland, recently was elected to the Maine Cancer Foundation’s board of directors.

Steve Prue, an executive underwriter at MEMIC, a workers’ compensation insurance firm in Portland, recently was elected president of the Maine Chapter of the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters Society.

The Maine Association of Community Banks recently elected the following to its executive committee: Glenn Hutchinson, president and CEO of Bath Savings Institution, as chairman; Mark Mickeriz, president of Sanford Institution for Savings, as vice chairman; and Dennis Brown, executive vice president of Savings Bank of Maine in Gardiner, as immediate past chairman. The organization also elected the following to its executive committee: Kendall Reed, president of Kennebunk Savings Bank; Christopher Emmons, president of Gorham Savings Bank; Earle Harvey, president of Border Trust Co. in Augusta; Andrew Perry, president of First Federal Savings and Loan Assoc. of Bath; James Conlon, president of Bangor Savings Bank; and Peter Judkins, president of Franklin Savings Bank in Farmington.

PCA Great Performances, a nonprofit organization that books music and theater concerts in Portland, recently elected the following to its board of directors: Michael Boyson, an investment management analyst and senior advisor at Smith Barney in Portland; Jay Menario, vice president of product development and practice at Unum in Portland; and Sigmund Schutz, a partner at Preti Flaherty in Portland.

In addition, Aimée Petrin, executive director of PCA Great Performances, recently was appointed to the Maine Arts Commission in Augusta, and to the board of directors of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, based in Washington, D.C.

Cheverus High School in Portland recently appointed the following to its board of trustees: Gregg Frame, founding member of Taylor, McCormack & Frame in Portland; Janice Rogers, vice president for human resources at Diversified Communications in Portland; Jordon Denning, associate general counsel at Wright Express Corp. in South Portland; and Michael DuBois, a special investigator for The West River Group in Annapolis, Md. In addition, the school named the following as members of its board of advisors: Jonathan Leahy, Justin Ward, Ralph Lancaster, Mark Cloutier and James Cloutier.

The Maine Higher Education Council in Portland recently appointed Charles Lyons, president of York County Community College in Wells, to its executive committee.

Thomas Moakler, CEO of Houlton Regional Hospital, recently was elected chair of the board of directors of the Maine Hospital Association. The organization also appointed the following to its board: Arthur Blank, president and CEO of Mount Desert Island Hospital, as chair of the quality council; Dennis King, CEO of Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook, as chair of the mental health council; and Donna Libby, nursing director at Maine Medical Center, as the Organization of Maine Nursing Executives representative. In addition, the organization also elected the following as officers: Kris Doody, CEO of Cary Medical Center in Caribou, as chair-elect; Jud Knox, CEO of York Hospital, as treasurer; and Marie Vienneau, CEO of Millinocket Regional Hospital, as secretary.

Spotlight

Penelope Andrews recently launched Commercial Driver Documentation Services in Richmond.

The company helps commercial truck drivers manage the paperwork they are required to file to authorities in the states they travel in. The paperwork includes registration, quarterly reports, and use and excise tax forms. Taking time from work to complete this paperwork on their own can be costly and time-consuming for commercial drivers, Andrews says. She estimates truck drivers can save anywhere from $1,000 to $17,000 by contracting her to manage their paperwork.

Andrews recently took over the accounts of the Maine Motor Transport Association, which ceased offering its documentation service. She currently has 14 clients.

Company News

Lindsay Strang of D. Gallant Management Associates in Portland recently was certified as a professional in human resources by the Human Resources Certification Institute. D. Gallant Management Associates is a human resources consulting firm.

Sandy Butler, a University of Maine professor of social work and coordinator of the UMaine Master’s in Social Work program, recently received a $123,000 Academic Research Enhancement Award from the National Institute on Aging to start a three-year student research project to find out why the labor pool serving Maine’s elders is shrinking.

The Maine Association for Middle Level Education has received a grant from Horizon Foundation, based in Maryland, to provide ongoing professional development for school leadership teams in Maine’s middle schools.

Harbor Technologies in Brunswick recently shipped out six fiberglass composite beams for bridges in Illinois. The composite beams weigh much less than conventional bridge beams made on concrete and steel rebars.

Hoglund’s CountrySide Meat Market has opened in downtown Biddeford after renovating the former Dupuis Hardware Store on Washington Street into a butcher’s shop and store.

Tom Tomczyk recently formed Prosper Acquisition Group, a professional business brokerage in Cape Elizabeth. The company will help entrepreneurs sell their businesses without retainer fees, and also provide buyers with exclusive searches of businesses that are not on the market. Tomczyk recently worked for Diversified Business Communications as VP of Business Development.

The Maine Historical Society in Portland recently chose the following communities to participate in its new Maine Community Heritage Project: Bath, Farmington, Hampden, Islesboro, Lubec, New Portland, Presque Isle and Thomaston. For the project, the MHS gives groups in each community a $10,000 grant, which they’ll use to create an online archive of local historical documents.

The United Way of Eastern Maine in Bangor recently approved 76 nonprofit programs as partner agencies. The nonprofits will share $1.2 million in grants from the UWEM through 2010.

Camden National Corp. recently was ranked 20th in U.S. Banker’s list of the top 200 mid-tier, publicly traded banks in the United States. The magazine based its ranking on banks’ return-on-investment over the last three years.

Gardiner Main Street, a nonprofit that promotes downtown development, recently opened an outdoor farmers market in town. The organization also launched a website for the market, www.gardinerfarmersmarket.org.

The Diamond Cove Home Owners Association recently opened The Gallery at Great Diamond Cove on Great Diamond Island in Casco Bay.

Gordon Page, vice president and director of passenger operations at Maine Eastern Railroad, recently attended the annual convention of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association in San Antonio, Texas. At the convention, Page helped lead a discussion about creating and sustaining successful passenger rail service on a short line railroad.

Granny Kirkwood’s Bakery, a shortbread bakery in South Portland that donates after-tax profits to Maine Medical Center’s adult oncology unit, recently was featured in a video for New England Cable News, a 24-hour regional news network based in Newton, Mass.

Lee Skawinski, chef at Portland restaurant Cinque Terre, recently was interviewed about wine for USA Today’s monthly “Sips” column by Jerry Shriver.

Sebasco Harbor Resort in Sebasco Estates recently said it plans to allocate more than 60% of its marketing budget to online advertising. The resort also recently re-launched its website, www.sebasco.com.

Sharron Eastman, owner of Big Horizon Mortgage in Kennebunk, recently spoke about reverse mortgages at the Maine State Bar Association’s annual summer meeting at Sunday River in Newry.

Darwin Gillett, founder and president of Bath consulting firm Noble Business Solutions, recently launched a blog, “Notes on noble business,” on his website, www.noblebusinesssolutions.com.

Safe Handling Inc., a bulk transportation and toll processing company in Auburn, recently opened a trail-to-truck transloading ethanol terminal in Mount Pleasant, Pa. The terminal can receive up to 30 rail tanker cars at a time that each carry about 29,000 gallons of ethanol. The company will truck the ethanol to regional petroleum terminals, where it will be blended into E10, a type of gasoline that contains 90% gas and 10% ethanol.

Cooke Aquaculture’s Gardner Lake Hatchery in East Machias recently hosted student groups from Washington Academy in East Machias and Lubec Consolidated High School. With help from the Maine Aquaculture Association in Hallowell, the students used the facility to investigate whether native aquatic plants could grow in the type of integrated, multi-trophic aquaculture system Cooke operates.

KAPPA Mapping Inc. in Bangor recently completed new tax parcel maps for the City of Gardiner. The firm also worked with Dirigo Spatial Systems of Hampden to convert the city’s paper maps into digital data that can be analyzed with geographic information systems software.

Lafrance Hospitality in Westport, Mass., recently opened an 86-room Comfort Inn & Suites hotel in Wilton.

Accolades

James Macomber, a microenterprise consultant for MaineStream Finance, based in Bangor, has been named the U. S. Small Business Administration’s 2008 home-based business champion of the year for both Maine and New England for his commitment to advancing small home-based businesses in Maine.

Susan Rowan, executive director of the Maine Cancer Foundation, has won the Extreme Office Make-Over contest sponsored by Warren’s Office Supplies in Springvale.

Mike Connolly, director of plant and engineering at Mercy Hospital in Portland, recently was named Maine Health Care Engineer of the Year by the Maine Health Care Engineers Society. The award honors the professional who best exemplifies and promotes the society over the past year.

Donna Booker, a family educator with Androscoggin Head Start and Child Care’s home-based program, recently received the Fridelle Peterson Award from Androscoggin Head Start in Lewiston. Award recipients exemplify compassionate and professional delivery of direct services.

The Greater Bangor Convention & Visitors Bureau recently held its 13th annual tourism awards dinner and presented the following awards: Robert Kennedy, president of the University of Maine in Orono, received the Eagle Award for Individual Achievement; Danny and Carla Lafayette, owners of Lafayette Hotels of Bangor, received the Eagle Award for Lifetime Achievement; Hollywood Slots in Bangor received the Eagle Award for Organizational Achievement; The American Folk Festival, an annual three-day event in Bangor, received the Greater Bangor CVB Impact Award; Julia Haskell, from the Bangor Mall, received the Tourism Employee of the Year Award; and Heidi Suletzki, from Bangor International Airport, received the Spirit of Hospitality Award.

Inland Hospital in Waterville recently received two awards for its healthcare service quality from Avatar International Inc., a healthcare research and consulting organization based in Florida. The hospital received awards for Exemplary Service-Overall Best Performer 2007 and Five Star Service in Outpatient Care 2007. The awards were based on the hospital’s 2007 patient surveys.