In Short from Sept. 22, 2008 | A roundup of new hires, promotions, accolades and appointments from Maine's business community

New Hires

Sebasticook Valley Federal Credit Union recently hired Kelley Carter as vice president of operations. Carter most recently worked for the Maine School Administrative District No. 48 where he managed financial reporting, accountability and public relations.

The James W. Sewall Company in Old Town, which provides integrated geospatial, engineering, and forestry consulting services, recently hired Chester Bigelow as senior environmental scientist. Previously, Bigelow worked at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

Oxford Networks in Lewiston recently hired Scott Mathieu to the position of sales engineer and product manager. Previously, Mathieu was a major account sales representative for IKON Office Solutions based in Malvern, Penn.

Saddleback Ski Resort recently hired Warren Cook as its chief executive officer and general manager. Previously, Cook was president and co-owner of Sugarloaf/USA.

Thomas College recently hired the following: Faith Benedetti as a composition II instructor; Daniel Booth as a human resource management instructor; Lucie Boucher as a reading support instructor; Mary Callan as a students and families at risk instructor; Donald Cragen as an assistant professor of sport management; Helene Farrar as a graphic design instructor; Andrew Grover as an accounting for management decisions instructor; Matthew Harris as a multimedia development instructor; Nancy Henry as a composition I and introduction to communications instructor; Joseph Massey as a community policing and partnerships instructor; Thomas Mauritzen as a foundations of quantitative analysis and management information systems instructor; Paula Michaud as a sign language instructor; Anthony Nedik as a training, development and evaluation instructor; Jessica Norton as a math for business and economics instructor; Brian Richards as a U.S. history instructor; Sarah Salisbury as a statistical inference and decision making instructor; and Wayne Wilson as a composition I instructor.

Walch Education in Portland recently hired the following: Joyce Hale as education product developer and Andrea Newman as regional partnership manager. Previously, Hale taught at Greeley High School in Cumberland and Newman was a teacher at Little Mill Middle School in Cumming, Ga.

The Conservation Law Foundation’s Maine Advocacy Center recently hired Gregory Cunningham as a senior staff attorney. Previously, Cunningham worked for 10 years at Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson, based in Portland.

Coastal Enterprises Inc. in Wiscasset recently hired Tom Leach and Jonathan Olmstead as business counselors. Previously, Leach served as a small business counselor with the Portland Maine Small Business Development Centers office and Olmstead served as president of the InterTech Group.

Belgrade Regional Health Center recently hired Dr. Amy Madden. Previously, Madden worked on projects addressing HIV/AIDS with the Peace Corps in the Central African Republic and Malawi and worked in a sexual assault crisis center in Maine.

Kirsten Walter was recently hired as director of the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center of Maine in Lewiston. As a Bates College student, and with the support of St. Mary’s Health System, Walter turned a trash-filled lot on Knox Street into a green space.

Norway Savings Bank in Yarmouth recently hired Sandie Randall as vice president and branch manager. Randall brings over 20 years of banking and mortgage lending experience to the Yarmouth branch.

Promotions

Penobscot Bay Medical Center recently promoted Dr. William Master to president of the active medical staff.

St. Mary’s Health System recently promoted Brenda Robitaille to physician practice quality improvement coordinator and Kevin Oliveira to health and safety manager.

Tilson Technology Management, an IT consulting firm in Portland, recently promoted Kim Girard to managing director of project management and W. Michael Swartz to managing director of Tilson’s IT security team.

Appointments

Brian Dudley recently was appointed interim vice president for institutional advancement at Cheverus High School in Portland.

The Maine Center for Enterprise Development recently appointed Ed McKersie as chairman of its board of directors. McKersie is the founder and president of ProSearch Inc. in Portland and founder of JobsInTheUS.com in Westbrook.

The Maine Community Foundation recently elected the following to its board of directors: Elizabeth Neptune, management consultant to the Indian Health Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Dighton Spooner, associate director of career planning at Bowdoin College in Brunswick; and Peter G. Vigue, chairman, president and CEO of The Cianbro Cos. in Pittsfield.

Erika Ricker recently was appointed president of the Maine Speech Language and Hearing Association. Ricker is a speech language pathologist at the Voice and Swallowing Center of Maine at Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast.

The Rainbow Business and Professional Association, a Portland-based nonprofit that promotes the growth of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender business community, recently elected the following as officers on its board of directors: Sue Davis of S.H. Davis Cleaning Services as president; Trevor Coyne of Keller Williams Realty as vice president; Jim Lauiser of Lauiser Family Gardens as treasurer; Butch Fenton of Blackstones as secretary; Stephanie Deveau of Shads Advertising as scholarship chair; Leah Bartley of Merrill Lynch as events chair. The organization also appointed the following to its board: Susan Eldridge of Westbrook Housing; Dwayne Kent of Hewins Travel; and Paula Keeney of Communications INK.

Spotlight

The Conservation Law Foundation, a Boston-based conservancy group with a center in Brunswick, outlined several steps to avoid an environmental crisis in its recent report, “New England’s Down Payment on the Future: Five Steps in Five Years to Confront the Climate Threat.”

The five steps are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and include the following: expand public transit options; invest at least $1 billion in new energy efficiency and conservation measures for homes and businesses; build 2,000 megawatts of new wind power; shut down at least two of the region’s coal-fired power plants; and enact legislation in every New England state to reduce emissions and to review the climate impact of new state permitting and infrastructure decisions.

Company News

Economic Stewardship, a planning company based in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., recently opened a new office in Island Point in Saco.

Junior Achievement of Maine, a local branch of the international educational organization headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., elected the following to its board: Clint Davies, Jeff Laniewski, Darren Hurlburt and Paul Clancy.

Angela Adams, a luxury design company in Portland, has joined with the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies to promote the Portland institute. There is a table in the store dedicated to the Salt Institute that displays Salt magazines, information about programs offered and a CD of some of the students’ documentary radio pieces.

Cape Madras, a clothing design company in Cape Elizabeth, recently was mentioned in Outside and Family Circle magazines.

The Maine Historical Society, based in Portland, recently received a $150,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in Washington, D.C.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, in Washington, D.C., awarded Maine $5,812,513 to fund urban renewal projects, including a $1,026,088 grant to the city of Bangor.

Amos Byron, an assistant vice president and trust officer at Kennebec Savings Bank in Augusta, recently qualified to become a certified trust and financial advisor.

The Maine Department of Economic and Community Development gave $1.47 million to eight communities through its Municipal Investment Trust Fund.

The Maine Academy of Modern Music, along with the Portland Music Foundation, the local band Paranoid Social Club and The Studio in Portland, offered a Recording Studio Camp this August. The program focused on giving students a hands-on education on the recording process.

Jasper Wyman & Son, a blueberry production company in Cherryfield, recently sponsored the Celebrate MAINE Festival in Eliot.

The Orton Family Foundation, in Middlebury, Vt., recently gave Biddeford and Damariscotta $100,000 each as part of its Heart & Soul program to help citizens control the growth of their communities.

Berry, Fowles & Co., a CPA firm in Falmouth, recently changed its name to Berry Talbot Royer. The firm’s current partners are Michael Royer, who oversees the corporate and individual tax and accounting team and Donald Talbot, who administers and directs the firm’s auditing functions.

The Muddy Rudder Restaurant in Yarmouth recently completed a redesign of its interior.

A recent survey by the Maine Credit Union League in Westbrook found that two-thirds of Maine credit unions are offering some sort of fuel assistance to customers. The aid will come in the form of low loan rates and special “energy assistance” loans.

Wright-Pierce, an engineering services company in Topsham, recently gave 12 scholarships to children of employees. This year’s recipients, students of engineers and support staff at five of the firm’s seven New England offices, are: Tyler Barnes, McKell Barnes, Andrew Laskey, Jamie Mauro, Kimberly Preble, Benjamin Stiles, Laura Anne Till, Hans Tobiason, Katelyn Taber, Brooke Davee, Erik Anderson and Nathan Braccio.

Kris-Way Truck Leasing Inc., a truck leasing company in South Portland, has opened a new 13,000-square-foot facility in Auburn.

The Calais LNG office recently held an opening reception, inviting the public to learn more about its proposed project. Calais LNG is proposing to construct and operate a liquefied natural gas terminal and storage facility on the outskirts of Calais that will connect to the regional gas transmission system via an approximately 20-mile pipeline.

Disability RMS in Westbrook, which provides turnkey disability risk management products and services, recently said its vice president of law, Andrew Bernstein, presented at the Defense Research Institute’s web conference. Bernstein joined other members of DRI’s Life, Health and Disability Committee to provide information to DRI members — defense trial lawyers and corporate counsel — in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent court ruling in the case of MetLife vs. Glenn.

Keiser Homes in Oxford is building the first LEED modular home in Maine for Maine and Coastline Homes in Ellsworth and Hollis. The home will be located in the Fuller Brook eco-community in Kittery after being built at Keiser Homes’ modular home manufacturing facility in Oxford.

Assist-2-Sell 1st Choice Realty in Brewer recently celebrated its fifth anniversary and has made, in the past five years, almost $93.5 million in home sales.

Greenville recently received a $350,000 Municipal Investment Trust Fund grant from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development to revitalize Junction Wharf, a major regional public boat launching site. MITF grants are supported through the $1.5 million bond initiative passed in November 2007 for distribution to eight Maine communities to enhance their downtowns.

The Maine Technology Institute board of directors has approved eight seed grants totaling nearly $88,000 to technology companies across Maine. The grants leveraged more than $124,400 from other sources. The companies were Artel Inc. in Westbrook, Auburn Enterprises LLC in Greene, The Evolution Company Inc. in Rockland, Life Story Commons in Scarborough, mCaddie Inc. in Portland, Micro Technologies Inc. in Richmond, New England Rare Reagents LLC in Gorham and SJV Trailers Inc. in Fort Kent.

Portland’s Cinque Terre restaurant was featured in the August issue of Gourmet, in the magazine’s guide to its “favorite farm-forward restaurants.”

Linda Carey, a Portland Harbor Hotel concierge, recently was accepted into the Les Clefs d’Or USA concierge organization. Carey and David Costa, another Portland Harbor Hotel concierge, are the only certified Les Clefs d’Or concierges in Maine.

The Susan L. Curtis Foundation in Portland was named the beneficiary of this year’s TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K. Established in 1971 following the death of the oldest daughter of Maine Gov. Ken Curtis and his wife Polly, the Susan L. Curtis Foundation has hosted more than 13,000 economically disadvantaged Maine students at its tuition-free outdoor education centers on Trout Lake in Stoneham called Camp Susan Curtis, and, since 2007, on Kezar Lake in Lovell at its Arts & Career Education Center.

Harriman, a full-service architecture and engineering firm based in Auburn, has acquired Team Design Inc., a Manchester, N.H.-based architecture and consulting firm.

Maine Eastern Railroad, a year-round freight railroad operation that runs seasonal passenger service between Brunswick and Rockland, recently was featured in the magazine Private Varnish. The publisher’s interest in Maine Eastern was triggered by the type and style of vintage passenger coaches used by the railroad in its excursion product and charter services.

Maine Machine Products Company in South Paris, a custom precision manufacturer, recently was certified by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development as a Pine Tree Zone business. The Pine Tree Zone program is a performance-based tax incentive.

Black Point Inn in Scarborough recently was featured in the New York Times and National Geographic Traveler magazine, which named the property to its inaugural “stay list.” The stay list features properties throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean that present an authentic sense of place, give back to their community and think green.

The University of Maine is again offering graduate-level courses in Augusta that cover public administration for working professionals and recent college graduates who are working, or are interested in working, in government or nonprofit fields. The three courses, starting in September, are City and Regional Planning; Accountability in Public Policy and Administration; and Community Power, Leadership and Administration.

Paddling the Rapids LLC, a new professional development company for nonprofits, has recently been formed by Deb Burwell and Carol Carriuolo, who are based in Belfast and Camden, respectively. The company facilitates leadership forums, peer consultation groups, organizational capacity assessments, executive coaching, strategic planning, transition management and a wide spectrum of other professional services.

Wellness Strategies in Eliot is launching a Certificate Program in Workplace Wellness, a five-week course held Friday mornings from Sept. 12 to Oct. 10, at the Southern New Hampshire University campus in Newington, N.H. The program is designed for those who are interested in learning more about how to start an employee health and productivity initiative or how to improve an existing one.

Rangeley Region Health Center has changed its name to Rangeley Family Medicine after receiving suggestions for a new name from community members. The center celebrated its name change and the arrival of a new physician, Dr. Amanda Hepler, at an open house in late July.

PRC Technologies, a division of Print Recovery Concepts Inc. in Standish, is offering laser printer cartridges using toner powder derived from soybeans, an alternative to petroleum-based toner powder.

St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion in Lewiston is renovating its Center for Transitional Rehabilitation for $1.6 million. The center provides short-term care patients with a modern stay while they recover from surgery, illness or injury, and prepare to return home. The center will feature 42 private rooms with bath and flat screen TV, wireless Internet access, a computer library, state-of-the-art therapy gym and kitchen, and a bistro with a fireplace and complimentary snacks and beverages. Work will be completed by January 2010.

Stantec’s offices in Portland and Scarborough saved an estimated 1,900 pounds worth of greenhouse gas emissions this summer after the company initiated its Bike to Work Challenge to encourage fitness and environmentally-conscious transportation. Participants spent four weeks cycling to work rather than driving, totaling 1,736 miles. Portland’s Rick Licht led the group with over 270 miles cycled.

MaineNEW Leadership, a new initiative at the University of Maine in Orono, will, starting in 2009, offer college-age women from Maine the opportunity to participate in a weeklong intensive residential training program targeting the next generation of leaders. UMaine is the newest partner in NEW Leadership’s national program, which has 17 members and began in 1991 at the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

The SCORE chapter in Augusta has entered into a new partnership with TD Banknorth to provide small businesses with financing and ongoing business counseling.

Barbie Murray, a sales and service representative at Camden-based financial services company Allen Financial Group recently was licensed as a Maine life and health producer. The company also recently hired Pam St. Clair as a commercial lines producer.

The University of Maine in Orono recently received a $1.4 million grant to study immunity systems. The grant is from the National Institutes of Health, a medical agency in Bethesda, Md.

The Village at Ocean’s End, a development in Southwest Harbor, recently hired The Swan Agency Sotheby’s International Realty to lead its sales and marketing team.

Demont & Associates Inc., a consulting firm in Portland, recently gave pro-bono services to Rape Crisis Assistance and Prevention, a rape counseling center in Waterville and Skowhegan; Kids First Center, a divorce counseling company in Portland; and Junior Achievement of Maine Inc., a child education center in Portland.

Jackson Laboratories in Bar Harbor recently received a grant from the National Institute of Health in Maryland for cancer research and to study developmental disabilities.

The University of Maine in Orono recently was included in the Princeton Review’s annual “Best 368 Colleges” guide for the fifth consecutive year.

The College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor was one of 11 colleges and universities named in the Princeton Review’s “Green Rating Honor Role” rankings. The college also was ranked eighth for “Students Happy with Financial Aid,” and tenth for “Class Discussions Encouraged” and “Most Accessible Professors,” among other designations.

Medieval Magic and Native Way, a skin care company whose two owners are from Casco and Otisfield, recently added a bug repellant to its product line.

The Belfast Chamber of Commerce in Belfast recently added Unity Raceway, a racetrack in Unity, as its 300th member.

Oxford Networks, a telecommunications company in Lewiston, recently laid an 11-mile fiber optic cable into Waterville.

Pastor Chuck Orchards, a specialty food company in Portland, recently added an apple salsa to its product line.

The Knox County Health Clinic, a low- or no-cost clinic in Rockland, recently said its Prescription Assistance Program has provided over $2 million in medicine to the Knox county community.

Norway Saving Bank, a financial services company in Norway, has donated $5,000 to the Western Maine Youth Athlete Support Association.

The University of Maine in Orono will offer three new annual scholarships to students in its Electrical and Computer Engineering department. The $7,500 scholarships will be donated by Kepware Technologies, a computer equipment manufacturing company in Portland.

York County Community College in Wells recently began offering a program for students over 50 through its Life Enrichment Academic Renaissance Network.

The Penobscot Bay Medical Center Main Laboratory in Rockport has received accreditation from the College of American Pathologists, a medical society based in Northfield, Ill. The award recognizes the quality of a lab’s facilities, staff and safety record.

USA Triathlon, the governing body for the United States’ international endurance team, selected Scott Marr to be the team physician for the International Triathlon Union’s World Championship in Geel, Belgium. Marr is an orthopedic sports medicine specialist at Orthopedic Associates in Portland.

Blue Marble Geographics, a software company in Gardiner, recently released an all-in-one product that combines several of its previous items.

Accolades

Custom Home Theater Systems & Automation, a home theater installation company based in Brunswick, recently won two awards from the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group based in Virginia. The company won first place in “best home theater retrofit,” and was a finalist for the “best home theater” category.

The Maine Bankers Association recently gave the 2008 Community Banker of the Year Award to Bank of Americas’ Roberta Nelson. The award honors Nelson’s work as the volunteer manager for Bank of America’s CHOICES Program, an interactive, decision-making workshop that Nelson and her team of Bank of America associate-volunteers deliver in classrooms across Maine.

Brian King, a peri-operative support person and an anesthesia aide in the operating room at Penobscot Bay Medical Center, has been chosen as Pen Bay Healthcare Employee of the Month for July. The award honors King’s good humor, presence of mind in stressful situations and eagerness to learn new surgical procedures.

Oakland-based Katahdin Cedar Log Home’s website has won a Gold Hermes Creative Award in the “Website Overall” category from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. Award winners are selected from hundreds of submissions to more than 135 categories each year.

William Purington, president and CEO of Maine Drilling and Blasting in Gardiner, has been awarded the 2008 Major Achievements in Construction Award. The award honors Purington’s management expertise, which has enabled the Gardiner-based company to become one of the largest of its type in North America.

The Maine Center for Enterprise Development recently said Nora Irvine of Journey Gift Bags is the 2008 winner of the Victoria Hilliard Donovan Fund award. The annual award is given to a female entrepreneur through the MCED’s incubation program. Irvine was also a finalist in the Annual USM Business Plan Competition.

The University of New England in Biddeford recently gave the 2008 Deborah Morton Award to the following: Martha Tod Dudman of Northeast Harbor, an author and community leader; Esther Nettles Rauch of Glenburn, an educator and former vice president of Bangor Theological Seminary; Leigh Ingalls Saufley of Cumberland County, Maine chief justice; and Nancy Thibodeau of Fort Kent, a community activist and winter sports promoter. In addition, Allyson Hildreth, a UNE dental hygiene major from Standish is the 2008-2009 Deborah Morton Endowed Scholarship recipient.

The Portland office of Consigli Construction Co. Inc. has been named one of Maine’s “Best Places to Work” for the second consecutive year. The award highlights the firm’s efforts to create a workplace environment that cultivates growth while enforcing positive change in the community.

Donald Albee Jr., a clinical instructor for the University of New England’s Nurse Anesthesia program, was named the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists’ Clinical Instructor of the Year. A resident of Lewiston, Albee is the assistant chief anesthetist and clinical coordinator at Central Maine Medical Center.

The Pen Bay Healthcare Diabetes and Nutritional Care Center in Rockland has received the American Diabetes Association Education Recognition Certificate for its diabetes self-management education program.

Inland Hospital in Waterville has been recognized for its health care service, winning the award for “exceeding patient expectations” by Avatar International, based in Florida, which measures customer opinions in healthcare. The award is presented to health care facilities whose patient survey scores are significantly higher than other facilities in Avatar’s national database for 2007.

Bar Harbor Bankshares, the parent company of Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, has been included in the “Sandler O’Neill Sm-All Stars—Class of 2008,” which includes 33 financial institutions across the nation. The objective of the Sm-All Stars is to identify the top performing small-cap banks and thrifts in the nation. Sandler O’Neill & Partners L.P. is a national research and financial advisory firm.