Maine group seeks nominations for Family Business Awards
File photo / Courtesy, IFOB
Catherine Wygant Fossett, executive director of the Portland-based Institute for Family-Owned Business, speaks at the 2019 Family Business Awards ceremony.
The Institute for Family-Owned Business is seeking nominations of the best family-owned Maine businesses for recognition during the 22nd annual Maine Family Business Awards.
All family-owned businesses in Maine are eligible for consideration, and do not have to be IFOB members to be nominated. Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged.
The IFOB describes a family business as one in which an owner either shares ownership or works in the business with at least one other family member (contemporaneously or over time) and has a commitment to the continuation of the enterprise. Businesses that are nominated will be informed of who nominates them.
“We look forward to the opportunity each year to honor the incredible family businesses that help grow and strengthen Maine’s economy.” said Catherine Wygant Fossett, IFOB's executive director. “Since the Maine Family Business Awards were started in 2000, we have recognized more than 106 family-owned businesses for their excellence.”
Speaking to Mainebiz last year for a feature about non-family members running family businesses in Maine, Wygant Fossett noted that in family businesses "are more open to coaching, having an advisory board and bringing in outside talent to keep the stewardship alive and the company strong for generations to come.”
The deadline for the 2022 Family Business Award nominations is Friday, June 24 (see "More Information" below). The awards, which will be presented at an Oct. 24 event, in partnership with Portland-based workers compensation insurer MEMIC, and hosted by Amanda Hill, News Center Maine weeknight television anchor.
This year's keynote speaker will be Anthony Simmons, retired president and CEO of McIlhenny Co., the Louisiana-based maker of Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce. Simmons represents the fifth generation of the company and is a great-great grandson of founder Edmund McIlhenny.
Awards to be presented include the Renys Large Business Award (25 or more employees); the Chalmers Insurance Group Customer Service Award; the Holiday Inn By The Bay First Generation Award; the People's United Bank Innovation & Technology Award; the Shep Lee Community Service Award; the Maddy Corson Small Business Award (fewer than 25 employees); and the Cumberland Crossing by OceanView Environmental Leadership Award.
An independent judging panel selects winners based on criteria that include the nature of family involvement, the success of the business, the work environment, and innovative business practices or strategies.
Last year's honorees included Horch Roofing, of Warren; Lisbon-based aquaponics startup Springworks Farm, whose founder and president Trevor Kenkel was also recognized on the 2021 Mainebiz Next List; Farmington-based sporting goods manufacturer Origin, founded by 2018 Mainebiz Next List honoree Pete Roberts; Dolphin Marina and Restaurant, of Harpswell; Biddeford-based Volk Packaging Corp.; Smiling Hill Farm, of Westbrook; and Zachau Construction, of Freeport. IFOB also gave its first-ever national service award to recognize Puritan Medical Products of Guilford for its role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harry Fraser, president of the H.G. Fraser Group LLC and who was honored last October with the 2021 BerryDunn Lifetime Achievement Award, died in November.
More information
Find out more about this year's awards and nomination process here.
The deadline for nominations is Friday, June 24. Nominated businesses will have until Friday, July 1, to complete a questionnaire from the institute to provide additional information about their business and automatically become semifinalists.
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