Newsworthy people and performances

New hires

Northland Enterprises, a commercial real estate development company in Portland, hired Conor Beliveau as development officer.

Market Decisions Research, a survey research firm in Portland, hired John Charles as research assistant.

Bernstein Shur, a law firm in Portland, hired Jessica Lewis as an attorney in the firm's business restructuring and insolvency practice group.

Allen Insurance and Financial in Camden hired Abraham Dugal as a financial advisor. Dugal was most recently director of U.S. investment operations for Cambridge Associates.

SeniorsPlus, an agency on aging in Lewiston, hired Brian LaCroix as director of finance. Previously, LaCroix served as CFO for Harbor Family Services in Northport.

The YMCA of Southern Maine in Portland hired James Dowd as CFO.

Safe Passage, a nonprofit in Yarmouth, hired Matthew Wolcott as director of development/U.S. director.

Bar Harbor Bank & Trust hired Donna Mills-Stevens and Adam Dow as assistant vice presidents/retail and residential lending. Mills-Stevens was most recently a mortgage loan officer II at KeyBank while Dow was a business development officer at Norway Savings Bank.

Habitat for Humanity of York County hired Amy D'Amico as executive director. D'Amico was previously resource development director for Habitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut.

Maine Water in Saco hired Helen Pottle as an engineering associate. Pottle was a consulting engineer with Tata & Howard.

Finance Authority of Maine in Augusta hired Roxanne Broughton and John Endicott as commercial loan officers.

Norton Financial Services in Cumberland Foreside hired Amy Montefusco as group benefits account specialist. Montefusco previously was senior account service representative with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Androscoggin Bank in Lewiston hired Chip Morrison as business development officer. Morrison was previously the president and CEO of the Androscoggin Chamber of Commerce.

Norton Insurance Agency in Cumberland Foreside hired Andrew Wright as marketing assistant. Wright was previously with Orvis as a sales associate.

WBRC Architects Engineers in Portland hired Jim Curley as a senior structural engineer.

Eastern Maine Community College in Millinocket hired Jon Tierney as the lead faculty member for its new associate's degree program in Outdoor Recreation and Tourism. Tierney is the owner of Acadia Mountain Guides in Bar Harbor.

Apex Engineering in Falmouth hired Joseph Irace as a mechanical designer, Frank Russo as a structural designer and Cecilia Shields-Auble as marketing coordinator. Irace was most recently a mechanical designer for Stantec Consulting Services in Scarborough, Russo a senior structural designer with Stantec Consulting Services in Scarborough and Shields-Auble an internal communication coordinator for Pine State Trading Co. in Gardiner.

Seaboard Federal Credit Union in Bucksport hired Chad Desjardins as vice president of lending. Desjardins was most recently branch manager at Katahdin Trust in Bangor.

Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington hired Lenia Coates as a physician assistant at Franklin Health Livermore Falls Family Practice. Most recently, Coates provided pediatric and adult emergency medicine at Munroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Fla.

SIS Bank in Sanford hired Toni Joerres as assistant vice president and market manager in York. Joerres most recently worked at Citizens Bank as a branch manager.

The Varney Agency in Bangor hired Alishia Austin, Shelby Wetherby, Rebekah Emery, Leslie Beardsley, Katherine Furhman, Bianca Babin, Betsy Dorr and Rayna Estes.

Diversified Communications, an international media company in Portland, hired Stephanie Gildart as a marketing coordinator, digital and events; Heidi Weeks as a sales representative; and Glenn Dulberg as an account executive.

Penobscot Community Health Care in Bangor hired Jennifer Lipka as a certified doctor of osteopathic medicine at Penobscot Community Health Center and Jennifer MacDonald as a certified family nurse practitioner at Winterport Community Health Center. Lipka was previously a clinic physician at Juniata College Student Health Center in Huntingdon, Pa., while MacDonald served as a wound/ostomy care nurse at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

The University of Maine School of Law in Portland hired Elizabeth Limerick as director of advancement and external affairs. Most recently, Limerick was director of development and outreach at Hospice of Southern Maine.

Franklin Health Behavioral Services in Farmington hired Suzanne Alexis as a nurse practitioner.

Community Health Options in Lewiston hired Rodney Voisine as associate chief medical officer.

Verrill Dana, a law firm on Portland, hired Susan Bryant as counsel in its business & corporate, mergers & acquisitions and securities law groups. Bryant previously practiced at her own firm, Bryant Law PC.

Bangor Savings Bank hired Michael Chamberlain as a commercial relationship officer and Rob Snow as vice president and senior fiduciary officer of the bank's wealth management group.

Atlantic Regional Credit Union in Brunswick hired Dawn Post as the personal lines customer service representative with Abenaki Insurance.

The Maine Department of Labor in Augusta hired Jeanne St. Pierre as the director of legislative and constituent services in the Office of the Commissioner. Most recently, St. Pierre served in the Office of Gov. Paul R. LePage.

Thomas College in Waterville hired Bernard Ouellette as executive vice president. Ouellette was previously director, retail strategy implementation with Hannaford Supermarkets.

Promotions

The Unity College board of trustees named Melik Peter Khoury the college's new president-elect. Khoury was previously executive vice president, CFO and chief academic officer.

Market Decisions Research, a survey research firm in Portland, promoted Mark Noyes to research analyst.

TD Bank in Portland promoted Robert Small to senior relationship manager in commercial lending for Southern Maine, Andrew Pease vice presidents in commercial lending in Southern Maine Region and Nicholas Weightman to vice president in commercial lending for Cumberland County. Small was most recently a vice president, commercial loan officer, Pease and Weightman were relationship managers I.

Bangor Savings Bank promoted June Usher to vice president.

WBRC Architects • Engineers in Portland promoted Laura Adcock to firm principal.

Eaton Peabody, a law firm in Bangor, promoted Veronica Lachapelle to director of administration. Lachapelle was formerly the firm's accounting manager.

Appointments

Maine Maritime Museum in Bath elected William Gemmill and Jennifer Yahr to its board of trustees. Gemmill spent 15 years as an owner of small business franchises and also served as a financial advisor with Ameriprise while Yahr is a practitioner with 202 Behavioral Health, principal with DBT Maine LLC and partner in Brunswick Psychotherapy Associates.

Gorham Savings Bank appointed Chris Claudio, CEO of Winxnet, to its board of directors.

The Plant Memorial Home, an assisted living facility in Bath, added Bernard Wyman Jr. to its board of directors. Wyman retired from Bath Iron Works in 1995.

WinterKids, a nonprofit in Portland that encourages children to develop healthy lifelong habits through outdoor winter activity, announced that Mark Holmes has joined its board of directors. Holmes is the president of Health Coaches, a private personal training studio in Portland. The organization also announced its officers for fiscal year 2016 including: President, Will Stiles, attorney, Verrill Dana LLP; Vice President, Erin Brennan, vice president, risk management, TD Bank; Treasurer, Lisa Trundy-Whitten, senior manager, BerryDunn; Secretary, Julie Mulkern, executive director, WinterKids; and Past President, Eric Kolben, financial advisor, UBS.

Clark Insurance in Portland announced Kenneth Ross was elected chairman of its board of directors, Jeffrey Shaw president and Jeffrey Lind executive vice president.

Achievements

Maine cheese makers won 10 awards at the 2015 American Cheese Society Judging and Competition held in Providence, R.I. Appleton Creamery won first in Marinated Goat Cheese; Barred Owl Creamery, first in Sheep or Mixed Milk Feta and second in Farmstead Cheese With Flavor Added; Fuzzy Udder Creamery, second in Sheep or Mixed Milk Plain Yogurt; Swallowtail Farm and Creamery, second in Cows Milk Ricotta and Yogurt With Flavor Added and third in Cows Milk Plain Yogurt; Tide Mill Creamery, first in Sheep or Mixed Milk Soft Ripened Cheeses; Winter Hill Farm, third in Farmstead Aged Less Than 60 Days; and York Hill Farm, first in Goats Milk Soft Ripened Cheeses.

Sugarloaf, a ski resort in Carrabassett Valley, was named “Best in the East” by Meetings Focus magazine, a national publication that caters to conference and event planning professionals.

The Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development in Portland won $50,000 in the 2015 SBA Growth Accelerator Fund Competition. The prize money will be used to fund the operating budget for the Top Gun Program, a scalable model for accelerating high potential Maine companies through mentoring, training and connections.

College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor and the University of New England in Biddeford were listed among “The Best 380 Colleges” in the Aug. 4 issue of The Princeton Review.

Group Dynamic Inc., a tax-savings employee benefit plans administrator in Falmouth, was honored by Evolution1-A WEX Company with a 2014 Partner Excellence Award for business achievements.

Newsweek magazine recognized Hector Tarraza, a gynecologic oncologist at Maine Medical Partners Gynecologic Oncology in Scarborough; Tracey Weigel, a thoracic surgeon specializing in lung and esophageal cancer at Maine Medical Partners Cardiothoracic Surgery of Portland; and Tracey Weisberg, a medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer of New England Cancer Specialists in Scarborough in its annual issue exploring the state of cancer research and treatment.

The U.S. Small Business Administration announced that the city of Rockland was selected as a Startup in a Day Award recipient. The award provides $50,000 in funding to streamline the online permitting and business licensing process for new small businesses and to assist small businesses start more easily and quickly.

Camden National Bank honored seven of its employees at its employee appreciation event. Winners included Trenna Bragg, senior customer assistance center specialist, “Commitment to Core Values” award; Samantha Helander, branch manager, Belfast Plaza, “Commitment to the Customer” award; Olivia Seibel, help desk associate in information technology, “Commitment to Internal Service” award; Josh Wing, facilities associate, “Commitment to the Employee” award; Angela Bishop, electronic banking associate, “Commitment to the Shareholder” award; Kim Ratner, marketing specialist, “Commitment to the Community” award; and Tiffani Davis, senior customer sales and service consultant, Brewer, “Employee of the Year” award.

Acadia Insurance, a W. R. Berkley Co. in Westbrook, recently recognized Norwalk, Conn.-based Shoff Darby Cos. Inc. for writing more than $5 million in premiums with the company.

Green Acres Kennel Shop in Bangor was voted the Bangor region's best kennel, pet store, dog trainer and pet groomer in a survey conducted by Market Surveys of America and the GKM Independent Survey Co.

Woodard & Curran, an engineering and environmental firm in Portland, was listed No. 55 on Engineering News Record's annual list of the top-200 environmental firms in the U.S.

Peter Fendler, president of Norton Financial Services in Cumberland, was selected as a delegate to the National Association of Plan Advisors' D.C. Fly-In Forum, a gathering of the nation's leading retirement plan advisors.

Kennebec Anesthesia Associates in Augusta was one of eight out of more than 20,000 policyholders nationwide recognized for workplace safety from workers' compensation insurer MEMIC.

Portland law firm Berman & Simmons' $22.5 million court victory on behalf of an electrical line worker was recognized among the National Law Journal's top-100 verdicts of 2014. The firm also announced that six of its attorneys were chosen by their peers for inclusion in the 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in America.

S.W. Collins Co., a lumber and hardware retailer in Caribou, was named as one of 50 All-Stars in the 2015 Hardware + Building Supply Dealer All Star Project by Hardware + Building Supply Dealer Magazine.

Thompson & Bowie LLP, a Portland law firm, announced James Bowie, Rebecca Farnum, Leonard Langer and Robert Hatch were chosen by their peers for inclusion in the 2016 edition of Best Lawyers in America.

Keith Bodine, winemaker, distiller and co-owner of Sweetgrass Farm Winery & Distillery in Union, was selected to judge The Michelangelo International Wine & Spirit Competition in South Africa.

Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast was named to a list of 50 Critical Access Hospitals to Know in the U.S. by Becker's Hospital Review.

Douglas Whitney, CEO of WBRC Architects Engineers in Bangor, was recently inducted into the University of Maine's Francis Crowe Society.

Preti Flaherty, a law firm in Portland, announced that 37 of its attorneys have been selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2016 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

Avesta Housing in Portland awarded its 2015 Mike Yandell Award for extraordinary work in the field of affordable housing to the Portland Press Herald for its coverage of affordable housing issues.

Rudman Winchell, a law firm in Bangor, announced seven of its attorneys have been selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2016 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. The firm also received Top Tier rankings in Employment Law-Management, Labor Law- Management, Litigation-Insurance, Litigation-Municipal, Medical Malpractice Law- Defendants, Land Use and Zoning, Business Organizations including LLC's and Partnerships and Personal Injury Litigation-Defendants.

Deborah Wentworth, director of business insurance services at Clark Insurance in Portland, earned the insurance designation of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter.