Newsworthy people and performances

New hires

Portside Real Estate Group in Falmouth hired Edie Fontaine and Maureen Zemrak.

Thomas College in Waterville hired Jill Spencer and Chris Toy as the project managers for the Maine Center for Innovation in Education. Spencer was previously a middle school teacher while Toy was a teacher and administrator at various educational levels.

Northeast Delta Dental in Saco hired Erica Bodwell as vice president and general counsel. Bodwell was previously general counsel and privacy officer at Southern New Hampshire Health System.

Kevin Schneider was hired as superintendent of Acadia National Park and St. Croix Island International Historic Site. Schneider was deputy superintendent at Grand Teton National Park.

Taylor, McCormack and Frame LLC, a law firm in Portland, hired Alison Tozier. Tozier's practice focuses on the areas of civil and criminal litigation, labor and business law, landlord/tenant disputes and family law.

Diversified Communications, an international media company in Portland, hired Kristine Richardson as a search engine marketing specialist. Richardson was previously with Auto Europe in Portland.

Kennebunk Savings hired Alyson Graybill as vice president, retail market manager for its York branches and William Dehais as senior vice president, chief credit officer.

WMTW in Portland hired Ted McInerney as a meteorologist.

Competitive Energy Services, an energy consulting firm in Portland, hired Nate Niles as an energy analyst and Greg Attra as a software developer. Niles is a recent graduate from Bowdoin College while Attra was an assistant for Sen. Angus King.

Norton Financial Services in Cumberland Foreside hired Renée Greatorex as group benefits account specialist. Greatorex most recently was an account manager at Kilbride & Harris in South Portland.

Pierce Atwood, a law firm in Portland, hired Elizabeth Frazier as an associate and Megan Sanborn as a government relations specialist. Frazier is a recent graduate of the University of Maine School of Law while Sanborn was the government affairs and communications manager for Maine Association of Realtors.

Health Affiliates Maine, a substance abuse and mental health agency in Portland, hired Paula Urbach as a psychiatric nurse practitioner.

Skowhegan Savings Bank hired Dan Tilton as senior vice president of sales and customer relations. Tilton was the vice president of sales at Pride Manufacturing in Burnham.

Business Lending Solutions in Hampden hired Al Moroney as loan officer in Midcoast Maine and Will Hatt as senior vice president and COO. Moroney was a senior loan officer at Coastal Enterprises Inc. while Hatt was senior vice president and senior commercial lender at Skowhegan Savings Bank.

Preti Flaherty, a law firm in Portland, hired Holly Lusk as a member of the firm's government affairs and health law groups practicing from its Augusta office. Lusk was previously the senior health policy advisor to Gov. Paul R. LePage.

Maine Medical Center and MaineHealth hired Scot Remick as physician leader of oncology. Remick was previously with the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center at West Virginia University.

Hospice of Southern Maine in Scarborough hired Meg McCroary as community outreach liaison. McCroary was with Holiday Retirement as a community sales leader.

The Maine Small Business Development Centers in Portland hired Roy Hebert as a business advisor in its Saco office.

The College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor hired Alex Birdsall as sustainable business program manager. Birdsall was previously global sales director at RainWise in Trenton.

Promotions

The MEMIC Group, a workers' compensation firm in Portland, promoted Wanda Periou to director of claims for the Atlantic region, Karen Porter to director of technical operations for the Atlantic and Northeast regions and Joeline D'Anjou to director of claims at MEMIC. Periou was previously a regional claims manager in Florida and Porter and D'Anjou were unit managers.

Katahdin Trust Co. in Houlton promoted Peter St. John to executive vice president, commercial services in Presque Isle. St. John was senior vice president, commercial services.

Brio Promotions, a promotional marketing company in Rockland, hired Melissa Thissell as general manager. Thissell was previously with Camden National Bank.

Appointments

Pierce Atwood, a law firm in Portland, said Margaret Minister, a partner with the firm, was appointed to a three-year term as a member of Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar, which was created by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in 1978 to govern the conduct of lawyers as officers of the Court.

The Board of Waterville Creates! added Sno Barry to its board of directors. Barry is a principal at BerryDunn, a CPA and consulting firm in Portland.

Ross Cunningham, president and CEO of Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce,was appointed to the Maine Commission for Community Service by Gov. Paul LePage. The mission of the commission is to “foster community service and volunteerism to meet human and environmental needs in the state of Maine.”

Achievements

Catholic Charities Maine selected Gene Gregor, pediatric ambulatory services clinical supervisor at Acadia Hospital in Bangor, as its October Provider of the Month.

Jo Dill of the Corner Cupboard in Sanford and Steve Curtis of the York County Community Action Corp. were presented with Spirit of Service awards by the United Way of York County for their volunteer efforts.

PDT Architects in Portland was awarded a 2015 Lee J. Brockway Award for school renovation/addition projects by the Association for Learning Environments for Mt. Blue Campus in Farmington, a combined academic and career technical high school for 950 students that underwent a three-year renovation/addition makeover that opened in 2013.

The Saco/Old Orchard Beach KOA Holiday earned a 2016 KOA President's and Founder's Awards from Kampgrounds of America Inc. The award is presented annually to campgrounds that receive high scores in customer service from campers as well as an annual campground quality review.

Town & Country Federal Credit Union recently awarded a total of $25,000 to eight charitable organizations as part of its Better Neighbor Fund program.

Verrill Dana, a law firm in Portland, announced that nine of its attorneys were recognized in Benchmark Litigation's 2016 edition. The firm also said attorneys Karen Frink Wolf and Martha Gaythwaite were named to the national list of Top-250 Women in Litigation by the publication and the firm was ranked as a Highly Recommended Firm in Maine.

Kara van Emmerik, chef de cuisine of Dudley's Refresher in Castine, was named Maine's Chef of the Year in the 2015 Eater Awards. The awards are presented by Eater, a food and nightlife blog of digital media company Vox Media Inc.

The Maine Public Relations Council named Linda Varrell its 2015 Edward L. Bernays Award winner and Jillian Kanter the recipient of its 2015 Rising Star Award. Varrell is president and chief strategist of Broadreach Public Relations while Kanter is an account executive and client operations coordinator with the firm.

ACEC of Maine recently announced its 2016 “Engineering Excellence Awards” with Kleinschmidt Associates capturing The “Grand Conceptor” award for its work on the Menominee Fish Lift System for Lake Sturgeon Passage project. Special recognition award winners were: T.Y. Lin International, Brookfield Floating Bridge in Brookfield, Vt., and Becker Structural Engineers Inc., Capital Judicial Center in Augusta. Honor awards for engineering excellence went to: Haley & Aldrich Inc., Casco Bay Island Transit District Ferry Terminal Building; CES Inc., Presque Isle Solid Waste Landfill Closure; and Baker Design Consultants, River Point Bridge Design-Build Project in Falmouth.

Day One, a South Portland agency preventing and treating adolescent substance abuse, announced Dajuan Eubanks, president of the Maine Red Claws, received the organization's 2015 Community Leadership Award; Ralph Hendrix, COO at Macpage, received the 2015 “Making a Difference Award;” and Maine state Sen. Anne Haskell received the 2015 Community Vision Award.

The National Academy of Public Accounting Professionals selected Crystal Marchessault, partner at Austin Associates PA in Auburn, as one of its 2015 Top-10 Public Accounting Professional Rising Stars in Maine.

Conde Nast Traveler, an international travel magazine, named Hidden Pond in Kennebunkport as the No. 1 resort in New England and one of its top-10 resorts in the U.S. The list also included Kennebunkport resort properties The Lodge on the Cove (ninth) and The Tides Beach Club (11th).

Central Maine Power Co., a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, was named an Environmental Champion by Cogent Reports, the syndicated research division of Market Strategies International, and a top-three electrical utility in the eastern U.S. The designation is based on more than 25,000 consumer performance ratings for 125 leading utilities nationwide.

The Greater Bridgton Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce named Point Sebago in Casco its Business of the Year award winner.

EMMC Foundation in Bangor announced its 2016 honorees for EMMC Champion the Cure Challenge including: The Geaghan Family, honorary chairs; Tim Smith, volunteer of the year; athletes and coaches of Big 10 Cheer, Youth Champions; Charleston Church, community champion; Darling's Auto Group, corporate champion; and Caleb McGary, Terry Fox Award.

Maine Association of Nonprofits in Portland announced the graduates of its third annual Nonprofit Leadership Institute. Graduates included: Andree Appel, Oasis Free Clinics, Brunswick; Ben Martens, Maine Coast Fishermen's Association, Topsham; Katie Brown, Locker Project, Portland; Robyn Merrill, Maine Equal Justice Partners, Augusta; Michael Chaney, Frances Perkins Center, Newcastle; Michael Mitchell, Crisis and Counseling Centers, Augusta; Joan Churchill, Community Clinical Services, Lewiston; Shana Natelson, Speak About It Inc., Portland; Melody Fitch, Family Violence Project, Augusta; Deb Nowak, Tri-County Literacy, Bath; Vicki Jacobs-Pratt, Hemophilia Alliance of Maine Inc., Hampden; Cherilyn Ricci, Community Dental Center, Waterville; Debora King, Brunswick Downtown Association, Brunswick; Lisa Tapert, Maine Migrant Health Program, Augusta; Alice Kornhauser, Portland Chamber Music Festival, Portland; Philip Walsh, Maine Initiatives, Augusta; Stephanie LeBlanc, Oxford County Mental Health Services, Rumford; and Tamara Whitmore, Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed, Augusta.

Home Again by Hancock Lumber in South Portland announced Sherry McFarland, kitchen designer, finished sixth in the Medallion kitchen of the year design contest.

Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington announced it was recognized as a 2014 Top Performer on Key Quality Measures by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in the United States, for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measure performance for surgical care and venous thromboembolism.

Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast said its Primary Care Practices received National Committee for Quality Assurance Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition for 2015 for using evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated care and long-term, participative relationships.

The National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators announced that Eileen Molloy of the Diabetes and Nutrition Care Center at Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport has renewed the Certified Diabetes Educator status.

Maine Oxy in Auburn earned the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program Award from the Maine Department of Labor in recognition of its safety achievement program.

Dennis King, CEO of Maine Behavioral Healthcare in South Portland, received the American College of Healthcare Executives Regent's Award at the Northern New England Association of Healthcare Executives meeting in November.

AARP Maine honored Amy Madge, a care giver in Wells, with a Portrait of Care. Madge was one of 53 caregivers nationwide to receive a hand-painted portrait.