Tilson founder Mike Dow retires from company

Courtesy / Tilson Mike Dow, left, is retiring from Tilson, which he founded in 1996. He's shown with CEO Joshua Broder.

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By Staff

The founder of Tilson, a Portland-based technology firm that is one of Maine’s fastest-growing companies, is retiring from the business.

Mike Dow most recently served as the chief information officer and chief innovation officer of the company he launched in 1996. A 2009 Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year, Dow, 54, has left active management of Tilson but maintains an ownership stake, he said in his LinkedIn profile.

In a Facebook post Friday, CEO Joshua Broder said, “Mike's departure from Tilson signifies a milestone in Tilson’s history. As a serial entrepreneur, Mike’s vision, ambition, and ability to hire great people has indelibly impacted our make-up and our culture. Mike loves being a coach and mentor and has created incredible opportunities for our team members.”

Tilson originally provided information technology services for Pittsfield construction company Cianbro Corp., where Dow headed the IT department. In 2005, he reconfigured Tilson as a one-person consultancy.

By 2018, annual revenue had reached $71.4 million. In 2020, for the 10th consecutive year, Tilson was named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the country’s fastest-growing private companies, placing No. 2,078 on the list with a three-year revenue increase of 203%. The company currently has nearly 600 employees in Portland and 18 offices throughout the U.S.

Tilson provides network deployment and IT professional services. Among its recent projects, Tilson last fall was awarded $3.7 million by the state of Vermont to bring high-speed broadband connections to hundreds of rural homes there.