Time and time again
January brings with it a certain amount of change. Wall calendars get switched, financial statements roll over to zero, folders marked "2011" move from the desk drawer to the filing cabinet.
Here at Mainebiz, we have two changes to recognize this month. The first is welcoming Randy Billings to our staff as senior writer. Randy, a veteran of The Forecaster and other Maine-based publications, is an Eddington native with a family history of lobstering. (You can't imagine what we expect of him at office potlucks.)
Randy brings not only sharp writing skills to Mainebiz, but also a familiarity with the Greater Portland area and its business players. His first piece debuts on page 18, "Improving through improv," an interesting look at a Falmouth-based nonprofit that uses theater to help businesses resolve thorny workplace issues. It's part of this issue's focus on employment, human resources and benefits.
Our other announcement is a sad good-bye to Staff Writer Rebecca Goldfine, a fine journalist and our video maven, who has accepted a position with Bowdoin College. Before we let her go, she penned an intriguing piece on employers' limited rights to control employees' personal use of social media, a story that will offer up some surprises, I guarantee. Read "Like and liability," starting on our cover, and then talk to your co-workers about your own social media policy.
Also part of this focus section is a commentary from Bernstein Shur attorney Steve Gerlach who offers sage advice on how to pay your top talent, in "Executive compensation," on page 23. And we take a look at some movement within Maine's workers' compensation market, in "Workers' comp," on page 22.
We also have a compelling piece from Contributing Writer Whit Richardson that gives us an inside look at Cate Street Capital, the New Hampshire firm that bought the two former Katahdin Paper Co. mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket. The company's intent to revive the mills to make biocoal from wood and sell it to several European buyers underscores how old technology and traditional industries can find new life through innovative leadership. Not to mention it put 225 people back to work. Check out, "Making paper work," starting on the cover.
Also, the deadline is Jan. 27 to make your nomination for Business Leaders of the Year. Every year we ask readers to consider who is the most inspired leader they know, and to nominate him or her for our recognition. Besides being a dynamic leader, our Business Leaders of the Year demonstrate environmentally and socially responsible leadership, give back to their communities and must have achieved a significant milestone in 2011. We look for candidates who are leaders in companies with more than 50 employees, fewer than 50 employees and a nonprofit dynamo. The details and nomination forms are available at mainebiz.biz/bloy.
Much easier to find than those "2011" files.
Carol Coultas
ccoultas@mainebiz.biz
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