Mainebiz

V O L . X X I V N O. X V I I I A U G U S T 2 0 , 2 0 1 8 6 Kelley steps into KeyBank role KeyBank said that Raymond T. (Chip) Kelley has been named its Maine market president, in addition to his current role as commercial sales leader for Maine, New Hampshire, and eastern Massachusetts. He steps into an executive role held by Sterling Kozlowski, who died suddenly on June 9. Kelley will be actively involved in the community and will partner with KeyBank's corporate responsibil- ity group to develop and implement a community lending and investment strategy that will enable the bank to meet its corporate and social respon- sibilities. Kelley earned a bachelor's degree from Colby College and resides in Cape Elizabeth. N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E Maine Development Foundation's Maine Downtown Center launched an interactive web portal at MainStreetMaine.org featuring local makers, innovative events and natural assets in Maine's downtowns. The United States Department of Agriculture awarded a $4 million multi-state grant to help fund nutrition incentive programs in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island for the next four years. Recipients, led by Farm Fresh Rhode Island, included Maine Farmland Trust and Maine Federation of Farmers' Markets. U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said as- sistance to firefighters grants totaling B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state S T A T E W I D E $767,410 were awarded to three Maine fire departments: a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant of $681,819 went to Portland for a heavy rescue truck; Casco, $49,762, for a diesel fume exhaust system; and Gray, $35,829, for wellness and fit- ness equipment. Portland named 'top food city' in the U.S. Bon Appetit magazine, which recently named Portland's Drifters Wife one of its "Hot 10" restau- rants, also named Portland "City of the Year." e September issue, which hit the newsstands Aug. 14, says Portland is by far its small- est honoree, following a three-year stretch where Bon Appetit hon- ored Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Writer Andrew Knowlton wrote that, while the city is known for "Instagram-worthy" lobster rolls and local oysters, Portland gets attention for the "sheer number of outstanding openings." Without naming them he says the city earns praise for a place sell- ing "killer pho" and "the guy selling hand rolls out of a Yeti cooler." Bon Appetit is a Conde Nast publication. USM seeking design team for arts center An anonymous $1 million gift will enable the University of Southern Maine to begin the selection pro- cess for an architectural/engineering team to design a new arts center on the Portland campus. University of Southern Maine President Glenn Cummings announced the $1 mil- lion gift in a news release that noted the donor is a long-time friend of the university and a passionate sup- porter of the arts who made the contribution as a memorial honoring Dr. Alfred Osher. A key element in the university's master plan for the Portland campus, the center for the arts will meet the academic pro- gramming needs of USM's school of music and departments of theater and art. It will feature a 1,000-seat concert hall, recital hall, black-box theater and art gallery. A concept plan and cost estimate were devel- oped for the project last year. WEX in hiring mode as it posts double-digit Q2 revenue gain B y J a m e s M c C a r t h y WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX) is in a hiring mode in Maine, thanks to continued revenue growth and recent contract wins and renewals. WEX, Maine's second-largest publicly traded company, reported double-digit second quarter revenue growth for each of its three divisions on the heels of June's announcement of a significant contract win to issue and operate Shell's full portfolio of commercial fleet cards in the United States and Canada. The addition of the Shell brand to WEX's commercial fleet card services portfolio — which was announced in early June — involves some ramping up as that fleet card option is offered to customers, WEX President and CEO Melissa Smith told Mainebiz. "We're in an elevated hiring pattern here," she said. "We need more talent." WEX expects to hire 175 full-time employees in Maine by year's end, she said. WEX, which is based in South Portland, plans to move next year to a new headquarters on Portland's East End. The site is now under construction and will house much of WEX's domestic workforce, though it plans to maintain its current offices as well. Growth in all three divisions WEX's 22% increase in total revenue for the second quarter to $370.9 million — compared to $303.9 million for the same period a year ago — represents the eighth straight quarter of double-digit revenue growth. WEX's quarterly earn- ings of $2.09 per share beat the Zacks consensus estimate of $2.04 per share and far exceeded its earnings of $1.26 per share a year ago, according to an Aug. 2 report from Zacks Equity Research. WEX's business is growing worldwide in each of its three divisions: fleet cards, travel and corporate and health and employee benefit solutions. Smith said that as WEX continues to grow — it now has 3,500 employees worldwide — it elevates the importance of being able to hire the talent it needs in an increasingly competitive global hiring marketplace. "If you look at the markets we're in, we are a technol- ogy leader," she said. "As we become bigger, we need to remain nimble" and maintain WEX's technological edge to bring "future-based solutions across many B2B markets." Smith said the company is also making sure its Maine- based culture of strong customer service and dogged pursuit of solutions is understood and valued by all employees, including those based in different parts of the world. One example: WEX brought 200 employees to Maine for its "global leadership summit" in June, which provided training sessions in innovation, leadership and communication. WEX also recently formalized its sabbatical program by adding it to its benefits package, and also created a "com- passion fund" to help employees who might be experiencing a hardship of some sort. "We are able to do things now that we couldn't do when we were a smaller company," Smith said, adding that such initiatives are noticed by would-be applicants who increas- ingly check out a company's "sustainability report" in making decisions about where they want to work. WEX expects its full-year revenues to be in the range of $1.445 billion to $1.475 billion, with adjusted net income in the range of $344 million to $355 million. B R I E F The outside of the future headquarters of WEX touts Maine as "a great place to live and work." The fleet card provider plans to move into the Portland headquarters next year. P H O T O / P E T E R VA N A L L E N S O U T H E R N

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