Mainebiz Special Editions

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 3 M A R C H 2 3 , 2 0 2 0 SPECIAL ISSUE February 19, 2001 Vol. 7 No. 4 Business News for Business People $ 1.00 Helping elders with the high cost of health care Page 29 More hard times for Maine's textile workers Page 19 Who'll care for Maine's nurses? Page 9 Biathlon comes to Aroostook County Page 13 All American Alan Baker grew up downeast and left Maine to make good in the world of international publishing. Then he came home and made good again as owner/publisher of The Ellsworth American. He's the Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year for 2001, and his story begins on page 20. Hot off the presses: Alan Baker of The Ellsworth American P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S Business Leader of the Year A question of priorities A proposal to fund the creative economy faces scrutiny B Y M I C H A E L A C A V A L L A R O A s March winds down, the Legislature is poised to take up Gov. John Baldacci's proposed $5.7 billion 2006- 2007 budget, sure to be a contentious topic given legislators' differing perspectives on topics ranging from cuts in social services to financing a budget gap by selling future state lottery proceeds. Once the budget is resolved, lawmakers plan to embark on the next round of discussion on a state bond package. Baldacci presented his bond proposal, a total of $197 million for projects including the Land for Maine's Future program, various research and development initiatives and state highway improvements, in early February. And lawmakers have filed requests for a myriad of bonds totaling $1 billion. Amidst that sea of funding proposals, one has drawn a disproportionate amount of attention: Sen. Beth Edmonds' proposal of a $25 million bond devoted to the infrastructure A L S O I N S I D E Sending a message The effort to keep Portsmouth Naval Shipyard open, in our Focus on York County. Page 22 Continued on page 6 Betting on Biddeford Developers hope to transform two former mills downtown B Y S E A N D O N A H U E D eveloper Doug Sanford has an affec- tion for old buildings. Rather than building new projects, he's spent 20 years buying and rehabilitating old struc- tures — mostly small apartment buildings and commercial spaces — in downtown Biddeford. So in 2004, when he toured the former Biddeford Textile mill that dominates the city's lower Main Street, he saw what he describes as the opportunity of a lifetime. Though more than 100 years old, the 360,000-square-foot space had been a func- tioning textile mill until 2001, making it structurally sound and mechanically up-to- date. Then there were the intangibles: rows of large windows overlooking the Saco River; original wood beams and floors in good condition; an open floor plan and a location near both an Amtrak station and I-95. Sanford has envisioned developing housing on the mill's top floor, light industri- al or professional spaces in other parts of the building, and a small retail and restaurant community at street level. While all of those possibilities remain on the table, Sanford hasn't rushed into any decisions. After buying the building last March from Sunbeam Corp. for an undis- closed price and spending the next year cleaning the space and removing old equip- ment, he's now ready to start a formal plan- ning process. That slow pace, he says, isn't just to help him decide on the best mix of uses — it also will help him determine what the O N Y O R K C O U N T Y F O C U S Continued on page 32 A work in progress: Doug Sanford plans to involve the community in the redevelopment of the former Biddeford Textile mill First of all, the critics would say, choosing that neighborhood wasn't a smart move. An adult movie theater sat literally across the street, and the area — which had a vacancy rate of 40% — was known for playing host to the seedier elements of Portland's popu- lation. Second, Lindemann and Spear constantly heard skeptics say Portland wasn't sophisticated enough to support their concept for a community coffeehouse. The couple, who had gotten married in 1988, saw it differently: "When we looked at that neighborhood, we didn't see the porno district," says Spear. "We saw a real sense of community. It was very much alive." The pair had spent the late 80s and early 90s in Seattle, Wash., where they were first introduced to the world of coffeehouses. At that time, Continued on page 16 P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S March 21, 2005 V O L . 1 1 N O . 6 M A I N E ' S B U S I N E S S N E W S S O U R C E $ 1.00 Quality control Taking it to the streets Charlie Summers is the Small Business Administration's top official in New England, in Newsworthy. Page 3 The great debate How to decide if you should build or buy your new facility, in From the Ground Up. Page 21 P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S With an eye for detail, Mary Allen Lindemann and Alan Spear have made Coffee by Design a Portland institution B Y T AY L O R S M I T H W hen Mary Allen Lindemann and Alan Spear opened the first Coffee by Design coffeehouse in the summer of 1994, they already had become well acquainted with the skeptics. Even before they moved into a shop on upper Congress Street in Portland, they had friends and bankers tell them it would never work. O F T H E Y E A R Business LEADER March 23, 2009 V O L . 1 3 N O . X X M A I N E ' S B U S I N E S S N E W S S O U R C E $ 1 . 0 0 SBA waits for stimulus bucks B Y S A R A D O N N E L LY D anny Staples is keeping an eye on the stimulus package. He stays in close contact with the offices of U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, and reps at the Maine bureau of the U.S. Small Business Administration know him well. Staples, a lob- sterman in Cushing and vice chair of the Zone D Lobster Council, is trailing the millions in stimulus funding set to flow through the SBA. He says that money could be a lifeline for some of the lobstermen in his council — espe- cially the guys who were rattled so much this past year by the recession and fluctuating fuel and lobster prices that they've fallen 30 days or more behind on their business loan payments. "[The stimulus package] gives them a little buffer to keep their head above water," says Staples. "And hopefully the economy will turn around." New SBA initiatives created by the stimulus like the Business Stabilization Program, which gives loans of up to $35,000 to businesses in danger of failing, make Staples hopeful that the stimulus will help the industry he works in, A L S O I N S I D E Continued on page 6 March 23, 2009 V O L . 1 5 N O . 6 M A I N E ' S B U S I N E S S N E W S S O U R C E $1.00 p h o t o / dav i d a . ro d g e r s Joint account After a century apart, Maine's two banking trade associations merge, in Newsworthy. Page 3 Full house Elizabeth Banwell on a Camden performing arts group's subscription spike, in The Third Sector. Page 24 M I D C O A S T R E G I O N F O C U S Visit us online to sign up for Portlandbiz: the new weekly e-newsletter from Mainebiz is your guide to the latest goings-on in the greater portland area business community — sent to your inbox every tuesday. sign up at www.mainebiz.biz/portlandbiz. p h o t o s / dav i d a . ro d g e r s Nonprofit Business Leader: J O h N F I T z S I M M O N S President Maine Community College System Small Company Business Leader: M I k E D OW Founding Principal Tilson Technology Management Large Company Business Leader: k E N P R I E S T CEO Kenway Corp. N othing tests leadership like adversity. When credit comes easy, the economy bustles and all the business indicators point up, running a company can be pretty straightforward. But when the economy tanks, money is tight and temporary furloughs are heralded as good news, keeping a business afloat is a whole different game. In that context, the achieve- ments of our 2009 Business Leaders of the Year go beyond simply remarkable and into the territory of inspirational. Not only did our three recipients keep their organi- zations afloat, they made them bigger and deeper, providing more services, jobs and returns on investment in a business environment that's the worst Maine's seen in 30 years. How'd they do it? Mike Dow, founder of Tilson Technology Management in Portland decided to diversify and find new markets for his construction consulting business, a tack that nearly doubled revenues from 2007 to 2008, cre- ated jobs and spun off three affiliates. He's our small com- pany Business Leader of the Year. His counterpart in the large company category, Ken Priest, president of Kenway Corp. in Augusta, followed a similar path. Once a wooden boatbuild- er, Kenway has expanded in size and scope. The manufac- turer developed cutting-edge composite technology for new markets such as alternative energy and completed a 20,000-square-foot expansion to accommodate its 72-person work force. And finally John Fitzsim mons, president of the Maine Community College System, oversaw a spike in enrollments across his seven campus- es, due in part to his 2008 Rural Initiatives proj- ect. His work boosts access to post-secondary education, fostering a knowledgeable work force that enhances everyone's livelihood in Maine. Their profiles begin on page 18. Our picks for Maine's best executives and entrepreneurs Sponsored by: Chris Polson and his partner at Twin Brooks Stretchers in Lincolnville whittle out a niche crafting custom wooden art supports; boatbuilders take a new tack to weather the economic storm; rivalries begin to give way to a regional approach in Camden and Rockland; and more, starting on page 26. T H E L I S T F O C U S M i d c o a s t R e g i o n s e e w h o ' s n e x t o n pa g e 5 0 » Lee Auto Malls tops our list of Maine's largest automobile dealerships. E nergy, finance, housing. Each of these three sectors has been tested by tremendous change and mounting challenges in the past year. So perhaps it's no surprise that they also produced the Mainebiz 2013 Business Leaders of the Year. And what a class it is. After receiving more than 75 nominations for the state's most exemplary executives, we vetted the standouts and selected the honorees you see here. Each of our honorees has demonstrated tenacity, intelligence and an unwavering commitment to the people they serve. at focus has led them to successfully navigate change — whether through increasing regulations or increasing demand for their services — a superior quality they share. You'll be as impressed as we are. sp onsoRed by L a r g e C o m p a n y B u s i n e s s L e a d e r Sara Burns President and CEO, Central Maine Power Co. Sara Burns s m a L L C o m p a n y B u s i n e s s L e a d e r David Desjardins President and CEO, Acadia Federal Credit Union n o n p r o f i t B u s i n e s s L e a d e r Dana Totman President and CEO, Avesta Housing p Ro f i l e s ta R t s o n pa g e 1 4 » p Ro f i l e s ta R t s o n pa g e 1 8 » p Ro f i l e s ta R t s o n pa g e 2 2 » p Ro f i l e s s ta R t o n pa g e 1 4 » David Desjardins Dana Totman p h oto s / l e f t & R i g h t : t i M g R e e n way ; M i d d l e : K e n l a M b $2.00 March 18, 2013 V o l . x i x n o. V i www.mainebiz.biz xxxx xx, 2002 V O L . 8 N O. x x M A I N E ' S B U S I N E S S N E W S S O U R C E $ 1.00 A L S O I N S I D E P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S March 4, 2002 V O L . 8 N O . 5 M A I N E ' S B U S I N E S S N E W S S O U R C E $1.00 B Y M I C H A E L A C A V A L L A R O R alph Gabarro likes to say he got into health care "by mistake." He had intended to be a biologist, to spend his days outdoors examining and analyzing the natural world. But when that career path didn't pan out — a few months in the wildlife zoology program at the University of Maine was enough for him to realize the field wasn't for him — he went looking for work to pay the bills. He ended up with a job as patient care coordinator for a small hospital in Lincoln, and his career in health care, much to his sur- prise, was launched. As he's telling this story, Gabarro is seated at a maple conference table in his office at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, where he's CEO. The office is brand new, part of a multi-million-dollar expansion the hospital undertook last year. Even though he moved in just days ago, he's managed to install a few personal touches; a small wooden turtle sits atop the table, while pictures of his sons in various outdoorsy and athletic locales line a bookcase. Gabarro, 54, is dressed in standard-issue executive uniform — dark blue suit, but- toned-down shirt, a colorful tie that reveals a hint of personality — but he comes across as anything but a hard-charging manager. His manner is unassuming and straightforward, and his sandy-gray hair and mustache, as well as his large wire-rimmed glasses, give him an open, affable look. A "key descriptors" section on his resume includes terms like "conceptu- al and grounded," "open and direct," "creative and practical" and "honest and tactful," and talking with him reveals those descriptions to be on-target — what you see is, by all appearances, what you get. Spend an hour with Gabarro, a former co-worker likes to say, "and you already know him." Health care, it turns out, has shaped Gabarro's life in more ways than simply provid- ing him with a career. More than two decades ago, while reclining in a dentist's chair in Lincoln, Gabarro looked up at the dental hygienist and was taken by "her wonderful eyes." This June, he and Dottie, the hygienist-turned-wife-and-mother, will celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary. Health care was also at the center of one of the darkest chapters of Gabarro's life, when his oldest son died of cancer in 1994. Healthy smiles: Ralph Gabarro and a friend at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft At the edge of the north woods, Ralph Gabarro is creating one of Maine's most successful small hospitals. He's our Business Leader of the Year for 2002. O F T H E Y E A R Business LEADER See "Business leader," page 10 t h e accidental administrator P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S Why wider is better Jenna Lane on Parco Merged Media, a Portland-based company mak- ing a splash in the business of ultra wideband radio. Page 31. Viva Sanford! Sanford can be a thriving economic engine for southern Maine. No, really. Richard Stanley is the man with the plan. Page 42. Sister act Business networking groups designed exclusively for women are popping up across Maine B Y M I C H E L L E K E Y O I n a sparely furnished conference room in an office building on the Portland Fish Pier, 10 women are gathered around a table noshing on rice and beans, talking business. The women are part of a networking group formed by Christie MacConnell, a business counselor at the Women's Business Center at Coastal Enterprises Inc. (CEI), a private, nonprof- it community development corporation with offices in Wiscasset and Portland. The group meets monthly over a potluck dinner to discuss a wide variety of busi- ness concerns, and tonight one of the women, Jayme Proctor, has brought examples of a calendar that would be part of the product line of a new compa- ny she hopes to launch. Proctor passes out the calendars, and everyone scans the samples as they eat. Before Proctor can sell anything, though, she needs a name for her fledg- ling company, and she asks the group for suggestions. The women ponder for a moment, then begin tossing out ideas. MacConnell encourages everyone to get up, walk around and take in the product from a different perspective. After 15 more minutes of impromptu brainstorm- ing, Proctor has a list of possible names to mull over — Moonscapes, Pastel Spirit, Spirited Fiddlehead, and so on. She'll eventually settle on Paisley Moon, a com- bination taken from suggestions received at the potluck. See "Network," page 14 Tech to Go A special pull-out supplement on Maine's high-tech industries, including biotech, composites, precision manufactur- ing, biometrics and more. Page 17. Nordic conundrum Maine's cross-country ski areas fight to hang on amid pressure from nonprofits B Y K E R R Y E L S O N C an you still run a for-profit cross-country ski center in Maine? That's the question Nordic ski center operators around the state are asking as they watch former customers head for a growing array of nonprofit ski areas run by towns, volunteer groups and charitable foundations. The competition is beginning to put the squeeze on some ski operators, and many of Maine's 22 for-profit Nordic centers are making sometimes costly upgrades to keep up. In the last five years or so, David Carter, owner of Carter's XC in Bethel and Oxford, has made improvements at both of his loca- tions to keep customers happy. He's spent $27,000 to widen his trails, to almost double their former size. In the Bethel location, he even cut into a mountainside to flatten a trail and make it easier to ski. The investment hasn't yet paid off, he says. "Most people don't know about the changes," he says. To stay afloat in the meantime, he relies on sales at his A L S O I N S I D E Continued on page 6 Cautionary tale Drew Sigfridson on how not to sign a lease agreement, in From the Ground Up. Page 13 Door to door Robert Fried starts a medical house call practice, in New Entrepreneurs. Page 31 March 19, 2007 V O L . 1 3 N O . 6 M A I N E ' S B U S I N E S S N E W S S O U R C E $ 1.00 SOLID Hank Schmelzer has built the Maine Community Foundation into a $200 million nonprofit juggernaut. He's our 2007 Business Leader of the Year. FOUNDATION Y O R K C O U N T Y F O C U S Echo Rowing builds on a family rowing-shell legacy; Biddeford works to shed its rough-and-tumble image; Oxford Aviation banks on a new facili- ty in Sanford; and more, starting on page 20. P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S B Y S A R A D O N N E L LY H enry L.P. Schmelzer, a.k.a. "Hank," is looking forward to a bright future — he's less than two days away from his annual ski vaca- tion in Italy's Dolomite Mountains. Sure, he and his wife haven't packed, his schedule's booked until takeoff with meetings from Ellsworth to Boston, and a nasty nor'easter is due to hit the coast about the time Schmelzer's plane is supposed to lift off from Logan Airport. But Schmelzer, unruffled to the point of serenity, is sure the two of them will arrive in Italy on time and without a hitch. Schmelzer's uncanny ability to cope with obstacles is one of the reasons he ended up in the somewhat unlikely position of running one of the biggest nonprofits in Maine. Created in 1983 by Edward Kaelber, the founding president of College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, the MaineCF, as it is called, had already made a name for itself as one of the state's most influential non- profits when Schmelzer became the foundation's president and CEO in February 2000. Schmelzer had spent more than 25 years as a corporate investment strategist in Boston, managing a staff of more than 200 and overseeing investments worth billions of dollars. After tiring of the investment world and taking a break — which included plenty of skiing in Italy — he began to consider what he wanted to do next. When he learned the Maine Community Foundation was looking for a new CEO, he jumped at it. LEADER Business O F T H E Y E A R Continued on page 14 Building social capital: Hank Schmelzer, president and CEO of the Maine Community Foundation P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S March 19, 2012 V O L . 1 3 N O . X X M A I N E ' S B U S I N E S S N E W S S O U R C E $ 1 . 0 0 Scrutiny increases around PCBs B Y M AT T D O D G E A s federal regulation of hazardous build- ing materials steadily increases, an old nemesis is creeping back into the spot- light and changing the way some Maine con- struction firms, architects, building owners and municipalities approach renovation plans. A recent panel on Polychlorinated Biphenyl — or PCB — hosted by Augusta-based con- struction management firm TRC brought experts and regulators from Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency together with architects, banks, universities, govern- ment officials and waste management profes- sionals to discuss the issue of PCBs, a "sleeping giant" of a topic poised to change the way con- struction projects are managed, according to TRC's Larry Fitzgerald. Marketed as a wonder chemical when first introduced in the late 1950s, PCBs were widely used in electrical transformers, capacitors, caulking and light fixtures due to their stable, A l s O I n s I D E Continued on page 6 March 19, 2012 V O L . 1 8 N O . 6 M A I N E ' S B U S I N E S S N E W S S O U R C E $2.00 p h o t o / t I M G R E E N WAY SCORE! A chapter president shares the spotlight at the White House, in Newsworthy. Page 3. Rooting for incentives Advantages to the Pine Tree Zone you might not be aware of. Page 16. Control/delete Computer problems continue to complicate DHHS budget process, in Capitol Update. Page 18. Oyster farmer Bill Mook battles a toxin with disease-resistant stock; the Samoset unveils upgrades and a new marketing plan; a collaborative eyes development of Route 1; how Camden uses social media to spur development, starting on page 30. M I D C O A S T R E G I O N F O C U S Visit us online to sign up for the Daily Report: the noontime enewsletter from Mainebiz is all you need to know about statewide business news — sent to your inbox every day. Sign up at www.mainebiz.biz/enews. p h o t o S / t I M G R E E N WAY NoNprof i t BusiNe s s Le a de r MIChAEL TARPINIAN CEO, Opportunity Alliance, Portland L a rge Compa N y BusiNe s s Le a de r DAVID STONE Co-founder and CEO, CashStar, Portland sm aLL Compa N y BusiNe s s Le a de r JEAN hOFFMAN President and CEO, Putney Inc., Portland Our profiles begin on page 22. T he job description for a business leader is dynamic and varied but always includes one key element: making the tough decisions. These days, as our nation's economy continues its sluggish pace toward recovery, decision-making centers on finding creative ways to grow. This year's Business Leaders of the Year know that growth isn't always easy — but the rewards are well-earned. David Stone, CEO and co-founder of CashStar, has resisted pressure from investors to relocate his digital gift card company from Portland to Silicon Valley, wooing them with a slice of Maine life: an island lobster bake. In 2011, the company secured $28 million in venture capital that helped it expand into the Canadian market. Jean Hoffman, president and CEO of Putney Inc. in Portland, made chasing down investment money a top priority in order to attract the right talent to grow her generic pet medication company. The $21 million in venture capital Putney secured last year will help the company compete with its much-larger rivals. In his two decades of nonprofit leadership, Michael Tarpinian has overseen two mergers, most recently last year's merger of Youth Alternatives Ingraham with the People's Regional Opportunity Program. Now, as CEO of the renamed Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, he's implementing a three-year plan that prioritizes services to those in need while respecting organizational cultures. And while their companies benefit from their vision, we believe these Business Leaders of the Year play an important role in strengthening Maine's economy. Let us show you why. Introducing Mainebiz's 2012 Business Leaders of the Year SPONSORED BY: T H E L I S T mainebiz.biz / printsub S U B S C R I B E P H O T O S / T I M G R E E N WAY Wal-Mart tops our list of Non-Maine public companies doing business here. S E E W H O ' S N E X T O N PA G E 4 2 » F O C U S W E A LT H M A N A G E M E N T & R E T I R E M E N T Mainebiz is proud to present three leaders who know how to build from the ground up. Each came up with a novel way to approach an existing product, be it potatoes, education or dessert. Each has a vision. Each knows how to bootstrap and find financing where seemingly none exists. Two of the leaders profiled here are Maine natives, the other a transplant from Ohio. One is from a demographic Maine is trying to attract. Two are seemingly defying the demographic stereotypes, charging hard into what others might consider the Social Security years. They're all making Maine a better state. We think you'll find inspiration in their stories. Family Wealth Management Partners UBS Financial Services Inc. SP ONSORED BY LARGE COMPANY BUSINESS LEADER Rodney McCrum President and COO, Pineland Farms Potato Co. Inc. P RO F I L E S TA R T S O N PA G E 1 4 » SMALL COMPANY BUSINESS LEADER Joshua Davis CEO and co-founder, Gelato Fiasco P RO F I L E S TA R T S O N PA G E 2 0 » NONPROFIT BUSINESS LEADER Danielle Ripich President, University of New England P RO F I L E S TA R T S O N PA G E 2 4 » Rodney McCrum Joshua Davis Danielle Ripich $2.00 March 21, 2016 VO L . X X I I N O. V I www.mainebiz.biz P H O T O S / T I M G R E E N WAY P R O F I L E S S T A R T O N P A G E 2 0 2019 MAINEBI Z BUSINES S L E ADERS OF T HE Y E AR SP ONSORED BY: Joyce Galea Bill Mitchell Richard W. Petersen William L. Caron Jr. Kelley Kash This year we recognize leaders who started a manufacturing business, are revitalizing a downtown and are leading investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in health care and veterans' housing. $2.00 March 18, 2019 VO L . X X V N O. V I www.mainebiz.biz Contents 4 Welcome letter From Donna Brassard, Mainebiz publisher 5 2001 Alan Baker 6 2002 Ralph Gabarro 7 2004 Jackson Parker 8 2005 Mary Allen Lindemann and Alan Spear 10 2007 Henry "Hank" Schmelzer 12 2008 Chip Morrison / Kent Peterson / Ford Reiche 14 2009 Mike Dow / John Fitzsimmons / Ken Priest 16 2010 Michael Cote / Michelle Hood 18 2011 Andy Shepard / Fletcher Kittredge / Martin Grimnes 20 2012 Jean Hoffman / David Stone / Michael Tarpinian 22 2013 Dana Totman / Sara Burns / David Desjardins 24 2014 Royce Cross / Peter Rinck / Patricia Quinn 26 2015 Jim Wellehan / Donna Dwyer / Doug McKeown 28 2016 Danielle Ripich / Joshua Davis / Rodney McCrum 30 2017 Melissa Smith / David A. Greene / Bob and Carmen Garver 32 2018 Josh Broder / Kathie Leonard / Steve Levesque 34 2019 Joyce Galea / Kelley Kash / Bill Mitchell Richard Petersen / William Caron 36 2020 Roccy Risbara / Tim Hebert / Jeff Brickman / Kristen Miale 38 In Memoriam Jim Dowe / Stan Bennett

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