Mainebiz

V O L . X X X I I N O. V I M A R C H 2 3 , 2 0 2 6 24 ainebiz: How did the Dakota Group acquisition come about, and what risks did you have to weigh in undertaking the move? Michael Bourque: We have been growing organically down the East Coast for about 25 years, and that has been successful but slow to achieve the scale that will help us to invest in the technology and people that will make us more efficient and better able to generate larger dividends for policyholders. We also have been looking for ways to make ourselves more valuable to inde- pendent agents and brokers who act as our sales force. ey need to be able to count on us to be able to CEO OF THE YEAR Michael Bourque President and CEO, MEMIC Group Less than a decade after taking the helm of the MEMIC Group in 2017, President and CEO Michael Bourque expanded the company's footprint to the Upper Midwest and the Great Plains by acquiring the South Dakota-based Dakota Group. The deal, completed in January, positions the Portland- based insurer as the nation's third-largest multi-state workers' compensation specialist. Bourque, an early-career journalist who joined MEMIC more than 30 years ago, now turns his focus to integration. footprint with major acquisition Michael Bourque boosts insurer's B Y R E N E E C O R D E S Broadening MEMIC's reach P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY MEMIC Group memic.com 261 Commercial St., Portland What it does: Provider of workers' compensation insurance to nearly one million people employed at 22,000 companies nationwide. Founded: 1993 Employees: 715 M

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