Mainebiz

V I E W P O I N T S W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 3 M A R C H 2 3 , 2 0 1 5 For a daily digest of Maine's top busi- ness news, sign up for the Mainebiz Daily Report at mainebiz.biz/enews Get Maine's business news daily at mainebiz.biz and on Twitter (@Mainebiz). Below is some of the best from our online-only offerings: Featured @ Mainebiz.biz The entrepreneurial spirit How can you take new ideas and energy to a company of any size? Join Mainebiz at its Women to Watch Leadership Forum in Freeport on April 2, and hear what it takes from leaders at Sterling Rope, Cerahelix, Sea Bags and MaineWorks. Find out how to register at mainebiz.biz/w2wforum. A new friend in the NHL The Portland Pirates will have a new National Hockey League affiliate start- ing this year. Learn about the new multi-year development deal and what it means at mainebiz.biz/piratesNHL. Maine's business leaders are about more than the bottom line From the Editor WELCOME BACK, CHRIS. After 10 years, we are thrilled to welcome Christopher J. Devlin back to the firm. He brings more than 25 years experience of highly-regarded finance and commercial lending experience to the business law group. It's so nice to have you back in the Bernstein Shur family. Portland, ME | Augusta, ME | Manchester, NH 207 774-1200 | bernsteinshur.com I t's always good when a reporter comes back from an assignment and says, "Oh man, we talked for three hours!" at was the case with all three of the interviews with this year's Business Leaders of the Year. It's always a tough decision and we get a deep pool of nominations. ere's the criteria of having a strong busi- ness that has shown good performance over the past year. ere's the element of being a good employer, someone who looks out for the best interest of employees. ere's the desire to fi nd a leader who is doing well but also doing good by contributing to nonprofi t causes or charity. In the category of large company, Doug McKeown, president, CEO and chairman of the environmental engineering fi rm Woodard & Curran, has demonstrated his knack for building the company. Since coming on board as CEO, the company has doubled its revenues and its workforce. Last year, it added an offi ce in St. Louis. It's also obvious he cares about Maine. In the category of small company/entrepreneur, Jim Wellehan, owner of shoe retailer Lamey-Wellehan, has shown that he can outsmart the big box stores and the online retailers. He's also demonstrated that by eliminat- ing plastic bags and other waste at the store, he can buck an industry's wasteful ways. In the nonprofi t category, Donna Dwyer, executive direc- tor of My Place Teen Center, has shown she knows how to raise money, gather in-kind contributions and pay off the mortgage. She has also shown herself to be adept at one of life's great challenges — how to talk to teenagers. I think you'll enjoy reading about them. And I invite you to our Business Leaders of the Year celebration, which will be May 7 at the Portland Country Club. Forbes I A lot of people around here would like to forget Forbes magazine and its annual stick-it-to-Maine list. You might recall that the New York City-based publication last year ranked Maine No. 49 on its list of "Best States for Business," citing the state's high corporate taxes and lackluster economic outlook. Maine also scored poorly for regulatory environment, growth prospects and business costs, but better on labor supply and quality of life. Adding insult to injury, Business Insider jumped on the bandwagon recently, also ranking Maine second to last. All of this brings me to a meeting I had with folks at the Island Institute, the Rockland-based nonprofi t. Rob Snyder, the organization's president of two years, had a similar reaction to the lists. His suggestion: "Why doesn't Mainebiz come up with its own rank- ing of states, and develop its own ranking criteria so Maine comes out on top?" Hmm, sounds like an interesting idea. Forbes II A reporter at the aforementioned Forbes called me last week to ask for some help in researching another list, Forbes' list of the richest person in each state. e list grew out of the billionaires list Forbes pub- lishes. I was having a hard time thinking of who might rank fi rst in Maine, let alone among the nation's billion- aires. Leon Gorman, former L.L.Bean chairman, has been widely reported as Maine's richest person, with a net worth estimated at $860 million. Among the Forbes 400, none resided in Maine, while 65 lived in New York and 39 in Texas, according to the 2014 list. Maine is among 10 states with no one on the list. IDEXX founder David Shaw is among the 400, but is apparently listed as based in New York. I couldn't resist giving the reporter a hard time about Maine's ranking on the "Best States" list, but I was truly at a loss for information he could use in the richest person list. " e thing is," I said, "even if someone were loaded, you'd never know it. ey wouldn't build a big, fancy house. ey'd go out of their way to not look showy." e reporter agreed. "Oh, I totally get that. I'm from the Midwest." Peter Van Allen pvanallen@mainebiz.biz An inside look Get a digest of the state's largest commercial real estate transactions, industry movers and more in our weekly Real Estate Insider newsletter. Sign up at mainebiz.biz/enews.

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