Mainebiz

V O L . X X I N O. X V I I A U G U S T 1 0 , 2 0 1 5 14 Kris Doody As CEO at Caribou-based Cary Medical Center, Kris Doody has focused on growing a rural hospital and working with veterans. Cary has two new satellite clinics in Washburn and Fort Fairfield that have helped it grow market share. It also opened a Women's Imaging Center, the most advanced Breast Center in Northern Maine, and it will soon open the new Jefferson Cary Cancer Center. e hospital also has received a $1 million grant to help build and grow the Maine Rural Health Innovation Network, a collaboration of 10 Maine hospitals representing nearly one-third of Maine's population. It also has established an LLC with five of those hospitals with a goal of developing "best practices" for man- aging chronic illness and sharing cost-saving ideas. Along the way, Doody and the hos- pital have won numerous awards. ey include e Joint Commission Top Performer on Key Quality Measures 2012-13, Gold Award 2013-14 Maine Tobacco Free Hospitals Network, Case in Point Case Management Award 2013, Governors Award for Environmental Excellence for the Safe Sharps Disposal Program and the New England Environmental Merit Award. e hospital also won the Avatar Exceeding Patient Expectations award for nine years in a row and the Best Overall Performer distinction for four years in a row. "Only three other hospitals of the 600 surveyed by Avatar across the nation have achieved this level of rec- ognition," Doody says. Cary also was named among America's Best Hospitals for Obstetrics Women's Choice Award and among America's Best Breast Centers. Quorum Health Resources gave Cary the Best Overall Quality Award for the second year in a row. "Our quality was also recog- nized with the Best Performer for Communication with Nurses, Responsiveness of hospital staff and Pain Management scoring above the top 10% of hospitals in the nation," she says. HealthGrades also named Cary among the top 10% of hospitals nationally in patient experience. Doody was a 20-20 Award Recipient from the Maine Health Management Coalition. She says the work that is most personal to her is for veterans in Aroostook, as her late father served for 39 years with the Maine National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve. "We had great success with out- patient care and long-term care," she says, and "in 2011 we were selected as one of only five sites in the nation to pilot a new VA program, Project ARCH (Access Received Closer to Home)." She says Cary was the most successful of the five sites, and when the program was threatened with ending in 2014, she testified before Congress. e program was extended, but she continues to fight for a per- manent extension. Her advice to young women enter- ing the workforce now: "Reach for the top, don't be intimidated and lead with ethics and fairness. Your reputa- tion is everything." Jean Hoffman Jean Hoffman, president and CEO of Putney Inc., a Portland-based developer of affordable generic pet medicine, has been growing revenues and raising funds to expand. It raised $6.7 million in a Series B funding in 2009, plus two additional equity rounds and several debt rounds of capital since then for a total of more than $60 million raised to date. Hoffman also has grown revenues at a greater than 30% compounded annual growth rate. "So we are a larger, better funded company," she says. In 2013, Putney ranked No. 2,043 in the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing compa- nies in America, No. 290 in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and was named the No. 10 Best Medium Place to Work in Maine 2013. Fortune magazine also named Putney the 10th Best Small/ Medium Workplace. e company also moved into larger quarters in downtown Portland to double its space for its employees, which have grown more than seven-fold to more than 60 employees. Hoffman was named the New England Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 in the Life Sciences category in recognition of her success in building Putney into the largest generics company in the veterinary pharma- ceutical industry. In 2012 Hoffman was named a Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year. Putney was Portland's 2013 Business of the Year. Hoffman is currently a member of the Board of Advisors of Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and a member of the Dean's Advisory Council for the University of New England's School of Pharmacy. "Putney's biggest challenges in the next five years are recruiting great people to join our team and gaining unrestricted access to veterinary customers," Hoffman says. "Some branded pharmaceutical companies have contractually prohibited the largest veterinary distribution com- panies in the country from distributing generics of their brand-name drugs. e intent of these agreements is to prevent generic competition in the marketplace." She says Putney has developed a network of smaller, regional distributors and a direct sales team to give veterinar- ians access to Putney's generics. She advises young women entering the work force to prepare to work hard, figure out what they are excited about and where their skills would make a dif- ference. "Don't expect any special treat- ment because of your gender," she notes. "Consider making your own rules and building the work place you believe in as an entrepreneur rather than thinking about joining a large company." Kathie Leonard ree years ago, Mechanic Falls-based Auburn Manufacturing Inc. doubled the size of its Auburn facility as part of its strategic plan to add new processes and work more efficiently, says Kathie Leonard, president and CEO. e company now occupies a total of 100,000 square feet at sites in Auburn and Mechanic Falls. "e extra space and the added equipment have helped us to develop some new products and improve our quality," she says. Employee numbers are still hovering around 50 people due to a slower-than- anticipated global economic recovery. "Finding ways to stay ahead of imported products made in non- market economies (i.e., China) is key to our success," she says of the chal- lenges the company faces over the next five years. "at means we need to continue to develop new products to maintain our edge as experts in heat-resistant textiles." Women to Watch, the inaugural honorees Class of 2009: Where are they now? B y L o r i V a l i g r a T he Mainebiz Women to Watch awards originated in early 2009 when the editorial staff hung all the cov- ers of the previous year's issues on a wall and saw a lot of male faces. They thought it was time to start a forum to acknowledge talented women. The inaugural group of six winners spanned the manufactur- ing, construction, health care, science and technology, nonprofit and women-owned business sectors. Their common traits included smarts, tenacity and vision to overcome obstacles and reap the rewards of leading well-managed enterprises. As we introduce you to this year's top women execu- tives, we also caught up with our 2009 winners. In telling us what they are doing now, they show why they are still Women to Watch. 2009 FILE PHOTO / JOE PHELAN 2 0 0 9 F I L E P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S 2 0 0 9 F I L E P H O T O / DAV I D A . RO D G E R S

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