Mainebiz

V O L . X X I I N O. X V I I I A U G U S T 8 , 2 0 1 6 14 I t's easy enough to rattle off negatives about Maine's economy, but Andrea Cianchette Maker deliber- ately tak es a diff erent approach. As leader of Pierce Atwood's government rela- tions practice group and co-chair of FocusMaine, an economic development nonprofi t formed this year, she prefers to focus on Maine's strengths, not its weaknesses. " ere is some rhetoric in Maine about our disadvantages. But let's be honest. In any political campaign they say, 'It takes seven positive messages to off set one negative one.' e weight of a nega- tive comment is much heavier than the buoyancy of a positive comment. We don't off set our nega- tive comments often enough with positive ones, I think," she says. " e strong businesses are always looking at what their competitive advantages might be — like Dead River, WEX, Unum, IDEXX, Jackson Laboratory. ey are all doing that." Maker spends much of her time, then, educating policymakers and helping to steer public debate over Maine's economic future into a more positive direction. It's what comes naturally — it's part of her DNA. A native Mainer who grew up in Pittsfi eld, Maker combines idealism with a civic-minded pragmatism. She says she owes a great deal to lessons learned from her late father, Alton "Chuck" Cianchette, one of four brothers who in 1949 started what's now known as Cianbro, Maine's largest construction company. "My father's father came from Italy when he was 11 years old, on a boat, by himself," she says. "When he got here, he had a very strong ethic that this was the land of opportunity and that this was a land where you gave back … because it gave him so much. It's an ethos that permeates my family. So, always I have known I'd be giving back to the com- munity — and my community has shifted over the years. But it's always really been the state of Maine: at's my community." 'Seizing the advantages' Focusing on competitive advantages is very much the strategy behind FocusMaine, a private-sector eff ort Lawyer, lobbyist, leader B Y J a m e s M c C a r t h y L AW A N D E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T Andrea Cianchette Maker Partner Pierce Atwood LLP Pierce Atwood LLP Merrill's Wharf, 254 Commercial St., Portland Founded: 1891 Top executive: David E. Barry, managing partner Employees: 253 Revenue: Did not disclose Contact: 207-791-1100 www.pierceatwood.com P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Andrea Cianchette Maker, a partner and government relations group leader at Pierce Atwood, is also co-chair of the FocusMaine economic development effort. She is pictured at Pierce Atwood's offi ces in Portland.

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