Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/710928
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 16 a growing traceable seafood movement creating rising demand for locally sourced and sustainably harvested cultivated seafood. Aquaculture could yield 17,400 new direct and indirect jobs by 2025, with additional net exports of between $230 million and $800 million. Finally, Maker says, Maine's potential for grow- ing its biopharmaceutical sector is based on proxim- ity to Boston, which is a major research-and-devel- opment hub for the pharmaceutical industry. " e information we have is that the companies doing the research are wanting, or are going to be need- ing, manufacturing capacity within a two-hour drive of Boston," she says. "Maine is within that circumference of Boston. So the question is, 'Can we get Maine within that circle?' at's the play we want to make." Biopharma could yield 12,240 new direct or indirect jobs by 2025, with additional net exports of between $150 million and $380 million. Maker credits Robert Moore, who recently retired as CEO of Dead River, with providing the insight that put FocusMaine on the right track. "He said, 'You know, when I want to grow my busi- ness, I look at what the market needs and how I might be able to serve it,'" she says. "In other words: Who are the customers out there that we can uniquely serve? at's the FocusMaine approach." Lessons from life Maker half jokingly says as a 12-year-old girl growing up in Pittsfi eld she envisioned becoming stewardess. It appealed to her sense of adventure, which she still has, but her father steered her gently toward law. "I think my father believed that getting an education in law was the best education one could get," she says. "But he always quickly followed it up by saying, 'You don't have to be a lawyer. Get the education and then, if you want to be a stewardess, be a stewardess.'" After earning an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of New Hampshire, Maker says her dad arranged for her to meet with his friend, George Mitchell, then President Jimmy Carter's appointee as U.S. Attorney for Maine. He talked about his work and how valuable a law degree could be to someone wanting to make a diff erence in the world. Maker entered the Maine School of Law and had internships with Mitchell, by then a U.S. sena- tor, and with then-U.S. Rep. Bill Cohen. ose internships infl uenced her chosen path in law to work in the fi eld of government relations. "I clearly came to appreciate that policymak- ers are really just seeking good information that helps them make informed decisions," she says. " e types of issues I work on are not particularly partisan-based. … I never look for the diff erences. I always look for the common ground. at's how I lead my team and my work. It's worked well." Next phase of the journey ree decades later, Maker has had two stints at Pierce Atwood. She returned to the fi rm about six years ago, saying it roughly coincided with the real- ization that she and her husband, Scott, were enter- ing the "empty nester" phase of their lives. In her years raising four children, she says, a primary focus had been providing a stable home environment. Her "community" shifted accord- ingly, with work she had done with the Susan Curtis Foundation or the Democratic State Committee and other statewide interests giving way to closer-to- home activities such as being a 4-H leader or fi lling in as a soccer coach for 11-year-old boys one year. Maker now realizes her mother, in her own way, infl uenced her life as much as her father. "It's wonderful now that I can see that life is a matter of stages," she says. " ere was an education stage, then there was a family stage. When I came back to Pierce Atwood, my platform came back to the state level. I feel like I'm into my next phase." Maker sees FocusMaine as an opportunity to work strategically with others on building a stronger Maine. "So, if you consider that there's some 'wisdom' somewhere in there that I've acquired in my life, I'm now getting a chance now to apply it — to take all those experiences and apply all those lessons," she says. "I've been working on FocusMaine for two years, but we haven't even started our 10-year implementation phase. I still have a long horizon in front of me, to see that through and whatever else comes along." J MC, Mainebiz senior writer, can be reached at @ . and @ JM » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E FOLLOW US @MBEVENTS #OTR2017 Throughout the year Mainebiz makes six stops all over Maine in our On the Road reception series. We give our readers the chance to break away from their desks to meet and mingle with other members of the local business community. Go to mainebiz.biz/OTR2017 to find out where we've been, and to tell us where to go in 2017. Or email Donna Brassard at dbrassard@mainebiz.biz. Tell Mainebiz where to go in 2017 READERS' CHOICE P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Andrea Cianchette Maker, a partner at Pierce Atwood, says her work as a lobbyist is intended to provide policymakers with "good information that helps them make informed decisions."

