CEI parent sees total assets rise, slight income decline in 2016

Photo / Lori Valigra Betsy Biemann, CEO of Brunswick-based CEI, reported the nonprofit's priorities going forward at today's annual meeting in Brunswick.

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By Lori Valigra

CEI reported total income for fiscal 2016 of $10.3 million, down from 2015’s $10.7 million, but a rise in total assets to $86.6 million over last year’s $86.35 million.

CEI is the Brunswick-based nonprofit parent of companies including for-profit CEI Ventures Inc. and CEI Capital Management LLC.

The parent company, which has 58 staff in Maine, reported the figures in its most recent annual report released to Mainebiz before its annual meeting today. It is a nonprofit that provides financing, advice and policy solutions.

The company’s liabilities rose to $52.2 million this year compared to $50.3 million in 2015. Total expenses also were up at $12 million compared to $10 million in 2015. Total net assets were $34.35 million versus $36.1 million last year.

Despite Tuesday’s nor’easter, CEI proceeded with the meeting, which it initially hoped would draw 370 attendees to Bowdoin College in Brunswick near its headquarters.

The meeting featured several speakers, including CEI President Keith Bisson, CEO Betsy Biemann and Duane Peterson, co-president and founder of SunCommon, a Vermont- and Rochester, N.Y.-based company focused on sustainability and responsible business practices.

CEI also presented the 2017 Opportunity Award to St. Croix Tissue, which opened a new paper mill in Baileyville last fall. Mainebiz wrote that the opening culminated a $120 million investment that added 80 new jobs in the Washington County town.

In an email to Mainebiz before the annual meeting, Betsy Biemann, who took over as CEO of CEI after founder Ron Phillips retired last year, wrote, “At CEI, we are talking about the same thing that everyone else in the country is now talking about: that our economy has to work for everyone.”

She added, “We need to be more intentional to make sure that everyone has access to good jobs, that we have both economic growth and economic opportunity.”

At the meeting she said CEI has three priorities going forward: good jobs, environment sustainability and shared prosperity.