IN SHORT

New hires

Sebago Technics, an engineering consulting firm in South Portland, hired Amber Ferland as civil engineer, Richard Stone as CAD technician and 3D modeler, Michael Gammon as GIS technician, Daniel Danvers as landscape designer, Michael Bourque as field engineer/inspector, Philip Lowe joins as senior inspector, Seth Goucher as director of geomatics and Nicole Scott as a transportation engineer in the firm's transportation group.

STARC Systems Inc., a manufacturer and seller of temporary wall containment systems in Brunswick, hired Carolyn Faulkner as vice president of finance and treasurer, Rik Glover as vice president of manufacturing, Hope Chalmers as southeast regional sales manager, Joseph Bitonti as New York and Mid-Atlantic regional sales manager, Johanna Welsh as Midwest regional sales manager and Craig Fairbetter as Southwest regional sales manager.

Maine Historical Society in Portland hired Emily Schlemmer as collections manager and registrar. Schlemmer was an assistant registrar at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Scott Simons Architects in Portland hired Lauren Vorwald as an architectural designer. Vorwald previously worked at DeStafano Architects in Portsmouth, N.H.

Infinity Federal Credit Union in Westbrook hired Maureen St. John as a senior performance manager. St. John was most recently a retail regional senior vice president in southern Maine with Camden National Bank.

HealthInfoNet in Portland hired Allison McBrierty as CFO. McBrierty was director of finance, special projects at MaineHealth.

Diversified Communications, an international media company in Portland, hired Julie Roopenian as a customer service coordinator, Madeline Scharff as an attendee acquisition coordinator and Chris Chase as an associate editor. Roopenian was with Hermes of Paris in New York City, Scharff with SmartFlower Solar, Boston and Chase with Maine Today Media in Bath.

Friends of the Eastern Promenade in Portland hired Patsy Wiggins as executive director. Wiggins was previously a Maine television journalist.

Village Candle in Wells hired Clive Harper as president of international sales. Harper was with Yankee Candle Europe.

Portside Real Estate Group in Portland hired the Turnbull Team consisting of Cari Turnbull, Barb Deschenes and Tiffany Morra as well as agents Danny Reali in Portland; Brent Sawyer and Lisa Guerette in Yarmouth; and Christine Mullen, Nichole Cullen, Mike Caiazzo and Courtney Babbidge in Falmouth.

PDT Architects in Portland hired Robin Tannenbaum as a project manager. Tannenbaum is a specialist in energy-efficient design.

The Portland Radio Group hired Matt Barnard.

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland hired Dana Whitney as director of finance.

Sea Bags, designers and manufacturers of handmade items from recycled sails in Portland, hired Paul Gori as director of retail development. Gori was previously with Lenox Inc.

Junior Achievement of Maine in Portland hired Colby Senior as program coordinator for Southern Maine.

New Dimensions Federal Credit Union hired Sara Bangs Fifield as branch manager in Augusta.

Promotions

STARC Systems Inc., a manufacturer and seller of temporary wall containment systems in Brunswick, promoted Luke Middleton to Mountain-Pacific regional sales representative. Middleton was previously an inside sales manager.

Portside Real Estate Group in Portland promoted Jessica Nason to director of marketing and operations.

The Maine Warden Service in Augusta promoted Dave Chabot to serve as its second landowner relations position. Chabot, a game warden corporal, has been with the Warden Service for 21 years.

Kleinschmidt Associates, an engineering, regulatory, and environmental consulting firm in Pittsfield, promoted Jon Christensen to CEO. He had served as interim CEO since November.

Junior Achievement of Maine in Portland promoted Jenna Jeffrey to marketing and events coordinator. Jeffrey was previously events and program coordinator.

Appointments

The Saddleback Mountain Foundation board of directors elected Wolfe Tone as president while Carol Millhouse was re-elected as secretary and appointed as treasurer. Wolfe was the Maine state director for the Trust for Public Land while Millhouse is a semi-retired family nurse practitioner.

Suzannah Heard, who chairs the select board in the town of Arrowsic, recently joined the executive committee of the Maine Municipal Association.

The Maine Sports Commission, a statewide, nonprofit organization that markets Maine as a four-season sports destination, appointed Carolann Ouellette, Johnny Mehler and Nick Cormier to its board of directors. Ouellette is executive director of Maine Huts & Trails, Mehler is a marketing specialist with Spectrum Healthcare Partners and Cormier is the operations coordinator at Broadreach Public Relations.

Achievements

Verrill Dana, a law firm in Portland, said that attorney Elizabeth Connellan Smith co-authored the Maine chapter in the new LexisNexis publication, “Workers' Compensation Emerging Issues Analysis.” The book serves as a reference guide for emerging trends and issues in workers' compensation law across the country.

The MaineHealth Child Health program announced that Franklin Health Pediatrics in Farmington was recognized for achieving a “Gold” rating for childhood immunizations for FY17 according to the standards outlined in the MaineHealth Childhood Immunizations Program's Clinical Improvement Plan.

Maine Medical Center in Portland said its Specialty Pharmacy Program received full accreditation from URAC, the governing body that evaluates pharmacy program quality. The program's accredited status is current through February 2021.

The Maine Office of Tourism was recognized for excellence in travel marketing by Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International with two “Adrian Awards.” The office received a platinum award for advertising/full campaign for its “L.L.Bean Strategic Brand Partnership” and a silver award in the public relations category for its collaboration with the Met Breuer Museum in New York City, to support and leverage a “Marsden Hartley's Maine” exhibit.

Verrill Dana, a law firm in Portland, said that eight of its attorneys were recognized as litigators in Benchmark Litigation's 2018 edition. In addition to being named to the litigation list, both Karen Frink Wolf and Martha Gaythwaite were named to the national list of “Top 250 Women in Litigation” and the firm was rated as a “Highly Recommended Firm” in Maine, the highest firm ranking possible.

Tim Labonte, executive chef from BlueFin at Portland Harbor Hotel, won “Best Breakfast” with his Lobstah Hash with lobster and chervil infused mascarpone, root vegetable and corn hash and sunny side up quail egg at the ninth annual Incredible Breakfast Cook-Off at Sea Dog Brewing Co.

Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber announced its Big Night Out 2018 award winners. “Small Business of the Year” was Cook's Lobster & Ale House; “Large Business of the Year,” Crooker Construction; “Excellence in Entrepreneurship,” Flight Deck Brewing; “Director's Award,” Avita & Sunnybrook (aka Northbridge Cos.); “Young Professional of the Year,” Melissa Sawyer Boulette; “President's Award,” Tim Sardano; “Joshua L. Chamberlain Award,” Captain Sean Kearns and John Briley; and “Harry C. Crooker Lifetime Achievement Award,” Carolyn Farkas-Noe.

Junior Achievement of Maine said that Guy Langevin, volunteer and state board member, was chosen as one of 10 national recipients of the organization's “Gold Leadership Award.” Langevin, is vice president of Dead River Co. in South Portland. In addition, the organization hosted its 12th annual Titan Challenge, a business competition pitted teams of three high school students against each other as they attempted to manage a virtual company in a competitive marketplace. The overall winner was Yarmouth High School (Team 2) comprised of Michael Guertler, Zach Mogul Campbell and Oliver Sullivan. Regional winners were: IDEXX Laboratories, Westbrook – Waynflete School (Team 3) - Bodhi Small, Matt Beard and Ben Fratoni; Thomas College, Waterville – Oak Hill High School (Team 1) - Noah Moring, Ethan Richard and AJ Redmun; Tyler Technologies, Yarmouth – Lisbon High School (Team 2) - Izaya May, Sean Spaulding and Xavier Mason; University of New England, Biddeford – Sanford Regional Technical Center (Team 1) - Jordan Boucher, Thaddeus Forner and Katrin Spainhour; University of Maine, Orono – Hermon High School (Team 5) - James Petersen, Evan McCoy and Nicole Petersen; and University of Maine, Presque Isle – Caribou High School (Team 1) - Alex Ezzy, Evan Desmond and Nic Sleeper.

Bridgette Vermette, a real estate agent in Portland, was named No. 1 individual agent in gross commissionable income at Keller Williams Maine Realty for 2017.

Infinity Federal Credit Union in Westbrook received a “Citizens Award” from the Westbrook Police Department. The award was presented to Sandy Cloutier, chief risk officer, Ginny Perusse, senior manager of financial operations, Lisa Parkman, financial operations specialist, Ashley Wainwright, teller supervisor and Caitlin Field, assistant manager, for protecting a member from becoming a victim of a real estate scam.

Jeff Corey, founder of Day's Jewelers in Waterville, was named the “2018 Citizen of the Year” by the Boy Scouts of America Pine Tree Council.

Baker Newman Noyes, an accounting and consulting firm in Portland, announced that Pat Morin earned the Advanced SOC for Service Organizations Certificate through the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. Morin, a principal and director of the firm's risk and business advisory practice, is the first in Maine to earn the designation.

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts recently held a hearing titled “Small Business Bankruptcy: Assessing the System” at which Robert Keach, an attorney at Portland law firm Bernstein Shur and co-chair of the ABI Chapter 11 Reform Commission, testified on the commission's Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise case recommendations.

Diversified Communications, an international media company in Portland, presented its bi-annual “Service Awards” as well as its “7Cs Chairperson Award.” The “Chairperson's 7 Cs Award” was presented to Madelyn Kearns, editor, Seafoodsource.com. Twenty-year service awards went to Sheila Bartlett, payroll manager; Deb Bires, operations project manager; Kim Burnham, account executive; Chris Dimmerling, sales director; Jerry Fraser, group publisher; Ken Hocke, senior editor; Joann Leonard, vice president operations; Bill Springer, executive vice president; and Brenda Stearns, customer service team manager. Fifteen-year service awards were presented to Marla Karvonides, account executive, and Amelie Veegaert, operations team manager. Jeane Baltzersen, marketing data analyst; Kate-Lyn Knight, senior content manager; Leanne Walker, senior research analyst; and Joe Zidle, data analyst, were recognized with five-year service awards.

U.S. Cellular recognized Jonathan Isacco, store manager in Bangor, with its “Dynamic Excellence Award.” The award is given to associates that have demonstrated the values of the organization.

Morgan Stanley announced that Mark Leighton, Jay Cross, Josh Burns and Todd Doolan were named to Forbes Magazine's inaugural list of “America's Best-in-State Wealth Advisors.” Leighton, Cross and Doolan are senior vice presidents, financial advisors and Burns is a senior vice president, private wealth advisor in the firm's Portland wealth management office.

Fluid Imaging Technologies Inc., a laboratory instrumentation manufacturer in Scarborough, received the “Pittcon Today Excellence Silver Award” for the recently launched FlowCam Nano and its Nano-Flow Imaging capability. Presented to new products ready to go to market after January 2017, the award recognizes innovation in laboratory science.

Geo Neptune won first place and “Best in Class in Division A” baskets (natural fibers and cultural forms) and Sarah Sockbeson captured second in the same division at the 60th annual Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market held in Phoenix, Ari. In addition, first-time attendee Jennifer Pictou won “Honorable Mention in Division X” (personal attire). All three are Wabanaki Artists at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor.