Boots2Roots tweaks leadership to 'move mission forward for Maine'
File photos / Renee Cordes and Tim Greenway
Bill Benson, left, is the new executive director of Boots2Roots, succeeding Jen Fullmer, who is now the board chair. Fullmer was honored on Mainebiz's 2017 Next List for her contributions to Maine's economy.
Portland nonprofit Boots2Roots has tapped a new executive director as it steps up its mission of helping former military members find meaningful employment in Maine.
Bill Benson, an Army veteran and former business owner who joined Boots2Roots as program director and the group's first paid employee in June, took the reins as executive director Jan. 1.
He succeeds Jen Fullmer, an Air Force veteran and 2017 Maine Next List honoree, who said she will stay involved in the organization she has led for nearly four years as its new board chair.
"This leadership transition is an exciting and important step towards full sustainability for Boots2Roots," said Fullmer. "It is critical for a viable, sustainable organization to be led by an executive director who is an employee, and Bill Benson is the absolute right person at the right time."
Fullmer added that her new role "will provide continuity for a smooth transition and maintain the important synergy we've created to move the mission forward for Maine."
The leadership tweak comes amid a bill in Augusta (LD 1952) seeking $250,000 in annual funding for the nonprofit, Of the 96 so-called teammates it's worked with so far, 61 have been hired from Berwick to Presque Isle, according to Fullmer. Its 2019 budget was $95,000.
With the additional funds, Boots2Roots calculates it could employ two full-time staff, expand corporate partnerships, and add 70 transitioning military members to Maine's workforce each year.
Sponsored by state Rep. Maureen Terry, D-Gorham, the bill was referred on Wednesday to the Legislature's Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, which is scheduled to hear testimony Jan. 22.
"I think we can do so much with a program like this," Terry told Mainebiz by phone late Wednesday afternoon. "Boots2Roots has already done some incredible work, and I am very confident they'll keep growing and become a model for other organizations."
Terry also said that while it's always hard to ask for money, Boots2Roots is very regimented and wouldn't ask for more than it needs, adding: "I think Maine needs to make investments in organizations like this for however long they need the investment."
Hiring and fundraising plans
Last week, Benson told Mainebiz that his immediate priorities as executive director are to hire a full-time program director and apply for state and federal grants.
A key part of the fundraising effort is through Terry's bill in Augusta.
In preparing its case for lawmakers, the Boots2Roots team has done extensive calculations of the economic return of attracting military families to Maine, and helping the state meet its goal of filling 75,000 jobs as laid out in its 10-year economic strategic plan.
"There are a lot of people in the state who are very interested in growing the workforce," Benson said. "We are dead in the middle of that."
Additional funding, from the state or other sources, would allow Benson to travel around the country to talk to transitioning military members about opportunities in Maine they might not otherwise know about.
Asked what he would tell them, Benson said: "That businesses are hiring, that we have an 85% success rate of finding people meaningful work within 60 days of arrival and 100% within five months, and that we're growing our network of business partners successfully."
Current business partners include General Dynamics Corp.'s Bath Iron Works, MEMIC, Dead River Co., and Biddeford-based Fiber Materials Inc, all of whom provide financial support to Boots2Roots as so-called five-star partners. Nearly all have also hired individuals they connected with through Boots2Roots.
"Maine employers are challenged to replenish their workforce and provide a pipeline of future talent," MEMIC spokesman Tony Payne told Mainebiz. “People leaving military service are disciplined, skilled, accomplished and ready to work. Many also will bring families. That’s a formula for long-term success and prosperity."
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