Newsworthy people and performances

New hires

The Institute for Family-Owned Business in Portland hired Catherine Wygant Fossett as executive director. Wygant Fossett was previously executive director of the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce.

Maine Audubon in Falmouth hired Charles Gauvin as executive director. Gauvin was previously president and CEO of Trout Unlimited.

Patrons Oxford Insurance Co. in Auburn hired Stuart Thompson as an assistant underwriter of personal lines.

Hurley Solutions LLC, an ecommerce application development company in Portland, hired Erin Hurley as principal.

Varney Agency, an insurance and bonding firm in Bangor, hired David Quimby as an account executive in its Tampa, Fla., office. Quimby was previously co-owner of Acadia Mortgage Co.

Skowhegan Savings Bank hired Will Hatt as senior vice president of commercial lending. Hatt was previously regional vice president of commercial lending for Bar Harbor Bank & Trust.

Gorham Savings Bank hired Marie Morin as vice president, senior business officer in Kennebunk. Previously, Morin was vice president, retail market manager at Kennebunk Savings Bank.

Mercy Health Care System of Maine hired John Lowery as a primary care physician at Mercy Yarmouth Primary Care.

Ransom Consulting Inc., an engineering and science consulting firm in Portland, hired Leila Pike as a civil engineer, Kathryn Quay and Elizabeth Helsel as environmental engineers, Maureen McGlone as a civil engineer and project manager and Nate Dill as a coastal engineer and project manager.

Verrill Dana hired Taylor Neff as an associate with the firm's trial team. Previously, Taylor practiced in the Boston office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

iBec Creative, a web design and digital marketing company in Portland, hired Matthew Rideout as web developer and digital marketing specialist. Most recently, Rideout was the lead developer and digital marketing manager for Nancy Marshall Communications.

Maine Boys to Men, a nonprofit in Yarmouth, hired Matt Theodores as executive director.

The Portland Public Schools hired Ellen Sanborn as CFO, Jennifer Searway as director of the West Program, Patricia Crowley-Rockwell as assistant principal at King Middle School and Bethany Connolly as assistant principal at Lincoln Middle School.

Stantec, an engineering, consulting and design company in Scarborough, hired Rena Armstrong as a project control specialist in its design firm.

Penobscot Community Health Care hired Ernest Holden as a staff member at its Dental Center in Bangor.

Sebago Technics, an engineering firm in South Portland, hired Keith Gray and Paul Ostrowski as project engineers, Cassandra Quintal as a digital mapping technician/surveyor, Samantha Perro as a computer aided design technician, Jordan McAdams as a survey technician and Aaron Hunter and Dylan Stuart as civil engineers.

BerryDunn, a CPA and consulting firm in Portland announced several new hires including Joshua Minnich and Gavin Penny as tax specialists; Amanda Eskow, Benjamin Halloran, Carlos Newsome, Thomas Robinson and Kolby Youland as staff accountants; and Tucker Cutter was hired as a consultant in the management and information technology group. The firm's government consulting group hired Peter Alfrey, Dane Fletcher, Jim Strasenburgh and Mitch Darrow as senior consultants; Gina Austin, manager; Nicole Bailey, Zachary Rioux, Ethan Wiley and Adam Bates, consultants; MaryLou Banker, project coordinator; and Kristin Sims-Kastelein and Jennifer Vincent, business development specialists. In addition, Devin Dukes was hired as an event coordinator in the firm's marketing group, Tammy Champagne as an accounting/training assistant in the firm's administration, Erica Long as a senior recruiter in the executive fit group and Kristi Thompson as director of learning and development.

Summit Natural Gas of Maine hired Michelle Kelly as safety coordinator for the Cumberland, Falmouth and Yarmouth area.

Day One, a nonprofit agency in South Portland that works to prevent and treat adolescent substance abuse, hired Sarrah Ackerman, Jarrod Goodwin, Cheryl Mitchell and Tracy Scott as per diem care associates at Residence at Hinckley and Keith Dubois and Kenda Williams as per diem care associates at Residence at Hollis.

Hospice of Southern Maine in Scarborough hired Daryl Cady as CEO. Cady was previously CFO with Home Health & Hospice Care.

Eaton Peabody, a law firm in Bangor, hired Erica Johanson as a litigation attorney at its Portland office. Johanson was previously a law clerk to Judge Nancy Torresen at the United States District Court, District of Maine.

The Greater Bangor Convention & Visitors Bureau hired Hannah Young as events and communications coordinator.

Main Street Bath hired Carolyn Lockwood as director. Lockwood is a Bath city councilor and former community development coordinator for the city of Bath.

Diversified Communications, an international media company in Portland, hired Lauren McDermott as a marketing & sales administrator, Lora Burns as a conference coordinator, David Cohen as a conference attendee & sponsorship sales representative and Emily Steele as an attendee sales representative. McDermott was previously with CeQur Corp. in Marlborough, Mass., Burns was with The University of New England, Cohen was with Hammond Lumbar Co. and Steele was with WEX Inc.

Merrimack Mortgage Co. Inc. in Camden hired Pam Fowles and Jo Geddis as co-branch managers and loan officers.

Baker Newman Noyes, a CPA and consulting firm in Portland, hired Reid Butler as a senior in the audit practice in the firm's Portsmouth, N.H., office.

Promotions

Clark Insurance Employee Benefits Group in Portland promoted Julie Elwell to account executive. Elwell previously served as a senior account manager at the agency.

The Androscoggin Land Trust in Auburn promoted Michael Auger to executive director. Auger was formerly the director of land protection and stewardship.

S.W. Cole Engineering Inc. in Bangor promoted Russell Bragg to northern regional manager of construction services and Scott Harmon to southern regional manager of construction services.

Baker Newman Noyes, a CPA and consulting firm in Portland, promoted Nora Antonio to senior in the audit department and Jacob Day and Brooke Freeman to senior in the audit practice in the firm's Portland office; Amanda McEneaney to manager in the audit practice in the firm's Boston office; and Jessica Bouchard to manager in the audit practice, Emily Antonico to senior in the risk and business advisory practice and Douglas DeLara, William Mitchell and Marrissa Piro to senior in the audit practice in the firm's Manchester, N.H., office.

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland promoted Chris Clemens to construction site supervisor. Clemens was previously of the ReStore driver/store associate.

SystemArchitecture.NET, an IT consulting company in Windham, promoted Eric Fernald to manager of network engineering, Tony Taylor to manager of software development and David Richardson to operations manager.

The Maine Department of Corrections in Augusta promoted Jody Breton to deputy commissioner. Breton was previously associate commissioner.

Burgess Computer in Bath promoted Andy Hanson to service team lead and Tamara Lilly to business support specialist. Hanson was previously network engineer while Lilly was service coordinator.

Volk Packaging Corp., a corrugated box manufacturer in Biddeford, promoted Glorijane Winslow to estimator/purchasing manager and Vladimir Lenchuk to scheduler.

Appointments

Maine Savings in Bangor elected Joe Young to its board.

The Maine Center for Creativity in Portland announced Jamie Morin, president of Synchrony Consulting, will serve as board president. Joanne Bean, vice president and chief advancement officer at Saint Joseph's College, was added to the board.

The Maine Community Foundation in Portland elected Yellow Light Breen and Martha Dumont to its board. Breen is the executive vice president and chief strategic officer at Bangor Savings Bank. Dumont most recently oversaw global sales and research activities for CreditSights Inc., an independent research provider for investors.

The Center for Grieving Children in Portland elected Christopher Cimino, Julie Grosvenor and Peter Herzog to its board. Cimino is executive vice president at C.M. Cimino Inc. in Westbrook; Grosvenor is a physician and associate chief medical officer at Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford; and Herzog is an associate employment attorney at Fisher & Phillips LLP in Portland.

Woodfords Family Services, a nonprofit in Westbrook to serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families statewide, announced Reginald Denis and Elek Miller were appointed trustees. Denis is an internal audit consultant II with Idexx Laboratories and Miller is an associate at Drummond and Woodsum.

Achievements

Leo Bourgeault, a sales associate affiliated with the Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage office in Saco, was ranked No. 3 with 75 closed transactions in 2013 on the 2014 REAL Trends Best Agents in America list.

Hall Internet Marketing in Portland announced all 17 of its employees are certified in Google Analytics. The Google Analytics Individual Qualification exam is a benchmark used by the search giant to signify a strong proficiency with its powerful analytics tools.

Alpha One, a center in Portland for independent living for people with disabilities, received a one year $10,000 grant from the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council to support innovative approaches to developmental disabilities advocacy.

U.S. News & World Report named Maine Medical Center in Portland the top hospital in Maine while recognizing eight of the institution's specialties as high-performing in its 2014-2015 survey of U.S. hospitals.

The American Heart Association announced that several Maine employers received national recognition for promoting physical activity and health in the workplace through the Fit Friendly Worksite program. Diversified Business Communications, Idexx Laboratories, MaineGeneral Health and WEX Inc. received platinum recognition while AdvancePierre Foods, Atlantic Great Dane, Austin Associates CPAs, Central Maine Medical Center, city of Auburn, Community Concepts Inc., Evergreen Subaru, General Dynamics, Armament and Technical Products, Holden Agency, Huhtamaki, MaineHealth, MEMIC, Mercy Hospital, New England Rehabilitation Hospital of Portland, North East Mobile Health Services, Olympia Sports, Procter & Gamble Tambrands, Schooner Estates, Sea Coast/OceanView Management Co., Southworth Products, St. Joseph's College of Maine, St. Mary's Health System, Staff Management Office 0117, Sure Winner Foods and Tyler Technologies received gold recognition. Diversified Business Communications also received the Worksite Innovation Award.

Veronica Levesque, assistant vice president of accounting at Maine Savings in Bangor, received the Diane L. Oceretko People Helping People Award for Community Service from the Maine Credit Union League.

Advance Technology, an electronic systems integration firm in Scarborough, was named to SDM Magazine's Top Systems Integrator Report. The company was ranked 71 out of 100 nationwide, achieving just over $7 million in revenue.

The Landing School, a boat building and marine systems technology school in Arundel, announced that it was selected to receive a School of Excellence Award from the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges.

Shannon Kinney, founder and client success officer at Dream Local Digital in Rockland, was named a top Local Digital Innovator by the Local Media Association. The association represents over 2,200 local news outlets globally, and each year recognizes the best in digital media.

Maine Savings in Bangor awarded the Cecil C. Porter Extraordinary Service Award to Linda Elliott, a mortgage loan officer at its Ellsworth branch.

John Christie, founder and editor-in-chief of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, was awarded the 2014 Yankee Quill Award for lifetime achievement by the Academy of New England Journalists. In addition, The Nonprofit Quarterly invited Hildie Lipson, the center's COO, to join its editorial advisory committee. The group, which has 20 members who represent nonprofits across the country, helps the magazine set its editorial direction every year.