Tuned in | Deb Neuman moves from radio host to DECD deputy commissioner
Photo/David A. Rodgers
Deb Neuman, president and CEO of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce, will be moderating the Mainebiz Bangor Breakfast Forum on Dec. 1.
The qualities that make Deb Neuman a successful radio-show host — her garrulousness, positivity and sensitivity to her audience of small-business owners — have come into play in her role heading up a new business-oriented division within the state’s economic development agency.
Neuman started as deputy commissioner at the Department of Economic and Community Development in late July after being tapped by Gov. Paul LePage. Although the job will require a big commitment of her time and energy, a commitment she’s looking forward to, she says she’ll continue airing her weekly radio show, “Back to Business,” as she’s done for the past five and a half years. On the show, Neuman interviews business owners and shares their stories.
“Any chance I can get information out to small businesses, I do it,” Neuman says. “Everyone [at the DECD] felt that [the show] was really relevant to the position.” She has left her former job as director of the Target Technology Incubator at the University of Maine.
She now oversees a small team of what she calls account executives who can respond to businesses’ needs. Traveling all over Maine to meet with business owners, the executives will help them solve problems ranging from where to find financing or new markets to how to connect with resources.
“Their basic responsibilities will be to get out … and work one-on-one with small businesses, medium businesses, large businesses and entrepreneurs interested in starting a business in Maine,” says Neuman, who lives in Bangor. She’s accepting applications for six or seven employees who will specialize in different economic sectors, including manufacturing, tourism and technology.
Neuman wants to hire former business owners who easily build relationships and listen well. She herself has a background in small business — she ran an inn and tour-boat company in Bar Harbor for a decade — and says she’s found this helpful in her work. “When a small business owner knows I’ve been in small business, the wall comes down,” she says. “They say, ‘OK, I know you get this.’”
The Governor’s Account Executives Unit, as the new division is called, will not require a DECD budget increase, according to Commissioner George Gervais, who says his department has the same budget as last year. The unit reflects a priority of LePage’s administration to make Maine more business friendly and create jobs. Neuman, who shares those goals, served on LePage’s transition team.
Part of Neuman’s responsibilities will be to simplify state permitting and licensing processes for businesses by creating a user-friendly website. She’s finding out what state departments require from startups and trying to consolidate those into a one-stop shop, as she calls it.
While conceding that revamping the high-tech piece is important, Neuman adamantly stresses the “high touch” piece, or her personalized approach to helping business owners. All the account executives will travel extensively. “In my experience, I find it is so important to actually see a business and walk through it and understand how it works,” she says. “You have to do that to be helpful.”
Most importantly, Neuman says anyone she hires for her team must share her considerable enthusiasm for businesses and for helping people. “You have to have a passion for this,” she says. “At the end of the day, when I put my head on the pillow and ask, ‘Did I help a business today?’ and it’s, ‘Yes,’ that’s a good day for me. Even if it’s just one.”
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