SCARBOROUGH – Karen Martin, assistant to Harvey Rosenfeld at the Scarborough Economic Development Corp. and interim director since Rosenfeld retired March 1, was officially named the group’s new executive director effective Monday, May 6.

She is only the third head of Scarborough’s quasi-municipal economic development arm in the 28-year history of the organization.

According to corporation Chairman Stuart Axelrod, Martin beat out more than 40 applicants from across New England for the job, including five – four from Maine and one from New Hampshire – who came to town for personal interviews.

“When the smoke cleared, we were just really, really pleased to see that Karen was in everybody’s estimation the most qualified,” said Axelrod on Thursday. “We’ve had the opportunity to observe her in action for the past year or two. She breathes an entrepreneurial spirit and has a keen consensus-building attitude.

“As a group, we’re very exited about SEDCO’s future and the future of the town with her,” said Axelrod.

A Los Angeles native, Martin grew up in Texas and earned a master’s degree in community and regional planning from the University of Texas at Austin. She came to Maine 25 years ago upon seeing a national job listing for a data manager at the Greater Portland Council of Governments.

“I had been here just once before, but I just fell in love with the idea of Maine,” she said.

However, Martin turned the job down at first, she says, because the salary was too low to warrant a move from her position in the city of Austin’s economic development office. But then came a call from GPCOG’s executive director at the time.

“He said. ‘OK, I understand your reasoning. I was just wondering, what’s the temperature there?’” recalled Martin on Thursday. “I said, ‘It’s 101 degrees,’ and he said, ‘Oh, well, it’s 76 here.’”

“Well, my brain just blew,” said Martin. “I said, ‘When do you want me?’ That’s exactly how that happened.”

Martin spent 15 years at the Greater Portland Council of Governments, quickly rising from the data manager to publications manager to the group’s economic development director. After that, Martin moved into the private sector, where she worked eight years writing about the housewares industry for trade publication Kitchenware News, until it was sold by its Maine owner to a group in Arizona.

Martin was then recruited by Rosenfeld to be his executive assistant two years ago. She became SEDCO’s assistant director last year when Rosenfeld stepped down to part-time status, then rose to interim director when he retired March 1. In her new role, Martin will make an annual salary of $81,099.

“I am thrilled to be the economic development director here at SEDCO,” said Martin. “Besides feeling that I was a really good fit for the job, when I worked at GPCOG, Scarborough was always the model of economic development. It was just doing everything right. So, I mean, who wouldn’t want to be a part of this community?

“I am the luckiest person ever,” said Martin. “There are a ton of people out there with the skills and I feel grateful that the board recognized in me a good match. But really, Harvey did all of the heavy work, getting Haigis Parkway done and all of that. Now, I get to come in and reap the benefits of that when the economy is turning back to great. How awesome is that?”

On Martin’s immediate horizon is filling her old job soon after the start of the fiscal year, July 1.

“It’s an entry-level position, but I’ll be looking for someone with good economic development credentials who is good with people and knows how to listen,” she said.

Of course, those are the same skills that made Martin stand out, says Scarborough Town Manager Tom Hall.

“It’s no secret one of the reason I wanted to get the SEDCO offices over here in town hall last year was so I could be really hands on in this transition period, knowing it was coming,” he said. “I didn’t realize at the time, but that afforded me the opportunity to work very closely with Karen. We’ve established a very good working relationship.

So, I certainly think her being the choice of the board is tremendous.”

By late July, Martin will manage a move of the economic development offices out of town hall. Plans are for SEDCO to share space with the Scarborough Community Chamber in the Willowdale Place complex on Route 1, in the same building as Mainely Wraps. Property owner Mark Maroon has given the two agencies “a tremendous deal” on the lease, she said.

In the meantime, Martin will go on a business visitation and survey program, in which she plans to canvass 100 locations over the next year “to learn what’s happening in our business community.” The survey will be posted on the SECDO website the week of May 20. Martin also is working on an overhaul of the site to complement the new Greater Portland Economic Development Corp. site.

Beyond that, Martin says she looks forward to her new job, which, as she explains it, “is whatever needs to be done that day.” Chief among those duties will be to convince companies interested in moving the Scarborough that the town is not just business friendly, but “business ready.”

“Her grasp of technology and social media and marketing is really a breath of fresh air,” said Hall. “Put her together with [Planning Director] Dan Bacon and his staff, and I think we have a pretty interesting mix of talents and a very strong team.”

Karen Martin, longtime executive assistant to Harvey Rosenfeld at the Scarborough Economic Development Corp. and interim director since Rosenfeld retired March 1, was officially named the group’s new executive director effective Monday, May 6. Staff photo by Duke Harrington
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