NEW FACES
• Bonnie Holding, a Master Maine Guide and small business owner, was named director of information and education at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Holding is a Master Maine Guide with 28 years of experience. For the past 23 years, she has also owned and operated her own business, the Gold/Smith Gallery at Sugarloaf Ski Resort.
• Joanne Grant was recently hired as director of residential services at Hinckley by Day One.
Grant received her master’s degree in counseling with a concentration in clinical mental health from the University of Southern Maine.
Lauren Berry also joined Day One as a per diem awake overnight associate at its residential program at Buxton.
Berry is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine.
• Amanda Campbell recently joined Pierce Promotions as a manager in their client services group.
Campbell previously worked as an account manager for The Boston Beer Company.
• Michael Sullivan joined Unum as assistant vice president of market development.
Sullivan was previously the senior director of marketing at Idexx Laboratories for more than 12 years.
• Rachel Bannister joined Patrons Oxford Insurance Company in Auburn as personal lines senior underwriter and marketing supervisor.
Bannister is active in the Maine Chapter of CPCU. She has more than 20 years of insurance experience.
• Jimmy Quirion joined Macpage LLC, a certified public accounting firm, as a staff accountant.
Quirion, of Vassalboro, graduated from Thomas College in 2013 with a degree in accounting. He interned with the firm during the summer of 2013.
• Jenna Herbert joined Diversified Communications as a project manager.
Herbert was previously employed with Accruent of Austin, Texas.
PROMOTIONS
• Andrew Ellis was promoted to vice president, provider engagement and contracting at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Maine.
Ellis previously served as contracting team lead for Anthem in Maine. Prior to joining Anthem in 2005, he held positions at the Law Office of James B. Barns in Falmouth, the State Department of Revenue Services in Augusta, and at Maine Medical Center in Portland.
• Paul Keenan was promoted to assistant vice president of short term disability in Unum’s US Benefit Operations business area.
Keenan will oversee the company’s short term disability benefit claim organization at its Portland campus. He was previously the assistant vice president of benefits research information. He has been with Unum for 31 years.
• Kevin Welch was promoted to milieu coordinator at Day One’s residential program in Hollis.
BOARD APPOINTMENTS
• Matthew Lancaster joined the board of directors for Day One, a treatment center in South Portland that provides substance abuse and mental health services for Maine’s youth.
Lancaster is co-owner of Mr. Bagel in Scarborough and Pine Point.
• George Gervais and Jason Hallee were elected to the board of directors for the Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
Gervais has served as commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development since 2011. Hallee has more than 17 years of manufacturing experience at one of the state’s leading medical device manufacturers.
AWARDS and RECOGNITIONS
• Kathleen Cramer-Howe, an associate broker at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Portland, was honored with the Achievement Award.
The award is for excellence in all aspects of the real estate business. Cramer-Howe, of Cape Elizabeth, is a Senior Real Estate Specialist, Certified Negotiation Specialist, Accredited Staging Professional, Green Certified Designations of the National Association of Realtors.
• Arnold Macdonald, Hawley Strait and Matt Tarasevich, three Bernstein Shur attorneys, were recognized with the Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating, the highest level of Martindale-Hubbell’s Peer Review rating system.
Macdonald is a member of Bernstein Shur’s Business Law Practice Group, Construction Law Practice Group and Real Estate Practice Group. He is also chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee.
Strait is a member of Bernstein Shur’s Real Estate Practice Group.
Tarasevich is co-chair of Bernstein Shur’s Labor and Employment Practice Group and a member of its Municipal and Regulatory Practice Group.
• Fluid Imaging Technologies in Scarborough was recognized as the “Employer of the Year” for “providing excellent opportunities to the unemployed,” a news release said.
• Don Foshay’s Discount Tire and Alignment of Hallowell was awarded the 2013 AAA Approved Auto Repair Independent Facility of the Year Award.
The award is presented by AAA Northern New England honoring one dealership and one independent repair facility in each of the three Northern New England states.
Don Foshay’s operates seven locations throughout Maine and has been in business for over 30 years.
• Jennifer Granata, an emergency department nurse manager at Southern Maine Health Care, was recognized by the National Emergency Nurses Association with the 2014 ENA Nurse Manager Award.
Granata, of Scarborough, joined SMHC in 2002 as a staff nurse. In 2007, she became a nurse educator and was promoted to ED nurse manager in 2010. Granata also provides hands-on nursing care as a nurse practitioner.
• Good Will-Hinckley’s Maine Academy of Natural Sciences in Fairfield was recognized by the Maine Conservation Alliance as a “Community Climate Champion” for its effort to reduce carbon pollution while providing students with educational opportunities.
GENERAL
• Express Employment Professionals in Portland has opened a specialized recruiting group to serve the healthcare market in Maine.
The group is dedicated to providing major hospitals, clinics and homecare facilities throughout southern Maine with high-quality temporary, temp-to-hire, and permanent-hire employees.
• The Seaside Group, Inc., a provider of vacation rentals in southern Maine, has acquired JoHank Rentals in Wells.
JoHank Rentals has a 20-year history of providing quality vacation rentals. Seaside Vacation Rentals has been offering vacation rental services to customers since 1983,
• The Maine State Ballet was recognized by Down East Magazine as the Best Dance Group in Maine in the magazine’s 2014 poll.
The “Best of Maine” awards occur annually and provide Down East readers the opportunity to nominate the Maine people, places and things that mean the most to them.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
