| Upcoming Events |
|
"Win-Win Negotiations"
MTI workshop Thurs. 6/26 USM Abromson Center
<click here for details> |
| Contact Us |
Maine Center for Enterprise Development
c/o Univ. of S. Maine
P.O. Box 9300
Portland, ME 04104-9300
P: 207. 228 . 8524
F: 207. 228 . 8526Street
address:
70 Falmouth St
Portland, ME 04103
(Bio-Science Building, research wing, 2nd floor)
 |
| On Site Clients |
.JPG)
|
|
|
|
| To be a center of excellence for launching successful start-up companies, nurturing entrepreneurship and implementing innovation as an economic development tool for Maine. |
|
|
| To create high quality jobs for Maine through best practice incubation services that systematically assist new businesses with intellectual property and business plan needs, R&D activities, early-stage financing and product commercialization. |
|
|
- Manage the program as a sustainable, efficient business operation.
- Focus activity on client assistance, including proactive advising and guidance.
- Strengthen stakeholder support, including a resource network that helps the incubation program's client companies and supports the incubator's mission and operations.
- Maintain a management information system and collect statistics and other information necessary for ongoing program evaluation, thus improving a program’s effectiveness and allowing it to evolve with the needs of the clients.
- Partner with organizations that recognize business incubation as a valid model for increasing the success rate of small business, are committed to long-term technology based economic development for the benefit of Maine citizens and offer complementary programs and services.
|
|
|
|
Initiated in the mid 1990's by the Greater Portland business community, the Maine Center for Enterprise Development (MCED) has become one of the most successful business incubators in northern New England for start-up technoloogy companies. In the last five years our clients have raised more than $6 million in early stage capital. Overall, clients have won more than 20 awards from the Maine Technology Institute and the federal Small Business Innovation Research program. Clients also own approximately 30 patents and have research and development partnerships with eight universities, 2 federal agencies and one federal laboratory. Our entrepreneur workshop series, sponsored by Norway Savings Bank and the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern Maine School of Business, attracts over 100 companies annually. Our technology business counseling capabilities are certified through our partnership with the Maine Small Business & Technology Development Centers, a pioneering technology business counseling service created by the Maine Technology Institute and the Maine Small Business Development Centers.
2006 is another milestone year for our program – in April, we initiated an economic development partnership with the University of Southern Maine and in October relocated to the Bioscience Research Wing on USM’s Portland campus. We have enjoyed a program collaboration with the Center for Entrepreneurship in USM’s School of Business since 2003. We
now look forward to strengthening ties with several other USM programs, among them the Maine Patent Program, and the USM School of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology, as well as programs housed in the Bioscience Research Wing. Those include the Maine Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, and the Research Computing Group. Click here for more about the MCED/USM relationship.
Back to top |
|
|
We are a
501(c)3 non-profit organization separate
from the University of Southern Maine.
To view our Guidestar listing, <click
here>
|
|
|
|
John Ferland
President (until June 30, 2008)
JFerland@mced.biz
The current President and Executive
Director of the MCED is John Ferland. Mr. Ferland has many
years of experience creating, managing and reorganizing
small businesses and organizations. He has led the MCED for
the past seven years. Mr. Ferland will be leaving the MCED
at mid-summer to pursue a professional opportunity with one
of the MCED’s successful client companies, ORPC Maine, a
tidal power development company supported in part by the
Maine Technology Institute.The MCED
Board of Directors recently approved Steven N. Bazinet as
Mr. Ferland’s successor. Mr. Bazinet will begin
his duties July 1. Mr. Bazinet has over 22 years of
experience related to corporate development, finance and
financial modeling, private equity advising and management
consulting. He brings to the job extensive education and
professional credentials that will allow him to successfully
lead the MCED into its second decade. <click
here for details>
Back to top
Steven N
Bazinet
President
/Executive Director (after July 1, 2008)
SBazinet@mced.biz
For over twenty-two year, STEVEN
BAZINET of Falmouth has been combining his passion for
entrepreneurial business with his knowledge of business and
finance to assist growth-oriented companies in the art of
creating and capturing value. He has shown a knack for
solving problems and developing ideas in innovative and
bottom-line oriented ways.
As an entrepreneurial family member,
owner, advisor and senior level executive of numerous
privately-held companies, Steve has always been empathetic
to the challenges of building enterprises of high value.
“For the past five years I have enjoyed my experience as an
interim management and corporate finance professional. The
MCED is a new sort of opportunity for me - one that combines
my finance and business acumen with my passion for helping
companies move through their various stages of development.”
His primary focus will be in helping to solve issues of
strategy, growth and profitability.
A graduate of Plymouth State University
with a Bachelors Degree in Management, Steve has also
completed extensive training at Bell Leadership Institute in
Chapel Hill, NC; the Investment Banking Institute, Boston,
MA; and is a graduate of the Executive Management Program,
at the Leadership Institute, Boston University.
Back to top
Sandra Stone
Project Coordinator
SStone@mced.biz
Sandra has entrepreneurial experience as a PC consultant, real estate broker, co-owner of a fishing vessel, and co-founder of a community non-profit, the Falmouth Youth Lacrosse Association. For the last four years, she has also been the varsity coach for the Falmouth High School girls' tennis team. She has served as Fund Director of the Annual
Fund at Bowdoin College, her alma mater, and as a Trustee and Member of the
Corporation of the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School.
Back to top |
|
|
Widgery Thomas, Chair
www.cfaw.com/north-america/1001
Widgery Thomas, Jr. is a Senior Associate at Corporate Finance Associates, one of the oldest and largest middle-market investment banking firms in North America. CFA helps owners and shareholders of privately held companies navigate the complex process of selling, buying or financing a company to maximize the after-tax value of each transaction. Widgery has more than 25 years of experience in corporate finance and investment banking. Prior to his joining CFA in 1982, Widgery served for 22 years as President and Chief Executive Officer of Canal National Bank. He led Canal National Bank through its own sale to Key Corp in the late 1970s.
Back to top
Leslie Arnson,
Esq.
www.arnsonenvironmentalandsafety.com
Leslie Arnson has specialized in environmental, health and safety compliance since 1989, and started her own company Arnson Environmental & Safety in 2003 to provide on-site worker safety training and company-specific environmental compliance programs to businesses, manufacturers and public entities from Providence to Eastport. A licensed attorney in Texas, she also previously worked at a global environmental engineering firm overseeing hazardous waste cleanups at sites from Alaska to Georgia. Since moving to Maine in 1994, she has worked at an environmental consulting firm, a law firm, a hazardous waste treatment/waste oil recycling facility and an emergency response/hazardous waste transportation company. She was on the initial steering committee that helped to create the Center for Environmental Enterprise (now MCED), and served as its first Chairman of the Board.
Back to top
Aileen
Cahill
Aileen Cahill is President of her own consulting firm,
Customer Connections, an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at
USM and an author of
Internet
Marketing,
a
MBA text. Her areas of expertise include strategic planning,
internet marketing, brand management, new product
development, and marketing research for Pepsi-Cola, Hershey
Chocolate, Nabisco, Kellogg, IBM, GE Capital, XEROX,
Fidelity, Bristol-Myers Squibb and other nationally renowned
companies.Aileen is deeply involved working with the Maine
Association of Professional Consultants and the Maine
Marketing Association. She earned her MBA in Marketing at
Cornell University, Johnson Graduate School of Management,
and her BA, Magna Cum Laude, in Psychology at SUNY
Binghamton
Back to top
Douglas
Carr Esq.
Douglas Carr is an attorney with
Perkins Thompson and
brings his more than thirty years of experience and
familiarity with Maine's political and business worlds to
bear on his integrated practice of administrative law,
business transactions, retail and health care, and
government relations. Mr. Carr advises Maine-based companies
in connection with their daily business activities and is
often called upon to assist businesses in developing their
long term strategic growth and development plans. He has
been involved in several major national undertakings
including a reverse triangular merger with a Canadian
fabless chip manufacturing company and advising a national
retailer in connection with national and state antitrust
issues and a Maine-based company on commercial free speech
and Lanham Act litigation. He serves as Maine legal counsel
for a large national retailer in the health care and
specialty retail fields. Mr. Carr also serves as General
Counsel to a number of small Maine businesses and several
Not for Profit Foundations in the education, environmental,
and business research areas.
Back to top
Richard Flagg
www.norwaysavingsbank.com
Richard Flagg is a Vice President of Commercial Lending at Norway Savings
Bank in Portland working in all areas of small business financing including
loans to start-ups. Rick comes from Eastport, Maine and has been in Banking
for 16+ years after graduating from the University of Maine in Orono with a
B.A. in Economics.
Back to top
Valarie Lamont, PhD
www.usm.maine.edu/cesb
Dr. Valarie C. Lamont is Associate Dean for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the School of Business at the University of Southern Maine. She also directs the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Center for Real Estate Education. Her areas of expertise include technology, the state economy and affordable housing issues, as well as entrepreneurship. Created in 1996, CE offers business development courses, workshops, technical assistance and research projects that respond to the needs of the entrepreneurial and small business community, while hosting the USM Student Business Plan Competition and Maine’s first Faculty Forum on Entrepreneurship.
Back to top
Edward S.
McKersie, CPC
www.psicareers.com
Edward S.
McKersie is Founder and President of Pro Search, Inc. of
Portland, and a founder of JobsInTheUs.com in Westbrook.
Ed has been in the employment services industry since
1985. Prior to establishing Pro Search, Inc. in 1994, he
was Director of Search Services for the corporate
offices of a national employment services firm,
responsible for recruiting, hiring and training search
consultants for the company's 35 office network. Ed
holds a B.S. in Economics/ Finance from Bentley College
and has been a featured speaker and trainer at human
resources and recruiting/staffing industry events. He is
Chairman of the Business Advisory Council of
Goodwill Industries of Northern New England,
is Vice Chair of
USM Corporate Partners
and is on the Board of
The Human Resource Association of Southern Maine
as well as the Maine State Human Resources Council.
Back to top
Stephen Ransom
www.ransomenv.com
Stephen Ransom is founder and President of Ransom Environmental Consultants , an environmental consulting and engineering firm with offices in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Maine. As a senior consultant with more than 25 years of experience, Steve offers technical guidance to a staff of engineers, hydrogeologists, geologists, and chemists. Steve has amassed a wide spectrum of project experience that includes facilitating business mergers and acquisitions.
Back to top
Jere Shaw
www.evergreencreditunion.org
Jere Shaw is a Vice President and Commercial Loan Officer at Evergreen
Credit Union. He previously worked as a Loan and Investment Officer for
Coastal Enterprises, Inc. Jere also serves as Chair of the
Aquaculture and Marine Technology Board at the Maine Technology Institute.
Back to top
Stephen C. Shea
www.sigcap.com
Stephen Shea is President
of Signature Capital Securities, LLC, of Portland, a
firm that introduces and commercializes high growth
technology based companies in multi billion dollar
industries. A former CEO, he has more than 20 years
experience growing and leading organizations to merger
or acquisition with either private or publicly traded
companies. Mr. Shea has also been involved in business
turnarounds in the U.S. and Canada for manufacturing and
service industries including financial services and
healthcare companies. He also founded three
entrepreneurial companies, including SCS Capital Group,
a private equity investment and consulting group
established to invest in or acquire New England based
companies involved with manufacturing and consumer
products distribution. Mr. Shea serves on the Board of
Directors for Chemogen, Inc., and CEI Capital
Management, LLC.
Back to top |
|
|
|
Our business incubator is now located in
the bio science building at 70 Falmouth Street on the USM Portland Campus,
2nd floor of the Research Wing ( a secure area, requiring
authorized entry).
click here
for directions to USM Portland Campus .Back to top
|
|
|
