Nick Baudouin is the Co-Founder and Director of Business Development at PowerMarket. PowerMarket has grown to 20 people since it’s humble beginnings 6 years ago. Located in NYC (although scattered around New England at the moment), PowerMarket is the industry leader in bringing community solar management to solar developers and bill savings to households.
He graduated with a Masters in Energy, Trade and Finance from Cass Business School in the UK and a BA in Human Geography and Economics from Boston University. Before PowerMarket, he spent time with a geothermal company doing project development around North America. He played professional baseball in Ireland while living in Dublin, however his baseball talents are mediocre at best.
Mike Davis is an owner & President of the IRC Industrial Roofing Companies in Lewiston, Maine. With over 100 team members, and offices in both Maine and Massachusetts, IRC is Northern New England’s leading commercial roofing, siding, and service company. IRC has been a winner of numerous Safety awards and the Customer Service Award from the Maine Family Business Awards.
Mike earned a chemical engineering degree from the University of Maine and an MBA from the New York Institute of Technology. In his spare time he enjoys skiing with his kids and chasing Striped Bass on Casco Bay.
Don’t miss this interesting story of a business leader in a sector that doesn’t get much attention but is leading the way in renewable energy and running strong through the economic recovery.
Brett Wickard founded his first company, Bull Moose Records, after his junior year at Bowdoin College. Wickard oversaw Bull Moose’s rise to become the largest retailer of music, movies, games, and books in northern New England. Wickard then founded Crickery Wood – a provider of point of sale software and services. Wickard’s newest company, FieldStack, fuses elegant inventory, point of sale, loyalty, and eCommerce modules with enhanced analytics, decision making and automation into a Lean Retail platform for medium to large sized retailers.
This is everything the GrowMaine Show is passionate about — being innovative, looking out for employees, building community, giving back — in one remarkable business. Don’t miss this interview with one of Maine’s most innovative entrepreneurs operating with great success in a sector that most people think died when Blockbuster went away.
Richard is co-founder and president of Gritty’s Brew Pub, of Portland, Auburn and Freeport Maine. In this episode we discuss the founding of Gritty’s, including Richard’s background as a sailor and stockbroker — prior to making a 32-year leap into entrepreneurship and building a company with more than 100 employees.
Richard is a longtime member of Maine Technology Institute’s Agricultural & Marine Technology tech board, and gives back to the community in many other ways, including Gritty’s Community Nights.
The pandemic began with Richard standing in an empty pub on a Saturday night — but he never had to throw any beer away. Don’t miss this episode with this influential brewer and Maine entrepreneur.
Jack is President and Chief Investment Officer of Harpswell Advisors, a Maine based firm serving foundations and endowments throughout the United States. Harpswell embraces an OCIO approach that leverages the benefits of both passive and active strategies and creates custom portfolios for each institution it serves. Harpswell was named among the nation’s top 108 Charitable Investment Advisors in Investor.com’s 2020 study.
Prior to Harpswell, Jack managed a market neutral hedge fund predominately for non-profit institutions and family offices. Jack also served as a Principal with The Vanguard Group where he was a Senior Analyst working directly for several of Vanguard’s funds and participated in the Chairman’s senior strategy efforts. Prior to joining Vanguard, Jack was a Vice President and Portfolio Manager with Bryn Mawr Capital (a hedge fund) overseeing the firm’s investments in energy and basic materials.
Prior to his career in investment management, Jack served as the Press Assistant to the U.S. Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell.
Jack holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hobart College and earned his Masters of Science degree from the London School of Economics.
A dedicated civic participant, Jack has been a lifelong volunteer and serves on several Boards and Investment committees.
Rich Brooks is founder and president of flyte new media, a digital agency in Portland, Maine, that’s been in business for over 23 years. He is a nationally recognized speaker on entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and social media. He founded The Agents of Change, an annual conference and weekly podcast that focuses on search, social & mobile marketing. He recently co-founded Fast Forward Maine, a podcast and workshop series for growing Maine businesses. Rich is the author of The Lead Machine: The Small Business Guide to Digital Marketing, a popular and well-received book that helps entrepreneurs and marketers reach more of their ideal customers online. He has appeared in Inc. Magazine, The Huffington Post, FastCompany.com, CNN.com, the Social Media Examiner, and many other news sources for stories on digital marketing. He is also the “tech guru” on the evening news show, 207, which airs on the NBC affiliates in Maine. And Chris Brogan always calls him “Handsome Rich Brooks”, so that can’t be bad.
Les Otten has been a leader and an innovator throughout his nearly five-decade entrepreneurial career – in a wide range of pursuits including business, tourism, alternative energy, community development and philanthropy. Here are but a few of Les’ accomplishments.
At Sunday River Ski Resort, Les took a tiny, struggling ski mountain in western Maine and turned it into one of the most successful resorts in America.
Les put together an ownership group to buy the Boston Red Sox and served as vice chairman and partner in the franchise from 2002 to 2007 when they won the World Series twice. Les spearheaded the effort to save Fenway Park and today (prior to coronavirus), fans of Red Sox Nation travel from all over the world to make pilgrimage to the refurnished Fenway Park.
Les founded Maine Handicapped Skiing, now named Maine Adaptive Sports & Recreation, with Omar D. “Chip” Crothers, M.D., to ensure access to and participation in recreational sports that are integral to a well-rounded life for every person. Maine Adaptive is the largest year-round adaptive recreation program east of the Mississippi for adults and children with physical disabilities.
In 2008, Les directed his energy and passion to the renewable energy sector and founded Maine Energy Systems (MESys), the premier assembler and distributor of the most efficient, cleanest, state-of-the-art wood pellet boilers and furnaces. In recent years and especially as climate change has crept into the forefront of many conversations, Les has been pushing for modern wood heating to be adopted en masse within the Northeast US. Les is passionate about modern wood heating and understands the impact that each home switching to pellet heating can have by reducing the home’s heating carbon footprint by 86%.
As evidenced by his efforts to grow the ski industry, save Fenway Park, and act on climate change, Les agreed to help develop a viable path for The Balsams Resort, Dixville Notch NH. For the last 5 years, he has been assembling this project into a significant year-round economic driver for Coos County NH which is suffering from staggering unemployment and underinvestment.
John is passionate about contributing to a resilient and sustainable Maine economy by supporting innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable corporate growth that contributes to opportunities for Maine people and an economy that works for all and preserves our history while embracing change.
Over 30 years of institutional investing experience, analyzing industries and companies, managing municipal, corporate, and international bond portfolios, and for the last many years serving as Maine Venture Fund (“MVF”) Managing Director, executing and overseeing the full range of venture capital investment activities. I have a passion for working with teams, entrepreneurs, building companies, Maine, and Maine’s economic well-being.
MVF highlights: • Able to quadruple the amount of capital contributed to (invested in) the fund; capital that is then used to capitalize and grow promising companies; • Successfully managing a portfolio of early stage equity and near equity investments in small Maine companies; • Responsible for bringing capital to over 60 Maine companies; • A dozen positive “exit” events, returning capital to the Fund to enable future investments.
As Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, Matt Timberlake works with all Vortex divisions throughout the United States to ensure its mission, vision and values are fully implemented and maintained. A lifelong resident of Maine, Timberlake grew up in the underground utility industry as a third generation member of the family owned Ted Berry Company Inc. of Livermore, where he served as its president.
In February of 2019, the Vortex Companies acquired the Ted Berry Company. Together the two companies present a tremendous opportunity for growth, not only in the northeast region but across the country, as well given its history of success and strong reputation.
Over the course of his career, several industry associations have recognized Mr. Timberlake for his contributions to the advancement of trenchless solutions and underground utility repair.
