New Hires

Peg McGovern recently joined Anton LeMieux Financial Group in Falmouth as office manager. She has over 30 years of administrative and executive support experience and has worked in New York City and the financial service industry in Maine.

Portland Downtown District recently announced that Will Ethridge has been hired as the events and marketing manager. In this position he will lead efforts to market and promote downtown Portland as a premier destination with the goal of attracting more people to visit and experience downtown. Prior to joining the Portland Downtown District, Ethridge received his master’s degree in public policy & management from the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service. He is also the founder of local music label Eternal Otter Records and the creator of the Tower of Song Festival.

Macdonald Page & Co LLC recently hired Amy L. Chute, Dorota McKay, Nicholas S. Norton and John A. Guarnotta. Chute joins the firm as an audit and tax staff accountant. She earned her master of science degree in accounting and her master of business administration degree with a concentration in finance from the University of Southern Maine. McKay joins the firm as an audit staff accountant and has her bachelor of science degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from the University of Southern Maine. Norton joins the firm as a staff auditor in the firm’s IT advisory and assurance services group. He graduated from Bryant University with a degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting. Guarnotta joins the firm as a tax manager and previously worked at various firms in the greater Boston area providing tax preparation and planning services for high net worth individuals, businesses, estates, trusts and nonprofits.

New Website

Central Maine Orthopaedics recently launched a new version of their company website, cmogroup.org. the new site features physician and staff biographies, in-depth practice and affiliate information and additional patient information. The new site was designed by Raka of Portsmouth, N.H.

Portland Education Foundation recently announced the launch of their new website, portlandeducationfoundation.org. With the launch of the website, Portland Education Foundation provides a virtual clearinghouse for general information, events and fundraisers, their annual teacher grants program and collaborations with local organizations. The site serves as a resource for parents, teachers, business leaders and community members interested in the work that they do to support Portland Public Schools. Additionally, the website offers links to enable online donations and provides information about volunteer opportunities.

Designations

Bernstein Shur was recently named in Fortune Magazine’s Top Ranked Law Firms, a list drawn from LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings. The exclusive lists comprises U.S. law firms with 21 or more attorneys, in which at least one in three has achieved the AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating, indicating the highest level of ethical standards and legal ability. Out of more than 250,000 law firms nationwide, fewer than 1,000 were selected for this honor.

For the third consecutive time, New England Super Lawyers has named Gregg Frame, a partner at Taylor, McCormack and Frame LLC a “Rising Star” in the field of Maine Employment Litigation.

Natalie Murray of Falmouth was recently named the Maine Senior College Poet Laureate by the Maine Senior College Network. She was honored for her poem, “Her Hands Were Always Busy,” a remembrance of her mother. Murray attends the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Southern Maine where she has taken classes in poetry, play-writing, music appreciation, painting and history.

Junior Achievement of Maine recently inducted three local business leaders into their Hall of Fame for their contributions to free enterprise and the promise of a better, stronger society. The three nominees, Tim Hussey, John Fitzsimmons and Fred Pape Jr., join a distinguished group of 62 men and women who have been inducted into Junior Achievement Maine’s Hall of Fame.

Awards

GrowSmart Maine recently received a $46,000 grant from the Quality of Place Fund of the Maine Community Foundation for its work to promote Maine’s quality of place by integrating working and natural landscape conservation, economic group and community revitalization; $10,000 of this award is intended to support GrowSmart Maine’s Summit 2012. GrowSmart Maine will use these funds to undertake a formal review of the issues raised in the landmark report Charting Maine’s Future, analyzing progress, risks and opportunities since 2006.

Appointments

Daniel A. Wasneechak of Martin’s Point Health Care was recently elected as chairman of the U.S. Family Health Plan Board of Directors. In this role he will serve as spokesperson and will represent and lead the U.S. Family Health Plan Alliance at various meetings with the Department of Defense, military beneficiary organizations and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Maine State Music Theater’s Executive Director, Steven Peterson, has been named to the Festival for New Works Committee as part of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s annual effort to develop, present and promote new works of musical theatre. His new role is to evaluate recording and script submissions of musicals and to help determine which new works are presented at the Alliance’s Festival of New Musicals held each fall in New York City.

Bernsetin Shur recently elected Katherine Joyce as shareholder of the firm. Joyce is a member of Bernstein Shur’s energy and environmental practice group. Her area of expertise is in new environmental permitting and compliance, particularly as it pertains to power generation facilities, large-scale commercial development, real estate remediation, solid waste, water and air pollution issues including regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Joyce also serves in the firm’s wind energy group and is a member of the green team which provides clients with the full range of legal services necessary to accomplish small and large-scale green development projects.

Michele Martin was recently elected to the Maine Center for Creativity’s Board of Directors to assist in long-range planning for the organization, fiscal management with fundraising and program plans. Martin was elected to the Board of Directors for her great deal of experience and positive recommendation by the Institute for Civic Leadership’s Young Emerging Leaders program.

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At a recent Portland Pirates game, Bangor Savings Bank presented local nonprofits Hospice of Southern Maine and the Maine Island Trail Association with checks for $500.