Granted

The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation recently awarded Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine a grant of $10,000 to support and expand its Big Readers pilot program. Launched last year, Big Readers is a mentoring program designed to help young children identified by their schools as needing additional reading support. Currently, Big Readers is a partnership with WEX, Dead River and the South Portland School Department. Second- and third-grade students are bused to WEX and Dead River once a week to meet with their mentors and work on literacy skills and mentoring activities.

The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum has been awarded a Heritage Grant from the Amherst Railway Society for $1,700 towards the $10,000 cost to restore Bridgton and Saco River Railroad Snowplow #2. The snowplow was built in 1900 and is a wedge-style plow that was used for snow removal on single line tracks. The snowplow is the last known from Maine’s narrow gauge railways. 

Hires, promotions, appointments

CPM Constructors, a Freeport-based construction firm, has promoted Andrew E. Kittredge to vice president of operations. Kittredge graduated from Yarmouth High School, has served on the Yarmouth Town Council from 2012 through 2017, and was named chairman in his final year on the council. 

Preti Flaherty has hired attorney Sara N. Moppin of Portland. Moppin has served as a member and chairwoman on the Portland Zoning Board of Appeals; a past president of the Cumberland County Bar Association; a board member and general counsel to The Maine Women’s Conference, Inc.; chairwoman of the Maine Community Foundation’s Cumberland County Fund and a mentor for the Portland chapter of SCORE. 

Three area residents were among 12 new hires and promotions at Baker Newman Noyes, a Portland-based accounting firm. Danielle Hansen, JD, of Portland, was promoted to senior in the tax practice and Sonya Walker, CPA, of Scarborough, was promoted to senior in the audit practice. Andrew Murry, of Falmouth, was hired as a staff member in the audit practice. 

Acquisitions

Bean Group, headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, announced in late September that it has acquired The Maine Real Estate Network, Inc., the largest residential real estate company in the state. Ernie Whitehouse, The Maine Real Estate Network’s current Chief Operating Officer, will remain with the company in the role of COO. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Headquartered in South Portland, The Maine Real Estate Network is the largest residential real estate brand by units in Maine, according to the 2017 REAL Trends 500 report. The company has approximately 550 agents in over 22 offices across Maine. The acquisition expands Bean Group’s presence in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. Adding The Maine Real Estate Network brand positions Bean Group to be the Northern New England’s largest home ownership services provider based on transactions, according to the 2017 Real Trends 500 report.

Advertisement

Portland-based Diversified Communications has acquired Luxperience, Australia’s only event dedicated exclusively to the business of luxury travel. “As a premium invitation-only hosted buyer model that features awards and networking opportunities, Luxperience is in a great position to understand and continue to service the needs of this growing community,” said General Manager of Diversified Communications Australia, David Longman. Luxperience extends Diversified Communications’ travel and transportation portfolio to Australia, complementing their British Tourism & Travel brand. This is the second acquisition in Australia for Diversified in 2017. In June the company acquired Naturally Good Expo to align with Diversified Communications Australia’s Fine Food, FoodPro and FoodTech brands.

Recognition

Inside Public Accounting has published its annual list of Top 100 public accounting firms in the U.S. For the seventh year in a row, BerryDunn has made the list, this year ranking 72nd.

Maine Medical Center School of Surgical Technology has received the annual merit award from the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting for achieving a 95 percent pass rate on the CertSurgicalrgical Technologist exam for the Aug. 1, 2016 through July 31, 2017 cycle. Graduates obtaining national certification as a CST demonstrate by examination understanding of the basic competencies for safe patient care in the operating room. The CST is widely recognized in the health care community as the foremost credential for surgical technologists in the nation.

Melissa Fochesato, director of Mid Coast Hospital Community Health Promotion, at left, receives a gold level recognition plaque from the MaineHealth Center for Tobacco Independence. Mid-Coast was one of only three hospitals to attain gold level recognition for promoting tobacco-free lifestyles and policies.

OceanView in Falmouth raised over $4,300 in a companion walk to the Alzheimer’s Association’s Annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s last month. Residents and staff from OceanView’s independent living, assisted living and memory care communities participated, including Betsy Kent and Howsie Stewart, shown here, to show support for OceanView’s resident team, Legacy Legs, named for their Legacy Memory Care residence.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.