Grow Maine Show
Martin Grohman is the Executive Director of the Environmental & Energy Technology Council of Maine (E2Tech), a statewide nonprofit focused on growing Maine’s clean technology economy. Marty is a former independent state representative and holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer.
Grohman hosts a podcast for Maine entrepreneurs called The Grow Maine Show, and co-founded DuraLife Decking, a composite decking manufacturing company in Biddeford that grew to $30 million in sales in six years and employs about 50 people.
As a legislator he was twice named American Legion Legislator of the Year, as an honorary life member of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and won the 2016 President’s Award from the Maine Sheriffs Association.
Marty grew up in Carthage, Maine, where his family still runs a small farm keeping Jersey cows. He and his wife, Amy, and their two children live in Biddeford where Amy works in the Biddeford School Department.
The Grow Maine Show with Marty Grohman aired on WGAN from 2019-2020
Friday, March 13, 202003/13/2020
Lou Simms serves as a Senior Investment Officer at Maine Technology Institute. Lou joined MTI in 2015 and truly relishes the opportunities to work with Maine’s aspiring entrepreneurs – dedicated to supporting the growth of Maine’s innovation economy on a daily basis.
Lou joined MTI after finishing his Master’s work at the University of New Hampshire’s Sustainability Institute and Organic Dairy Research Farm – and Lou has prior experience running small businesses in Portland, ranging from rocking bowling alleys to financial literacy counseling.
Wednesday, March 4, 202003/04/2020
Michael Bourque became the second President and CEO of The MEMIC Group in 2017. Having served under founding president and mentor John Leonard for more than two decades, he held the position of Senior Vice President for External Affairs, giving him a broad and engaged view of the company and the insurance industry.
He oversaw government and community relations and corporate marketing efforts that helped drive the growth of The MEMIC Group from a single state workers’ compensation carrier to a super-regional specialist with eight offices across the Eastern Seaboard and more than 20,000 policyholders across the country.
His efforts helped to strategically position the company as an industry leader in workplace safety and the compassionate care of injured workers and contributed to The MEMIC Group being recognized by ACORD as the Best Workers’ Compensation Company in America.
He has served on numerous boards and committees including chair of the 2016 United Way of Greater Portland’s Campaign Committee, which raised more than $8 million. He also is a member of the board of the Maine Cancer Foundation, The University of Maine Board of Visitors and has served as chair of the board of both the Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine and the Southern Maine Community College Foundation.
He is a member of the steering committee for FocusMaine. He is past chair of the Portland Regional Chamber and is a member of the board of the Maine State Chamber.
Michael, a native of Maine, is a graduate of the University of Maine with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. He also earned the designations APR (Accreditation in Public Relations) and WCP® (Workers’ Compensation Professional).
Friday, February 28, 202002/28/2020
In 1991, Nancy Marshall Communications (now Marshall Communications) was born, a life-changing experience for Nancy and one that’s she’s never regretted. Today, more than 26 years later, the agency has represented many major clients, including the Maine Office of Tourism, the Maine Office of Business Development, and The Orvis Company, among others.
Nancy’s hallmark is her commitment to living clients’ businesses. When she was representing Northern Outdoors, she became a licensed whitewater rafting guide. For the Maine Windjammer Association, she lived the life of a crewmember on the Victory Chimes. For Orvis, she is learning to fly fish and tie flies. She is also well-known for her infectious laugh and insatiable love for learning about everyone she meets. Making connections between people for their mutual benefit is a favorite pastime, as is connecting with new and long-lost friends on social media.
Thursday, February 20, 202002/20/2020
A 2x CEO, John is the principal founder and CEO of Prapela, Inc.; a company introducing new technology to help newborns breathe, relax and sleep. John previously held leadership and executive positions at four different Fortune 200 companies and one FTSE 100 company. He has led or assisted in the generation of more than $5.4 billion in revenue and launched over 100 new products.
John’s experience includes work in the medical device, diagnostic, medical imaging, durable medical equipment, biologics, wearables, genetic testing, hospital supplies, and consumer products markets. For over 35 years, he has worked closely with Physicians and leaders in Pediatrics, Sports Medicine, Orthopedics, Pain Management, Ob/GYN, and Cardiology. John started his career as a marketing analyst, which led to additional roles in business development, sales, operations, product development, and ultimately to general management. More recently, John is the principal investigator on an NIH/NIDA SBIR research project into neonatal abstinence syndrome and is speaking at events and in Grand Rounds on our opioid epidemic and its impact on opioid-exposed newborns. John holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Duquesne University and an MBA from the University of Colorado.
Thursday, February 13, 202002/13/2020
Adam Lee has been with Lee Auto Mall for 32 years, serving as President and assuming the position of Chairman of the Board in June 2010 upon the passing of his father, Shep Lee. He currently serves on the Muskie Board of Visitors, the MPBN Board, and the Maine Conservation Voters Board.
Adam has worked passionately on environmental causes, serving as the Chairman of the Efficiency Maine Trust and Chair of the Maine Audubon Corporate Partners. He is the past chairman of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and a past member of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Maine Historical Society, Maine Energy Council, Governor’s Advisory Council, Center for Cultural Exchange and the OSHER Map Library.
Over the last 20 years, Lee has worked hard in conjunction with various environmental groups to raise fuel economy standards across the nation. He’s proud of the successful accomplishment that will raise the national standards to 54.5 mpg by 2025.
Lee is a graduate of Vassar College and the recipient of environmental awards from the Natural Resources Council of Maine and the Maine League of Conservation Voters.
Adam Lee lives in Cumberland with his wife and 22 year old twins, 2 horses, 2 cats, 2 dogs, and anywhere from 6 to 8 chickens depending upon the fox.
Thursday, February 6, 202002/06/2020
Brian R. McLaughlin is the President & CEO, and Founder, of Amplify Additive, a Additive Manufacturing service provider with a focus on Orthopedic Implant manufacturing. At his uniquely outfitted facility in Scarborough, ME, they 3D print Titanium using advanced equipment from GE Additive. The equipment is highly specialized and operates under vacuum at elevated temperatures to provide material properties that exceed industry standards at the highest quality. “By 3D printing Titanium with this Electron Beam Melting technology, we are able to produce implants that not only have never been able to be designed and manufactured before, but provide a better quality of care for patients.” Brian graduated from the University of Vermont in 1998 with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. He is passionate about Orthopedics and is fortunate to have found this career path where he is now helping lead the use of next generation technology for the design and manufacturing of life enabling technologies.
Brian resides in Yarmouth, ME with his wife Karen and 2 boys, Baden and Adam. Brian and family recently relocated back to Maine in 2017 after being in Connecticut for 9 years. Prior to that they lived in Portland where Karen and Brian met and started their family. “We are so happy to be back in Maine, we missed it when we lived in CT and visited as often as we could.” Brian is very active, with a passion for both skiing and soccer. As for soccer, he still loves to play weekly, and has volunteered as a coach over the past 10-12 years.
Friday, January 31, 202001/31/2020
Peter serves as President and CEO of Maine & Co., a privately funded business attraction and economic development organization. Charged with helping companies establish successful and profitable operations in Maine, Maine & Co.’s Board of Directors consists of top executives from Maine’s business community. During Peter’s tenure, Maine & Co. has attracted numerous companies from various sectors, growth stages, and sizes to locations throughout the state of Maine. Through Peter’s leadership, Maine & Co. has attracted companies Portfolio companies include: athenahealth, Sun Life Financial, Carbonite, Grand Rounds, and Wayfair.
Prior to joining Maine & Co. in 2004 as the Director of Client Services, Peter worked in Boston and Washington, DC in the food industry. Peter was responsible for building new operations in those geographies. His responsibilities included: general management, sales, relationship building, inventory management, and forecasting.
Peter is a graduate of Colby College and he earned his MBA from the University of Southern Maine. Peter, his wife and their son reside in North Yarmouth, Maine.
Thursday, January 23, 202001/23/2020
Rachel Knight is a Maine native and graduated from Bangor High School in 1982, and has an undergraduate degree from UMaine Orono in International Studies. In 1986, after graduating from UMO Rachel moved to Portland where she have stayed ever since. In her late 20s she started horseback riding and volunteering with a therapeutic horseback riding program for people with disabilities. From that experience, she set a career course on special education and got a master’s degree in Exceptionality (Special Education).
In 1996, Rachel received her master’s from the University of Southern Maine and taught content area subjects (History and English) to students with disabilities and logged many hours helping students explore options for post¬-secondary opportunities, a.k.a Transition Planning. It is from this experience that the idea of Destination Occupation was born. There are so many more opportunities and options for students than could ever be covered from high school field trips. So the idea of creating a library of videos for students “visit” a variety of businesses and educational programs from their high school felt like a deal changer, a “no brainer,” especially in a state as geographically challenged as Maine.
Wednesday, January 15, 202001/15/2020
Andrew Silsby serves as President and CEO of Kennebec Savings Bank, a $1.1 billion bank headquartered in Augusta, Maine. He began his career in banking while a college student, working as a Float Teller at NorStar Bank, which later became Fleet. Upon graduation, he was hired as a Management Trainee at Fleet Bank. In the winter of 1993, Andrew was hired by Kennebec Savings Bank as a Loan Officer. In just seven years he rose to the Senior Lending position where he oversaw the lending staff as well as setting the loan policy. Time in that position set the stage for his role as Treasurer and then Chief Operating Officer. In June of 2014, after more than 20 years with the Bank, Andrew took over as President.
Andrew is a graduate of Maranacook High School and earned a degree in Business Administration from the University of Maine. He is a board member of the Augusta Colonial Theater and Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce, in addition to serving as Vice Chair of Augusta Board of Trade, and Chair of the University of Maine at Augusta Board of Visitors.
Friday, January 3, 202001/03/2020
Bill is a serial social entrepreneur with over 50 years of experience in launching new enterprises and rebuilding old ones in both profit and non-profit sectors.
Bill is founder and President of the Sustainability Lab which created and hosted for 4 years the New England Food System Innovation Challenge. In October of 2018 the Sustainability Lab took over operations of Fork Food Lab. Under Bill’s leadership Fork has grown from 24 members to 43 today. He is now implementing plans to make Fork Food Lab a sustainable business that will provide 60 food entrepreneurs the opportunity to grow their businesses in a new 10,000 s/f facility.
Bill holds a BA in Psychology and Anthropology, an MEd and ABD in Education from UMass Amherst.
