Salute to Small Business

By David M. FitzpatrickBANGOR DAILY NEWS

Mike Cote is always on the go, traveling 200-plus days a year and appearing at over twodozen distributor shows on behalf of the com-pany he bought nine years ago. The Whitingbusinessman was in Anaheim, heading to aboard meeting, when he got the call that he’dwon the SBA’s Small Business Person of the Yearaward.

“That was pretty exciting,” he said. “It wasreally a nice platform to go into a board meet-ing on.”

An Auburn native, Cote has been in thefood business all his life. He started with aroute truck for Pepperidge Farms in westernMaine, handling a historically unsuccessfulroute — and turned that route around. Thiscaught Pepperidge Farms’ eye, which hiredhim on to travel the country and revitalizesimilar trouble spots for the company.

“He became known as the guy that, if you’ve got a place that’sreally down in the toilet, give it to Cote,” said Cynthia Fisher, thecompany’s marketing director and Cote’s significant other. “Heturned every single one of them around.”

“I am a bit of a mechanic; I really enjoy taking things that aren’tworking and fixing them in business,” Cote said. “And I’ve beenvery successful all my life doing that.”

He left as a vice president after 18 years with the company, andworked for Odwalla for a few years as senior VP of sales and oper-ations, helping the company expand its juice business before sell-ing to Coca-Cola. Then, while looking into buying a business, heheard about Look’s.

Willard Look started Look’s Canning Company in 1917, backwhen seafood canneries were a staple on the Maine coast. But 84years later, it was one of the last, and struggling financially. Butwith its well-known brands, Cote saw amazing potential in thecompany, and bought it.

“We were ready to go ahead and really sink our teeth into a chal-lenge,” Cote said. “And that’s exactly what we got.”

It took lots of hard work to get it there. The old plant had a non-moving line; workers moved cans by hand to be filled and intoseaming machines. Cote and Fisher brought in some automationequipment and transformed the plant.

Marketing came next. With Cote on the road, connecting withhis contacts in the food world and building relationships, Fisher set

to work learning how to apply her marketingskills to canned food.

“We’re going to make sure that the con-sumer knows that the food in the can is reallygood,” Fisher said. “We’ve… changed the per-ception from food in a can being kind of thatlast-resort emergency food to it being an easygo-to item.”

Part of that has been getting the public touse Look’s products not only as final food butas an ingredient in broader recipes. For that,Fisher took to social networking sites such asFacebook to talk to the customers and offernew recipes. This includes using Look’ssalmon chowder to make salmon pie, orusing its clam juice with a bloody Mary tomake a bloody Caesar. The runaway hit hasbeen clam-chowder pizza, where clam chow-der takes the place of sauce.

“It’s about using ingenuity and beingextremely resourceful when you think about

the products that you have,” Cote said. “And then thinking aboutdifferent ways to market them that other people may enjoy usingthem then.”

Consumers have clearly taken notice. For the past five years,the company has made Inc. Magazine’s list of 5,000 fastest-growing companies. Meanwhile, Bar Harbor Clam Juice hasclimbed to the number-two spot in American grocery stores.And while Cote began by focusing on the East and West Coasts,and expanding gradually inland, today Look’s products are in30 percent of American supermarkets.

There’s little wonder why Cote won the SBA award, but he’sadamant that it was a team effort.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY JOHN CLARKE RUSSMichael R. Cote bought Look’s nine years ago, and has brought the Maine seafood cannery

back from the brink to become highly profitable and very successful.

“We were ready to goahead and really sink our

teeth into a challenge. Andthat’s exactly what we got... Now we’ve developed aplatform, we’ve developed

a process, we’re improvingupon the process all the

time. I just think thatthere’s a tremendous

opportunity.”

-Michael R. CotePresident & CEO

“We were ready to goahead and really sink our

teeth into a challenge. Andthat’s exactly what we got... Now we’ve developed aplatform, we’ve developed

a process, we’re improvingupon the process all the

time. I just think thatthere’s a tremendous

opportunity.”

-Michael R. CotePresident & CEO

Michael R. Cote, Look’s Gourmet Food Co.SBA’s Small Business Person of the Year

See COTE, Page 5

: Mike Cote, Look’s Gourmet Food,Small Business Person of the Year

Page 2: Howell Laboratories, Small Business Exporter of the YearPage 3: Key4Women, Women in Business ChampionPage 4: Kate & Steve Shaffer, Black Dinah Chocolatiers

Home-Based Small Business Champions

Page 5: Harold Clossey, Sunrise County Economic Council,Financial Services Champion (Maine and New England)

Page 6: Scott Robinett, Maine Small Business DevelopmentCorporation, Veteran Small Business Champion

Page 7: Patricia Rice, Bangor SCORE,Minority Small Business Champion

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO:BANGOR DAILY NEWS • PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • SUN JOURNAL • MORNING SENTINEL • KENNEBEC JOURNAL

Monday, May 14, 2012

INSIDE THIS SUPPLEMENT: The 2012 Small Business Administration Maine Award Winners


In rural Bridgton, Maine, one might not expectto find a company that has enjoyed internationalsuccess for nearly 50 years. But there you’ll find twosuch companies, in effect, in Howell Laboratoriesand its Shively Laboratories division. For its longtrack record of success, Howell/Shively has won theSBA’s Small Business Exporter Award.

“It’s really an honor,” said President David Allen.“We’re an employee-owned company… We take alot of pride in what we do… And to get some recog-nition for that is an honor, it’s a real pleasure.”

Howell Laboratories was founded in Bridgton in1964, primarily manufacturing air and water disin-fection equipment primarily for the United StatesNavy. At about the same time, Ed Shively, a pioneerin FM broadcast antennas and radio-transmissionequipment, founded Shively Laboratories in nearbyRaymond to manufacture FM broadcast equipmentfor commercial markets. In 1981, the two compa-nies merged. The company’s presence in both mili-tary and commercial markets has provided stability;when one market is up, the other is often down, sothe company is always busy with something.

Allen was raised in the area and came to workthere in 1982, and he’s done just about everythingthere, from purchasing to production to engineer-ing to sales, before the president of 34 years retired

in 2011 and Allen took the helm.“I didn’t start in the mailroom, but I was right

next to it,” he said. “It’s one of those small compa-nies where you kind of touch all the pieces.”

That has helped him better understand otherdepartments and has resulted in a smoother opera-tion overall, which can only be a bonus in the worldof international sales. Howell/Shively’s sales staffstays busy 24/7, particularly in working with Shive-ly clients in other countries. Email, instant messag-ing, and video chats with clients are commonplace.

“When I came to work here, we used to use aTelex,” Allen recalled. “We thought the fax was a bigadvancement.”

For instance, in the middle of the night, it’s themiddle of the day halfway around the world. Andin the Middle East, Saturday and Sunday are nor-mal working days; Thursday and Friday is theirweekend.

“We’re available all the time,” said Angela Gille-spie, international sales manager and Sabattusnative. “You need to make it easy on them instead ofjust our ‘nine to five’ convenient hours.”

Being well-known in one country doesn’t matterwhen entering a new one. The company can’t mere-ly coast along on longevity, because many of theircompetitors have been around just as long. Instead,service and quality build that trust, but it can be along road.

“It takes time to build the reputation that you

need before people willorder systems costing manyhundreds of thousands ofdollars,” said Vice PresidentMartyn Gregory, UK nativeand former BBC engineer.“It’s a 20- to 25-year invest-ment for them, so they needto have the level of trust inwho they’re buying it from.And that’s really what itcomes down to: buildingthat reputation and forgingsome kind of bond of trustbetween you and the ulti-mate customer.”

The company breaks allthe molds, from computer-modeling how an antennawill work in an area to build-ing and testing scale models.Sometimes, it means invest-ing in up-front engineeringhelp for new customers to earn their loyalty and toget the chance to show them Howell/Shively’s levelof service and quality.

“A lot of the other companies won’t do that inthe beginning; they want to collect a lot of moneyfirst,” Gillespie said. “We like to… say, ‘Here, this iswhat we can offer you, this is what we can do.’ Itusually sells itself from there.”

Working in so many countries is challenging,especially when dealing with local broadcastinglaws, which differ from place to place. Howell/Shiv-ely relies on strong partnerships with brokers inthose other countries to represent them.

“The key factor in being successful, particularlyin new markets, is understanding what the cus-tomers want from a regulatory perspective and a

technical perspective,” said Gregory. “And I thinkthis is probably why some of our competitors havefailed.”

The staff at Howell/Shively is very pleased to winthe award. “I don’t think people realize a smallcompany in Bridgton is as international as we are,so it’s nice,” Gillespie said.

Allen said the company’s success is built on itsemployee ownership.

“It’s a very important part of our corporate cul-ture; I think it informs just about everything we doand decisions we make,” he said. “Employees whowork here are owners of the company, and we takea lot of pride in that.”

For more information, visit Howell/Shivelyonline at www.HowellLabs.com.

2, Monday | May 14, 2012, Salute to Small Business

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Howell Laboratories, SBA’s Small Business Exporter award

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTOS BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICKTop: The staff at employee-owned Howell Laboratories and its

division, Shively Laboratories, pose at the company’s test plat-form. Above, from left: Dale Ladner, regional sales manager, whonominated his employer for the award; Angela Gillespie, interna-tional sales manager; Martyn Gregory, vice president; and David

Allen, president.


This year’s Women in Business Championsaward is shared by four women representingthe interests of Maine women in small businessthrough Key Bank’s landmark Key4Womenprogram: Sherry Brown, Jane Harmon, SusanPope, and Bonnie Pothier.

The women were nominated for the award byGillian Britt, owner of gBritt PR — they’re herclients. As a woman who owns a small business,she’s attended many of the Key4Women events andhas gotten to know the women very well.

“I’ve always found that all of the Key4Womenevents are just so empowering, and the dedicationthat these women have to the program… is soimpressive,” Britt said. “They’re really deserving ofthis award. They’ve worked really hard for it.”

“The purpose behind Key4Women is to engagewomen in conversation and education around theirbusiness needs and struggles and provide resourcesfor growth in their company — to be able to con-nect them to others that can help them in areas ofconcern,” said Jane Harmon, vice president of KeyPrivate Bank. “And, quite frankly, to provide capitalfor women in business where, in the past, it’s been adifficult area for women.”

“It was nice to see the program recognized by thestate, because we’ve been working hard since 2005to get it in there and really get it up and running,”said Susan Pope, vice president of business banking.

“We’re... really pleased to see the program, andall the things that the program supports, be recog-nized,” added Sherry Brown, vice president of mar-keting.

A lot has changed for women in business recent-ly. For Bonita Pothier, the Key@Work relationshipmanager, the Key4Women program resonates on apersonal level. She started a business in the 1980sand was in business for nearly 30 years, one of justthree women in business on Main Street in Bidde-ford when she began.

“Everybody else was male,” she recalled. “And inorder to get financing, my husband had to sign. If Iwanted education for a particular aspect of mybusiness, I had to find a sitter at night and come toPortland and go to the University of SouthernMaine to take a class. Now, under Key4Women, all

of that is offered to women. All of it on their terms,at their time.”

Today, the Key4Women program ensureswomen have what they need to start and expandtheir small businesses, based on a foundation offour key parts: access to capital, customized finan-cial solutions, financial education, and networkingopportunities.

To attract women, Key4Women hosts events thatget women together with other women and withfinancial and business professionals who cananswer their questions. The high-energy events fea-ture lots of conversation, learning, and networking— and are super-productive.

“Since we tend to be more emotionally charged,everybody’s pouring their hearts out so that there’sno lost time,” said Harmon.

Since its inception in 2005, Key Bank hasloaned over $6 billion to Key4Women partici-pants. In 2011, Key committed to lending another$5 billion over the next three years. Meanwhile,Key Bank practices what it preaches, with womenleading the way: Maria Coyne oversees theKey4Women program at the corporate level, andCEO Beth Mooney is the first woman to ever heada Top 20 bank. And while the national average ofbanks lending to women and minorities is 8 per-cent, Key is 19 percent. That’s good news, since 70percent of new small businesses are women-owned.

Women in small business in Maine have the ben-efit of the power and resources of a national bank inKey, but with decisions made locally at its 61 Mainebranches.

And lest anyone wonder why Key only focuses onwomen, it doesn’t. While the program is gearedtowards women in small business, it’s open to men,too.

“It’s not an exclusive club of any kind,” Pothiersaid. “It’s a way to really reach out to the businessesin Maine and make them more successful.”

Pope said the award is especially nice becauseKey has been a strong partner with the SBA foryears, and the bank is a preferred SBA lender.

“We couldn’t have done a lot of the lending overthe past few years without the enhancement fromthe SBA,” she said.

To get involved with Key4Women, visitwww.Key4Women.com and enroll for free.

Salute to Small Business, Monday | May 14, 2012, 3

From your friends at

©2012 Machias Savings Bank. Member FDIC.

Congratulations!Your diligent work and industry leadership is appreciated

in the community. Thank you for all you do.

• 2012 •

Small Business AdministrationAward Winners.

Key4Women leaders: SBA’s Women in Business ChampionsSherry Brown, Jane Harmon, Susan Pope, and Bonnie Pothier of Key Bank win award

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICKThe winners, leading Key Bank of Maine’s Key4Women program, from left: Sherry Brown,

vice president of marketing; Bonnie Pothier, Key@Work relationship manager; Susan Pope,vice president of business banking; and Jane Harmon, vice president, Key Private Bank.


Kate & Steve Shaffer, SBA’s Home-Based Small Business ChampionsBy Debra BellBANGOR DAILY NEWS

When Black DinahChocolatiers, located on theisland of Isle au Haut, wasin its first year, Kate Shafferrecalls life was like “living ina chocolate factory.”

For the chef turnedchocolatier, immersion inthe sweet treat has becomeher recipe for success.

And it’s an award-win-ning one, because Kate andSteve Shaffer were namedthe Maine Small BusinessAdministration’s Home-Based Business Champions.

Shaffer, a Californianative, and her husbandSteve, a Pennsylvanianative, moved from Cali-fornia to Isle au Haut when Kate became the chef atthe Keepers House Inn in 2001. The couple movedonto the island from Bucksport in 2004.

“How often do you get a chance to move onto anisland like this,” Steve noted.

Isle au Haut, accessible only by boat is one of 15

remaining islandcommunities. With ayear-round popula-tion of 50 that swellsto over 300 in thesummer, Isle auHaut allows resi-dents and businessesto get in on some-thing special.

While Steve con-tinued to work as aconstruction worker,the couple madetheir home at thebase of Black DinahMountain.

But cooking at theInn took a toll. Hermassage therapistgave her some advicethat resonates today:“You need to stop

putting tension in, and start putting love into whatyou do.”

Then, in 2005, Kate lost her job. During that finalyear, Kate had started working with chocolate asone of the ingredients at the Inn.

The couple knew immediately that they didn’t

want to leave the island. So they started planning.“We wanted to think about a business that we

could do out of our house, year round,” she said.“Steve’s background is in business and my back-ground is in cooking. [The idea for Black DinahChocolatiers] wasn’t because we had a passion forchocolate, but because it was a small, shippable prod-uct we could produce in our home which had a busyseason in the wintertime. That’s how this all began.”

The couple worked on a business plan and tap-ping the resources of CEI. They were referred toRuth Cash-Smith of the Women’s Business Centerin Machias. With her guidance, the couple finishedthe business plan and anticipated that in the choco-late industry, summer was “deadski”.

“We thought this [business] couldbe an anomaly,” Kate said. The coupleopened a café attached to their homekitchen to serve hikers, island resi-dents, and visitors. Combine choco-late with coffee and baked goods andthe stage was set to become a destina-tion on the island.

Cash-Smith isn’t surprised that thecompany is succeeding.

“When I work with clients over alonger period of time … I get to bepart of the magic that they’re able tocreate,” Cash-Smith said. “I get to see

them go from a fledgling business all the way to abusiness that has great sales and national attention,and a reputation that can’t be beat… They embodythe spirit of the creative economy in Maine.”

In its first several years, Black Dinah continuedto gain a stellar reputation and buzz was heightenedby some regional and national recognition. Kategained training from Ecole Chocolat as well as otherprofessionals who were willing to share anything.

Sales began to soar when the business websitelaunched and their email list was notified. “Wedidn’t sleep for three days,” Kate recalled.

According to Kate and Steve, what sets Black

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BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY DEBRA BELLAbove: Steve and Kate Shaffer. Right: A box of

Black Dinah chocolates, wrapped in a ribbonand including a map of Isle au Haut.

See SHAFFERS, Page 6


First, Harold Clossey, the executive director ofSunrise County Economic Council in Machias, wasnamed the SBA Financial Services Champion forMaine. Then, he won the New England-level award,bringing widespread attention to WashingtonCounty, which has often been perceived as econom-ically failing but has been making great strides ineconomic resurgence.

“It was certainly very nice, very humbling,”Clossey said. “There are a lot of good people outthere doing a lot of good work… This is more anagency award, in my mind, than it is a HaroldClossey award.”

SCEC is a secondary lender providing loans,resources, and technical assistance to entrepreneursand businesses of all sizes, including start-ups andexpansions, with a goal for creating and retainingjobs in Washington County. SCEC is often a subor-dinate lender providing gap financing; for example,if you need $100,000 and your bank will onlyfinance $90,000, you’d go to a secondary lender likeSCEC for the other $10,000.

Even when providing small gap financing,SCEC’s piece can be the critical link that makes theloan package work. It’s often SCEC’s commitmentto a local project that convinces major lenders thatthe risk is worthy.

“At times, in some of the larger financial pack-ages, our role can be relatively small compared tothe entire project, making me wonder if we may bejust in the way,” Clossey said. “And when I havebrought up this concern in meetings, every one ofthose other lenders strongly indicate, ‘No, it’s yourinvestment which is making us feel a little bit betterabout this.’”

Clossey was born in Eastport and raised in Calais,and joined the Navy out of high school.“I’m a Wash-ington County boy, and I’m fortunate to see a lot ofinteresting people and businesses,” he said. “I thinkthat’s what makes the flavor of Washington County.”

As an older, nontraditional student, he returnedto school at Washington County Community Col-lege in 1998. He was named WCCC’s 1999 Student ofthe Year, and earned a small-business-managementdegree in 2000. His first job was with the Washing-ton-Hancock Community Agency as the coordinatorfor the Incubators Without Walls program formicroentrepreneurs, working out of a WCCC officeas a business counselor. He moved to SCEC in 2006,where he works closely with other organizations andlenders to find solutions for its clients.

“We want to be able to help people with serviceshere… in our own economy in Washington Coun-ty, which has ripple effects across the state,” he said.

SCEC works very closely with many local banks,including Machias Savings Bank, which services theagency’s loans. Larry Barker, president of Machias

Savings Bank, said in a statementthat the bank is excited aboutClossey’s award.

“Harold has been a steward ofWashington County and beyondfor many years,” Barker said.“Harold works tirelessly for the bet-terment of Washington County andMaine. Machias Savings Bank con-gratulates Harold in his success.”

In a statement, Josh Bragg, vicepresident of the Machias branch ofCES Inc. and the SCEC boardchair, who nominated Clossey forthe award, called Clossey “a terrificleader” who has “worked latenights, weekends, and holidays topull together financing that keepsbusinesses open.”

“I nominated Harold because hedoesn’t like to take credit for his own successes, eventhough he’s built an exceptional reputation as afinancial champion for Down East Maine anddeserves widespread recognition for his work ethicand Yankee ingenuity,” Bragg said.

“This award isn’t about me — it’s about ourorganization,” Clossey said. “It’s about SCEC and

it’s about growth and job creation for WashingtonCounty, and that we have resources here to helpgrow businesses and/or retain businesses.”

The SCEC is always interested in talking withsmall-business owners and those seeking to startbusinesses. For more information, visit the SCEConline at www.SunriseCounty.org.


Harold W. Clossey, SBA’s Financial Services ChampionDirector of Washington County agency wins awards for Maine and New England

“It’s a very prestigious award from the SBA, butit’s not an award for any single one person,” Cotesaid. “I happen to be the guy that gets the gloryhere, but it’s all about the people who make thecompany.”

After nine years of moving a storied Maine com-pany out of bankruptcy and to the top of its game,Cote looks forward to the near future: increasingproduct awareness, streamlining operations, addingjobs, and growing — probably doubling its rev-enues in five years.

“I think that this brand has got legs,” Cote said.

“Now we’ve developed a platform, we’ve developeda process, we’re improving upon the process all thetime. I just think that there’s a tremendous oppor-tunity.”

While Cote is on the road, he entrusts Fisher, hismanagement team, and his staff to bolster the com-pany’s ongoing success.

“You put together a team, you give them thereins, and you keep close watch of those reins fromafar,” Cote said. “I have the confidence in the peo-ple that are here [to] make sure that they’re steer-ing the ship correctly. It’s my job to keep fueling it.It all works.”

Visit www.BarHarborFoods.com, where you canfind great foods, connect with the company viasocial media, and learn about great recipies using itsproducts.

CoteContinued from Page 1

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICKHarold Clossey at SCEC in Machias, posing with his framedposter of “A Tradition of Innovation” in Washington County.

Dinah Chocolatiers apart is the attention toflavor and ingredients. Ingredients are locallysourced from a network of Maine farms andvendors. Kate, who Steve notes has a “refinedpalate”, decided early on that oils, groundspices, and artificial flavorings wouldn’t do.

“It’s very labor intensive, but the flavor isso different from anything else,” she said.

Over time, and with the help of a grant,the couple built an industrial kitchen. Thekitchen enables Kate and her small staff tocreate and package in a controlled envi-

ronment. Using solar technology to heatthe water, compostable and eco-friendlypackaging, and flooring made from recy-cled car seats the business footprint isgreen.

Black Dinah is considered the largestemployer on Isle au Haut and the Shaffersbelieve it’s important to envision the localpicture for each business decision.

“Statistics prove that when dollars stay inthe community the community benefits,” Katesaid. “You really see it on an island. There arelots of organizations and important programsthat exist to preserve small communities onislands, but we also need to focus on smallbusinesses to preserve community. It increas-es interest from the outside world and invest-

ment in that community from people whohave never heard of it before.”

That means using produce and foodsfrom Maine farms, from employing localpeople, and being responsible in packaging.

The couple also is mindful of growingtheir business at a sustainable pace.

“We want to build a business that is sus-tainable after we’re gone,” Steve said. “It’s notabout serving us. It’s about serving commu-nity. We have a responsibility not just to ouremployees, but to the community as well. It isa slow process because we evaluate so muchmore than the bottom line.”

The Shaffers will soon be opening a storein Blue Hill. To learn more, visit Black Dinahonline at www.blackdinahchocolatiers.com.



The SBA’s Veteran Small BusinessChampion award usually goes to a busi-ness counselor who has worked with vet-erans to help them start or expand theirsmall businesses. This year, it has gone tosomeone behind the scenes who doesn’twork directly with clients but whosework makes today’s veterans’ small-busi-ness services possible.

Scott Robinett is the information-technology manager for the Maine SmallBusiness Development Centers. In addi-tion to providing computer support inthe Maine SBDC’s 25 statewide officesand outreach centers, he’s long been thedriving force to the organization’s onlinepresence.

“I was really kind of like, well, look, Idon’t really deserve this; this is notsomething that I think I should begiven,” Robinett said. “It should be givento a counselor or somebody who’s on thefront line with the client.”

But without the extensive research,some technical stills, and behind-the-scenes work on his part, the MaineSBDC wouldn’t be the same, and it’slikely many veterans — which currentlycomprise about 10 percent of Maine

SBDC’s clients — would not have bene-fited from its services.

Robinett was born in Japan to hisactive-duty father, a 30-year Army veter-an who had served in France duringWWII and the Korean War. As a child,Robinett moved a lot, including to Ger-many for his father’s deployment, whereRobinett graduated high school. Heunderstands the military life from a fam-ily standpoint.

“I’ve been around it long enough toknow that it’s not an easy life, certainlynot for the soldier but for the family aswell,” Robinett said. “When I was grow-ing up, I learned that ‘a military familyendures.’ That’s what we do. So whateverit took, you pick up and leave when thetime comes, no questions asked.”

After returning from Germany, Robi-nett relocated with a friend from Texasto southern Maine in 1979, where heultimately secured a job as an electrician.He later started a business with hisfriend, then worked on his own untilclosing his business in 1992 and soughthis next challenge.

“I’d always had this thing for com-puters,” he recalled, from the time hehad his Commodore 64 and most peo-ple hadn’t imagined what a home com-puter was. “I thought, that’s really what

I wanted to do.”Eventually, he landed a job maintain-

ing databases for the Maine SBDC. Robi-nett soon convinced his boss that theorganization needed a computer bul-letin-board system to allow people todial in and access documents and infor-mation. It seemed like a great idea —and then the World Wide Web arrived.Robinett scrapped the BBS idea andbegan building the Maine SBDC’s firstWeb site.

Since then, he’s built and maintainedseveral sites, including Maine BusinessWorks, On Your Own in Business, andthe Maine Veterans Business Initiative,always with an eye on providing as muchinformation as possible to those whoneed it. For the last few years, he’s beenworking on developing online work-shops — essentially, interactive primersthat do the jobs of brochures and regula-tions books without boring the usersenseless. The online workshops are freeto anyone — and they’re extremely pop-ular, attracting over 60,000 from aroundthe world, thanks to the Maine SBDC’sclose association with the SBA.

“I always saw most of my life as anadventure, scary sometimes, but that’swhat it was,” Robinett said. “I like what Ido, and I like being the close support for

the people that are on the line.”His military familiarity has certainly

aided in his attachment to the work he’sdone and how it’s helped veterans.

“I think one of the reasons I’ve beenhere as long as I have is just the dedica-tion of the people to what they do,” he

said. “The Maine SBDC has a long histo-ry of success and good performancewith small business in Maine, and there’sa lot of veterans that have been involvedwith that, I’d like to see more.”

For more information, visitwww.MaineSBDC.org.

Scott Robinett, SBA’s Veteran Small Business Champion

BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICKScott Robinett in his office at Maine SBDC on Forest Avenue in Port-

land. Robinett maintains several Web sites and works to generate free,interactive, educational content. The Maine SBDC’s online workshops

are so popular that they garner worldwide enrollment.

Congratulations 2012 SBA Award Winners!

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125thAnniversary

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Still local. Still listening. Still lending. Statewide.

ShaffersContinued from Page 4

This Salute to Small Business supplement wasproduced and published by the

Editor/Layout: David M. FitzpatrickWriters: Debra Bell, David M. FitzpatrickPhotos: Debra Bell, David M. Fitzpatrick,

John Clarke RussFront-page Banner: John Koladish

Sales: Linda HayesSpecial thanks to the Small Business Administration

If you’d like to participate in next year’s Salute to SmallBusiness, contact Linda Hayes at

(207) 990-8136 or [email protected].


For her work with Maine’s NativeAmerican tribes, Patricia Rice, formerdirector of the Maine ProcurementTechnical Assistance Center and currentSCORE Association chapter chair, hasbeen named the SBA Minority SmallBusiness Champion.

“I’m deeply honored to have thisaward,” said Rice. “You do your things,you do your work day by day and dayand it’s nice to get an award.”

Nominating Rice was Timothy Love,the then-president and CEO of FederalProgram Integrators. Love cited Rice’s“tireless assistance over several years”through her work with the Maine PTACto help the manufacturing companyenter the world of federal contracting,which has totaled over $100 millionsince 2009. FPI, located in a 32,000-square-foot facility on Indian Island, theseat of the Penobscot Nation, is a design-build manufacturer of wood, compos-ites, and other advanced technologies.

Through Maine PTAC, Rice traveled alot to assist clients, which includes all

four of Maine’s four Native Americantribes through her work with Four Direc-tions Development Corporation, whichprovides housing and business supportto the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquod-dy, and Penobscot tribes. In her letter ofsupport for Rice’s nomination, FourDirections Executive Director SusanHammond praised Rice’s assistance, andnoted that Rice drove two to three hoursto meet with the three tribes in Aroost-ook and Washington Counties.

“What impressed me about Pat washer strong and unwavering commitmentto helping the tribal people and herextensive knowledge and expertise in thecomplex world of government contract-ing,” Hammond wrote. “She was a dedi-cated champion of the tribes.”

Rice worked to educate the tribesabout government contracting andguide them through the massive red tapeinvolved with that venture. It’s a lot totake in.

“The federal regulations for contract-ing is over 2,000 pages long,” Rice said.“If you can’t fall asleep, you start readingthe Federal Acquisition Regulations.”

Rice has a lot of experience facilitat-

ing businesses. After years in researchand marketing with a chemical/pharma-ceutical company, she taught for 10 yearsbefore moving to Maine. For the pastdozen years she’s worked with smallbusinesses, mostly as the director ofMaine PTAC. She’s currently a businessconsultant with the federal TradeAdjustment Assistance program.

When she left Maine PTAC, she want-ed to get into volunteering, and foundthe Bangor chapter of SCORE, of whichshe soon became the chapter chair.SCORE’s wide range of volunteers edu-cate and assist people in their small-business endeavors.

“I always look at the talent — whohas the talent, and what volunteers canbring to the table?” Rice said.“And her inthe Bangor SCORE chapter, we haveover a dozen committed and talentedvolunteers of all ages and a variety ofbackgrounds.”

SCORE offers workshops on every-thing from writing business plans tolearning QuickBooks. And in the processof learning, a potential small-businessowner might discover he’s not ready tobe in business. And that’s a good thing,

Rice said.“We’re not in the business of having

people fail,” she said. “It’s all about team-ing and working together and collabo-

rating so that we can help Maine busi-nesses succeed.”

For more info, visit www.SCORE-Maine.org.


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BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY DAVID M. FITZPATRICKPatricia Rice, chair of Bangor SCORE chapter. Through her work at the

Maine Procurement Technical Assistance Center, helping Maine’s NativeAmerican tribes navigate the challenging world of government contract-

ing, Rice has won the SBA Minority Small Business Champion award.

Patricia Rice, SBA’s Minority Small Business Champion


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I went to Bangor Savings five years ago when I needed a loan to buy the

space for my salon. I was a little green going in, and they were instrumental

in helping me get everything going. Now I have my business accounts and

payroll with Bangor Savings, and my personal account too. I don’t think

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Salute to Small Business

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