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1E - Resources for Maine Entrepreneurs

Moderator:

Mark Ouellette, Director, Department of Economic and Community Development

Mark Ouellette has been with the State of Maine’s Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) since March 2009.  He is the Director of Business Development for the State of Maine.  In this position, he directs the activities of the Office of Business Development, which includes two major functional areas:  Small Business Assistance and Business Development.  Mark is responsible for advocacy, policy and programs that support small business and entrepreneurship and the following DECD programs:  Business Answers, Maine Products Marketing Program.  In addition under his leadership, the Office facilitates business and job growth through business attraction, expansion and retention activities.   He oversees the Office’s eight business development specialists located around the state, who act as liaisons to these programs and activities.  Before taking this position with DECD, Mark worked with Congressman Tom Allen for over 12 years.  He held a variety of positions, including Director Economic Development and Special Projects, District Director, and lastly Chief of Staff.

Speakers:

Kirk Hill, Founder, Maine Entrepreneurs Group

Kirk Hill dreams in code. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hill formed a computer consulting business, Quai, Inc, where the applications and information architecture he designs use technology to increase productivity, decrease costs, and improve the bottom line for large and small businesses. Hill has worked with companies such as L.L. Bean, Putnam Investments, John Hancock, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens Medical Systems and Harvard Business School. He also enjoys finding solutions for smaller companies such as Portland Webworks, Hyperwave and Skyfish. Hill remains committed to sharing his entrepreneurial spirit and considerable business-building knowledge with others. As an example, he founded the popular networking forum, Maine Entrepreneurs and is a member of the Association for Consulting Expertise. Most recently, Hill co-founded the business incubation company, Ncub8. Through Ncub8 he helps other entrepreneurs and small businesses find solutions for common start-up obstacles by connecting people in a wide array of industries such as technology, marketing, business development, legal, and financing. Ncub8 excels at finding alternate streams of revenue and opening up new markets. With multiple companies of his own under his belt, Hill knows what it takes to get things done, and he knows that no one should have to do it alone. He is available for private consultations as well as speaking engagements and can be contacted at kirk@quai.com.

Deb Neumann, Director, The Target Technology Center

Deb Neuman is an experienced entrepreneur, small business counselor and advisor.  In addition to owning her own businesses, she has provided direct assistance to hundreds of Maine small businesses.  Deb is currently the Director of the Target Technology Incubator at the University of Maine where she provides business development assistance to early stage technology companies.  Deb produces and hosts “Back To Business” a talk radio program for small businesses airing on radio stations throughout Maine and New Hampshire and streaming on line.  Deb produces one minute business tips for radio and TV, and is a business columnist for a variety of publications including themaineedge.com.  She is a renowned public speaker, corporate trainer and coach about all things small business appearing on radio and TV programs from Maine to Spain.  Deb was named the 2007 Small Business Journalist of the Year for Maine and New England by the US Small Business Administration and was the 2009 recipient of the Clifford Eames Leadership Award from the Bangor Region Leadership Institute.  She holds a BA from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California and resides in Bangor, Maine.


Mark Delisle, State Director, Small Business Development Center

Mark Delisle, Maine SBDC State Director, understands the arts, technology, and entrepreneurship.  Mark coordinates a statewide team of certified business counselors who work one-on-one business with over 2,000 small business owners each year and provide training to over 3500. Previously, Marked owned one of Maine’s largest fine art supply and framing businesses for five year.  His earlier career was technology-based in in web development, network services, Internet marketing.  He also worked as director of information technology for a Fortune 500 grocery retailer.  Mark has an MBA and a B.S. in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Janine Cary, President, Maine International Trade Center

Janine Bisaillon-Cary is President of the Maine International Trade Center as well as the State Director of International Trade.  In addition to leading the Trade Center and consulting with Maine’s internationally active industries, Ms. Bisaillon-Cary serves on the boards of the Maine Port Authority, the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers Trade Cooperation Committee, the New England Trade Adjustment Assistance Council, and the Eastern Trade Council.  Ms. Bisaillon-Cary is the former Vice President of MITC as well as the former Vice President of Resource Trading Company.  She holds a B.A. in Economics and French from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst; a Certificate of French History and Literature from the Sorbonne University, and a Global Leaders Executive Education Certificate from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.  Ms. Bisaillon-Cary has worked for over twenty years in international markets, including seafood export and consumer goods import markets.  Her work has focused on Western Europe and parts of Latin America and Asia.

Jim Lyon, Action Coach, Business Coaching

Jim Lyon is a seasoned executive with startup through Fortune 500 experience in marketing, sales, and senior management.  Jim grew one business to $10 million, launched pioneering internet commerce solutions in the office products and electronics industries, and trained hundreds of sales reps in strategic selling principles.  He is currently a Maine based business coach helping New England businesses achieve record revenues and manage all the challenges of rapid growth.   His clients include several creative economy companies including Portland based Becky Stockbridge and iBec Creative, recently named by Business Week as one of America ’s top 25 entrepreneurs under 25.  Jim has an MBA from the University of Chicago and an economics degree from Grinnell College.