News Releases

Maine's Family-Owned Businesses of the Year Nominated

May 25, 2006

Twenty Maine businesses have been nominated in two categories for the Gannett Family Business of the Year Awards. The winners will be announced at the seventh annual awards dinner ceremony on Tuesday, June 13 at the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport.

The awards are a program of the Institute for Family-Owned Business (IFOB), a nonprofit organization based at the University of Southern Maine that was established in 1995 to support family-owned businesses. Each year the Institute holds an annual banquet to recognize the extraordinary efforts and diligence required to operate a successful family firm. These awards were founded by family business leader and visionary Maddy Corson and bear the name of her family-owned business, Guy Gannett Communications.

Nominees have demonstrated excellence in several areas including business success, work environment, succession planning and community involvement. The nominees this year are:

Large Business Category:
Brunswick Publishing
Care and Comfort
Day's Jewelers
Downeast Energy
Lee Auto Malls
Oakhurst Dairy
Patco Construction
Portland Press Herald

Small Business Category:
Apollo Salon Spa & Bistro
Bedard's Healthcare Group
Berry's Stationers
Elm City Photo Services
GHM Agency
Haley Tire & Service Center
Hamlin's Marine
Hancock Gourmet Lobster
Joseph's Market
The Lobster Shack at Two Lights
Seavey's Furniture, Electronics & Appliances
Thayer Corporation

This year the keynote speaker will be Susan Dryfoos. Susan is a trustee of the New York Times Company and was the director of Times History Productions from 1983-2001. During her 18-year career at the company, she documented on film and through oral history the Times's leading journalists and executives.

Ms. Dryfoos's great-grandfather, Adolph Ochs, purchased the paper in 1896. Dryfoos will speak about his daughter, Iphigene Sulzberger, who became wife, mother-in-law, mother and grandmother to four successive publishers of the New York Times. Dryfoos will show a short film she made about her grandmother and speak about writing her grandmother's memoirs. The memoirs received a Pulitzer Prize nomination.

Family-owned businesses represent approximately 90 percent of all businesses in Maine, yet fewer than 30 percent survive to the second generation and only 13 percent make it to the third generation. To support family businesses in this competitive environment, the IFOB sponsors a range of seminars and workshops addressing such issues as compensation, communication, leadership development, and successful planning.

For more information regarding the nominees or this event visit www.usm.maine.edu/ifob or call Tom Juenemann at 207-780-5935.

Note for editors and news directors:
For more information or for help arranging coverage of this ceremony, please contact Tom Juenemann at 207-780-5935 or Tomj@usm.maine.edu, or the USM Office of Public Affairs at 207-780-4200.

>more news releases