"I attend a fair amount of networking events. This Women in Family Business was one of the best I've ever been to! I'm a big fan of the speaker, Susan Dench anyway, but wanted you to know I loved the energy and what we learned!" |
Advisory Board of Directors
John Beauregard, Beauregard Equipment |
Theresa Cloutier, DMM, Inc. |
Janet Cole Cross, Career Coach for the Next Generation, Cole Cross Connections, LLC |
Maddy Corson, AMG Associates |
Maureen Costello Wedge, Quad Group Maureen Costello Wedge is a partner at Quad Group with over thirty years of successful experience in family business management. Maureen’s passion for family business can be traced back to her early life experiences visiting her Dad at the newspaper and being in awe of the massive printing presses. As a fourth-generation owner and operator of Sun Media Group, Maureen led the creation of a positive workplace culture, reorganizing the business of a maturing industry, working through the crisis management plan after the patriarch’s passing and the transition of the business through a successful sale of the company. Maureen specializes in human resources, family governance structures, employee relations, performance management and facilitation. She has been extensively involved in creating and instituting an outside board of director’s, family participation guidelines, rules for conflict management, defining roles and responsibilities, developing compensation strategies, crisis management and strategic planning. |
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In Memory of Harry Fraser, 1952-2021 Harry was the President of The H.G. Fraser Group, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in helping businesses move to the next level. Previously Harry held the positions of: CEO of Alcom, LLC, a premier trailer manufacturer headquartered in Winslow, ME; CEO of Johnny’s Selected Seeds, a 100% employee-owned company headquartered in Maine; CEO for Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers of Auburn, ME; Manufacturing Plant Manager of an $800M business segment of Digital Equipment Corporation in Augusta, ME. He always had a passion for family-owned businesses and was a student of ESOP’S. He sat on the Board of Directors for a number of employee-owned and family-owned businesses. He was also the past chair of the IFOB and was most recently on our Advisory Board. The IFOB Board recently honored him with the 2nd Annual BerryDunn Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 Maine Family Business Awards this past October. He was an amazing man and he'll be forever missed. |
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Thomas Hussey, Hussey Seating Company |
John Isaacson, Lee Auto Malls |
John Lemieux, Anton/LeMieux Financial Group |
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Colleen McCracken, CLMC Business Advisors After many years working for large public companies, Colleen has been fortunate to spend 26 years working as a non-family member President and CEO of two well-known family businesses in Maine, Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers and Planet Dog. In these leadership roles, Colleen successfully oversaw all functional aspects of the business as well as developed the future growth plans for business success. With a strong financial acumen, Colleen led the successful implementation of several ERP systems as well as a "lean manufacturing" program at Thos. Moser. Colleen also successfully led Planet Dog through a significant growth period from 2013-2018 resulting in a 75% improvement in bottom line results. From 2018-2019, Colleen completed the sale and transition of both the Planet Dog Wholesale and Retail businesses to a private equity firm. Desiring to share her expertise and work experiences with many other companies, Colleen became a private Strategic Business Advisor in 2019. Colleen has served as Board member and Board Chair for the Institute for Family-Owned Business for many years and currently serves on its Advisory Board. Colleen also serves as a member of CEO Central, a group she helped create with Tim Hussey. As a strong advocate for education, Colleen also serves as the Vice Chair of the Board for Junior Achievement of Maine. |
Francis J. O'Shea, CPA/ABV, CVA, Hunts Point Advisors Francis O'Shea worked as a tax principal with the accounting and business consulting firm of BerryDunn. Over his 35 year career, Frank has counseled many closely-held and family business clients on the technical and non-technical issues related to income and estate tax planning, as well as business succession and valuation. Formerly a Principal with Cloudhawk Management Consultants, LLC and a tax partner with Coopers & Lybrand, LLP, he brings a broad perspective to assisting his clients in successfully developing and implementing tax savings strategies and plans for the transition of their business enterprises. |