By Brian Whitney
As Maine’s Director of Business Development and Innovation, it is important for me to know that Maine businesses receive the help and resources they need to be successful. Having worked with innumerable businesses across our great state, I am keenly aware that the process of starting or growing a business can sometimes be arduous and frustrating — but it shouldn’t be!
In the coming months, Maine’s Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD) will provide information to Maine’s job creators in columns similar to this one about the available assistance and resources available to help them retain and grow employment in their businesses and in our State. Brian Doyle, one of five Governor’s Account Executives at the DECD whose region includes the counties of Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin and Oxford, will provide information about available financial resources and assistance.
As a Governor’s Account Executive, Brian works collaboratively across state government to help resolve business-related issues and to listen intently to opportunities that may exist to make meaningful changes to Maine’s economic delivery system. He works one-on-one with businesses in an effort help them navigate the state bureaucracy and to serve as a knowledgeable and professional economic development liaison whose primary responsibility is to help businesses succeed and grow.
Brian has assisted and advocated for numerous businesses while staffing DECD’s Business Answers and Red Tape Hotline over many years. This long expertise means he is well versed in state and federal programs that can help Maine businesses succeed. And if he doesn’t have the solution at his fingertips, you can be sure he knows someone who does and will work with you until your problem is solved.
As Brian once stated, “I draw significant satisfaction from assisting business owners and in any way possible. Some of these interactions are brief and solutions can be offered quickly. Other scenarios require partnering with colleagues whose unique skills and experience lead to solutions.”
The Governor’s Account Executives, as the title suggests, have a tremendous responsibility and obligation. They serve as the Governor’s eyes and ears in the economic development realm and stand ready to convey information about opportunities, and ongoing business challenges and criticisms to the Governor so that improvements can more easily be made.
The Governor’s Account Executive team works in concert with the Mane Department of Labor and CareerCenters, as well as through liaisons in every state agency to help match businesses with the resources and assistance that they require. They are actively engaging businesses, trade associations, chambers of commerce, regional economic development entities, municipalities and counties to spread the word about the services DECD offers, as well as to glean information vital to policy makers.
DECD and Brian Doyle will share information about available state resources and assistance in this space in the coming months. In the meantime, I encourage Maine business people in the counties of Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin and Oxford to reach out to Brian at (207) 624-9807, or via e-mail at brian.doyle@maine.g0v.
Brian Whitney is DECD’s director of business development and innovation.
