Profiles in Business

 

The Vermont/New Hampshire Marketing Group (VT/NH MG) is a small not-for-profit, membership group based in Vermont, serving businesses throughout New England. As one of the oldest, regional direct marketing organizations its mission is to provide affordable education and networking opportunities to all persons engaged in marketing.

Why us? We know our customers have many choices so what do we bring to the table that causes our them to share our belief in the value we offer?

A Long History of Textile Innovation Mark Baker has been a national leader in textile creativity going back thirty-five years to 1976. Mark was one of the first individuals to promote T-shirts as a legitimate form of advertising. Mark has put together a successful textile ad campaigns for such companies as Coca-Cola™ and Burger King™. He was also the official textile promoter for the America’s Cup in Newport, Rhode Island in 1980 and 1983.

Who Are We?

VEDA’s heightened level of financing activity in 2011 coincides with Vermont’s continuing efforts to emerge from a deep national recession.  For the third year running, VEDA’s direct loan closings to commercial businesses and farms in Vermont were up.

People in Vermont will remember the year 2011 as one of incredible weather events. The state was devastated by three separate spring/summer disasters: the first, flooding in April affecting eight counties, another flood at the end of May, concentrated in Orange, Caledonia and Washington Counties, and finally, Hurricane Irene which affected the entire state.

The RehabGYM was conceived in 2003 as an innovative blend of physical therapy and athletic training within a medical gym. From the start, the RehabGYM has provided proactive care to the community, in order to aid in the prevention of injury and disease, as well as expert rehabilitative care.

Spates Construction Inc. is a family business that was started in 1974 by Frank and Jeannette Spates. It remains a family owned company to this day, when, in 2001, they turned the reigns over to their sons Grant, Dana and Lee. For the past 37 years, Spates Construction has concentrated on commercial construction. They build schools, churches, office buildings, residences, retail stores, manufacturing plants and recreational centers.

A changing regulatory environment requires a new approach to your retirement plan solution. Developing a Retirement Plan that is right for your company is an important step to managing a successful business. Today’s rapidly changing environment of new regulations, heightened fiduciary concerns and complex reporting requirements have demanded more of plan sponsors’ time than ever before. People’s United Bank Retirement Services understands that, as a business owner, you must meet the needs of:

PayData has been a leading provider of affordable Payroll and HR Solutions to Vermont employers of all sizes since 1986. PayData’s corporate offices are located in Colchester, Vermont, and our professional staff has over 150 years of combined payroll and HR experience. Our mission: “Dedicated to quality, personalized service, surpassing expectations” drives our team.

Through the generations, and almost as a right of passage, Vermonters have proudly endured the harsh winters of New England. For buildings and homes, however, without proper insulation, harsh winters can take a severe toll on unprotected commercial and residential properties. The constant increase in heating costs, coupled with damage from snow and ice, can be devastating for business owners and home owners alike.

As you can see from MMIC’s profile on the opposite page, Rick Cochran has had a significant impact on the mobile healthcare industry. He is affectionately referred to by co-workers as the “father of mobile surgery” and he is rightfully proud of the significance of introducing the first state licensable, Joint Commission accreditable, CMS certifiable MSU to the world.

The 1981 Omnibus Reconciliation Act provided the catalyst for Rick Cochran’s conception of the first Mobile Surgery Unit™ (MSU). The Act allowed surgeons the opportunity for a new revenue stream by providing facility fee reimbursement through Medicare for services performed in physician-owned Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) in addition to a physician fee. Justification for building ASCs was predicated on physician caseload volume which was a difficult hurdle for many physicians to overcome.

With a number of years of industry experience, some urging from her husband Don Milne, and a loan from the Granite Bank, Marion Milne opened the first Milne Travel office on Main Street in Barre, Vermont on November 8th, 1975. Marion was the owner, and her mother-in-law was her first employee. Thirty six years later, both the Barre office and Marion are still foundations of Milne Travel, but elsewhere there have been many changes.

For over two decades, Middlebury Fence has been installing quality fencing throughout Vermont, New Hampshire and Upstate New York. Over the years the company experienced different owners, location changes and business ups and downs along the way. All that changed in 2003 when Michael Dunbar, a mechanical engineer, purchased the company and moved it to its current location on Route 7 in New Haven, Vermont.

In Vermont, we hear a lot about buying local. And when it comes to what we eat or products we use, it’s an easy connection to make. But what about banking. Is there a difference?  Merchants Bank is Vermont’s only independent statewide community bank. So we’re local. Very local. And we think it makes a difference.

Main Street Landing has been in business since 1982. We are entering our 30th year of being on Burlington’s Waterfront creating positive change. Thirty years ago the Burlington Waterfront was a place that most parents told their children to stay away from. It was full of rail tracks, barbed wire fencing, a scrap metal yard, grainery with a handsome rat population, empty brick buildings, and overgrown weeds and shrubs.

A Century-Long Commitment to Vermont

During the 1800s, canal schooners would sail across Lake Champlain, transporting goods and products from one edge of the lake to the other. By swiftly and safely navigating the lake, the canal schooners established new, reliable trade routes, granting businesses the means to thrive and prosper. At the Fleischer Jacobs Group, we have drawn inspiration from these ships.

National and state health reform will change the landscape of employer-provided benefits. Change creates opportunity, and opportunity needs leadership. We intend on leading employers through the maze of health reform into a new world of simplicity and sustainability.

If you own your own company, your priority is running your business, not running an IT department.  Still, someone has to make sure everything works.  Luckily, today Comcast is making it easier than ever for business owners to stay focused on the big picture, with its Business Class suite of communications, information and entertainment services.

Every day, more employers are discovering that a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) can lower the cost of health insurance. By offering employees a Choice Strategies plan, employers are able to combine an HRA, FSA or HSA with any higher-deductible insurance program to create a genuinely consumer-driven health plan.

It has been stated that success is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Your Vermont Chambers of Commerce know that owning and operating a small businesses has an infinite level of challenges. From local zoning, to sources of funding, to networking and employee benefits, your local Chamber has the experience, the connections and the programs to make your small business experience better. Here is a brief overview of how your local Chamber of Commerce can help:

From spectacular fall foliage to spring’s sweet maple syrup, the forests of Vermont provide much of what makes the state special. Vermont is 75 percent forested, making it the fourth most heavily forested state in the country. A critical natural resource, Vermont’s forests also are a big part of the economy, fostering tourism, recreation and a diverse forest products industry.

Eugene Bates and George Murray of Newport Vermont, returning from the war in June of 1946, decided to go into the electrical business as partners and formed the electrical company Bates and Murray. In 1953 Gene and George needed more space and purchased a small warehouse on Union St. in Newport. Not needing the whole warehouse they rented the remaining part of the warehouse to Green Mountain Electric Inc.

The Associated General Contractors of Vermont (AGC/VT) is celebrating our 50th year of service to the construction industry and Vermont. What a year it has been! AGC/VT is a statewide contractor association with more than 150 members representing road and highway contractors, bridge contractors, commercial builders and quarries, subcontractors, as well as engineers, architects, and their suppliers.

These days, we all use our computers for almost everything, from staying in touch with family and friends, performing our jobs, balancing our checkbooks and hundreds of other tasks. Now imagine you have a visual impairment like macular degeneration or glaucoma that doesn’t allow you to see the computer screen. Not only would your online social life suffer but you might face more severe issues like declining productivity at work.