PODCAST · business
Maine For Keeps
by Jonathan Bush
Welcome to Maine For Keeps, hosted by Jonathan Bush. Each week, we're sitting down with real Mainers - from small business owners fighting to survive, to industry leaders and innovators, to working folks trying to make ends meet - for raw, unfiltered conversations about:→ The real stories of what's killing Maine jobs (like the 174 we just lost at the cement plant)→ How Maine's smartest businesses are finding ways to win despite the obstacles→ Why "environmental protection" often hurts both business AND the environment
Episodes
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Where Did All the Money Go? Alec Porteous on Maine’s Exploding Budget
Alec Porteous has run the numbers. He’s been the CFO of Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services. He’s been the Commissioner of Administrative & Financial Services, the state’s top budget job. He’s been the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer at the University of Southern...
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The Crime Surge No One Wants to Talk About in Maine with Lt. Nick Goodman
Lt. Nick Goodman has been a cop in Portland for over 20 years. He’s run narcotics stings. Solved cold cases. Led Portland’s SWAT team through high-risk raids and manhunts. He’s watched the city change, from a place where gunfire made headlines to a place where “another shooting” barely raises...
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How Maine Can Fix Education Before It’s Too Late with Stephen Bowen, Former Commissioner of Education
Stephen Bowen has seen the future of education, and he’s seen what happens when we ignore it. As Maine’s former Commissioner of Education and now Executive Director of the Hoover Education Success Initiative at Stanford, Stephen brings a rare perspective: deep local roots combined with a…
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Former Governor of MA, Charlie Baker, on How to Make a State Work
Charlie Baker has a reputation for making big, complex institutions actually work. As governor of Massachusetts, he was consistently ranked the most popular governor in America, running one of the bluest states as a Republican without getting bogged down in partisanship. Today, he’s the president...
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How Former Governor Mitch Daniels Turned Indiana Around (and What Maine Can Learn)
Mitch Daniels has worn a lot of hats: Governor of Indiana, President of Purdue University, and before that, business executive and federal budget director. But through it all, he’s carried a reputation for doing the hard, unglamorous work of making institutions perform better. In Indiana, Daniels...
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Make More Pie: Why Maine Should Bet on Growth, Not Handouts
This week on Maine For Keeps, Jonathan goes solo from North Haven Island to share why he’s still a raging Maine optimist and why it’s time for our state to stop dividing a shrinking pie and start making more pie.Part personal story, part blueprint for Maine’s future, this episode digs into what...
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Reinventing Rural Healthcare: Inside Maine’s Community Paramedicine Revolution
Maine’s rural communities have a healthcare problem — too few providers, too much distance, and too many people falling through the cracks. But what if the solution was already parked in your town, sirens off, waiting for the next call? In this episode, Jonathan Bush sits down with Dr. Jonathan...
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How Mayor Tom Koch Revived Quincy, MA (and What Other Cities Can Learn)
What does it really take to bring a city back to life? In the latest episode of Maine For Keeps, I sit down with Mayor Tom Koch, the longest-serving mayor in Quincy, Massachusetts — and the man behind one of the most impressive downtown transformations in New England. When Mayor Koch took office…
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Ohad Maiman on What Maine Lost in Aquaculture (and What It Could Still Become)
Ohad Maiman is one of the most visionary figures in modern aquaculture. After successfully launching The Kingfish Company in the Netherlands (one of the world’s most sustainable land-based aquaculture operations) he set his sights on the U.S. market. His goal: bring clean, tech-enabled fish…
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Building Belonging: The Squash Club That Became a Movement with Barrett Takesian, President @ Portland Community Squash
What started in the basement of a YMCA is now one of the most innovative community centers in the country. In this episode, Jonathan Bush sits down with Barrett Takesian, founder and executive director of Portland Community Squash, a one-of-a-kind community hub that blends sports, youth...
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When the System Fails: Inside Maine’s Child Protection Crisis with Former Maine Senator, Bill Diamond
How do you fix a government system that punishes truth-tellers, hides behind confidentiality laws, and fails the very people it’s supposed to protect? In this episode, former Maine Secretary of State and longtime legislator Bill Diamond joins Jonathan Bush for a sobering look at what’s really...
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A Navy Veteran’s Case for Bringing Nuclear Power to Maine, with Sarah Lemonick @Atomic Canyon
Sarah Lemonick is a U.S. Navy veteran and now a product manager at Atomic Canyon, where she’s helping shape the future of nuclear energy with AI. In this episode, she joins Jonathan Bush to talk about what Maine — and the country — can learn from her experience operating nuclear reactors aboard...
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The Truth About Scaling in Maine (From Someone Who Actually Did It), with Jonathan McDevitt
When athenahealth opened a small office in Belfast, Maine, no one expected it to become one of the state’s largest private employers. But under the leadership of Jonathan McDevitt, that office grew from a couple hundred people to nearly 1,000—creating real career paths in a rural community that…
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Maine Could Be a Startup Powerhouse. Here’s What’s Missing. With Jen Millard, CEO and Co-founder @mainelove
What happens when a seasoned CPG operator and Liquid Death investor comes home to launch her own brand in Maine? Jen Millard is no stranger to growth. She helped take Bed Bath & Beyond public. She sold startups to Mastercard and DoorDash. And after decades of success, she returned to her home…
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The Invisible Hand of Maine’s Lobster Market: Meet Marty Molloy
What happens when the boats disappear, the buyers retire, and the next generation doesn’t come back? In this raw and revealing conversation, Jonathan Bush sits down with Martin Molloy—a Navy vet turned legendary lobster buyer—to unpack what’s really happening to Maine’s working waterfront. They...
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The Startup Reviving Maine’s Forest Economy, and Why It’s So Damn Hard to Scale Here, with Melissa LaCasse, Co-Founder at Tanbark MFP
Melissa LaCasse left public radio in New York to build Tanbark, a Maine-based startup replacing single-use plastic with sustainable molded fiber. The catch? She’s doing it in a state with almost no growth capital, aging manufacturing infrastructure, and endless red tape. In this episode, Jonathan...
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Why Maine Is #45 for Small Business (And How to Fix It) With Nate Cloutier, Director of Government Affairs at HospitalityMaine
Maine is a state built on small businesses—so why did Forbes rank us 45th out of 50 for small business friendliness? In this episode of Maine For Keeps, Jonathan Bush sits down with Nate Cloutier, government affairs director for Hospitality Maine, to unpack the absurd barriers holding back…
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Over the Table, Under the Radar: What It Really Takes to Build in Maine, with Andrew Bonarrigo, Founder and Owner of ABI Masonry INC
Andrew Bonarrigo isn’t a venture-backed CEO. He didn’t get a grant. He didn’t inherit a business. He started out cleaning antique bricks from the Rockland Jail, selling them for 35 cents apiece—and used the proceeds to build his own masonry company from scratch. Today, he runs one of the most...
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Maine Needs More Housing. Why Isn’t It Getting Built? With Matt Marks, Principal at Cornerstone Government Affairs
Everyone agrees Maine needs more housing. So why isn’t it getting built? In this episode of Maine For Keeps, Jonathan Bush sits down with Matt Marks, a lifelong Mainer and construction industry veteran, to pull back the curtain on the real reasons development in Maine is so painfully slow—and…
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How Maine Is Pricing Itself Out of the Future — Energy, Regulation, and the War on Growth, with Matt Jacobson, Director of Sales & Marketing, Summit Natural Gas of Maine
Maine isn’t just losing opportunities. We’re driving them away—with energy policies, regulatory gridlock, and a learned helplessness that’s sinking our economy. In this episode of Maine For Keeps, Jonathan Bush sits down with Matt Jacobson, Director of Sales & Marketing at Summit Natural Gas of...
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“Why I Had to Leave Maine to Build a Maine Brand” — Luke Holden on Business, Bureaucracy, and Coming Home
Maine is full of hardworking entrepreneurs, but too often, they have to leave the state to build something big. Luke Holden is one of them. He grew up in Cape Elizabeth, a third-generation lobsterman with Maine roots as deep as they come. But when it came time to start Luke’s Lobster, he didn’t…
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Why Smart Companies Are Choosing Maine, With Peter DelGreco, President & CEO at Maine & Co.
Maine has the *location*, the *workforce*, and the *quality of life*—so how can we get more businesses to choose Maine??In this episode of *Maine For Keeps*, Jonathan Bush sits down with Peter DelGreco, CEO of Maine & Company, to unpack the hard truths about why economic development is so damn...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Welcome to Maine For Keeps, hosted by Jonathan Bush. Each week, we're sitting down with real Mainers - from small business owners fighting to survive, to industry leaders and innovators, to working folks trying to make ends meet - for raw, unfiltered conversations about:→ The real stories of what's killing Maine jobs (like the 174 we just lost at the cement plant)→ How Maine's smartest businesses are finding ways to win despite the obstacles→ Why "environmental protection" often hurts both business AND the environment
HOSTED BY
Jonathan Bush
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Maine For Keeps have?
Maine For Keeps currently has 22 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Maine For Keeps about?
Welcome to Maine For Keeps, hosted by Jonathan Bush. Each week, we're sitting down with real Mainers - from small business owners fighting to survive, to industry leaders and innovators, to working folks trying to make ends meet - for raw, unfiltered conversations about:→ The real stories of what's...
How often does Maine For Keeps release new episodes?
Maine For Keeps has 22 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Maine For Keeps?
You can listen to Maine For Keeps on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Maine For Keeps?
Maine For Keeps is created and hosted by Jonathan Bush.
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