What Do Leaders Do When They Can't Solve a Problem Alone? - Collaborate!!

Recognizing the increasing need for technology skills and the shortage of qualified applicants, Mike Dubyak (President and CEO, Wright Express), Stephen Bowen (Commissioner, Maine Department of Education) Rich Pattenaude (Chancellor, University of Maine System), and Ron Bancroft (Founder, Bancroft & Co.) teamed up to create and support a plan that will deliver highly-trained technology graduates to Maine’s workforce ― from Maine’s university system. These innovative leaders will address the challenges and opportunities that face Maine employers and outline the roadmap engineered to address these challenges.  They are creating solutions for our youth and removing barriers to business in Maine.  Join us to learn more.

Michael Dubyak is chairman and CEO of Wright Express.  Mike helped build the company and create the vision, strategic plans, infrastructure and operating philosophies that now drive its success. He has guided the technological transformation of Wright Express, developed new market strategy and instituted aggressive growth and market leadership goals. Under Mike’s direction, the business has become international and revenue has grown significantly with a market cap of approximately two billion dollars.  Wright Express has been named to Forbes magazine's "America's 100 Best Small Companies" list for the last four years.

In 1986 Mike joined the start-up Wright Express as vice president of marketing and held increasingly senior positions before being named executive vice president in 1997. He became president and chief executive officer in August 1998, and was named executive chairman, chief executive officer and president in May 2008  

He is currently the Chairman of Educate Maine. Previously Mike has served as a member of the University of Southern Maine Board of Visitors, and has served on the board of the United Way of Greater Portland, the Governor’s Council on Competitiveness and the Economy, the New England Advisory Council of the Boston Federal Reserve, the Center for Grieving Children Board of Directors Capital Campaign, and the Executive Board of the Maine Chamber.

Mike was recently named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 Financial Services Award Winner for New England, and received the Portland Regional Chamber’s Masterton Award for Economic Development.  He is a member of the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame and received the 2005 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Institute for Civic Leadership.

Stephen Bowen became Commissioner of Education for the State of Maine in 2011.  Prior to that, he directed the Center for Education Excellence at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a Portland-based public policy think tank. In his three-and-a-half years there, he researched and wrote dozens of policy briefs on issues from school consolidation and school funding to online learning and charter schools, authored numerous op-eds, columns, and blog posts on education-related issues, and regularly presented the findings of his research to policymakers and the public.

Commissioner Bowen taught social studies in middle and high schools for 10 years in Fairfax County, Virginia, and then in Camden, prior to joining the Center. He taught in Fairfax County from 1997 to 2000, taking advantage of that district’s excellent teacher induction and professional development opportunities, and being part of that state’s development of a standards-based approach to education. At Camden-Rockport Middle School he taught social studies and was there when Maine’s nationally and internationally recognized middle school laptop program was first implemented, with the deployment of laptops to eighth graders in the fall of 2003. He has experienced the implementation of state education policy at the level where it matters most – the classroom.

 In 2002, he was elected to the first of two terms in the Maine House of Representatives, representing Camden and Rockport. During that time, he served on the Marine Resources and State and Local Government Committees, and the Select Committee on Regionalization and Community Cooperation. He served on the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee during his second term in the House.

Commissioner Bowen’s proudest legislative achievement during his two terms in the Legislature was working with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to enact a state salary supplement for teachers who have achieved certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The number of board certified teachers in Maine has more than doubled since then.

Commissioner Bowen has a B.A. in Political Science from Drew University and a Masters of Education from George Mason University.

Richard L. Pattenaude became chancellor of the University of Maine System in July 2007, after serving for sixteen years as president of the University of Southern Maine.

Prior to that, he served for five years as vice president for academic affairs at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain and another five years as associate vice president for academic affairs at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Before moving to New York, President Pattenaude was a member of the political science faculty and an associate dean for six years at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

A native of Seattle, Washington, he earned his bachelor's degree with honors in economics at California's San Jose State University and his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Colorado. His areas of expertise and publishing include American government, university leadership, public administration, and organizational theory.

Chancellor Pattenaude and his wife, Michele, have four adult children and have homes in Biddeford and Bangor.

Ron Bancroft founded Bancroft & Company This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it in 1985 to provide strategic consulting to small to medium-sized growth companies. Earlier in his business career, Mr. Bancroft spent twelve years learning the ropes of strategic consulting with McKinsey & Company. While at McKinsey, he was part of the team that collaborated with Tom Peters and Bob Waterman in the work that led to the management classic In Search of Excellence.

Ron left McKinsey in the mid-eighties for a simpler life on the coast of Maine, his native state.  After several years in which he was a principal in the buyout of a large shipbuilder and the owner of a small wood products company, he established his own consulting company as a way to bring the value of his wide range of business experience to smaller companies.

In addition to his consulting practice, Ron has been active in education reform in Maine with both the Compact for Higher Education and the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education. Recently, Ron was part of the effort to merge these groups into Educate Maine. Educate Maine will advocate for pre-K through Higher Education.

Mr. Bancroft also has written a weekly column on state and national policy issues for the Portland Press Herald. He also serves on the Board of three mid-sized manufacturing companies, including Hussey Seating, a Maine-owned family business.

He is an honors graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a Rhodes Scholar, earning a Master's Degree in Politics and Economics from Oxford University.

Ron resides outside Portland, Maine with his wife, Sally. They are active in their church and their community.

Many thanks to Lead Sponsor and Partners.