Episode 73: Betsy Biemann, CEO of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) Investing in Communities: Betsy Biemann on the Mission of CEI In this episode of The Boulos Beat, recorded in December 2025, guest host Drew Sigfridson sits down with Betsy Biemann, CEO of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), to talk about her path from a Rotary Fellowship in Kenya to leadership roles at the Rockefeller Foundation—and ultimately to leading one of the country’s top Community Development Financial Institutions. Drew and Betsy dive into CEI’s mission to support low-income communities through financing, business advising, and targeted investments in sectors like farming and food manufacturing, aquaculture, childcare and renewable energy. They also discuss CEI’s impact nationwide, including advancing affordable and workforce housing and rural manufacturing through key tax credit programs. The conversation touches on how CEI has helped small business owners navigate the evolving federal policy and economic landscape and why their work supporting entrepreneurs and local economies is more important than ever.
Episode 73: Betsy Biemann, CEO of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI)
Investing in Communities: Betsy Biemann on the Mission of CEI
In this episode of The Boulos Beat, recorded in December 2025, guest host Drew Sigfridson sits down with Betsy Biemann, CEO of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), to talk about her path from a Rotary Fellowship in Kenya to leadership roles at the Rockefeller Foundation—and ultimately to leading one of the country’s top Community Development Financial Institutions.
Drew and Betsy dive into CEI’s mission to support low-income communities through financing, business advising, and targeted investments in sectors like farming and food manufacturing, aquaculture, childcare and renewable energy. They also discuss CEI’s impact nationwide, including advancing affordable and workforce housing and rural manufacturing through key tax credit programs.
The conversation touches on how CEI has helped small business owners navigate the evolving federal policy and economic landscape and why their work supporting entrepreneurs and local economies is more important than ever.
MSD 25-0339 Betsy Biemann_V2
Thu, Mar 12, 2026 12:00PM • 40:23
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
CEI, community development, economic opportunity, child care, affordable housing, historic tax credits, new market tax credits, rural manufacturing, small business loans, policy solutions, Maine economy, entrepreneurship, workforce housing, clean energy, natural resource industries.
SPEAKERS
Betsy Biemann, Drew Sigfridson
Drew Sigfridson 00:00
I'd like to welcome our listeners to the Boulos Beat Podcast. I'm Drew Sigfridson, guest hosting for Greg Boulos. The bolus company is northern New England's largest commercial real estate services firm with offices in Portland, Maine as well as Manchester and Portsmouth New Hampshire. We've been selling and leasing real estate in Maine and New Hampshire since 1975 This podcast is designed to provide insight into Maine's leaders. It's movers and shakers. And speaking of movers and shakers, I'd like to welcome Betsy Beeman, CEO of Coastal Enterprises Inc, also known as CEI to the Boulos Beat Betsy for listeners who may not know you. How did your career path lead you to CEI and in this work in mission driven economic development here in Maine?
Betsy Biemann 00:54
Well, it was definitely not a straight line. I grew up in a family of scientists. My father was an organic chemist, and my brother rebelled and became a molecular biologist, but my dad worked on some of the Apollo missions and the Viking mission, so we talked a lot about science around the dinner table, and I just expected I would become a scientist. So I spent a couple of summers doing science research, and I realized I found science really interesting, but I didn't want to be a scientist. So then I was stuck with, well, what do I do now? And I had was interested in doing something that helped make the world a better place, and had a wonderful opportunity. I got a rotary fellowship, and I went and I lived in Kenya for a year, and I taught in a girls secondary school in a small, rural village. And I was really struck by the fact that, you know, my my grandparents and my father had moved to this country in the last century from central and southern Europe to make a better life here in the US. And I was fortunate that my grandparents had come here, because otherwise I'd be living in rural Albania right now. But these girls, they really didn't have many opportunities. They hadn't had the opportunity I had had, to grow up in a place with good schools and to go on to universities, and their life trajectory would have been much different if they had done that. And working in that community really made me start thinking about what was necessary for folks to have and an opportunity for a good life, and it seemed like Economics and Public Policy were part of that. So I went to get a master's degree in Economics and Public Policy, and then was really fortunate to go and work at the Rockefeller Foundation, where I ended up working for almost 10 years, and really had an opportunity to meet and get to know extraordinary social entrepreneurs and to really see how folks could use finance in creative ways to expand economic opportunity in this country and and around the world. And in fact, it was at that time that I first met Ron Phillips, who founded CEI and Nat Henshaw, who has led our venture capital funds, because CEI was known as one of the innovative community development finance organizations nationally at the time, one of the sort of early pioneers in the field. My husband and I are both New Englanders, and we were living in New York City, and I was fortunate to get a position running the Maine Technology Institute. So we moved to Maine 20 years ago. We wanted to raise our kids here, and I led that organization for seven years, and then left. And was fortunate then to come to CEI and follow in Ron's footsteps.
Drew Sigfridson 03:58
Great story and background. So I feel like a lot of people in Maine know of CEI, but they maybe don't know, but maybe they don't know exactly what CEI is and what a CDFI is. If you could talk a little bit about the mission where funding comes from. How far of a reach does CEI have, right?
Betsy Biemann 04:25
So CEI is a nonprofit organization, but we're of a particular type. And you mentioned it, it's a community development financial institution that is quite a mouthful, and someone recently I was talking with described it a little differently and said, Just imagine if a bank and a nonprofit organization got together and had a baby. They have a CDFI, but community development financial institution is a certification that actually the federal government provides. What it means is that we. Provide financing and small business assistance and advice to folks across Maine, but with a particular focus on low income communities and providing economic opportunity to low income people. So we are very focused on that mission, and it's so we sort of integrate that financing and that business advising, but also policy solutions, because we know we could make a new small business loan every day of the week, but at the end of the year, the financial system would still work the same way. And so we take what we're learning from our small business lending and our business advising, working with entrepreneurs around the state of Maine, and we bring what we're learning to policy conversations in Augusta, but also in Washington, because a lot of decisions that are made and policy that's developed and implemented, it sometimes works better or differently, and we're in urban places than rural places. So we're able to bring the experience we have here in Maine to those conversations and hope that either new policies or existing policies can start working better for rural communities.
Drew Sigfridson 06:14
Thank you. Is there a certain type of business or small business focus that that CEI is playing a role in
Betsy Biemann 06:24
so we work with folks in many different industries and sectors, but they're a handful that we have a really strong team of expertise that we can bring to those relationships. We have a particular focus on natural resource based industries, so farming and food manufacturing, fisheries and aquaculture, more recently, clean energy. We have folks on our staff who are experts in those sectors. And so we can not only provide financing that's responsive to the needs of those small businesses, but also then connect them with other resources, with other organizations, financial and non financial, and that helps them to be successful. Also, more recently, we've really come to understand that child care is really a critical part of the small business ecosystem in Maine and, frankly, everywhere. And so six years ago, we started something, an initiative called the child care Business Lab, where we work with folks who want to start a child care program, either in their home or in a facility, and we help them through the process of sort of planning, doing their business plan, figuring out if they need to purchase a facility. You know, there are many regulations, important ones, but challenging ones. As a new entrepreneur around, you know, approval by the State Fire Marshal, having a pro having sprinklers and fire alarms, et cetera. We all want our children to be safe, but if you have a credential in early childhood education, you don't necessarily know all of the things you need to know to run high quality and accessible child care program. So that's another sector that we've done a lot of work in since we started the child care Business Lab, we've actually helped over 50 new child care programs across Maine get launched and be successful, and financed a number of them as well. That's great, and it's important, though it has a ripple effect to the broader small business economy and economy in general, because if folks don't have access to childcare, they can't work, or they can't go back to school and get a credential to earn a better living. And so we really see childcare as being a key, key part of our work and a key part of the Maine economy.
Drew Sigfridson 08:55
Absolutely, absolutely. That's those are great programs, another program that I've seen CEI get involved in is around affordable housing and historic tax credit projects, and it seems as if CEI is playing a role in some of those development projects as well.
Betsy Biemann 09:19
Yes, it's sort of an interesting example where sort of public policy helps, you know, works with the private sector to get things done that are high priority in in our communities. We have we started off getting involved in historic renovation projects using the state historic tax credit actually directly by CEI, the nonprofit, and over time, actually have spun off a subsidiary organization that's called 30 federal street investments that solely does that kind of work, I think, over the over the past. Number of years we have in been tax credit investors in around 56 different projects around the state. They often are involve affordable housing or mix of affordable workforce housing or sometimes mixed use. And you know they what they effectively do is the tax credit provides equity to the project so the developer doesn't have to borrow as much money, and it helps projects that would otherwise not pencil out get done. A couple of recent ones that are just wonderful Mercy, the Mercy hospital building in downtown Portland is now, I think, all together, that sort of multi structure campus is has created about 260 new housing units. And as we all know, you know, Portland is desperately trying to increase the amount of affordable and workforce housing. I learned recently that two of our fellows, we have fellows who come and work with us, young or early stage in their careers, and two folks who are working with us for the year actually are living in in that in that building. Yeah, that's the nightingale project. Exactly yes, with new height Redfern, we've also done, participated in the picker loft building, picker house loft building in Lewiston, which is the old continental mill, and also the spinning mill in Skowhegan. So you know, different projects across the state of Maine, providing housing and other other space for other economic activity. And, of course, the tax credit then helps these projects take place, and often takes buildings that were empty and fills them with economic activity and people, and of course, that then, over time, generates tax revenues for the state of Maine. That makes that investment by the state make sense. But it's Maine is fortunate in a way that our economy wasn't doing so well in the 1970s when many other communities across the country tore down their historic buildings and replace them with more modern and some, frankly, sometimes not very well built structures. And now we have the opportunity to renovate these wonderful buildings that really contribute to the authenticity of our downtowns and to, you know, continuing to make Maine a wonderful place to live and visit.
Drew Sigfridson 12:42
Yeah, it's been tremendous. Another speaking of tax credits, for a minute, new market tax credits was a very significant component, I feel, of CEIS prior or in CEIS priorities, I guess, and that I believe, extended beyond the borders of Maine. Would you be able to speak to that a little Sure?
Betsy Biemann 13:07
So interestingly, Ron Phillips was actually one of the many people around the country from the community development sector who sort of advocated for for the new markets tax credit program to be created, and specifically that 20% of those tax credits ought to benefit rural communities. But since that time, through a second subsidiary called CEI Capital Management, or ccml, as we call it, we have helped make a lot of projects across the country as far away as as a as a health center in Hawaii actually can't get much for right to come to fruition. Most recently, we've been focusing on rural manufacturing with projects around the country, and it's interesting, these are typically large, much larger projects than the small business projects that we're financing here in Maine. But on the flip side, they have a great opportunity to create a lot of jobs, and particularly in again, in rural communities. So we're excited that we're not able to make an impact through our very sort of deep and intensive work here in Maine, but in communities around the country, of course, in those communities, we're not working alone. We're always working with other financing and community organizations that are helping those projects to be successful.
Drew Sigfridson 14:47
How are those companies finding you?
Betsy Biemann 14:51
Yeah, you know we are. Well, first of all, we've been around for 48 years, so we we have a reputation, which is happily. A good one. And so over time, we there are actually 1400 CDFIs around the country. And, you know, we're all part of a network, and we get together periodically to meet and share best practices. So folks have had 48 years to get to know us and our work. And, you know, sometimes, and we're very we're a very relational organization, so we often will when folks have done have been involved in a project with us, when another project comes down the line and they feel like we'd be a good fit, they know us, and they know how we work, and they're, you know, they reach out. So there are all sorts of ways that we find each other, but particularly folks know that we care about not only creating jobs, but good quality jobs, and we also bring knowledge and expertise to to projects that that help it not only be a financial investment, but an investment that benefits the community as well as as as well as workers and their families and the business itself.
Drew Sigfridson 16:04
Yeah, that's fantastic. And 48 years where this is our 50th anniversary, so you'll be coming up on your 50th anniversary very soon.
Betsy Biemann 16:12
We will, yeah, there must have been something in the main water back in the mid to late 70s that helped lot of visionaries, right? Helped Boulos company and CEI to start and become the organizations it's, it's interesting, as we start thinking about our 50th coming up, you know, I do wonder, like, what would, how would Maine have been different if there had never been a CEI? And how would Maine have been different if there had never been a bulos company? You know, how would our, you know, those, those buildings that you drive by on a daily basis, and those businesses that I drive by and no CI sometimes played in an early but really pivotal, pivotal role in helping them get off the ground. You know, how would our, our small business landscape, be different, and what can we be doing to prepare for the next 50 years to something else I've been thinking a lot about,
Drew Sigfridson 17:06
yeah, that's a very good question. A lot of significant impact over those 50 years.
Betsy Biemann 17:10
Yeah, you all you did, actually, I never answered the other part of your earlier question about, where does the funding come from that that sort of fuels what we do. We're fortunate to have sort of a diverse set of of funding sources. So we borrow money from banks. We borrow money or get grants from the federal government. We also have financing from religious organizations, foundations and individuals who share our values and support our mission. So we're fortunate that in the same way that we sort of see ourselves as providing a menu of different kinds of financing and different kinds of business expertise in our work with small businesses and other organizations, that we also are able to be a stronger organization because we have a variety of kinds of of sources of funding. And what that helps us do that a bank can't do is when there is, say, an industry that needs a certain kind of financing. So I mentioned childcare before we have our childcare loans where we only charge two and three quarters percent to three and a quarter percent interest, because, frankly, that's really what a childcare enterprise can afford. They can't afford market rate loans, we also only require that they make interest payments for the six the first six months of their loan, because they're still getting their enrollment to 100% they we typically require that at least 20% of the seats in the new child care facility or program be be filled by kids whose families are eligible for the State Child Care affordability program, and so we have some expectations for the accessibility of That child care program, and we're able to be responsive and sort of industry specific, and how we think about and provide capital to that sector. Similarly, in aquaculture, we have our sea farm loans, and we charge 5% fixed rate, and you know, their collateral is literally underwater for a long time, and that's a risk that a lot of banks are not willing to take. But because we are a mission driven organization, and we have relationships with with foundations and other programs that care about those industries, we're able. Able to weave together the kind of capital that's that's necessary and responsive to the needs and characteristics of different of different sectors.
Drew Sigfridson 20:12
Yeah, and oftentimes, I can see those financing resources be the difference maker in in a small business or maybe a development project getting underway that otherwise might not absolutely. So they're critical, critical resources you must have through these, the variety of programs, through the variety of programs that CEI has, and the different joint venture entities that you're involved in, it must be an overwhelming number of applications that come in to the organization. How do you select, how does your group select who to who to help and and how do you deal with those, those those others that that perhaps you you aren't able to help right now through financial loans.
Betsy Biemann 21:07
Well, you know, as a nonprofit with a with the mission that we have, we are typically looking for projects that don't are not only likely to be financially successful, but are in a variety of ways that I've touched on already benefit our communities, low income communities, and low income people in particular. So those are certainly things that that we look like, that we look at.
Drew Sigfridson 21:35
So some applicants just may not have as deep of an impact as what you're looking for and so that just wouldn't meet the
Betsy Biemann 21:42
metric we in order to maintain our community development financial institution certification, we must invest at least 60% of our of our lending in in low income communities and benefiting low income people. So we, we always overshoot that, and typically it's between, you know, 75 and 85% but we, that is a that is a key metric that we live by every year.
Drew Sigfridson 22:19
Great, given the changing landscape in the federal government, programs, grants and funding, how is how is that impacting CEI and your ability to provide loans, provide support to to these businesses?
Betsy Biemann 22:39
Well, we particularly think about, how is it impacting the communities and the small businesses we work with, and we sort of work from there. So I would say, starting in around February of this year, with the new administration coming in, we started, it started looking a little bit like early covid months actually, where our demand for loans decreased. So we saw many fewer, literally 40% fewer loan applications came in February through May or June than the prior year. It makes sense, if you're in uncertain terrain, you don't want to take on more debt because you're in a riskier environment. And also, typically, you know, we get requests every day for for business advice, and typically, about half of those calls are coming from folks or emails are coming from folks who want to start a new business, and the other half are coming from folks who are dealing with a challenge or an opportunity in their existing business. But like early covid, all of a sudden, 95% of the calls we were getting were from existing businesses, and no one was calling, or only 5% were calling saying, I want to start a new business. I'd like to talk to a business advisor. So and the new the existing businesses were often concerned about tariffs, just the uncertainty in general, but how tariffs were going to impact their their operations, the costs of their inputs, or in one case, you know, company midway through an expansion and the piece of equipment that they were buying was going to cost significantly more. So we sort of doubled down. We started doing weekly, sort of office hour calls with our business advisors so folks didn't have to wait. They could just call and get advice quickly so we could help them be more nimble in making decisions about what they. Would make sense for their business. We modified some loans, giving some borrowers relief that had had cuts, or had heard that there were going to be cuts that were going to impact their business. In a couple of cases, we made some new loans, either because another lender had pulled out, saying, no, this doesn't work for us anymore. And instead of having that company plans really not be able to move forward, we stepped in with a loan, or in another case, we made a second loan to a company whose whose costs had gone up significantly so but as I said, it was quite similar to early covid and some of the trends that we were seeing.
Drew Sigfridson 25:46
Have you seen so from February to May, that 40% decrease, which is amazing. Have you seen it recover at this point? And have you seen new businesses starting to gain their footing again, and be, and be interested in, in moving forward with with plans.
Betsy Biemann 26:05
Happily, yes, we are. We've seen the loan application volume come back up. We We did see some real estate projects not end up going forward that we had expected. I think the level of uncertainty made made some of their funding partners not comfortable going forward. Or as you know, the longer it takes, the more it costs. And so some projects just had gone beyond what was necessary for their project to go forward, and they haven't done so. But it is, I think folks are still dealing with different kinds of uncertainty around policy, around investment. I'd say the fact that interest rates have gone down a bit. Though. We are seeing some of those, some new real estate projects that are looking promising, coming forward, that are, I think, responsive to the change in that cost.
Drew Sigfridson 27:14
Yeah, yeah, we're seeing that as well. It mean, it sounds as if, over the years, these 48 years, CEI has supported hundreds and hundreds of businesses. And I wonder, besides the the nightingale project in Portland, if, if there's a recent project that you can think of where CEIS involvement made a significant impact on on the on the community, if there's there's one that you think of when I'm
Betsy Biemann 27:44
just as I think about sort of real estate oriented once, you know, we do a lot of work in the food sector, and we help to finance both the Belfast Co Op and the Blue Hill Co Op, both of which are not only great real estate projects. But of course, they also are centers for their community. They are buying and helping to market food products, you know, farm and food manufactured products from around the state of Maine, and employing a lot of people and some of our smaller communities. So those are just two that come to mind that I recently been to. And again, you know, we didn't finance we don't always finance these on our own. I think the Belfast Co Op, we partnered with the cooperative fund for the Northeast and another CDFI in Boston.
Drew Sigfridson 28:42
Those are great examples, I guess. One other moving on a little bit from helping these, helping these different businesses and some of the core moving on a little bit from some of the core work that CEI does, we have joined together and had a joint venture in CEI bolus Capital Management. And this was a joint venture that was started in 2019 just before the pandemic. And it's been, it's been a terrific project, working with CEI and various members of the bolus company, being involved in that. Wonder if you could just talk a little bit about what we've what we've been doing over the last five years, and how this came to be.
Betsy Biemann 29:39
Well, it's, it's been quite extraordinary and wonderful and great, that despite the fact that we came together to start this before the pandemic, that it actually survived and thrived despite the pandemic. One could have imagined that being involved together in a in an. Initiative that was making real estate investments in low income communities during a global pandemic would have been difficult to sustain. And I think it's testament to the strength of our partnership and the leadership of the subsidiary, Sam Spencer and his team that that we've got, you know, been forging ahead, but I think collectively, we have over $100 million under management, and have done now 18 projects around the country in rural and urban communities, most of which have been either affordable or workforce housing, some mixed use housing and some just great projects that were different, whether it's student housing or a historic hotel in Selma, Alabama, or sort of a food court, food company incubator in Rochester, New York. But when I reflect on it, I think it's I probably for both of our organizations, it's emblematic of of looking for partners that are aligned with how we do business with sort of our fundamental values and integrity, and not so much worried about whether sort of, well, let me put it this way, bringing the best of being a nonprofit organization and the best of being a for profit company to jointly do projects that are challenging to get done that often involve many different financing partners and community organizations, municipal government, you name it, but are creating wonderful places that are benefiting their communities by providing places for, you know, homes for People, and often also space for commercial activity that's currently not being used. So it's, it's been a I'm excited for the for the next six years and beyond. It's, we've also worked with a number of banks with this work, because the the reason that the capital is is coming to this initiative is not only because we have a great team, but because of the opportunity zone and Community Reinvestment Act framework, which provides incentives for private investors and banks to make investments in low income communities.
Drew Sigfridson 32:48
So we're and that's really been, that's really been the special sauce in partnership is, you know, having the the underwriting capable, the underwriting capabilities in the pure economic metrics and development expertise, coupled with the social impact, community impact, back end management, and that's what has really enabled these investors to be able to find a project that will provide a financial return but also make a significant impact within their communities in which they they work, which has been great. It has, as you think about, you know, the next, the next five years or so here, here in Maine, what inspires you most about Maine's business community today?
Betsy Biemann 33:48
Well, I mean, ever since we moved to Maine and I started working with Maine entrepreneurs, first at the Maine Technology Institute and now at CEI, I'm just always amazed at the grit and sort of innovation of entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is is a very it can be very stressful. It's very isolating, often, especially when you're starting up. If you're just that entrepreneur working in their house, getting started, there's a lot of financial pressures. Yet every day, I'm learning about new businesses that are coming up with great ideas, often adding value to or continuing to evolve some of our heritage industries. And I just find it really inspiring to hear what they're doing and to watch them grow over time. I recently ran into Elia tanhauser, who, I think I first met him in something like 2015 when he was participating in a pitch competition about this new company he was co founding called. Called North Spore. And I remember he had, I think he had tried to compete the year before and had not won, but the year that I was fortunate to meet him, he actually won the pitch competition about, you know, growing mushrooms. And today, North spore is sort of revolutionizing the mushroom cultivation space. You know, selling solutions and to other mushroom cultivators and kits for people to grow mushrooms in their backyard. And it's just, you know, one of the advantages of getting older, I guess, is that I have had time to sort of watch entrepreneurs, not only be entrepreneurial, which is what they do that's so exciting, but then watch what they're able to accomplish as they grow their business. It's not only sort of, you know, the revenues being greater than the expenses and the job creation, but it's really changing our lives and our communities for the better. And it's, it's just it's a lot of fun to have a front row seat on that and to sort of help folks be successful, sometimes in a in a small way, as we do. But I have a great deal of of admiration for for folks who who take on the challenge of being an entrepreneur. And you know, frankly, sometimes they're not successful, but they brush themselves off and often try again or bring their expertise to their field in a different way. But it's, it's just extraordinary to to see that growth over time.
Drew Sigfridson 36:34
Yeah, and those are, those are some very inspiring people to watch. The entrepreneurs here in Maine are really making a difference as a CEI, I wonder, when you look across Maine and in the variety of businesses and different sectors, what do you think is a sector that everyone should should maybe keep their eye on going forward. Is there some industry or sector that you're particularly interested in or focused on where you think there's going to be some significant growth?
Betsy Biemann 37:13
You know? I I'm a little sector agnostic in that. I mean, I've noted the sectors we care a lot about, food and farming and aquaculture, clean energy and childcare. You know, I think what I What's the trend? I'm interested in, sort of seeing how it works out is, you know, when I moved to Maine, we were one of the slowest growing states in the nation in terms of our population. In fact, we would have been losing population if it hadn't been for immigrants and refugees coming to Maine. And with, I guess, a silver lining of covid, if one could say that there was a silver lining, is that we're now in like, the top 15, I think. And even for a while, we're much higher than that in terms of of the growth of our population as a percentage. Not, not, obviously, we're still a small state, but I think they're just because of the livability in Maine, of what a wonderful state it is to, you know, whether it's you like the arts or outdoor recreation, you know, Maine has a lot of offer to to young people and older people coming to Maine. And I think that companies that can contribute to that or benefit from that, it's just going to be wonderful to watch and see how how that evolves.
Drew Sigfridson 38:50
I think that's a great point. Is the reversing the trend, and actually having our population stabilized and not continue to go down is really going to be critical for all of us, and so that's a great point,
Betsy Biemann 39:07
but it will require investing in affordable and workforce housing and child care access and all of those things we've been talking about today in order to really achieve the best that we can So
Drew Sigfridson 39:19
absolutely and Betsy, I really want to thank you and CEI and all of its subsidiaries for your partnership with with us, and also for what you do for your community here in Maine, it's making tremendous difference in so many places. Thank you.
Betsy Biemann 39:37
Thank you. It's great to work with you, Betsy.
Drew Sigfridson 39:41
Thank you so much for being our guest today on the Boulos Beat a bolus company podcast. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us. For our listeners, you can learn more about CEI at the company's website, which is cei main.org and on Facebook at. Dei. And if you'd like to learn more about the bolus company, please be sure to visit us@www.bolus.com you can also find us at the bolus company on Facebook and LinkedIn and at the bolus CO on Instagram and X you.
About today’s Guest Host, Drew Sigfridson:
Drew has been with The Boulos Company since 1998. He focuses on new business development and the brokerage of investment and development projects in Maine and New Hampshire. Drew also works on Class A office leasing, industrial developments, and corporate representation on acquisitions and dispositions. In 2013, he assumed the role of Managing Director and directed strategic growth and operations for Boulos’ brokerage offices in Portland, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He has been a director and past president of the Maine Commercial Association of Realtors, past president of the Maine Real Estate & Development Association, and past chairman of the Avesta Housing Board of Directors.
Drew co-founded CEI-Boulos Capital Management in 2019 in conjunction with Coastal Enterprises, Inc. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the company which sources and oversees impact investments throughout the United States in multiple funds. In addition, Drew has a passion and interest in housing development in Portland.
Drew enjoys mountain biking, skiing, hiking and flying. He also enjoys mentoring recent graduates pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors and guiding them to find careers in Maine. He lives in Portland Maine and has three children.