Outstanding Older Worker

ARLINGTON, Va. – Experience Works, the nation’s largest training and employment organization for mature workers, has named 73-year-old Arthur A. Comstock, senior vice president and senior market manager for United Kingfield Bank in Bangor, as Maine’s Outstanding Older Worker for 2006.

After service to his country in the Army, Comstock began a career in banking that included positions as branch manager, vice president of asset management, regional executive officer, president and CEO, and chairman. In addition, he worked as a consultant with a number of area businesses and nonprofit organizations. With such extensive experience, Comstock provides knowledge to his team, and is seen as a mentor and counselor, and an invaluable resource to his colleagues.

His service to the community spans every age group, from the Boy Scouts to the Agency on Aging, and he is active in organizations that are involved in health, education, the arts, economic development and public policy.

He served as director of the Center for Aging at the University of Maine, was recently honored for his outstanding volunteerism and inspiring commitment to the community, and was instrumental in raising $25 million to start the Challenger Learning Center, a scientific institution that serves middle schools across the state of Maine.

Comstock received the award at the Prime Time Awards banquet in Washington, where outstanding older workers from all 50 states were honored. Also announced was America’s Oldest Worker, 104-year-old beekeeper and author Waldo McBurney. More information about Comstock, McBurney and all the outstanding older workers and outstanding employers can be found at www.experienceworks.org.

The Experience Works Prime Time Awards Program is the only national program that each year honors the contribution of working seniors. The program seeks to remove barriers to employment and lessen negative stereotypes about older workers.

Experience Works is a national, nonprofit organization that provides training and employment services for mature workers. Established in 1965 as Green Thumb and renamed Experience Works in 2002, the organization reaches more than 125,000 mature individuals in all 50 states and Puerto Rico each year.

Investment adviser

BANGOR – David Cust recently joined Means Investment Co. in Bangor as an investment adviser and is accepting new clients.

Cust has more than eight years’ experience in the financial services industry and was most recently in management at MBNA, Bank of America, in Belfast.

He has a degree in accounting from Husson College and formerly owned and operated Michael’s Town Cafe restaurant in Hampden. Cust has been a Hampden and Winterport resident for more than 20 years and is originally from the Washington, D.C., area.

Services at Manna

BANGOR – Manna Outpatient Services announced the hiring of David Presutte and Kate Mills as clinical therapists and substance abuse counselors for its new and expanding program.

Presutte holds a master’s degree in clinical counseling education from the University of Maine. He has extensive experience in working with children, adolescents, families and treatment foster care programs. He specializes in working with resistant clients.

Kate Mills earned a master’s degree in clinical social work from the University of Maine. She is exceptionally proficient in identifying and treating the needs of adolescent girls and women. Mills is adept at trauma recovery work for males and females of all ages.

Presutte and Mills welcome single consultations and are available for both short- and long-term counseling. They will begin offering mental health and substance abuse group therapy in November.

Marketing conference

BANGOR – Author David Stone will travel to Bangor to share his insights on preparing and presenting quality proposals. He is the author of 11 books, including “Wired!”

Hosted by the Society for Marketing Professional Services, Stone will speak at the Sea Dog Banquet and Conference Center at 26 Front St.. The event runs 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, lunch included.

Stone will discuss and demonstrate the techniques he uses to help firms win projects around the world. Attendees are invited to bring one or two recent proposals that represent their best efforts.

Stone is a 32-year veteran in the design and construction industry. He has worked closely with hundreds of design and construction firms around the world.

To register for the event, call Julia Eberhart, chapter secretary, 947-0153, or e-mail jeberhart@amesae.com by noon Monday, Nov. 6. The fee is $99 for SMPS members, $125 for non-members.

For information about SMPS Maine, visit www.smpsmaine.org.

Fusion:Bangor sponsorship

BANGOR – Bangor Savings Bank took part in celebrating Fusion:Bangor’s first year with an announcement of the bank’s Founding Sponsorship, a three-year commitment to Fusion:Bangor. The announcement was delivered to a full house of Bangor-area young professionals who gathered for a dinner at the Morgan Hill Event Center in Hermon.

“We are excited and proud to be working with Bangor Savings Bank,” said Cary Weston, chairman of Fusion:Bangor. “Bangor Savings Bank clearly understands and shares our dedication to shaping the future of the Bangor region and creating new opportunities for young professionals.”

Bangor Savings Bank plans to back Fusion:Bangor’s community building mission for multiple years, with a $10,000 sponsorship in its first year. The bank has sponsored similar young professional groups in both the Portland and Lewiston-Auburn areas as well as Maine Development Foundation’s major initiative RealizeMaine, a program designed to make Maine the best place to live, work and thrive for future generations.

“Bangor Savings Bank considers its investment in tomorrow’s leaders a very important strategic initiative,” said Yellow Light Breen, Bangor Savings Bank senior vice president and chief strategic officer. “We are actively supporting the efforts throughout the state that will strengthen Maine’s future leaders and allow young people to remain and prosper right here at home. Fusion:Bangor represents a long-term investment for Bangor Savings Bank, and we are sincere in our efforts to help strengthen opportunities for the Bangor region’s young professionals.”

Fusion:Bangor is a network of young professionals dedicated to serving the Bangor community and creating its next generation of leaders. Bangor Savings Bank has centered on Fusion:Bangor, and similar groups statewide, to help create new opportunities for young professionals and to strengthen communities as a whole.

The evening also featured electronic addresses by Maine Gov. John Baldacci and Portland Mayor James Cohen, and a keynote address from former Maine Gov. Angus King.

Supporting Maine Discovery Museum

BANGOR – Look, up in the sky … it’s a bird, it’s a plane, no …. it’s Maine Discovery Museum’s newest heroes, the large and small businesses that are supporting the children’s museum by becoming business members.

“The colorful donor wall in Maine Discovery Museum’s lobby is proof of the hundreds of businesses, large and small, that contributed to help open the doors in 2001,” said museum marketing director Jennifer Chiarell. “The financial support of the business community is still essential today, to help keep the doors open.”

Business memberships to the children’s museum are affordable and fun, offering a range of benefits to business owners, their employees and customers. Whether your business signs up as a fan, a friend, a hero or a superhero, Chiarell said, you’ll be helping children’s imaginations fly high – and you won’t even need a cape or a spandex suit.

Among the businesses who already have become members are Bangor Federal Credit Union, Bangor Real Estate, Farrington Financial Group, M&G Hipsky Rentals, Oxford Networks, Penobscot County Federal Credit Union, Sea Dog Brewing Co., Sites Realty Corp., The Varney Agency and Webber Oil Co.

For more information about Maine Discovery Museum’s business membership program or other opportunities to support the museum through program and exhibit sponsorships and corporate memberships, e-mail Andrea Stark, executive director, at astark@mainediscoverymuseum.org.