References
J. Michael Pierce, JD, CFP, President
Allen Insurance and Financial
Camden, Maine
Noëlle L. Merrill, Executive Director
Eastern Area Agency on Aging
Kim Traina
Design and Marketing
Jumpstart Creative
Norm Elvin
China Dine-ah, Owner
Richard M. Anderson
CEO, VillageSoup and Village NetMedia
Robert W. Daigle
President & CEO
Camden National Corporation
Mark Crosby, SPHR
Director of HR, Safety & Risk
Colby College
Carolyn Crosby
Vice President of Human Resources
Camden National Corporation
Ward I. Graffam, Esq.
Anne Szostak
Formerly President of Fleet Bank of Maine
Thomas Lie-Nielsen
President and Owner, Lie-Nielsen Toolworks®
"I first met Laurie when she was Senior Vice President at Camden National Corporation. It was clear that she was a true professional in every sense of the word – from her leadership ability, to her organizational development skills, to the respect she received from her coworkers and peers. It was this professionalism and respect that led us at Allen Insurance and Financial to seek out Laurie’s expertise in assisting our organization.
"In the time since Laurie established her own consulting practice she has helped our firm in many different areas related to human resources and organizational development. Specifically, she has worked on some of our human resource compliance issues, has organized and led our sales team development and business planning efforts, and more recently has run a specific six week program for all of our employees titled The Art of Human Relations. In each case her work has been thoroughly prepared, implemented in a timely fashion, and very well received.
"We have benefitted both as an organization and as individuals from Laurie’s work. I have every confidence that engaging Laurie’s services will improve any organization. You will be very pleased at the value received but more importantly by the positive impact Laurie has on people – just as we have witnessed here at Allen."
J. Michael Pierce, JD, CFP, President
Allen Insurance and Financial
Camden, Maine
"Adding the services of LBouchard & Associates was one of the most brilliant things we have ever done at our agency. When our full-time HR Director left for another position, we decided to evaluate our HR needs. We had recently seen a reduction in staff and routine turnover wasn’t significant. We chose Laurie’s firm because she came with very high recommendations from the for-profit world which included banking and engineering firms. She has brought to us best practices from across the spectrum of business models. We could never afford someone of her caliber as an employee, so now we are in the best of all possible scenarios. She doesn’t waste a minute of her time with us, and our handbooks, job descriptions, employee ratings and many other aspects of our system have been taken to a new level. She has facilitated strategic planning meetings with our board. She provides employee trainings that don’t put our employees to sleep. She brings all of this to us with minimal hours and vast experience. I would recommend her to any organization that she felt she could serve well."
Noëlle L. Merrill, Executive Director
Eastern Area Agency on Aging
"Laurie and I came together when she first formed her business. We worked together creating a logo and marketing ideas to translate her expertise in the corporate arena to her role as a
consultant. I remember she was experiencing some trepidation about going on her own, and thinking, without a doubt she would be (and is) extremely successful! Our relationship has evolved to working together helping clients better position themselves for growth. The qualities I admire most about Laurie are her great listening skills, her positive outlook, and her emphasis on building relationships. I trust her to be direct and honest with her observations and deliver her down-to-earth, practical approach to solutions with a wonderful sense of humor. A true leader, she has the ability to bring people together as a team, drawing out the best in each individual player."
Kim Traina
Design and Marketing
Jumpstart Creative
"Working with Laurie on my new start-up business has been invaluable. Using her extensive human resources and management background, she has worked with us individually and collectively, enabling us to work together as a team to solve problems and pursue continuous improvement. With her help, we have achieved our goal of consistently providing excellent customer service and food that is appreciated by all!"
Norm Elvin
China Dine-ah, Owner
"We are proud to be LBouchard & Associates' first client!
"Laurie's practice began at precisely the correct time for us. We were in the final stages of a major acquisition of a firm nearly four times our size. The deal was structured as an asset purchase, meaning 110 people were going to lose their jobs upon deal closing. Most of these people had more than five years tenure with their company, many had more than ten years and some had more than 25 years.
"We did not have a human resource person, and we needed to develop a plan that treated these 110 people with dignity. We were going to be hiring only 80 of these dedicated employees, integrating them into our existing staff of 30. And to top it off, we had less than two weeks between announcement and closing of the deal to navigate this highly charged terrain!
"Laurie not only designed a plan with appropriate procedures and documents to handle the application, interview and notification process, but also lead us through an orderly transition to a complete benefits program including group health, 401k and paid time off.
"Laurie has deep knowledge of current practices and law and is extremely well organized, efficient and responsive. And, she is a delight to work with. Both management and staff responded with the utmost respect and appreciation for Laurie's efforts.
"We have chosen to continue a relationship with Laurie now that the acquisition is complete, even though we now have an experienced Human Resource professional on staff."
Richard M. Anderson
CEO, VillageSoup and Village NetMedia
"Laurie Bouchard has been known to me, professionally, for nearly 20 years. We worked together at Fleet Bank of Maine until I departed to join Camden National Bank in 1996. In need of an executive to lead the establishment of a formal sales process within our growing company, I recruited Laurie to Camden National in 1999, where she remained and contributed significantly to our success until her recent departure to launch her own business venture.
"Laurie distinguished herself in many ways during her tenure with our company, all made possible by a strong work ethic and a remarkable capacity to generate significant output in expedited fashion. Coupled with her commitment and passion for delivering a quality product in a creative and cost-effective manner, Laurie proved to be a worthy role model for many of Camden National's aspiring leaders.
"Laurie used her human resource background to attract quality individuals to our company, and she had an uncanny ability to motivate members of our workforce to realize, or even exceed, what they envisioned as their potential. Her expertise in Organizational Development, Leadership Development and Employee Development served her, and our enterprise, well during the time she was with us. She was considered a change-agent and effectively taught her colleagues how to embrace change rather than fight it. Her career path at Camden National could easily be pointed to as evidence of how change can be good given the frequency of her new assignments, all with increasing responsibility.
"I am confident that anyone who chooses to retain Laurie for an assignment will find that her varied skills, including leadership, management, facilitation, communication, coaching, teaching and innovation, will lead to positive outcomes for their organization, as it did for Camden National."
Robert W. Daigle
President & CEO
Camden National Corporation
"I have known Laurie Bouchard as one of her direct reports, as a business partner, and currently as a colleague. Laurie is amazingly gifted with the ability to recognize opportunities to improve everything she touches, and is highly productive - she can accomplish more in a day than anyone I have ever worked with (in my professional capacity at five different organizations, including a Fortune 500 company). Any company or organization fortunate enough to engage her for help in Human Resources will be very glad they did."
Mark Crosby, SPHR
Director of HR, Safety & Risk
Colby College
"Thanks for being a wonderful mentor and role model - how you 'do it all' I will never know. I have always been amazed how you can be an executive, a fantastic wife and mother, and also make homemade yeast rolls for dinner! Wow, Wow, Wow!"
Carolyn Crosby
Vice President of Human Resources
Camden National Corporation
"Laurie Bouchard is a remarkable person. Over the past several years, I have been on the Board of Camden National Corporation and the Chairman of its Compensation Committee. During that time I have had the pleasure of working with Laurie and her staff on Camden National's executive and employee compensation programs. She has exhibited a more complete understanding of every element of human resource management than any other person I have worked with in my career.
"In the course of running a 40 person corporate law firm, 9 different businesses and an America's Cup syndicate I have never encountered a more accomplished human resource executive. She not only has a depth of HR experience which would be difficult to match but she also is an outstanding executive with broad management experience as well. She truly understands complex organizations and their unique behavioral characteristics and what it takes to motivate people, keep them on task and help them to be the best they can possibly be at whatever they choose to do with their career.
"Her work ethic is second to none, she has superb follow-up skills and is one of the most productive and efficient people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. As an added bonus, even with her intense desire to accomplish a given objective, she has a great sense of humor and the ability to make work fun for her associates.
"As a former CEO, I have hired hundreds of people for a variety of positions. After you go through the usual process of evaluating a person's qualifications and 'fit' with a particular position there is one last step I always take. That step is a final 'gut' check where I try and determine if the person has 'the right stuff'.
"In my opinion, Laurie certainly has 'the right stuff'!"
Ward I. Graffam, Esq.
"I first came to know Laurie in 1985 when Fleet Financial Group acquired The Merrill Trust Company; Laurie was an Assistant Vice President in Human Resources, and I was Fleet's Human Resources Director. Later, when I was President of Fleet Bank of Maine, I worked even more closely with Laurie, and it was in that role that I came to know her true talents.
"As a Human Resources Professional, Laurie has a broad range of experience, including the areas of employment, employee relations, compensation, benefits, and employee development. She admirably handled any assignment that came her way, and was often given the opportunity to manage large projects, which were completed on time and on budget. With all of the bank consolidation that has taken place, Laurie has gained expertise in mergers and acquisitions, with experience on both sides of the equation. She also has the advantage of having worked in both support and line positions, which allowed her to use her HR knowledge to help the company achieve its business priorities. She was one of our most dedicated and loyal employees, and would quite literally do whatever it took to accomplish the mission at hand.
"The fact that Laurie is using her 25+ years of human resources and banking experience in her own venture is good for business in Maine. Any company that is interested in leveraging their human resources for greater business success will find Laurie to be a great resource."
Anne Szostak
Formerly President of Fleet Bank of Maine
"Our employees are our most important asset, but we are too small to have a full time HR position. Laurie has brought experience and professionalism to our organization. This has helped our managers to make better decisions and do a better job. I'm glad she became available when we needed her.”
Thomas Lie-Nielsen
President and Owner, Lie-Nielsen Toolworks®
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