April 2018 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 5. B D P R. E. T H
HANCOCK – Change is constant in all aspects whether it is the universe or in our lives. In life, changes can be seen, some minor, others extremely dramatic. It is the same in the life of a business as members of that establishment come and go, but when a founder decides it time to go, it is a bit more extreme, but with careful consideration it is hardly a blip on the radar screen. In January, it was learned that Ron
Thomas and his wife Karen of R. E. Thomas, a company that supplies many boatbuilders on the coast of Maine and beyond with their marine hardware, had decided and was in the process of selling the business Ron had start- ed in 1973. In mid-February, the transition took place and Ben Dinsmore of Franklin took over as president of the company and the learning experience began. “I approaching what we knew in our
minds would have to be done at some point,” said Ron. “A little bit of health problems hurried it up even though that really doesn't stop me. So we got thinking it was about time to turn it over to somebody that's got a little bit more energy. We want to do a few things, see a little bit of the country, but mostly just volunteer work. “So we went ahead and listed it, silent-
ly,” continued Ron. “We had a couple of people that looked at it. I made my mind up that I wasn't going to sell it to just anyone. I had one bona fi de, but they didn't have the money and I had another guy that I would not have sold it to. Ben come along and it was just a no-brainer. Come to fi nd out, Karen and I both know his folks, really well, which was just a shock. He is lacking in machinist ability, but he has got a good crew out there and Mike [Newbert] to head it up. He is a sharp, sharp young man and he is going to do just fi ne. I will be available for any stupid things that he needs, you know. He is going to be able, because of his abilities with marketing and everything that I don't possess, he is going to take this business to the next step.” Ben was also looking for a change in his
life. He explained, “I have been shipping in the off shore and gas industry for the last 19 years and had a great run, it was a lot of fun, got to do a lot of amazing things, met a lot of amazing people, but eventually it got to the point where I was looking for some new challenges, something that would give me a little bit more fl exibility in my work life.” One position he looked at was a posi-
tion was Director of the Governor’s Energy Offi ce. He added, “I actually interviewed three times for Director of the Governor’s Energy Offi ce. Never met with the governor, but I met with at the time Director and met the Chief of Staff . It was a very interesting position because Maine just like any other state has energy issues. There is always the challenges what is the best energy to get to the state, what is the most economical way to get it here, and trying to do that without playing favorites and picking winners and losers. I was looking at the job as an oppor- tunity to lead or help lead that discussion between lawmakers and all of the stakehold- ers in getting something meaningful done. Regardless, it always became political. After some conversations with people, and in par- ticular the Chief of Staff and the chief legal counsel, and the existing Energy Director, Patrick Woodcock, it didn't look like it was going to be a very good fi t for me. I think they kind of got a sense of that from me and they ended up going in a diff erent direction.” So Ben continued his search and started
to look at businesses that were for sale. He saw a duck boat tour for sale in Portland and a boat company that built foam infused dinghies. He continued, “I kept coming back to this marine manufacturing company and the listing said Franklin, Maine. My family is from Franklin and I didn't know of any marine manufacturing company in Franklin so I googled it and it wasn't that diffi cult to fi nd that it was R. E. Thomas, which is actually Hancock. I started researching it and just learning more about the company and what they did. Everywhere I went, ev- erybody I talk to, everything I read online was always overwhelmingly positive about the products they produce and the knowl- edge and experience they have in helping people out. I came up to the shop and met with Ron, made a few visits, did some more research and then eventually we came to an agreement on a sale and here I am.” With less than two weeks at the helm
Ben headed to the Maine Fishermen’s Fo- rum at Rockland. He said, “It was a crash course in a lot of things. There was just a lot of administrative things to deal with. Getting a bookkeeping system going, getting a pay- roll system going, getting all of the insurance policies lined up, swapping over phone, cable and internet, and thousands of other things. I was completely overwhelmed. Then to throw the Fishermen's Forum into
The crew of R. E. Thomas Marine Hardware of Hancock. (Left to Right: Founder Ron Thomas; new owner Ben Dinsmore, Ryan Stanhope, Joe Simmons, John Rothenheber, and Mike Newbert, shop foreman.)
the mix was a whole other level. It was very interesting for me because I used to go to the Fishermen's Forum when I was little back in the 80s. My parents always had a timeshare rental at the Samoset every March and it al- ways coincided with the Fishermen's Forum. My dad comes from a maritime background as well, so there with some things that were relevant to him and just like any other kid you were just running around getting free- bies and candy and just enjoying the overall excitement of the show. But going there as a presenter and planning out the equipment that we are going to bring, the displays that we are going to bring and coordinating all of the logistics that goes into that, was a process. Certainly learning the equipment and the products that we manufacture to the degree where I can speak confi dently about
them to existing and potential customers was defi nitely a challenge. I learned more in the last two days of that Show just listening to Ron go through his salesmanship and Mike, our shop foreman, going through his sales- manship. I learned an incredible amount listening to the problems that the fi shermen had with their boat and how our products could address and solve them and make them better and safer and more reliable.” Ben also got to meet many of his cus-
tomers and put a face to the name. He met a number of fi shermen from all over the state, New England and a couple of guys come in from Alaska. He also met a number of the boat builders including Peter Kass of John’s Bay Boat Co. and Stewart Workman from S.
Continued on Page 8.
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