Hillary A. Rapkin of WEX will chair, Kevin Raye joins Board; company also confers MEMIC Awards for Excellence and $17,500 in Horizon Scholarships
PORTLAND — MEMIC, workers’ compensation specialists, appointed Hilary A. Rapkin the new Board of Directors chairwoman and Kevin Raye a new board member at its annual meeting June 12.
MEMIC also named eight policyholders and a workforce development champion as winners of 2023 MEMIC Awards. In addition, they granted $17,500 in Harvey M. Picker Horizon Scholarships to two college students whose families were financially disrupted by workplace injury or loss of life.
MEMIC, a mutual insurance company, is owned and governed by policyholders. The annual meeting perpetuates board leadership and celebrates best practices among its policyholders.
Board moves
Rapkin joined the board in 2016 and has served on the Compensation Committee and as chairwoman of the Audit Committee. She serves as Chief Legal Officer at the Portland-based payments company WEX, overseeing its global legal, regulatory compliance and government affairs.
“With what seems to be an ever-greater speed of change, I believe Hilary is well suited to lead the board through MEMIC’s many exciting opportunities for growth and efficiency in the coming years,” said Lance Smith, outgoing chairman of the board.
Raye, approved for election by the Board of Directors, is co-owner and chairman of Raye’s Mustard Mill, a fourth-generation business located in Eastport, Maine. In addition, he is a real estate broker with Due East Real Estate. Raye graduated Bates College and served in the offices of Olympia Snowe and as Chief of Staff in Snowe’s U.S. Senate office in Washington. He also served eight years in the Maine Senate, including being unanimously elected to serve as president.
Best practices
Nominated by MEMIC safety consultants, recipients of The MEMIC Award for Excellence in Safety are considered among the best of more than 20,000 MEMIC policyholders at deeply integrating workforce safety into their culture to prevent on-the-job injuries, increase labor productivity, and relentlessly improve work practices at all levels. The 2022 recipients are:
- Sullivan and Merritt Constructors, Inc., of Hermon
- Hollywood Chrysler Plymouth, Inc., of Miami Lakes, Hla.
- Canterbury Woods, of Williamsville, N.Y.
- Merlin Industries, Inc., of Trenton, N.J.
Nominated by MEMIC claim specialists, winners of The MEMIC Award for Excellence in Injury Management are MEMIC-insured employers that exhibit diligence, transparency, and partnership in caring for workers in the event they become injured. The 2022 recipients are:
- Sugarloaf Mountain Corporation, of Carrabassett Valley
- Rick Case Enterprises Inc., of Sunrise, Fla.
- Chevy Chase Club Inc., of Chevy Chase, Md.
- Rome Memorial Hospital, of Rome, N.Y.
The third-ever MEMIC Award for Workforce Partnership went to Claude Rwaganje, founder and executive director of ProsperityME: The Center for Financial Education, a refugee-led nonprofit based in Maine that empowers members of refugee and immigrant communities to build financial stability, careers, businesses, and wealth.
The MEMIC Safety Awards were established in 1994 to celebrate employers who show an outstanding commitment to workforce safety. MEMIC Awards for injury management and workforce partnership were introduced in 2021. Nominees are recommended by policyholders’ Loss Control and Claims representatives, their independent agents, and MEMIC management.
Persistence rewarded
MEMIC’s Harvey Picker Horizon Scholarship Program recipients for 2023 are Andrew Wuerthner of Wells, and Chloe Ruest of Madawaska.
Wuerthner, winner of a $10,000 award, attends The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., where he is poised to graduate in 2024 with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and a minor in Neuroscience. Ruest will use her $7,500 award to enroll at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, Maine, studying early childhood education.
“Andrew and Chloe have overcome major hardship in their lives with a combination of grit, persistence, and hard work,” MEMIC Group President & CEO Michael P. Bourque said. “And while they have been challenged by the circumstances of their lives, the characteristics they’ve developed will serve them well. We are happy to reward their dedication with help from our 22nd round of Horizon Scholarships.”
Founded in 2001, MEMIC created the Harvey Picker Horizon Scholarship Program to boost the educational aspirations of dependents and spouses of workers who died or suffered permanent disability due to a work-related injury. MEMIC has awarded more than $259,000 in scholarships since the program’s inception.
The scholarship is named after former Camden resident Harvey Picker, a renowned physicist, educator, philanthropist, and advocate for education. In 1992, Picker was appointed by then-Gov. John R. McKernan as a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Workers’ Compensation, which led to the formation of MEMIC. Picker also served as a member of the Board of Directors at MEMIC.
