Posted by Bob Martin

Tom Rainey joined the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development (MCED) as the Director in 2016 as the result of a nationwide search. He has wasted no time in propelling MCED forward as the key resource to Maine’s entrepreneurial community.

Prior to MCED, Tom was President of Rainey & Associates; a consultancy specialized in planning and implementing innovation-based development initiatives. Mr. Rainey brings 25 years of experience in building and managing successful business incubators and accelerators for start-up companies in seven states. Mr. Rainey’s experience in rural business development, international trade, aerospace, defense and life sciences combined with a broad national and international business network provides unique capabilities.

Since 1990, Mr. Rainey has been involved in a number of pioneering Defense Adjustment programs, including the decommissioning of a military port in a rural area of California, launching new export assistance programs through the World Trade Center he managed in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, and serving as Director of Business Development for the Defense Adjustment Program in St. Louis in 1993. In 1998 Mr. Rainey was recruited by the State of Florida and Kennedy Space Center to establish a network of six NASA-funded incubators to assist laid-off aerospace workers in the wake of the Challenger disaster. From 2001-2012 Mr. Rainey developed a biotechnology strategy for New Hampshire; plans for a Health Care Institute for Wisconsin; and award-winning incubators at the University of Vermont, Dartmouth College, Northern Arizona University, and the BioInspire accelerator in Phoenix. Mr. Rainey developed business accelerator plans for the cities of Goodyear and Sierra Vista, two rural communities in Arizona affected by major defense industry downsizing.

Mr. Rainey holds a Master’s Degree in Science and Technology Policy from Lund University, Sweden; a Graduate Degree in Social Sciences, from the University of Stockholm, Sweden; and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.