Peter Big View

Cianbro CEO Peter Vigue led local news stories this summer, when his company announced plans for a modular industrial fabrication facility at the former Eastern Fine Paper mill in Brewer. His September announcement, a plan to build a privately financed east-west highway across Maine, made an even bigger splash. Then there are the “Peter Vigue, please run for governor” bumper stickers, which prompted newspaper editorials either encouraging him to run or warning that he can better help the state from the private sector.

Vigue won’t say what his plans are for 2010, though he’s been talking about Maine’s future so much that many think he’s positioning for a run. As he and the headlines indicate, the Pittsfield resident has plenty on his plate right now, between running Maine’s largest construction firm, angling for the east-west highway, and spending time with his family: Son Andi, a former Pittsfield mayor who runs Cianbro’s fabrication and coatings business, lives in town with his two children; and daughter Michelle, a former branch manager of the local Bangor Savings Bank, also has two children and lives close by.

“I’m so fortunate to have them all here,” Vigue says. “It’s a joy. I frequently talk to people who’ve had children that have migrated—not because their kids don’t like it here, but because they felt they had to leave. I’m passionate about trying to change that, and proving to people that we can have economic opportunity in Maine.”

Born in Caribou, Vigue moved to Pittsfield as a child, and found his own economic opportunity, working several jobs at a young age, including a stint as paperboy. In 1970, he was hired as a laborer at Cianbro. (The name is short for the four Cianchette brothers who founded the Pittsfield construction company in 1949.) Two decades later, Vigue had worked his way to the top; he was named president and CEO in 1991.

As Vigue works to diversify the company, he’s also trying to diversify the state’s economy, with projects such as the recently announced Brewer Module Facility.

“It is very clear that he could’ve placed this project anywhere on the East Coast,” says Brewer city manager Steve Bost. “There were other places where it may have been easier, in fact. But he has a vision for this area and this state.”

There’s been a lot of media coverage lately about your vision for Maine’s manufacturing sector, and building and keeping a workforce. Tell me what you’re trying to do, and what you’d like to see happen.

Cianbro works in 15 states, and I have the opportunity to get around this country and even Europe. The real challenge for businesses everywhere is finding skilled and capable workers. We get requests from all over to send people to respond to those needs, because there just aren’t enough truly skilled people.

From my perspective, the workers in our state are not only productive, but they produce a quality product. I see the growth in other states, and whenever I come home, I ask myself, Why not Maine? That’s very disturbing. The people in this state deserve opportunities, are capable of responding to opportunity. They embrace it. We in the private sector need to provide those opportunities by partnering with the government and the educational system. The government can’t do it alone.

In 2002, Cianbro brought two unfinished drill rigs to Portland Harbor for completion. Was that the first big test of your theory on Maine’s workforce?

That’s essentially why we brought those drill rigs back to Maine. We wanted to do it here. And look at the results: We were able to compete with the world’s best shipyards, and were very successful even though we had to transport all those materials from the Gulf of Mexico. They are equal to or better than anything that’s been produced anywhere. That spoke to me, clearly gives me the message: It doesn’t have to be, Why not Maine?

So our workforce can give the state the
edge it needs?

Only if we act quickly. The average age of our industrialized workforce—the electricians, millwrights, pipers—is over 50. If somebody does not grasp this situation and do something, engage these people and maximize their skills over the next 10 or so years, we will lose our competency in that industrial arena. These people are valuable, for the skills they have and the work ethic they bring to a job. If someone does take hold of this opportunity, it will offer the chance to pass on those skills to the next generation, to give them hope and opportunity. Because when this generation is gone, who’s going to take their place? No one, if we don’t act.

What makes these workers so special?

They’re innovative and creative. A lot of them grew up in rural communities where they developed a strong work ethic on the farms, in the woods. They learned at a young age to develop skills that people in more populated areas don’t necessarily have. There’s a hunger here that you don’t see in other places. Around this country, there are now hiring signs everywhere and not enough people to take those jobs. Here, there are a lot of people who just want an opportunity. I grew up in this state, and I started on the low side of the economic spectrum. It doesn’t feel good to be there. It’s painful. There are a lot of people in northern Maine right now feeling the same way. They’re underemployed, but they don’t want to leave this state. They’re the key.

You’ve been quoted as saying the Brewer mill project is “not about” Cianbro, or you, but “about the people of Maine.”

Unless we transition ourselves here in this state and our economy, unless companies reinvent themselves, unless we become more inventive, we’re going to lose opportunities. Tell me what the economic vision and strategy is for Maine. You can’t. Maybe nobody can. But I’m not going to complain about it. I look at the company and the people I work for, and we try to develop a strategy and vision. Hopefully, in this case, that will rub off around the state.

How can the state develop that vision?

It’s a simple solution. You can look at all the studies, all the demographics, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to keep it simple and do it. We need to look 10, 25, 50 years out and figure out where we want to be, then respond. There are enough examples around of visionary approaches—in the Carolinas, in Ireland. It takes government, the business community, and the educational community to be bold, to take some risks. Is it easy? Hell, no. But it’s incumbent upon our leaders to collaborate and get something done. The government will not, and cannot, solve our problems.
That’s a big reason we want to go forward on the east-west highway, because the government can’t do that. It’s a major opportunity for Maine, for the Northeast, and for the Maritimes, but the state and federal government are challenged enough maintaining the roads we have.

When did you start working in construction?

I started at 13, with Thomas DiCenzo in Calais. I worked for them for seven summers. They were building the interstate. I caught the bug for construction there.

What was life like for you growing up?

Let’s say I was economically challenged. My family was. I learned at a very young age that to succeed and survive, I needed a very strong work ethic, and I had multiple economic activities ongoing. I used to do whatever I could do: shoveling driveways, mowing lawns, working as a full-time custodian during the summer, working at a local gas station. I did all kinds of stuff. When I went to Maine Maritime, I would come home weekends and work from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Friday night pumping gas, then the next two days for a doctor, then go back to school. That’s how I put myself through school.

You started at Cianbro as a laborer. How did that experience affect the way you eventually led the company?

I believe that if you’re going to win the hearts and minds of your people, you do it with the way you treat them. In turn, you’ll win their loyalty and their trust. It comes from us first, and then back to us. I understand that people rely on leadership to make the right decisions. I take the position of leadership very seriously. It’s not about me. It’s about them. That’s why our company is focused on issues that are important to employees, providing things they might not get elsewhere, from owning the company to wellness and safety programs.

Cianbro has earned a lot of praise for its wellness program and health benefits. What can other companies learn from all the efforts you’ve made in that area?

Essentially, we’re educating people, getting them to recognize what behaviors place them at risk. We’re giving them the tools and resources to understand that, and to take the necessary actions. This is not something that happens over a short period of time. It’s about changing the culture, creating awareness within an organization. We’ve created an environment where people can measure themselves against critical factors that are important for their health, and we work with them.

You’re often characterized as “enthusiastic,” portrayed as a staunch defender of Maine’s ability to compete in the global economy, and an optimist. What does get you down?

I’m very impatient. I recognize that I don’t have a lot of time, and time is of the essence to our state and its ability to compete. We have a lot of work to do. The longer our economy, and particularly the northern half of the state, slips away through out-migration, where communities and the tax base continue to shrink and we don’t reinvent ourselves, the more and more difficult and challenging it becomes for us to recover. For over 200 years, Maine was a dominant force in the economy fueled by natural resources. In the last 25 years, we’ve shrunk in terms of our prominence. The time is what gets me down, because we must move very, very quickly. If we don’t, it will get progressively worse.

How do you feel about the fact that some people would like to see you run for governor? Could politics be in your future?

First, I’m very humbled by the fact that people believe I could add value and do something like that. It’s a matter of priorities right now. I’m focused on growing this company, making it successful and transitioning it to the next generation. I’m extremely sensitive that we need to serve our communities and our state, so it becomes a matter of where and how can I best serve? I haven’t figured that out yet, and three years is a long way away. So for now, I’ve got to focus on what’s in front of me. It’s day to day.