Quincy Hentzel
Chief executive officer of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce. Came to Maine from Illinois twenty years ago and has spent them on workforce, housing, and the barriers that keep people from working.
At the Chamber →
A Radio Maine Live conversation
Thursday, August 20, 2026 · Portland Art Gallery, Portland, Maine
With Quincy Hentzel, Ginny Hussey, Philip Hussey, and Tobias Parkhurst. Hosted by Dr. Lisa Belisle.
An evening of conversation, creativity, and community at the Portland Art Gallery, with four people who have each built something in this state and who agreed to take the question at face value. We talked about growth and the fear of it, about workforce and housing and child care, about what health care costs a small employer, and about the difference between Portland and the Maine that begins a few exits north. Three of the four left Maine and came back. The evening ended where it started, with the next generation, and with what they will need if they are going to choose to stay. The full recording is below.
Recorded in the gallery, and shared here for the people who could not be in the room and for those who were and wanted to hear it again.
Selected reflections from the evening, lightly edited for clarity. Refresh the page for a different selection.
I’m trying to work to build a Maine that anyone can live in who wants to live here. And we’re not there right now. I’ll just be honest.
People are just scared of change. There’s a lot of good that comes from growth.
The stat I read last week was that 64% of Maine households cannot afford a median home, which is about $438,000.
We can have preservation of our natural resources and economic development. Those two things are not mutually exclusive, but we have to be smart about it.
Our best asset is our quality of life and the natural resources. That’s something you can’t recreate.
When I left and went to hospitality school, I knew at the time, Maine doesn’t have what I need in my career to succeed long term.
Many people see Maine as a place to raise their children and have their families. But if you are career driven, where are those opportunities and how do we make those more available?
Portland is like this bubble that just doesn’t burst. It just keeps getting bigger and keeps offering more and more.
Our kids give us a lot of answers as to what they see, what they want. And is it in Maine? Maybe. Is it not there yet? I think we could get there.
Two words come to mind, and that’s authentic and connected. Not trying to be something we’re not, not trying to do things that we don’t need to do, because there’s a lot of things we’re really good at.
A lot of times we get stuck in our own ways up here, and it’s the world stops at the bridge in New Hampshire. It actually doesn’t.
Our average tenure is around 15 years. A third of the workforce has been there 25 years or more. Our challenge is as we look out 10 years, the team’s going to look different.
I hope it’s transformational pieces, not initiatives that nibble at the edges.
I hope my kids live in Maine. I also hope they leave, and I hope they come back.
My parents’ generation went places for jobs and decided if they liked it later. My generation, and certainly my kids’ generation, are going to figure out where they want to live, go there, and figure out what they’re going to do for work later.
We have an economic development model in this state and the country that revolves around people looking for a job and moving to the job. People don’t do that anymore. We need to create a place where people want to live.
The kids want quality of life, good stuff that we would also all appreciate. They want skate parks, they want ball fields, they want breweries, they want cool places to eat and fun places to recreate and good schools.
You’re asking the kids to be you 40 years ago. You should be asking who the kids are and what they want.
Moving back to Maine and buying my first commercial building for $50,000, you can’t do that most places in this world.
But isn’t this Maine? Don’t we all do at least three or four different things?
We want people to flourish. We actually want to be a well care system. We don’t want to be a sick care system.
They wanted a better opportunity than what they came from. And now we are those people for the next generation.
Transformation starts one person at a time.
Each panelist has been a guest on Radio Maine. Watch their episodes.
Looking for more? See all Radio Maine Live events, or visit the Portland Art Gallery events page for what's coming next.
