On her first visit to Maine in 1974, Jaimie Logan knew she wanted to live and work here. The former Port Huron, Michigan resident fell in love with the area when she drove to Maine for a vacation with her mother and visited Ocean Point.

Years later, she asked her professors' permission to start her second year of law school a week late so she could keep her commitment to Ocean Point Inn to work beyond Labor Day.

“It was my last summer of law school and I chose Maine over clerking. I was the breakfast hostess at the Inn and would occasionally work as the evening hostess and as a waitress there.”

Since then, Logan’s career has led to her current job as the area’s account executive for the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

Logan graduated from Detroit College of Law in 1984. With Maine still very much on her mind, she opted to take both the Michigan and Maine bar exams, which she passed.

In 1985, she began working for Foster, Meadows and Ballard, a Michigan firm where she became the first female attorney in that state to specialize in admiralty law.

Over the next few years, Logan was recruited by and worked for larger firms. Looking for a wider range of responsibilities, she was eventually drawn to the Michigan Winter Ice Festival.

Working for the festival broadened her experience, tapping her knowledge of law as well as marketing and business operations. “I liked the variety and doing a lot of different things. The business side really appealed to me.”

By 1994, the lure of Maine was undeniable. “What is it you want to do," she asked herself. The answer was “I want to move to Maine.”

Logan let her friends in the area know that she was looking for work.  A few weeks later she learned that the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce was looking for an executive director.  She arrived on Halloween night of that same year after being hired for the job. “It was the best decision I ever made,” she says.

Logan was with the Chamber 16 years, leaving in 2011 to take on broader responsibilities for the state.

As an account executive, she helps businesses at any stage, from start-up through expansion or move in Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, Penobscot and Piscataquis counties.

Her Chamber experience is very valuable and she enjoys being part of a team she said is "oriented to customer service. We’re proactive in connecting with and helping businesses.”

Logan said the work is varied, as are the businesses. And she enjoys getting to drive Maine’s roads.

Her non-work travels have taken the Boothbay Harbor resident to international destinations like China, London and Rio de Janeiro. She married attorney Bill Logan in 2006. Her stepdaughters are Bangor resident Jessie and Olympian Elle, who lives in Seattle. The family travels to see Elle compete around the world.

Logan is enthusiastic about her work with businesses. “It’s exciting when you can make a difference,” she said. Asked to estimate how many businesses she has helped since that decision to move to Maine 23 years ago, she was surprised at the thought. "Wow, I guess it’s probably hundreds and hundreds.”