Jonathan Bush brought athenahealth’s operations center to Belfast in 2007. Starting with six employees in a vacant credit card processing building, Jonathan built the Belfast workforce up to 1,000 good-paying careers, and changed the economic landscape of Waldo County.
This is exactly what Jonathan will do all across Maine as Governor.
Here are the numbers to show what happened in Waldo County after athenahealth launched in Belfast:
Economic Boom
- Waldo County’s total inflation-adjusted GDP increased 119%, from 886 million in 2008 to 1.9 billion in 2023.
- Overall, Maine’s inflation-adjusted GDP increased only 29% during the same period.
- Waldo County’s GDP increased at four times the rate of the rest of the state.
Incomes Rose
- Waldo County’s inflation-adjusted Per Capita Personal Income increased 45% from 2008 to 2021.
- Maine’s personal income per capita adjusted to 2021 dollars increased only 27% in the same time period.
- The Per Capita Personal Income increase in Waldo County was 67% higher than Maine overall after athenahealth’s launch.
“Belfast won. athenahealth would open the doors of its new Maine hub in 2007, initially promising to ultimately hire 700 employees. Fast forward to 2018, athena is celebrating its 10th year on the Maine coast. It’s blown past those early hiring estimates, employing 950 people. More will be hired in coming months.”
How one firm helped a Maine city recover from the loss of its biggest employer
Bangor Daily News,
March 15, 2018