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Building the future of connectivity
Hawkeye Fiber Optics is a fiber optics construction company in Poland, Maine. Founded in 2015 by Ryan Hawkes, the business specializes in constructing the infrastructure necessary for modern communication technologies. "Hawkeye Fiber Optics builds the network that powers the internet and all the communication technologies that come along with that. We work with internet service providers, municipalities and private businesses," said Maryanne Hawkes, Hawkeye Fiber Optics’ vice president and general manager.
Before starting Hawkeye, Ryan Hawkes worked in the cable installation side of the communications infrastructure industry and later went into fiber optics. While in the field, he noticed an opportunity. “Almost 10 years ago, it was a time when there was still a lot of cable and coax and copper infrastructure. People were using DSL, and then there was cable broadband, and that was sufficient at the time. As demand for high-speed internet was increasing even then, Ryan foresaw there was going to be a huge demand for fiber to be able to meet the demands in the industry. So, he started working with another local construction contractor. And then, long story short, he began to discover ways that he could do it better and provide a better workplace environment for employees,” Maryanne explained
Like Ryan, Maryanne worked in telecommunications for several years before joining Hawkeye in 2023. “It only took eight years for my husband to be able to convince me to work with him,” she joked about her decision to help lead Hawkeye. “I came on board and started working with him full-time, just in the last year. And the business has grown quite significantly since it began. We started out with one employee and one truck, and it's grown now to a fleet of about 20 trucks, and we have 37 employees now.”
When Ryan started Hawkeye, he established employee-first policies that differed from the industry's status quo, which have benefited both employees and clients. “Ryan was used to working six, sometimes seven days a week. And that's just really hard. There was no work-life balance. So, he came up with a no-on-call policy and a four-day workweek. It’s providing a better experience for our employees. Our business is like a family environment and culture versus the company making demands on people. It's kind of like, ‘You scratch our back, we scratch yours.’ Hawkeye is a more mutually beneficial environment versus the world that Ryan came from, which was highly demanding. You were just a worker bee, and there was no mutual respect. He wanted Hawkeye to be different,” Maryanne said.
When asked how their clients respond to their condensed schedule, Maryanne said, “Most of our clients are very impressed. They work around that because we are very productive. We meet deadlines, and we're able to accomplish what we need to accomplish with a four-day workweek.” She added that Hawkeye focuses mainly on big construction builds, not maintenance. However, when clients reach out about a fiber break during off hours, Hawkeye handles them. “We'll make calls out to our individuals, and we pay them very well to be able to respond when it's after hours,” she said.
Although Hawkeye Fiber Optics is a business-to-business company, Maryanne and Ryan prioritize being involved in their community. “One organization that we sponsor every year is Angel's Wing, and they focus on drug addiction. They're a wonderful organization here locally. We're also really closely connected with the community and the community economic development committee. Whenever there are opportunities to sponsor an event, we try to, even though we don't really market to the public, because we want to be a good community member and steward,” Maryanne explained.
Additionally, the business owner is a select person in her town, where she and Ryan advocated for forming a broadband committee: “Here in Poland, Maine, where we're headquartered—it's ironic, but we don't have fiber, so we want to change that to benefit all the other residents. People are tired of paying a ton of money for mediocre internet. A lot of communities have had success taking the ball into their own court and having more control over their own internet. So, we're trying to do the same thing here in our own town.”
When asked what she and Ryan enjoy about living and working in Maine, Maryanne shared her deep appreciation for the state. “Besides the fact that it's probably one of the most beautiful states, we have a little bit of everything where we have the ocean, we have so many lakes and beautiful natural resources—the woods. And we are big outdoors people, so we love to go four-wheeling and snowmobiling, and we love the seasons. It's also just a really great community. The people here in Maine are just the best people. We love our community; we love the town. We love it here for so many different reasons.”
Looking ahead, Hawkeye Fiber Optics is poised for a busy future driven by increased funding and demand for fiber infrastructure.
For more information about Hawkeye Fiber Optics, check out their BBB profile. To learn more about BBB and read more stories like this, visit Behind the Business Stories with BBB in Eastern MA, ME, RI & VT.
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