Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce
50 Elm Street
Waterville, ME 04901
Office: (207) 873-3315
Fax: (207) 877-0087
For General Inquiries:
customerservice@midmainechamber.com
Staff
Kimberly Lindlof
President & CEO
Kimberly@midmainechamber.com
Photo credit Bowdoin Photography
Cindy Stevens
Program Assistant
programs@midmainechamber.com
Patricia Michaud
Office Manager
customerservice@midmainechamber.com
Courtney Squire
Marketing & Development Coordinator
marketing@midmainechamber.com
Board of Directors
Dan Bernier
Chair
dan@bernierlawoffice.com
My family has lived in Waterville for three (3) generations. I want to see the Waterville Area grow, prosper, and be an area with a high quality of life for future generations. Dan is past president of the Waterville Bar Association and a past member of the Maine State Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. Dan is Dedimus Justice, a member of the Waterville Housing Board, and Cubmaster for Cub Scout Pack 436. He practices law in Waterville where he lives with his wife and children.
Joy McKenna
1st Vice Chair
joy.mckenna@mainegeneral.org
Growing up in Bangor, Joy developed a passion for volunteering and participated in a wide variety of activities in school and in the community. Her desire to work in all aspects of community improvement and personal empowerment led her to government. She served as a staff person in the U.S. Congress and for two health care-related nonprofits during her 10 years in Washington, D.C. Joy returned to Maine to join the communications office of Governor Baldacci. Since 2011, Joy has served at MaineGeneral Health, the largest private employer in the Kennebec Valley. She became director of Marketing & Communications in 2014.
Brandi Meisner
2nd Vice Chair
bmeisner@skowhegansavings.com
Brandi, a native of Skowhegan, is a community banker at Skowhegan Savings Bank in Skowhegan, where she specializes in personal and commercial lending. After graduating from Skowhegan High School, Brandi went on to study locally, at Thomas College earning her BS in Business Management and MBA. Brandi serves as Vice-President of Main Street Skowhegan’s Board of Directors and is a member of their Community Engagement committee. Brandi also chairs the Marketing & Membership Committee, Chairs the Annual Awards Ceremony Committee and sits on the Executive Board for Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce.”
Gary Zemrak
Treasurer
gzemrak@johnnyseeds.com
Gary Zemrak is the controller at Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Winslow. Before working at Johnny’s, he worked for the Morning Sentinel/Kennebec Journal for 30 years. Gary holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration with a major in Accounting from the University of Maine, Orono. In the Chamber, Gary is on the Information Services Committee and serves as treasurer on the Executive Board.
Bruce Harrington
Director at Large
Bharrington@mainestatecu.org
Bruce is a commercial loan officer at Maine State Credit Union. Bruce is responsible for commercial lending in the greater Waterville and Augusta Areas. He is board chair, chairs Business to Business Showcase and Business Expansion & Retention Committees, and serves on the Bass Fishing Subcommittee, and Marketing Committee. Bruce earned his undergraduate finance degree and his MBA at the University of Maine in Orono, and is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Business Administration. Bruce was born and raised in Fairfield, where he now lives with his wife, two daughters, and two sons.
Gary Levesque
Past Chair
glevesque@ft.newyorklife.com
Gary Levesque grew up in Jay, Maine and earned his Bachelors L.S. from University of Maine, Orono. He’s a financial service professional with New York Life Insurance Co. and has worked there for 20 years. Gary is a past board member of the Hospice volunteers of Waterville Area, and Past Trustee of Oakland United Baptist Church. He is a Member of Kennebec Valley Elks Club and is a Mason. He’s Past chair of the Mid-Maine Chamber Golf Committee. Gary joined the board to create a better economic environment to attract businesses to the area as well as to help businesses that are already here to prosper and to be able to hire and retain more employees. Gary is married, has two children, and enjoys golfing when he can.
Rick Whalen
gwhalen@investorscapital.com
Rick is part of the Choice Wealth Advisors management team. Rick works with individuals, families and small businesses primarily in the central Maine region. He is a Waterville Elks Lodge member, Maine Association of Realtors Foundation board member and Hospice Volunteers of Waterville Area member. Mr. Whalen resides in Skowhegan, Maine with his longtime companion Deborah Dow and his two stepchildren, Trever and Linsey. He enjoys spending summer weekends with his family at his camp on North Pond located in Mercer, Maine.
Tom Davis
tom@areyoureadytoparty.net
Tom owns Are You Ready to Party??. He attended University of Maine, Orono where he received his Civil Engineering Technology degree. He currently serves on the Inland Hospital Trustee Board, Community Benefit Co-Chair and Governance Committee Chair. He has been involved with the Chamber for close to 25 years in many roles.
Shawn Michaud
smichaud@cunninghamsecurity.com
Shawn is a Sales Representative at Cunningham Security. He currently serves on many boards including, Board of Director for Pen Bay Chamber of Commerce and multiple committees, Member of Waterville Elks, multiple committees Bangor Chamber of Commerce, Member Rock Coast Networkers. He has been involved with the Chamber for over 13 years.
Paul Gendreau
pgendreau@huhtamaki.com
Paul is the HR Manager at Huhtamaki. He is new to the chamber and sits on the Marketing & Membership committee and the Taste committee.
Dr. Richard R. Hopper
president@kvcc.me.edu
Dr. Hopper has 31 years of professional experience in teaching, higher education administration, economics of education, and international development. His formal academic training is in economics (George Washington University), international affairs (Geneva, Switzerland), and education policy (Harvard University). In addition to a 15-year career at the World Bank as a Senior Education Specialist, he has managed US higher education programs abroad, assisted in the establishment of new universities abroad, and advised governments and individual institutions on investments, reforms, and labor market linkages.
Charlie Gaunce
chas@cmautogroup.net
Central Maine Motors Auto Group
54 Years in Automotive Retailing, Central Maine Motors, Inc. Chevrolet-Buick,Central Maine Chrysler- Dodge-Jeep,Central Maine Toyota-Scion
Director and Past Chairman of the Maine Automobile Dealers Association (MADA),Trustee of NADA Workers Compensation Trust,Member, Maine Motor Vehicle Franchise Board, Director of the National Automobile Dealers Association, Member, Waterville Rotary Club having served as Director and Past President, Honorary Trustee, Inland Hospital serving for 47 years as Board Chair, Director and on many committees. Past Chair, Inland Foundation.
Heather MacKenzie Thorne
hthorne@cbplourde.com
Heather is a realtor at Coldwell Banker Plourde Real Estate and has been in the industry since 2011. She grew up in Winslow and still resides there with her husband Nick, son Brayden and Chocolate Lab, Duke. She received her Bachelors in Mental Health and Human Services from the University of Maine, Augusta in 2013. Heather is involved in many civic organizations and serves on many committees and boards including Marketing and Membership committee for Mid-Maine Chamber, KV Connect steering committee, chair for Mid-Maine Chamber’s Coldwell Banker Plourde Real Estate Super Raffle, Kennebec Valley Board of Realtors, and Co-volunteer coordinator for Sukeforth Family Festival of Trees. She is past board member for Central Maine Apartment Owners Association and past member of the National Association of Women’s Gymnastics Judges & USA Gymnastics. She is an active landlord, and in her spare time, she enjoys going on road trips with her husband, hosting dinner parties and spending time in Greenville and the Moosehead Lake Region.
Sara Barry
sbarry@emhs.org
Sara, originally from Seattle, has a BA in Communications from Washington State University. She has been the director of Community Relations at Inland Hospital in Waterville since 2004. Part of her role is to lead community health outreach initiatives and events, including Inland’s popular Family Fun Series, which encourages families with children to be active and eat healthy. Promoting the mission of local educational institutions is important to Sara and it’s why she continues to proudly serve on the planning committee for Kennebec Valley Community College’s annual Gala for Scholarships event. Sara also participates on the Chamber marketing and golf event committees. As a former TV news reporter, Sara enjoys learning new things and writing. In her spare time, she likes to golf, walk and snowshoe the region’s trails, play ping pong, and watch movies. Sara and her husband, Rick, love to travel and are on a mission to play every golf course in the state of Maine.
Jill Huard
jhuard@surette-realestate.com
Originally from Biddeford Maine, Jill now lives in Waterville with her husband. She has 2 daughters, Katie and Lisa, a cat and a dog. She works for Century 21 Surette Real Estate where she has been an associate broker for 12 years. Before that she went to the University of Vermont. She currently is the secretary for the Waterville Lions Club, co-chair for Kennebec Valley Board of Realtors, volunteers her time for Dancing with the Realtors, is on the board for Maine Listings, is on the MAR Legislative Committee and NAR Data Strategies Committee. This is her first time serving on the board for Mid-Maine Chamber and has sat on the Marketing & Membership Committee for 2 years.
William Layton
wclayton@colby.edu
Bill is the director of the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs at Colby College where his team focuses on research administration and developing grant funding partnership with foundations, companies, research labs, and government agencies. He holds a BA and MA from Drew University and an MBA from the University of Navarra IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. Bill has held management positions at Stanford University, Hewlett Packard, Princeton University, and the United Nations Foundation in Washington D.C. where he worked on global collaborations in health and the environment, as well as disaster recovery in hot spots around the world. A resident of downtown Waterville, Bill continues a renovation project of his circa 1850’s home. Bill currently sits on the Board of the Waterville Public Library and is on the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce’s Public Policy committee.
Kelly Doran
kedoran@colby.edu
Kelly is the director of capital projects at Colby College. She has overseen the planning, design and construction of all capital projects for the past nine years. Originally from Germany, Kelly has a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies, Master of Architecture, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She currently sits on the RSU 18 building committee and has been on the board or directors for Kennebec Montessori School. Kelly is married with two children and enjoys traveling, hiking, skiing, and spending time at the lake in the summer. Kelly states “I am excited to work with the Chamber to improve community business member collaboration and growth of the entire greater Waterville region.”
Michelle Joler-Labbe
hr@thomas.edu
Michelle Joler-Labbe, a Waterville native attended University of Maine Farmington with a B.A. in Psychology. She also went to Springfield College where she obtained a master’s in counseling. Currently, she is the chief human resource officer at Thomas College. Michelle presently is a member of Kennebec Valley Human Resource Association. She resides in Vassalboro with husband, daughter and two dogs. In her spare time, she boats, kayaks and spends time at the lake. Michelle is now the chair of Mid-Maine Chamber’s Business Breakfast Series.
Garvan Donegan
Ex-Officio
gdonegan@centralmaine.org
Garvan manages Central Maine Growth Council’s regional economic development initiatives and networks. This includes city planning and policy analysis, regional projects, grants, business expansion/retention, enterprise growth, and entrepreneurial development. Along with these key roles, Garvan administers the growth and development of the City of Waterville’s federal U.S. Foreign Trade Zone program (FTZ 186), a regional effort to cultivate global trade and outreach in the State of Maine. The Maine native earned his B.A. from Eckerd College in Saint Petersburg, FL in 2008, graduating with a double major in Political Science and Environmental Sciences, earned a M.A. (MCPD) in Community Planning and Development from the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine, and holds a Maritime Port Manager (MPM) certificate from the Loeb-Sullivan Graduate School of International Business & Logistics, at Maine Maritime Academy and the International Association of Maritime and Port Executives (IAMPE).