Brunswick Economic Development Corporation
28 Federal Street
Brunswick, Maine 04011

 

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BRUNSWICK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

As of July 30, 2009

            BEDC Officers:

            Steve Weems, President

            Rol Fessenden, Vice President

            Cathy Barter, Treasurer

            David Markovchick, Secretary

 

            Biographies of BEDC Directors:

Debbie Atwood,  Brunswick Town Councilor At-Large. An activist and community organizer, Debbie has been active in both issue and candidate oriented campaigns for many years. Currently Coordinator of the local Meals on Wheels program, Debbie has worked as a computer support professional, as a peace activist and as a non-profit manager. She moved to Brunswick with her two daughters in 2006; her family is from Bath and Georgetown. Phone: (207) 504-1918 Email: dratwood@brunswickme.org

 

Cathy Barter, BEDC Treasurer, Vice President, Private Banking, Key Bank. Has been with Key Bank for twenty-four (24) years, currently covering the Midcoast and Central Regions for Key Private Banking.  Current Board member of the Brunswick Downtown Association (BDA), Curtis Memorial Library, Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber of Commerce, and Care Development of Maine where she is currently the treasurer.  Serves as member of the Brunswick Downtown Master Plan Update Committee. Phone: (207) 729-1710 Email: cathy_a_barter@keybank.com
 

Anna Breinich, Brunswick Director of Planning. Phone: (207) 725-6660

Email: abreinich@brunswickme.org

 

Gary Brown, Brunswick Town Manager. Phone: (207) 725-6659

Email: gbrown@brunswickme.org

  

John S. Eldridge, Brunswick Finance Director. Phone: (207) 725-6652

Email: jeldridge@brunswickme.org

 

Rol Fessenden, BEDC Vice President, Senior Vice-President, Supply Chain Management, LL Bean. Responsible for inventory, vendor management, and product quality.  L. L. Bean's Brunswick Manufacturing operation, employing 200-400 people, reports to Rol.   He is a former member of the Brunswick Planning Board, past president and current board member of the Brunswick International Music Festival, member of the Appalachian Mountain Club board, and serves on several other national boards.  In 1990 he took a sabbatical from Bean to implement a $10 million program for the State of Maine Department of Education in support of Math and Science educational reform.  He is a 33-year resident of Brunswick, and his children grew up here. Phone: (207) 552-2189 Email: rol@fessenden.net

 

John G. Gerard, President, Gerard Commercial Properties. Extensive background in business and real estate development.  Served as an economic development specialist in six Maine counties, President and CEO of the area’s regional chamber of commerce, and past Economic Development Director for the Town of Brunswick. Founding Director and current Board member of the Maine Commercial Association of Realtors (MCAR), Director of the Brunswick Downtown Association (BDA), serving as Chairman of the BDA Community Affairs Committee, and current Director of the Brunswick Development Corporation (BDC), a companion organization to the BEDC. Phone: (207) 721-1188

Email: jgerard@gerardcommercialproperties.com

 

Michael Jones, Economist (PhD. Yale 1979) Michael specializes in international economics.  He has been a Brunswick resident since 1987 and has been affiliated with Bowdoin College throughout his residency:  on the teaching faculty 1987-2004, as a capital gift officer and research associate professor 2004-2008, and most recently as an associate professor of economics emeritus.   His community service includes leadership on the Boards of Directors of the Curtis Memorial Library and the Friends of the Library and volunteer and fundraising work with other local non-profit organizations.    Phone: 207-729-5658

Email: mjones@bowdoin.edu

 

Joanne King, Brunswick Town Councilor At Large. A Maine native who moved to Brunswick in 1980. A graduate of St. Mary's School of Nursing and worked as a Registered Nurse at Parkview Hospital in Brunswick for twenty years. Currently the business manager for Brunswick Taxi, a local business owned with husband Dale King. A mother of five children who has served on the Brunswick Town Council elected at-large since 2003 and as Chair since November 2005. Phone: (207) 729-8806 Email: jtking@brunswickme.org

 

Ed Knox, Historian and retired CIA officer, 26 years in the Science and Technology Directorate, former professor of history of Europe and Middle East at Boston College, currently serving on the board of People Plus.  He was a member of the town’s business park committee for 2 years.  Ed and Claudia moved to Brunswick in 2001.  They have five children and 10 grandchildren in California, Utah and Virginia.  Ed has been educated at Greenville College in Illinois, Harvard University, Michigan State University, and American University in Cairo.  Phone: (207) 721-0141 Email: eknox@suscom-maine.net

 

Judith Long,  Artist and Volunteer. Brunswick resident since 1968. Retired in 2000 from Portland law firm of Norman, Hanson & DeTroy. Employed in management positions in the not-for-profit sector from1963 to 1983; worked as a law firm administrator from 1984 until retirement. She is an incorporator and/or founding member of the Board of Directors for: Riverview Day Care Center (currently Family Focus), Hospice Volunteers in Mid-Coast Maine, United Pejepscot Housing, Inc and Habitat for Humanity / 7 Rivers Maine. She currently is a Cumberland County Master Gardener, a member of the Merrymeeting Adult Education Advisory Committee and one of sixteen participating artists who collectively manage the Points of View Art Gallery in Brunswick. Phone: (207) 725-8920 Email: yomtov@suscom-maine.net

 

David S. Markovchick, BEDC Secretary, Brunswick Director of Economic & Community Development.

Phone (207) 721-0292. Email: dmarkovchick@brunswickme.org

 

William D. Morrell, Vice President, Downeast Energy/Downeast Building Supply. Over 30 years experience in the construction industry. Responsible for designing, permitting and constructing residential neighborhoods as well as small commercial projects. Also responsible for building material operations at Downeast Building Supply. Past services include Board of Directors of Bath-Brunswick Chamber of Commerce (now Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber), Maine Retail Lumber Dealers Association and United Way of Midcoast Maine. Also served on the Brunswick Zoning Ordinance Task Force as well as Brunswick Comprehensive Plan Committee.  Phone: (207) 319-1252 Email: morrellw@downeastenergy.com

 

Douglas Niven, President and Publisher of the Times Record. Raised in Brunswick and graduated from Brunswick High School. A member of Brunswick Rotary, Midcoast Health Services Board of Directors, New England Newspaper Association Board of Governors and past member of numerous nonprofit Boards in the Midcoast region.  Phone: (207) 798-3311 Email: dniven@suscom-maine.net

 

Thomas Rumpf, Associate State Director, The Nature Conservancy, working with NGO partners, and state and federal agencies, oversees negotiations with Maine’s major landowners to accomplish landscape scale conservation projects that preserve Maine’s Quality of Place, while supporting Maine’s natural resource economy. He is project manager for the Moosehead Forest Project, which seeks to permanently conserve over 400,000 acres as a working forest, open to public recreation, in conjunction with a significant recreation and resort development proposal developed by Plum Creek Timber, for it’s lands surrounding Moosehead Lake. Tom is Vice Chair of the Board of the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, which is working in partnership with PPL-Maine, the Penobscot Indian Nation, local communities, and several NGO partners to restore over 1,000 miles of diadramous fish habitat in the Penobscot watershed by removing/bypassing three existing dams, while maintaining hydropower production on the Penobscot system. A licensed Maine Forester, he worked for several years for the Maine Forest Service in policy development and program management, and worked as a group manager for Resource Conservation Services, an innovative Maine-based organics recycling firm, and later for Browning-Ferris Industries when they acquired the company. Tom serves as Chair of the Land for Brunswick’s Future Committee. He formerly served one term on the Freeport Town Council, including a year as Chair. Phone: 207-725-1249 (H) 207-373-5067 (O) Email: trumpf@tnc.org

 

William A. Torrey, Sr. Vice President for Planning & Development and Secretary of the College, Bowdoin College.   A member of Bowdoin’s senior administration since 1988, he has oversight of the College’s fund raising programs, alumni affairs, communications and public affairs, long range planning, the Bowdoin Children’s Center, and he plays an integral role in formulating college relations with the community.  His community service work has included membership on the Maine Street Station Planning & Implementation committees, and membership on the boards of Mid Coast Hospital, Maine State Music Theatre, Portland Stage Company, the United Way of Mid Coast Maine, and the Bath School Board. Phone: (207) 725-3816

 Email: wtorrey@bowdoin.edu   

 

Steve Weems, BEDC President, Managing Director of Polaris AssociatesPolaris provides financial, management, and development services to businesses and nonprofits.  Founder of and Senior Investment Advisor to CEI Capital Management LLC, a subsidiary of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI).  At CEI he closed about $250 million in business financings in low-income communities throughout the northeastern U.S. (2003-2008).  CEI is a nationally-recognized community development corporation with a mission to help create economically and environmentally healthy communities in which all people, especially those with low incomes, can reach their full potential. Extensive prior experience in public, private, and non-profit sectors including senior positions in small business ownership, commercial banking, large-scale project development, economic development, development finance, and environmental protection. Past Town Councilor in Brunswick and current Director of the Brunswick Development Corporation (BDC), a companion organization to the BEDC.  Phone: 207-725-7282 Email: steveweems@ceimaine.org or slweems@gmail.com.

 

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