MUSKIE FUND - Key Persons
Representative Barbara Mikulski has said that "leadership is creating a state of mind in others." Through his quiet and persistent leadership in many different forums, Don Nicoll has opened the minds of Maine's state and court officials and legal services staff to the many ways in which technology can served the cause of justice. The wiring of our public schools and libraries, the proliferation of web-based legal education tools, including interactive family law pleadings (some of which are recognized as national models), and proposals to the Legal Services Corporation to designate Maine as our country's ‘model technology state,' can all be traced to Don's leadership with the Maine telecommunications Partnership Planning Project, the Dirigo Project and a variety of more informal collaborations.
A graduate of Colby College with a Master's in History from Pennsylvania State University, Don Nicoll began his career as a journalist. After serving as staff to the Maine Democratic Party, Don moved to Washington as a top assistant first to Congressman (subsequently Judge) Frank M. Coffin and then to Senator Edmund S. Muskie. After serving as Director and CEO of the Joint Operations Committee of the Land Grant Universities of New England, Don served as coordinator and the Vice President for planning and public affairs at Maine Medical Center. His volunteer activities have impacted on government services, health services, higher education, international relations, and telecommunications. He received the USM Distinguished Service Award in 1998, which reads in part:
Don Nicoll's life has been characterized by a continuing but often obtrusive engagement in our civic life. In both his professional career and through his extensive volunteer activities, Don has made a difference in ways that have had profound effects on our Maine community.
For helping make real his vision of universal access to the justice system via the Internet at public schools, libraries, and courthouses around the state of Maine, and for encouraging others to explore new ways to channel technology's potential to serve the public good, Don Nicoll is the 2000 recipient of the Edmund S. Muskie Access to Justice Award.
Duane D. "Buzz" Fitzgerald is a native of St. John, a small town on the St. John River in northern Maine. He grew up in Bath in a shipbuilding family. He is a graduate of Morse High School in Bath, and holds a degree from Boston University College of Basic Studies, School of Management and School of Law.
After practicing law for twenty-three years and serving as outside counsel for the Company, he accepted a position as General Counsel of Bath Iron Works Company in 1986. Within two years, he had become President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company in 1991. Following its acquisition of BIW in 1995, Buzz was named Corporate Vice President of General Dynamics Corporation. He is currently serving as chairman of Bath Iron Works.
His commitment to the cause of justice has been lifelong. Buzz served as the first chair of the Maine Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Professional Responsibility, the judicial committee which monitors the duties and obligations of lawyers to their clients. In 1989, he agreed to lead the first statewide private fundraising campaign on behalf of a legal services program in Maine, the "Campaign for Justice" for Pine Tree Legal Assistance. His leadership on this effort encouraged over 400 attorneys to contribute to the campaign and established legal services as an appropriate recipient of charitable giving. Last year, the collective private fundraising efforts of Maine's legal services community generated over $125,000 to support direct legal services throughout the state- funding which has become increasingly important as federal and state funding for these programs has been reduced.
Before and since, George Mitchell's career has been a monument to public service. After graduation from Bowdoin College and later Georgetown University law school, he served as executive assistant to Senator Edmund Muskie from 1962-1965. Next followed 12 years of private practice (and a run for the governorship), after which he was named U.S. Attorney for Maine in 1977 and appointed U.S. District Court Judge two years later. In 1980, he was appointed to fill Senator Muskie's U.S. Senate Seat, and won election to that seat in 1982. His involvement in the Iran-Contra proceedings, election as Senate Majority Leader, and role in the enactment of the 1990 Clean Air Act are but three of his many noteworthy accomplishments during fourteen years in the Senate. Since leaving that body, he has served as an esteemed international advisor in many capacities, including as mediator of the multiparty negotiations that culminated in the Northern Ireland peace agreement, as head of a U.S. Olympic Committee investigation of improprieties in the site selection for the 2002 games, and most recently as leader of a committee to examine the current crisis between Israelis and the Palestinians.
In pursuit of his life's quest, George Mitchell has restored our faith in government and our trust in a just system of laws. Tonight, in honor of his statesmanship, his vision, his leadership, and his commitment to improving the lives of the less fortunate, George Mitchell is the 2001 recipient of the Edmund S. Muskie Access to Justice Award.
The honorable Howard H. Dana, Jr. was presented with the Hon. Edmund S. Muskie Access to Justice Award on May 27, 2015.
The distinguished career of Hon. Howard H. Dana, Jr. has always been marked by a strong commitment to the public good, beginning in law school and continuing to the present day. Justice Dana graduated from Bowdoin College in 1962 and received a law degree and Masters in public administration from Cornell in 1966, as well as a Masters in judicial process from the University of Virginia in 1998. Following a clerkship with Judge Edward T. Gignoux, he practiced law at the law firm of Verrill Dana, LLP in Portland from 1967 to 1993, primarily in the field of corporate litigation. In 1993, Governor John R. McKernan appointed him to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court where he served until March of 2007. Following his retirement from the Court, Justice Dana rejoined Verrill & Dana where he continues to serve as ‘Counsel'.
Senator Cohen grew up in Bangor, graduated from Bowdoin College and received his law degree from Boston University School of Law in 1965. Returning to Maine to practice law after graduation, his public service career began in 1968 as an Assistant County Attorney for Penobscot County. After serving as city councilor and mayor for the City of Bangor, he ran successfully for the Second District Congressional seat in 1972. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives until 1978, when he won a seat in the United States Senate. His career in the Senate has included service on the Armed Services and Governmental Affairs committees and the Select Committee on Intelligence. He also serves as chairman of the Special Committee on Aging. Earlier this year, he indicated that he would not seek a fourth term in the U.S. Senate.
His personal commitment to principles of justice was first brought to national attention during his service on the House Judiciary Committee in 1974, during the historic inquiry into the impeachment of President Nixon. In recent years, however, it has been his leadership on legal services issues on the floor of the U.S. Senate which has earned him national recognition. Always supportive of the legal needs of low-income and elderly Mainers, he first stepped into the growing debate about public funding of legal services programs in 1993 when he stopped a popular proposal to limit the kinds of legal claims which poor people could bring with the help of legal service attorneys.
In the past 18 months, the tide of sentiment in Washington has turned ever more strongly against the programs which provide free legal assistance to low-income people. Undaunted, Senator Cohen has continued to speak clearly and forcefully for the public's obligation to insure justice for all its people through funding of the Legal Services Corporation. Despite its unpopularity among many politicians and the relative obscurity of the issue, Senator Cohen has repeatedly taken the Senate floor to insist that legal services programs receive appropriate funding and that they be allowed to continue to function as effectively as possible in their communities. In March of this year, in the face of overwhelming opposition, he successfully sponsored an amendment to the appropriation bill for the Legal Services Corporation which allowed legal services staff to continue to provide some assistance in legislative and administrative forums on the poverty law issues which are their special area of expertise.
Justice Dana has long been a leader in the cause of legal services for the poor. Early in his career, he was an active volunteer with the Cumberland County Legal Aid Clinic; he later helped Pine Tree Legal prevail in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Maine vs. Thiboutot, and has quietly volunteered his legal expertise for countless other low-income Mainers on a pro bono basis. In the 1980s, he helped found two great institutions that have changed the landscape of legal aid delivery in Maine: the Maine Bar Foundation and the Volunteer Lawyers Project. He went onto to serve as a member of the Maine Commission on Legal Needs, which was chaired by Senator Muskie, and then worked to implement recommendations from its 1990 report. In 1995, he helped form the Justice Action Group as a new planning body for access to justice issues in Maine and helped lead that group as its State Court representative until his retirement in 2007.
Justice Dana has also been a champion of legal services on a national level. In 1981, he was appointed by President Reagan to serve as a Director of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), where he championed the cause of funding for legal services until his appointment to the Maine Supreme Court in 1993. He has been active with the national American Bar Association on these issues as well, having served on the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants and the ABA IOLTA commission. In 2010, he received the ABA Grassroots Advocacy Award.
In recognition of his commitment to equal access to justice for all citizens, the Maine Bar Foundation established the Howard H. Dana, Jr. Award, which is presented annually to honor an individual for his or her commitment to the goals of the Foundation. It is worth noting that Senator Muskie received the Howard Dana Award from the Maine Bar Foundation in 1992.
Chief Justice Wathen was born and raised in Easton, Maine. He is a graduate of Easton High School, Ricker College, the University of Maine School of Law, and the University of Virginia School of Law. He was admitted to the Maine Bar in 1965 and began his practice at the law firm of Wathen & Wathen in Augusta, Maine.
In 1977, Governor James Longley appointed Wathen to the Maine Superior Court. In 1981 he was appointed an Associate Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court by Governor Joseph Brennan and served in that capacity until being named Chief Justice. During his tenure as Chief Justice, he led the Court in many initiatives that improved the functioning of the Court system for low-income and self-represented litigants and which strengthened the legal aid providers. These included two statewide forums on the work of Maine's civil legal providers, formation of the Justice Action Group as a planning body for Maine's justice system, and establishment of the Family Division of the Maine Courts to provide better access to self-represented litigants. Chief Justice Wathen reached out to legal aid providers, domestic violence organizations and many other Court users in developing partnerships to strengthen Court services that continue to the present day.
Following his retirement from the bench in 2001, Chief Justice Wathen joined Pierce Atwood where he now spends a substantial portion of his time serving as an arbitrator, mediator, and neutral in complex cases in Maine and around the country. Chief Justice Wathen is also a part-time member of the faculty of the University of Maine at Augusta, teaching undergraduate courses in constitutional law and the judicial process.
He has remained active on behalf of the legal aid community on various Justice Action Group initiatives, as the co-chair of the Coffin Fellowship Advisory Committee, and as a pro bono trainer for legal aid staff.
Wathen is a member of the Maine State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American Judicature Society, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and Maine Bar Foundation. In addition, he currently serves as Court Master by appointment of the Maine Superior Court in class action litigation involving the operation of a state psychiatric hospital and the community mental health system throughout Maine.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Judicial College, a member of the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Advisory Board of the Leadership Institute for Judicial Education, and the Board of Directors of the National Conference of Chief Justices.
Chief Justice Wathen has received honorary degrees from Thomas College, the University of New England and the University of Maine at Augusta. Among the awards he has received in recent years are a Special Service Award from the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Howard Dana Award from the Maine Bar Foundation, Professional of the Year Award from Maine Child Abuse Action Network, leadership award from the Commission on Safety and Health in the Maine Workplace, Distinguished Achievement Award from the University of Southern Maine, and a Distinguished Service Award from Maine Seniors.
Kevin Hancock is both a successful and nationally-recognized business leader and a passionate advocate for many social causes, including access to justice.
His family business is Hancock Lumber, a sixth-generation company that has operated from Casco, Maine, since 1848. A graduate of Lake Region High School and Bowdoin College who began his career as a history teacher, Kevin became the President of Hancock Lumber at the age of 32, following the untimely death of his father. Over the past 19 years, Kevin has introduced innovations in operation and management that have allowed the company to weather very difficult economic times and to become much stronger. Those efforts have led to numerous awards, including the Governor's Award for Business Excellence, the Maine Family Business of the Year Award, and the Maine International Trade Center's ‘Exporter of the Year' award. Hancock Lumber has twice been selected as a ‘Best Places to Work in Maine', both in 2014 and 2015.
Kevin's own journey as a business leader is chronicled in his wonderful book, Not for Sale: Finding Center in the Land of Crazy Horse, which was published in 2015. In it, Kevin recounts the gradual loss of his voice to spasmodic dysphonia in 2010 and how his life changed as a result of his interactions with the people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
As part of his commitment to strengthening the voices of others, Kevin has become one of Maine's strongest champions for the cause of "justice for all" within Maine's business community. A long-time supporter of the Muskie Access to Justice Dinner, Kevin recently served on the Pine Tree Fund cabinet which raised $1.5 million for Pine Tree Legal' s first-ever endowment fund. In 2015, Kevin was honored as Timber Processing's "Man of the Year" for his leadership at Hancock Lumber and his active social participation. Earlier this year, Kevin was profiled by the New York Times in an article entitled "A Lumber Executive Loses His Voice and Finds Balance." In addition to his support for civil legal aid, other causes include Camp Sunshine (a camp in Casco for children with life-threatening illnesses), Habitat for Humanity, and anti-bullying efforts directed at schools in southern Maine.
Kevin is married to Alison and has two daughters, Abby and Sydney.
In 1844, Charles Dickens wrote, "Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door." Portland philanthropist Maddy Corson has done her part to ensure the truth of that saying, providing funding that has served as a catalyst for innovative legal service projects addressing the needs of the rural poor, the elderly, members of Maine's immigrant community, and low-income children. At a time when nonprofit organizations must struggle to translate their work into the jargon of measurable outcomes and discrete units of service to secure grants and contracts, her support has been based on a straightforward recognition of the problem and respect for the organization that seek her help. Channeling her personal generosity into causes that will serve the greater interests of justice in Maine, Maddy Corson exemplifies the way in which an individual can make a difference in her own community.
Her family background encompasses both one of Maine's great publishing legends, Guy Gannett, and those who made their living from the sea as lobstermen. Graduating with a BS in Education from Wheelock College, Maddy taught elementary school in both public and privates school systems before raising a family of four children. Increasingly active in the family business, she was first elected to the board of directors of Guy Gannett in 1981 and became its Chairman in 1994. In 1998, she oversaw the sale of the Gannett family's Maine newspapers to the Seattle Times Co., one of the few remaining independently owned newspaper companies in the country.
Mary Allen Lindemann's B.A. in poetry from Brown University led her first to a career in advertising and marketing in NY, Boston and Seattle where she worked on retail and wholesale clothing accounts in addition to IBM, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' tourism and economic development, Safeway supermarkets and Peek Freans cookies.
Her life changed the day she tried a Caffè Latte while living in Seattle in the late 1980s, before the specialty coffee boom really took hold. Her newfound passion for coffee and a love of New England brought her, and her partner Alan Spear to Portland, Maine, where they founded Coffee By Design in 1994.
Mary Allen's commitment to quality coffee, to building strong relationships with farmers and suppliers, and to giving back to the local and international communities to which Coffee By Design is intimately connected, are reflected daily in the way Coffee By Design does business. With her guidance, the company stays true to its Maine roots and maintains its commitment to giving back to the local and international communities to which Coffee By Design is intimately connected. Part of her job is to make sure the company continues to be a "good corporate citizen" while making social change happen in a unique and meaningful way.
She is involved with the International Women's Coffee Alliance Chapters in Burundi, India, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and in Maine, she is a founding member of Portland Buy Local, Women Standing Together and the First Friday Art Walk. She currently serves on The Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center and Portland Ovations boards and is on the advisory board of Portland Buy Local. She is a past board member of the Downtown Corporation Board, past president of Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility, Portland Buy Local and more. She has contributed to Specialty Coffee Chronicle and Hospitality News and has been a featured speaker at the Brown University's Women's Leadership Conference, Envision Maine's Summit and the Salvation Army Tools for Life Program.
Awards earned include State of Maine Legislative Sentiment for Public Service, the Women Making a Difference Award from the Maine Centers for Women, the Tribute to Women in Industry Award from Maine Women's Fund, an Essential Founders Award from Portland Buy Local and she was named a Southern Region Champion by Women, Work and Community.
Mary Allen considers herself fortunate to have formed a great partnership with Alan Spear and is excited to see the next generation of CBD including seeing her daughter Alina's developing interest in CBD.
She hopes that the work she does on a daily basis at Coffee By Design and in the community both locally and globally makes a difference now and in the years to come. She truly believes you can change the world one cup of coffee at a time.
This I do believe…Each of us has a purposeful task- that our individual roles are all different but each of us has the same obligation to do the best he can…every living person has the right to criticize constructively, the right honestly to hold unpopular beliefs…the right of independent thought…My creed is that public service must be more than doing a job effectively and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation.
All Maine lawyers are expected to "render unpaid public interest legal service of a type and amount reasonable in all the circumstances" as part of their professional responsibilities. For more than thirty years, Bob Hirshon has rendered extraordinary public service as an advocate, cheerleader, and spokesperson for justice concerns. We honor him tonight for his leadership in assuring that lawyers everywhere meet their professional commitment to support access to our legal system by the people least able to afford it, both through pro bono services and through the work of legal aid providers.
Bob is a native of Portland, ME who received his bachelor's degree with distinction from the University of Michigan in 1970 and his Juris Doctor degree from that same institution in 1973. He joined the law firm known today as Drummond Woodsum & MacMahon upon graduation from law school and has spent his entire professional career at that firm developing its Financial Services Group and concentrating his practice on commercial litigation and legislative and regulatory advocacy. Like many lawyers, Bob has used personal time to support local civic and philanthropic needs within his community, but, from the outset, Bob has also committed significant personal effort and energy to address justice concerns and to promote public service by lawyers on a broader basis, especially working within voluntary membership organizations such as the local Cumberland Bar Association, the Maine State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. Bob served as President of the Maine State Bar Association (1986) and the Maine Bar Foundation (1990). On a national level, Bob founded and served as the first chair of the ABA Steering Committee for the Center for Pro Bono (1990-1996), and served as a member and chair of the Standing Committee on Lawyers' Public Service Responsibility (1987-1993). In 2001, Bob was elected President of the American Bar Association, only the second lawyer from Maine to ever serve in that role for an organization founded in 1878 with over 400,000 members. During a year marked by the 9-11 attacks and other challenges to domestic and international laws, Bob's calm forceful voice reminded the public of the important work done by lawyers in times of crisis. His presidency championed pro bono service to the poor, expanded legal assistance to military personnel through the LAMP project, and launched a new initiative to address the barriers posed by student loan debt for law school graduates interested in public service. He has received numerous awards and honors for his many contributions to public service, including the Howard Dana Pro Bono Award from the Maine Bar Foundation, and the W. Reece Smith Jr. Special Service Award from the National Association of Pro Bono Coordinators.
Job Titles:
- Fellow of the American Bar
Roger A. Putnam recently celebrated his 50th Anniversary with Verrill Dana, where he currently serves as the firm's Special Counsel. Roger started his undergraduate degree at the University of New Hampshire in 1942. After service in the United States Army during World War II, he went on to Boston University School of Law. Roger was admitted to the Maine Bar in 1951 and from 1951-1958 served as an Assistant Attorney General of the State of Maine. He joined the law firm of Verrill Dana in 1958, retiring as a senior partner in 1995.
In 1995, major changes in the funding and regulatory climate related to Maine's civil legal aid providers prompted formation of a new ad hoc planning body, the Justice Action Group, whose first chair was Judge Frank M. Coffin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. One of their first areas of concern was the need to preserve capacity to provide legislative and administrative advocacy on behalf of poor people. At the request of JAG Chair Judge Coffin, Roger took a leadership role in supporting that effort. The end result was the formation of a new nonprofit, Maine Equal Justice Partners, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2006 and is widely recognized as on of the country's most effective poverty law organizations. Roger served as its first Board President and remained on the MEJP Board for over 10 years. More recently, his experience and persuasive powers have benefited all the providers through his work with the Campaign for Justice, an annual fundraising appeal began in 2004, which last year raised $400,000 from Maine lawyers in support of legal services.
Roger is a Fellow of the American Bar and Maine State Bar Associations, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Maine Bar Foundation. He is a member of the Cumberland Bar Association and currently serves as Secretary-Treasurer for the Portland Senior Lawyers Association. Additionally, Roger has served as a member of many other organizations, including national, state and local bar associations, the Board of Cleaves Law Library, the Board of Visitors of the University of Maine School of Law, the Campaign Committee for the Lewis V. Vafiades Scholarship Fund for the University, the Maine Executive Committee of the Newcomen Society of the United States and the Maine Judicial Ethics Committee.
Outstanding entrepreneur, civic leader, political advisor, individual advocate for justice. For more than fifty years, Shep Lee has been an active participant in every facet of Maine life. He exemplifies the difference that a single individual can make through hard work and a steadfast commitment to the principles championed by Senator Muskie.
Job Titles:
- President of the Maine Community Foundation
Steve Rowe has had a varied career in the military, business, law, government, and philanthropy.
After graduating from West Point in 1975, Steve was commissioned as an Army Infantry officer. He served six years on active duty. At his final duty station at Fort Bragg, NC, Steve met his future wife, Amanda, a fellow Army officer and pediatric nurse practitioner. They married, left active duty, and moved with Steve's three young children (Angie, Chris, and Rob), to Maine. Both continued to serve in the Army Reserve.
Steve's first Maine job after arriving in Maine was as a marketing manager with Fairchild Semiconductor in South Portland. He next attended the University of Maine School of Law. During his first year of law school, Amanda gave birth to their daughter, Lindsay.
After law school, Steve worked in Unum's legal department, where he helped establish the company's first pro bono legal program.
In 1992 Steve was elected to the Maine House of Representatives. In his fourth term, Steve served as Speaker of the House. Among his proudest accomplishments was establishment of the Fund for a Healthy Maine. This fund captured and invested perpetual annual settlement payments from tobacco product manufacturers to improve the health of Maine people through tobacco prevention, childcare, educational home visits for new parents, substance abuse prevention, and prescription drugs for the elderly and disabled. Steve was also proud of helping create the landmark Maine Rx Program, which allowed the state to offer discounted prescription drugs to the poor and elderly.
In 2000, Steve was elected Maine Attorney General and served in that position for eight years. As Attorney General, Steve represented Maine in the U.S. Supreme Court, successfully defending the Maine Rx program. He also successfully argued a Clean Water Act case in the Supreme Court, standing up for Maine river quality standards and Senator Muskie's environmental legacy. While Attorney General, Steve chaired the Baxter State Park Authority and played an important role in ensuring Katahdin Lake was annexed as a wildlife sanctuary, thus fulfilling Percival Baxter's 1921 vision for the park. Also, while Attorney General, Steve led efforts to authorize Maine courts to order defendants to relinquish firearms in temporary protection from abuse orders, to modernize the stalking statute, and to enhance investigation and prosecution of elder abuse.
Throughout his tenure in Maine government, Steve sought to bring about social, racial, economic, and environmental justice. He not only believed all people should have access to opportunities to realize the full potential of their lives, but he also actively sought to eliminate the barriers to opportunities. He promoted access to quality early care and education, worked to reduce domestic violence and substance misuse, and made schools safer for students through Civil Rights Teams.
After leaving state government, Steve joined the Verrill law firm. Two years later in 2010, he sought the Democrat nomination for Maine Governor. Steve ran for governor, in part, to continue to focus attention and leadership on systemic inequities based on factors such as education, socio-economic background, race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and immigrant status. Steve argued that these inequities limit individual opportunities as well as the state's economic potential.
Following his unsuccessful campaign, Steve was chosen as president of the Endowment for Health, New Hampshire's largest health foundation. The following year Amanda had a recurrence of breast cancer and died. She had been more than Steve's wife and life partner. She had also been his hero.
In 2015, Steve became president of the Maine Community Foundation. He guided the foundation in developing a five-year strategic plan with programs and strategies to address a strong start for children, access to education, racial equity, thriving older people, and growth of entrepreneurship and innovation. He also guided work with the foundation's partners-to broaden support for fighting climate change, conserving land, investing in high-speed internet access, and promoting racial equity.
Steve retired in 2021 to spend more time with his children and grandchildren as well as to devote more time to his artwork. Over the years, Steve has served on several Maine non-profit boards - to include Pine Tree Legal Assistance. In retirement, he continues to volunteer - most recently as a volunteer lawyer for survivors of domestic violence.
Job Titles:
- President and Chief Executive Officer of Maine Medical Center
- Trustee of the American Hospital Association
Vincent S. Conti is president and chief executive officer of Maine Medical Center, the largest hospital in Maine and the flagship of the MaineHealth family of health care services. Vince joined Maine Medical Center in 1997, after a long career in hospital administration at Yale-New Haven Hospital and earlier work in several other healthcare settings in Connecticut and New York. He earned his master's degree from Cornell University Sloan Institute of Hospital Administration, and his bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.
Vince Conti serves as a trustee of the American Hospital Association, the first Maine hospital CEO to hold this position in more than 22 years. He has also served on the board of the Maine Hospital Association and currently serves on its Public Policy Council. Vince was honored with a Distinguished Citizen's Award from the Boy Scouts in 2004.
William J. "Bill" Ryan has rapidly become a leader in the Maine community since becoming President and CEO of Peoples Heritage Bank and Peoples Heritage Financial Group in 1990. Bill serves as a member of Governor King's Maine Task Force on Interstate Banking and Branching. He is a director of numerous corporations and groups, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Maine, Machigonne Inc., Central Maine Power Company, New England Education Loan Marketing Corporation, Maine Chamber and Business Alliance, Maine & Co., Gulf of Maine Aquarium Development Corporation and the Maine Association of Community Banks. Bill is also a trustee of the Portland Museum of Art, a trustee of the Pine Tree Council of the Boy Scouts of America in Maine, the Corporate Advisory Board Chair of the United Way Greater Portland Children's Leadership Council, a member of the Outward Bound Board of Trustees, and a member of the University of Maine Corporate Affiliate Program. Bill is involved in various other local civic and professional activities.