What can individuals do to begin, maintain, and further efforts toward JEDI? How can leaders support individuals on their path toward educating themselves, and finding ways to participate in JEDI efforts?

This is the first in a three-part series of professional development workshops. MDF is honored to host this series. As a current and traditionally all-white organization, we are committed to addressing our own biases as individuals, a team, an organization, and in our work so we can be a true partner in building a just, diverse, equitable, and inclusive Maine economy and culture.

For this first session in the series, we are looking forward to learning along with other participants from our two panelist/facilitators, Ryan Polly, V.P., Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for MaineHealth, and Diana LeBlanc, AVP, Talent & Diversity Specialist, Bangor Savings Bank, who are leading JEDI work within their organizations and in Maine. We hope you’ll join us and register today.

Ryan Polly, Ph.D., is the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for MaineHealth and a Fellow in the ACGME Equity Matters DEI Leadership program. Ryan is a recognized thought leader, educator, and author with over 20 years professional experience in organizational and leadership development, diversity and inclusion, and college-level teaching. Ryan’s personal triumphs in the face of adversity, as both a transgender man and a first-generation college student coming from poverty, have provided him with unique insights into the complexity of the human experience. Ryan draws on these experiences to inspire people to move through challenges and achieve genuine transformation. Modeling vulnerability and perpetual growth, Ryan makes genuine connections with people, sharing stories of failure, resilience, and victory. His contagious passion for positive transformation leaves people feeling empowered to employ tools and techniques in their personal and professional lives for lasting impact. Ryan holds a Ph.D. in Transformative Studies and a master’s degree in Adult Education, and he is an ordained Interfaith/Interspiritual Minister.

Diana LeBlanc, (she/her/hers) is an Assistant Vice President, Talent & Diversity Specialist at Bangor Savings Bank. Diana also serves as the co-chair for the Diversity Hiring Coalition of Maine. Diana’s background includes roles as an HR Generalist in Higher Education where she developed a passion for talent best-practices with DEI at the core of this work. Diana holds a bachelor’s degree in Business and a graduate certificate in Public Administration from Kansas State University, as well as the SHRM Talent Acquisition specialty credential, and the SHRM-CP certification.

Thank you to our sponsors:

The healthcare landscape in Maine and across the nation has undergone dramatic change in the past several decades, and change continues unabated.  Join our panel of healthcare experts and practitioners as we examine the current healthcare ecosystem in Maine, and explore innovative approaches to funding, delivery, and development of a more diversified healthcare workforce. Specifically, we’ll look closely at: 

• Innovations and disruptions occurring in healthcare that will fundamentally change how healthcare is delivered and paid for  
• The current and projected impact of Community Health workers, an emerging peer workforce, on healthcare delivery in Maine 
• Addressing the barriers to work faced by foreign trained health professionals and the role they can play in creating a diverse and culturally competent workforce   

Participants will hear from Judiann Ferretti Smith, Hanley Center; Peter Hayes, Healthcare Purchaser Alliance of Maine; Ben Hummel, Maine Mobile Health Program, and Sally Sutton, New Mainers Resource Center, Portland Adult Education. 

Judiann Ferretti Smith is the Executive Director of the Daniel Hanley Center for Health Leadership, a niche non-profit organization focused on developing the leadership skills of health professionals in Maine and beyond. She joined the Hanley Center in April of 2015 after playing a variety of roles at Spurwink, Maine’s largest non-profit mental health agency, over a period of 18 years. Judiann is very interested in how physician leadership can and will play an important role in shaping health policy that strives to meet the ‘Triple Aim’ while continuing to serve underserved populations challenged by geography, age (elders and children), race or ethnicity.

Peter Hayes is the President & CEO of the Healthcare Purchaser Alliance of Maine and formerly a principal of Healthcare Solutions and Director of Associate Health and Wellness at Hannaford Supermarkets. He has been recognized as a national thought leader in innovative, strategic benefit design for the past 25+ years.

Ben Hummel is the Project Director of the Maine Community Health Worker Initiative, a coalition committed to training, sustainability, and leadership for the Community Health Worker profession in Maine.  Since 2013, Ben has worked at the Maine Mobile Health Program, where he has supervised a team of Community Health Workers in the delivery of mobile health services to migrant and seasonal seafood and farm workers. 

Sally Sutton is the Program Coordinator of the New Mainers Resource Center at Portland Adult Education.  She formerly worked as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine with a focus on health workforce issues and public health, and served as Executive Director of the ACLU of Maine for 18 years. 

This is one of a series of six Innovating for Growth events being offered between March and June 2021.

COVID 19 Considerations:
~ MDF will use the Governor’s guidelines to ensure the safe delivery of our programs. This includes masks, distancing, testing, vaccinations, date changes, virtual sessions if necessary, cancellations, and other strategies as guidance related to COVID19 is adjusted to match pandemic indicators.
~ If you sign up and pay for a session, series or cohort and must withdraw because of COVID19’s impact on you, your family, or your business, you can choose to pay it forward to future programs or request a pro-rated refund for missed programming.

Sponsors:

Participants will hear from Kimberly Moore, Director of the Bureau of Employment Services with Maine Department of Labor; Rosa Redonnett, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success and Credential Attainment with the University of Maine System; Professor Claire Sullivan, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Innovation in Digital Badging and Micro-Credentials with the University of Maine System; Jennifer Chace, Program Director at Education Action Forum of Maine; Dancile Nshimirimana, Licensed Practical Nurse; and Amie Shurman, UMA student and Aflac representative.

Presenters will discuss how Maine is responding to workforce needs through innovation, talent development, and educational opportunities. Kim Moore, co-chair of the Governor’s Grow Local Talent implementation committee, will share the work of the committee and how recommendations from the State’s Ten-Year Strategic Plan and Economic Recovery Plan are moving forward to support Maine’s workforce. Rosa Redonnett and Claire Sullivan will provide an overview of the educational opportunities and innovation available within the University of Maine System’s Micro-Credentials for Professionals and Community Members program. Jennifer will discuss the future of Maine’s workforce, with a particular focus on Maine’s current 4^th graders who will be graduating high school at the end of the ten-year strategic plan. We will also hear from current UMA student, Amie, and recent graduate, Dancile, as they share their education and career stories.

Kimberley Moore is currently the Director of the Bureau of Employment Services with the Maine Department of Labor. Kim has worked extensively on workforce development initiatives in Maine and Virginia, including serving as Project Director for the Greater Portland Workforce Initiative with the United Way of Greater Portland. She is also a Certified Global Career Development Facilitator and serves on the MaineSpark Adult Promise advisory committee.

Rosa Redonnett is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success and Credential Attainment for the University of Maine System. In collaboration with the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, the Associate Vice Chancellor provides System-wide leadership to enhance and promote student success through collaborative efforts within the University of Maine System, with other higher education institutions, and within the preK-20 education community. This position provides system-wide leadership and support on furthering campus efforts specific to adult credential and degree attainment and the development and implementation of a System-wide approach to micro-credentials. She is a member of the core team of MaineSpark, Maine’s statewide attainment initiative, and specifically the Adult Promise (adult degree and credential completion) component of that work, and serves as the UMS representative to the State Workforce Board.

Professor Claire Sullivan, Ph.D., is the University of Maine System’s Assistant Vice Chancellor for Innovation in Digital Badging and Micro-Credentials. She co-chairs the University of Maine System Steering Committee on Micro-Credentialing, which is implementing a Systemwide approach to micro-credential development, and is the lead for a Lumina Foundation-supported statewide “All Learning Counts” initiative which is developing a statewide micro-credential model. Dr. Sullivan is collaborating with Education Design Lab to offer a suite of 21st Century Skills badges to aid learners and employers in the hiring process. She has presented at conferences across the country on digital badging in higher education.

Jennifer Chace currently works as the Program Director at Education Action Forum of Maine and the organizer of an annual international education conference. She is also the co-founder of The Source School, an international team of 24 currently in the u.lab 2x course at the Presencing Institute. Previously, Jennifer worked at Maine Coast Waldorf School for many years, as an educator and art therapist; at Mountain Phoenix Community School in Colorado, as the Director of Education; and at New Amsterdam School in NYC, as the School Director. She first was introduced to systems thinking as a member of the ICL Omega class in 2016-2017. Her B.A (Art) is from Mount Holyoke College and she earned her M.Ed. at Antioch University New England. Jennifer’s passion now is creating conditions for long-term systemic change for equity, connection, and sustainability in the Maine system of education.

Dancile Nshimirimana is a nursing student at the Maine College of Health Professions in Lewiston. She also works as a LPN at Central Maine Medical Center and plans to become a registered nurse and eventually a family nurse practitioner. She started school in Maine after moving here from Burundi in 2015 where she had just completed medical school. Dancile has a seven-year-old daughter. Dancile is motivated and deeply cares about helping patients.

Amie Shurman is currently a student at University of Maine at Augusta studying business management. She plans to become a successful business owner in the Augusta area after graduation. She started school after losing her eleven year position as a retail store manager when her store closed due to the pandemic. Amie is the mother of two toddlers. She recently acquired her license for life and health insurance and started working for Aflac. Amie enjoys hiking and adventures all over Maine with her family. She is a dedicated and motivated individual. The biggest lessons she has learned through the pandemic is to have hope and overcome her fear of asking for help.


This is one of a series of six Innovating for Growth events being offered between March and June 2021.

COVID 19 Considerations:
~ MDF will use the Governor’s guidelines to ensure the safe delivery of our programs. This includes masks, distancing, testing, vaccinations, date changes, virtual sessions if necessary, cancellations, and other strategies as guidance related to COVID19 is adjusted to match pandemic indicators.
~ If you sign up and pay for a session, series or cohort and must withdraw because of COVID19’s impact on you, your family, or your business, you can choose to pay it forward to future programs or request a pro-rated refund for missed programming.

Sponsors:

Join CEO Josh Broder of Tilson Technology and a line-up of speakers who paint the picture of what’s happening in Maine and make the case for innovation.
Ponder (in group break-outs): In 20 years, how will enhanced telecommunication/technology have changed the lives of your customers? Your community? Your organization?

Joshua Broder serves as CEO of Tilson, which under his leadership, has grown from less than 10 employees to over 550, earning a top spot on the Inc. 5000 list for the past ten years. He is also the founder of Tilson’s public utility affiliate, which develops, owns, and leases back 5G infrastructure including poles, towers, dark fiber and neutral host indoor and outdoor wireless networks nationwide. Josh cut his teeth in leadership as an Army Signal Officer on missions in Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia, where he was awarded the Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan designing, building and operating the communications network for US forces. Josh holds a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and is a graduate of AT&T’s Operation Hand Salute at JFK University with a certificate in entrepreneurial studies. Josh is currently serving a gubernatorial appointment as the co-chair of Maine’s economic recovery committee, is on the board of Versant Power, VETRO Fibermap, Kleinschmidt associates, and Skowhegan Savings Bank.

Justin is a kinesiologist and human-computer interaction innovator that leveraged his expertise to create human movement software that accurately informs & empowers clinicians as well as patients to better understand human movement. An accomplished business leader, Hafner has been named to the national 25 under 25 list, Keynote speaker at conference & award ceremonies around the country, he has been internationally recognized around the world for his work in sports, health, and wellness.

This is one of a series of six Innovating for Growth events being offered between March and June 2021.

COVID 19 Considerations:
~ MDF will use the Governor’s guidelines to ensure the safe delivery of our programs. This includes masks, distancing, testing, vaccinations, date changes, virtual sessions if necessary, cancellations, and other strategies as guidance related to COVID19 is adjusted to match pandemic indicators.
~ If you sign up and pay for a session, series or cohort and must withdraw because of COVID19’s impact on you, your family, or your business, you can choose to pay it forward to future programs or request a pro-rated refund for missed programming.

Sponsors:

What are the forces that will enable us to stabilize, diversify, and grow Maine’s agriculture, aquaculture, forest, and other natural resource-based economies & the communities that depend on them? Who are the innovators making this happen?

Participants will hear from Sarah Simon, Maine Farmland Trust; Greg Day, Vertical Harvest; Daniel Stevenson, City of Westbrook; Shane O’Neill, UMaine School of Forestry; Greg Cabral, Original Mass Timber; Jonathan Labaree, Gulf of Maine Research Institute; and Jen Levin, Gulf of Maine Sashimi.

Sarah Simon
Sarah works for Maine Farmland Trust as the Farm Viability and Farmland Access Director. She manages programs that help farmers access land, run profitable businesses and restore and protect the health of their soils. Before beginning in this role last May, she was the director of a community farm and food access organization in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Greg Day
Greg is a management professional in the real estate sector and privatization of public assets, applying more than 30 years of experience.   He has executed a multi-billion transaction volume throughout his career covering a national footprint.   Greg recently co-founded TDB, LLC with his four sons to focus on developing urban farms, housing and municipal infrastructure in a partnership with Vertical Harvest L3C.

Daniel Stevenson
Westbrook native Daniel Stevenson has been the City of Westbrook’s Economic Development Director since 2017. Daniel has worked in the field of economic and community development for more than two decades, both at the state and municipal levels and has extensive knowledge and expertise in public finance and public-private partnerships. As a Maine economic development practitioner, Daniel is intimately familiar with economic and community issues affecting municipalities throughout the State of Maine. Daniel has a long track record of new development and redevelopment accomplishments, coupled with a deep knowledge and understanding of state-level programs and available resources to spur business investment. As Westbrook’s Economic Development Director, Stevenson has cultivated strong working relationships with partnering organizations that share Stevenson’s desire to promote sustainable business development in and around Westbrook. Under his leadership, the City is investing millions of dollars in strategic economic development projects and implementing Maine’s first modern Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) program.

Shane O’Neill
Shane serves as the Forest Industry Business Development Manager, a cross-departmental position focused on coordinating and supporting collaboration across the University of Maine System resources with forest-focused businesses, communities and municipalities in Maine to promote growth and diversification across the state’s circular forest economy and increase rural economic resilience. Prior to this role at UMaine, Shane was involved in industrial research (through Green Bay Decking and Diversiplast), academic research and development (with UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center) and managing two separate technical consulting services business (Compositology LLC and Entwood LLC). Shane completed a B.Sc. in Wood Science from Michigan Technological University, and M.Sc. in Forest Resources and Graduate Certificate in Advanced Engineered Wood Composites from the University of Maine. Currently, Shane is a member of the Maine Mass Timber Commercialization Center, serves on several committees with the Forest Opportunity Roadmap/Maine (FOR/Maine) collaboration, the Finland-Maine Forest Collaboration and the Maine Structural Round Timber Advisory Committee.

Greg Cabral
Greg is the Director of Market Development for Original Mass Timber Maine, a grant-funded market development program administered by the Town of Ashland, ME to build marketes for Structural Round Timber (SRT) derived from Maine’s northern forests. Greg graduated from the University of MA with degrees in Forestry and Building Materials and Wood Technology. He has worked as a Forester for the USDA, the State of CO and MA, and as a Consulting Forester for a private company in NH. His experience also includes work as a Market Development Manager for Weyerhaeuser and as a Business Development Representative for Andersen Windows. 

Jonathan Labaree 
Jonathan oversees GMRI’s Community Department, which supports fishing communities around the Gulf of Maine as they adapt to environmental, economic, and regulatory changes. He has worked extensively with the region’s groundfish fishery during its transition to quota-based sector management. Jonathan came to GMRI in 2009 from Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a state-wide land conservation organization, where he held several positions conserving land and raising funds. Prior to MCHT, he worked for the Quebec-Labrador Foundation’s Atlantic Center for the Environment, running community-level conservation projects throughout New England aimed at increasing public involvement in natural resource management. He also ran a small-grants program for marine research projects in southern New England. Jonathan holds an undergraduate degree in history from Williams College and a masters degree in environmental management from Yale University’s School for the Environment.

Jen Levin
Jen believes that the best businesses are also good for people and the environment. She has dedicated her career to sustainable use of renewable resources, including working on issues related to hunting, trapping, and forestry. Most recently, Jen managed the Sustainable Seafood Program at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute where she developed a passion for the seafood industry in New England and uncovered the untapped potential for high-end seafood from this region. Jen hails from Wisconsin where she earned her B.S. in Wildlife Ecology, and she holds an MBA from the University of Southern Maine.

COVID 19 Considerations:
~ MDF will use the Governor’s guidelines to ensure the safe delivery of our programs. This includes masks, distancing, testing, vaccinations, date changes, virtual sessions if necessary, cancellations, and other strategies as guidance related to COVID19 is adjusted to match pandemic indicators.
~ If you sign up and pay for a session, series or cohort and must withdraw because of COVID19’s impact on you, your family, or your business, you can choose to pay it forward to future programs or request a pro-rated refund for missed programming.

Sponsors:

Featured Speaker:  Dr. Andrew Crawley is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maine and a regional economist.  In 2018, he founded the Maine Regional Economic Forecast Lab that focuses on developing and monitoring new indicators for the state’s economy. In 2020, Dr. Crawley and Angela Hallowell, Economic Analyst, Department of Administrative and Financial Services, State of Maine, jointly published a report that identified Food, Forest Products, Technical Services, and Making and Manufacturing as core themes in Maine’s economy.   

Dr. Crawley will be joined by UMaine’s Renee Kelly, Assistant Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development, and John Belding, Assistant Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Center.  Several business leaders will tell a short story focused on innovation at their company.

Renee Kelly is Assistant Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development for the University of Maine. She identifies opportunities for the University to partner with national, state, regional and local organizations to improve Maine’s economy. In addition, she leads UMaine’s economic development and business innovation programs, including the MIRTA Accelerator and I-Corps program, Foster Center for Innovation, the Innovate for Maine Fellowship program, and incubation programs offered at facilities throughout Maine. Ms. Kelly also leads UMaine’s efforts in the Innovation Engineering Institute, a collaboration to commercialize its curriculum worldwide, and consults with businesses and organizations to help them innovate new products, services, processes and business models. She also serves as a director for The First National Bank and The First, N.A., a publicly-traded company based in Damariscotta, Maine.

John A. Belding, P.E. has been with the Advanced Manufacturing Center since July of 2008. John became a licensed Professional Engineer in December of 2009 and was promoted to Director.  John’s main objectives at AMC are to support economic development in Maine by creating, designing, and building unique solutions for businesses and by making the expertise and services of the AMC more accessible to Maine businesses.  Prior to coming to UMaine, John was a Senior Manufacturing Engineer for an OEM automotive suspension supplier.  He developed numerous advanced manufacturing processes to produce suspension components, including Pneumatic Hydraulic and CNC automation, Robotics, Die casting, Fatigue testing, and 3D CAD design. John is also a certified Six Sigma Greenbelt and has been trained in Process Failure Analysis, Lean Manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing, and Ergonomics.

Learn more about the themes and the people that are shaping Maine’s strategies for growth.

This is one of a series of six Innovating for Growth events being offered between March and June 2021.

Join us for our Innovating for Growth Series:

Be part of helping Maine meet our strategic goals.  Participants will engage in a cross-sector, online learning journey that will increase their knowledge of Maine’s economy, dive deeply into the story behind Maine’s strategic and economic recovery strategies, and focus on applying innovative thinking as a key strategy for recovery and growth.

Participants may become more innovative thinkers by 1) learning about the role of innovation in Maine’s economic growth; 2) hearing personal accounts of innovation at Maine companies; 3) learning the basic process for generating innovative ideas; and 4) practicing this process using Maine industries as case studies. Innovation can take many forms and innovative ideas can arise in surprising places. Participants are encouraged to attend multiple sessions to gain a comprehensive understanding of how to apply innovative thinking.

Goals:

• Develop a shared understanding of Maine’s economy.
• Learn and practice a three step framework for generating innovative ideas.
• Increase the understanding and importance of cross-sector investments in innovation.
• Expand your network to learn from shared experiences, access new information, frame challenges and opportunities, highlight successes, and learn ways to apply innovative thinking.

Participants may sign up for the entire series or pick sessions aligned with areas of interest.

COVID 19 Considerations:
~ MDF will use the Governor’s guidelines to ensure the safe delivery of our programs. This includes masks, distancing, testing, vaccinations, date changes, virtual sessions if necessary, cancellations, and other strategies as guidance related to COVID19 is adjusted to match pandemic indicators.
~ If you sign up and pay for a session, series or cohort and must withdraw because of COVID19’s impact on you, your family, or your business, you can choose to pay it forward to future programs or request a pro-rated refund for missed programming.

Sponsors:

Featured Speaker:  Dr. Todd Gabe will discuss the keys to economic development, where Maine stands according to these important metrics, and how the state can enhance its ability to innovate for economic growth. 

Dr. Gabe is a Professor of Economics at the University of Maine, where he teaches and conducts research on a broad range of topics related to state and local economic development. https://umaine.edu/soe/gabe/  

Michael Ellis is the Associate Director of Market Analytics, Strategy, and Product Development at The Jackson Laboratory where he manages the new technology and new product portfolio for the JAX Mice, Clinical and Research Services group.  In this role, Michael leads the organization in identifying new vectors of development that will benefit the biomedical research community and driving those vectors through research and development to commercialization.

Join us for our Innovating for Growth Series.

Be part of helping Maine meet our strategic goals.  Participants will engage in a cross-sector, online learning journey that will increase their knowledge of Maine’s economy, dive deeply into the story behind Maine’s strategic and economic recovery strategies, and focus on applying innovative thinking as a key strategy for recovery and growth.

Participants may become more innovative thinkers by 1) learning about the role of innovation in Maine’s economic growth; 2) hearing personal accounts of innovation at Maine companies; 3) learning the basic process for generating innovative ideas; and 4) practicing this process using Maine industries as case studies. Innovation can take many forms and innovative ideas can arise in surprising places. Participants are encouraged to attend multiple sessions to gain a comprehensive understanding of how to apply innovative thinking.

Goals:

• Develop a shared understanding of Maine’s economy.
• Learn and practice a three step framework for generating innovative ideas.
• Increase the understanding and importance of cross-sector investments in innovation.
• Expand your network to learn from shared experiences, access new information, frame challenges and opportunities, highlight successes, and learn ways to apply innovative thinking.

Participants may sign up for the entire series or pick sessions aligned with areas of interest.

This is one of a series of six Innovating for Growth events being offered between March and June 2021.

COVID 19 Considerations:
~ MDF will use the Governor’s guidelines to ensure the safe delivery of our programs. This includes masks, distancing, testing, vaccinations, date changes, virtual sessions if necessary, cancellations, and other strategies as guidance related to COVID19 is adjusted to match pandemic indicators.
~ If you sign up and pay for a session, series or cohort and must withdraw because of COVID19’s impact on you, your family, or your business, you can choose to pay it forward to future programs or request a pro-rated refund for missed programming.

Sponsors: