Featured Speakers and Panelists

	Robert Chambers Bonnie CLAC Robert Chambers is the president and founder of Bonnie CLAC, an award-winning, consumer-focused, nonprofit organization that helps low- and moderate-income consumers purchase affordable, reliable cars and improve their lives through financial literacy counseling. His experience working at an automobile dealership, watching low-income individuals being taken advantage of as they purchased cars, led to the formation of organization. Prior to founding Bonnie CLAC, Robert launched and ran several software and computer services companies in the United States and Canada. He also assisted Dartmouth College in founding their own computer software company. Robert is the recipient of two national awards in Social Entrepreneurship – the Manhattan Institute’s 2007 Social Entrepreneurship Award and the Civic Ventures 2006 Purpose Prize. Since its founding in 2001, Bonnie CLAC, which is headquartered in Lebanon, New Hampshire, has guaranteed over $12 million in loans for more than 1,000 clients, most of whom fall below HUD low-income guidelines.
	Al Brewer GG Direct Alan Brewer is Managing Partner of GG Direct, a direct response marketing agency located in Portland, Maine. He has worked in marketing, advertising and public relations for almost 30 years at leading agencies in Washington, New York and Portland, Maine. His experience has included work for consumer, business-to-business, political and non-profit clients, such as: ACLU, Amnesty International, The Cousteau Society, Habitat for Humanity, Heifer Project International, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C., Heineken Beer, Lipton Teas and Soups, Citibank, Car-X, Bayer Aspirin and Diet Coke. Before joining GG Direct, he was Vice President for Creative Services at Burgess Advertising and one of the Agency's four founding partners in 1986. Before focusing his career in advertising and marketing, Alan worked as a journalist in Maine and Washington, D.C., and then served as press secretary and speechwriter for Senator William S. Cohen.
	Meredith Bove McCabe, Duval + Associates Seasoned business strategist. Media relations guru. Writer. Meredith draws upon broad consulting and communications experience to work marketing magic for MD+A clients. After more than a decade in Washington, D.C., working side by side with high-tech and government clients, Meredith chose to make MD+A her home. Good thing for us and our clients. A self-confessed workhorse, ardent traveler and mother of two young children, Meredith’s high-energy style and strong work ethic help her get it all done.
	Valencia Coar Etcetera Enterprises Valencia Coar is currently Managing Director of Etcetera Enterprises, nfp, a not-for-profit community planning organization and Executive Director of the Community Design Center of Atlanta, Inc., a nonprofit that provides architectural, planning, policy and research services to neighborhoods, universities, and organizations in Atlanta, Georgia. Valencia specializes in planning for the built environment and organizational capacity development, emphasizing improved individual and team performance and productivity. She has helps public and private clients with private and public financings, non-profit organization grants, and real estate development. She has experience in city planning, real estate research/finance, corporate /economic feasibility analysis, public relations, investment banking and mortgage banking. She is also an active non-profit volunteer, serveing on the Board of Directors of Tech High School, an Atlanta charter school that specializes in math, science, and engineering.
	Frank Engert University of Maine Farmington Frank Engert, Ph.D., Professor of Business and Social Enterprise, University of Maine, Farmington, is actively involved in the social sector as an educator and through his work with Maine nonprofits. On the academic side, his research and teaching interests include Social Entrepreneurship as well as Social Sector Leadership; he was also responsible for the development of UMF’s new B.A. program in Social Enterprise. Over the years, many of his students have completed internships and/or service learning with local nonprofits. Frank is also the director of Western Maine CA$H (Creating Assets, Savings and Hope), a coalition of nonprofits in Western Maine (formerly Western Maine Volunteer Income Tax Assistance [VITA] program). He is also active with statewide VITA activities. Frank has also served on the board of directors or as an advisor for several nonprofits.
	June Koegel Volunteers of America Northern New England June Koegel is the President and CEO of Volunteers of America Northern New England, Inc., a regional affiliate of the national Volunteers of America, where she develops and administers human service programs throughout Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. She has been with Volunteers of America for over 22 years and developed the Northern New England affiliate from an initial start up in 1992 to a $10+ million agency with a projected growth in revenue of 20-20% annually. Prior to coming to New England she managed corrections programs in Indiana with jurisdiction over 700 offenders and is active with the International Community Corrections Association, serves on the Community Corrections Committee of the American Correctional Association and is the former Chair of the Maine Criminal Justice Commission.
	Carla Marcus former Executive Director of Winter Kids Carla Marcus is the founder and former Executive Director of WinterKids, a statewide and national nonprofit organization committed to helping kids develop healthy lifestyles by becoming life-long outdoor winter enthusiasts. She presents nationally on the relationship between children’s health and outdoor winter activity, and on nonprofit management. She is a member of: the Governor's Council on Physical Activity, where she serves on the Executive and Finance committees. She is past member and former chair of the Maine Key Advisory Council for Coordinated School Health. She is also a past member of the leadership committee of Let’s Go Healthy Weight Initiative, Maine’s PE4ME, and the National Ski Areas Association Education Committee. Prior to WinterKids, Carla was a ski patroller at Sugarloaf/ USA and founded the Sugarloaf Safety Patrol. Carla retired from her position as the Executive Director of WinterKids at the beginning of 2008.
	Mark Millar Maine Division Director for Casey Family Services Mark L. Millar has been the Maine Division Director for Casey Family Services, the direct service agency of the Anne E. Casey Foundation, since it’s inception in 1986. During the past five years he has been involved in the Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness and Family Economic Success Programs in Maine. Prior to joining Casey, Mark worked for Sweetser Children’s Services in Saco, Maine as a Treatment Supervisor for the therapeutic group home programs. Mark began his career in social work in 1976 as a child protective worker for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. He was also a guest lecturer at the University of New England School of Osteopathic Medicine and the University of Southern Maine School of Social Work on child abuse and neglect. He received a national leadership award from the Jim Casey Youth Opportunity Initiative for his advocacy and support for foster youth transitioning to adulthood.
	Alyson Parham Partec Consulting Group, Inc. Alyson Parham is founder and president of Partec Consulting Group (Partec), Inc. A management consulting and training firm established in 1994, Partec delivers strategy and business development solutions to help clients exceed their competitive challenges. Prior to starting Partec, Alyson worked in various consulting roles for leading employers including Kellogg Community College, Michigan State University and a Chicago-based consulting firm. For more than 24 years, she has provided project management, consulting and training to a range of organizations including faith and community-based organizations, foundations, universities, and government agencies. Key areas of work include providing capacity-building services to small and emerging nonprofits, strategic and business planning, organizational assessments, proposal writing and group facilitation. Some of her clients have included the U.S. Department of Justice, NeighborWorks® America, Chicago Area Project, Kalamazoo Community Foundation, Douglas Community Association and Youth Outreach Services.
	Tom Poulin Auburn Police Department Tom Poulin has been a police officer with the Auburn Police Department since 1985. Currently he is the School Resource Officer at Auburn Middle School, where he leads the Sous Chef Program. This afterschool program teaches marketable skills in culinary arts while encouraging students to develop good study habits and positive peer interactions. The program has been supported with funds by various community agencies, including a mini-Weed & Seed grant. Prior to becoming a police officer, Tom was in the culinary arts, earning a degree from the Culinary Institute and operating his own shop, Bagels and Things.
	Sarah Ruef-Lindquist JD, CTFA, Planning for Good Sarah is Founder and Senior Consultant of Planning for Good, an organization that helps individuals and organizations create sustainability through planned gifts. Prior to launching her own firm, she practiced law for 11 years, then served as Vice President for Southern Maine at the Maine Community Foundation. In 2002, she became Vice President and Sr. Administrative Trust Officer at Union Trust Company. She has worked extensively with nonprofit organizations and donors in the creation, management and administration of endowment funds, charitable trusts, private foundations, pooled income funds, gift annuities and facilitated eight-figure gifts. While not active in the practice of law, is licensed in Maine, New Hampshire and Federal Courts of both jurisdictions. She served as president of the Maine Planned Giving Council in 2006 and 2007 and oversaw the production of the premier 2006/2007 Leave A Legacy ™ Magazine for the council. She is a member of the Iota Class of the Institute for Civic Leadership in Portland.
	Paula Silsby U.S. Attorney, District of Maine Paula Silsby, an Ellsworth native, joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1977 when she was hired as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine. Since then, she has served as Senior Litigation Counsel, Criminal Chief and was court appointed U.S. Attorney in 2001. Prior to that she clerked for Judge Harry Glassman of the Maine Superior Court in Portland. She has been honored with many awards, including the Deborah Morton Society Award, the Buzz Fitzgerald Public Service Award, and the Chief Postal Inspector Award. She currently co-owns Pine Grove Child Development Center, Inc., a Montessori school in Falmouth, Maine, which she co-founded in 1985. She has served as an instructor in trial practice courses at Harvard Law School, the University of Maine School of Law, the Attorney General's Advocacy Institute, and the Maine Trial Lawyers Association. She has served as a director for the University of Maine Law Alumni Association, a member of the University of Maine School of Law Board of Visitors, and, since 2000, has been a campaign cabinet member of the University of Maine School of Law’s capital campaign, “Foundation for the Future,” where she served as chairperson of the Alumni Association campaign effort.
	Keith Small Down East Business Alliance Keith Small, Director of the Down East Business Alliance, developed several Washington Hancock Community Agency programs and has managed 31 Incubator Without Walls business groups consisting of seven regional sites and serving 400 business members. Keith manages an annual division budget of $400,000 and revolving loan programs lending $900,000 to 110 businesses. He was appointed by the Governor to serve on the 2006 Blue Ribbon Commission to examine funding alternatives to the State of Maine’s Dirigo Health System and also received the Small Business Administration 2006 Home-Based Business Champion of the year award. www.downeastbiz.org
	Elizabeth Stefanski Maine Women's Fund Elizabeth Stefanski joined the Maine Women's Fund as its Executive Director in December 2006. Since beginning, Elizabeth has expanded the organization's reach, increased its grantmaking, and introduced network-based collaborative approaches to achieving shared objectives among her constituency. Prior to joining the Maine Women’s Fund, Elizabeth was the Chief Program Officer for GlobalGiving, an online philanthropic marketplace that enables donors to find and fund social entrepreneurs around the world. Elizabeth has also served as the International Director for Ashoka's Citizen Base Initiative, working with social entrepreneurs to diversify their revenue sources and scale their services.
	Laura Quinn idealware As Idealware's Director, Laura directs Idealware's activities provide candid information to help nonprofits choose software. Through research, reports, articles, and training, Idealware allows nonprofits to make smart, informed software decisions. Prior to Idealware, Laura founded Alder Consulting, where she helped nonprofits create internet strategies, select appropriate software, and then build sophisticated websites on a limited budget. She has also selected software and conducted user research for multi-million dollar software and website implementations with such companies as Accenture and iXL. Laura is a frequent speaker and writer on nonprofit technology topics.
	Laura Young Maine Community Foundation Laura serves as Vice President for Advancement and Regional Networks at the Maine Community Foundation. She helps philanthropic individuals and groups give through MaineCF and oversees MaineCF’s Regional and County Program. For ten years prior to joining MaineCF, Laura worked as the Senior Vice President and Senior Campaign Counsel for Demont & Associates providing on-site and periodic capital campaign counsel for nonprofit organizations throughout New England. Laura worked for seven years in Washington, D.C. for Senator George Mitchell and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Laura is a graduate and active volunteer at Bates College.