Board of Directors

Paul Boghossian is the immediate past Chairman of Concordia Manufacturing, LLC which has parlayed its roots in the textile business into advances in composites, anti-counterfeiting and biomedical end uses. Concordia’s latest and most exciting development is engineered implantable biofelts for knee ligament and other body tissue repair.

He also founded a mutual insurance company that became a part of Beacon Mutual Insurance.

On the development front, Paul Boghossian has been involved with numerous rehab projects with the common theme of creative reuse of older buildings in Rhode Island and Maine.

Most notable is the Hathaway Creative Center in Waterville, a 450,000 square foot mixed use and loft space development that has won numerous awards. Currently underway is Gehring Green, a project in downtown Bethel, ME that combines the practices of historic adaptive reuse, smart growth and green building. Mr. Boghossian was honored in 2010 with Maine’s highest award for historic preservation by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. He also was recently named to the Preservation Advisory Committee of the Maine State Legislature.

A 1976 graduate of Colby College, Mr. Boghossian also holds a MBA from the University of Rhode Island. He sits on the board of numerous companies and organizations. He is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities throughout New England.

Seth "Brad" Bradstreet III

Kevin Bunker is a founding principal of Developers Collaborative (DC), a smart growth real estate development firm located in Portland. Kevin founded DC with Richard Berman after graduating with distinction in 2007 from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design with a Master in Urban Planning degree. A former municipal planner and lobsterman in the Rockland area, Kevin is a principal on all of DC's current projects, from Orono to Biddeford. Kevin brings experience in complex financing models including tax increment financing, use of tax credits, and other public private partnerships. Kevin is also an activist promoting the causes of smart growth and downtowns at the state and local level. Kevin sees great future growth in the area of public or institutional partnerships with the private sector and is responsible for DC's continued expansion into this field. Kevin lives in Brunswick with his wife Amanda and their daughters Alex and Natalie.

Joseph Donnelly is currently a trustee and committee member of a variety of non-profit organizations.  Joey has served schools, colleges, universities and other organizations for over thirty years in a variety of capacities: as a senior administrator, a member of a governing body, and a leader of workshops. His specific interest is in how institutions establish, articulate, and implement their goals and objectives by developing the necessary plans and strategies required for successful implementation.

Joey's current involvements include includes GrowSmart Maine; The Gundalow Company, which he previously Chaired; Vice President of The Peabody Foundation; Co-Chair of the York Harbor Board; and a member of and Maine’s Working Waterfront Coalition. He previously served as Chair of the York County Community College Foundation Board, on the York Comprehensive Planning Committee, the board of United Community Planning Corporation in Boston and their program and evaluation committee.

Judith C. East, AICP is Executive Director for the Washington County Council of Governments.  With 24 years of professional experience at the local, regional and state levels in Maine, New York and Vermont she currently works with communities throughout Washington County on varied issues in land use planning, economic development, adaptation to climate change and public facilities investment.  Judy is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners with a Bachelors Degree in Biology and Economics and a Masters Degree of Science in Planning.  She has a particular interest and expertise working with rural communities as they balance land and resource conservation with economic development.

She lives Calais, ME with her husband Richard and their daughter Alyson.  They operate Growing Concern, a farm and nursery providing locally grown horticultural products and food to the region. 

Fred Heimann has twenty-five years of business experience as executive and consultant to a wide range of companies and industries in the U.S. and abroad in the area of strategic planning, operations management and finance. He recently retired as Vice Chairman of the Maine Angels and as CFO of SenSysnet, Inc. He is a partner at Professional Partners, a Maine based consulting firm specializing in strategy formulation, operations management and financial re-structuring. Fred holds a B.A. from Williams College, a Masters in Architecture from Columbia University, and an Masters in Business Administration from Harvard University. Prior to joining the GrowSmart board, Fred served on the Finance Committee for several years and is also a member of the Board of Directors of NetClarity, Inc. Fred lives in North Yarmouth.

Daniel Hildreth is the board chair of Diversified Communications, a trade media and TV broadcasting company based in Portland.  Before going on GrowSmart Maine's board, he was a member of GrowSmart Maine’s steering committee for the original Charting Maine’s Future (the "Brookings report").  He has also served on the boards of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Maine Audubon, and on the town of Falmouth’s Conservation Commission.  He graduated from Bowdoin College and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Jack Kartez is Professor and Chair in the Community Planning and Development Program of the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Service. A planner who worked for Oregon's statewide program in its early years enforcing LCDC's statewide affordable housing rule, he has also worked as a local government planner in rural Washington State and North Idaho, and for the Wisconsin Secretary of Revenue's innovative policy analysis unit. He and his students have been recently assisting local planning and economic development planners with holding downtown participatory design workshops in several Maine service center cities, an example of the close relationship between practice, service and professional education at Muskie. Jack has a 1976 Masters in Planning from the University of Oregon, a Ph.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill (1990) and a bachelors from Middlebury College (1972).

Jane Bechtel Lafleur is the Executive Director of Friends of Midcoast Maine (FMM), the only regional Smart Growth organization in Maine. FMM served as Project Partner and Jane served as the Project Manager of the Heart & Soul planning project in Damariscotta in collaboration with the Orton Family Foundation and has worked with dozens of communities on community development, values based planning, civic engagement, form based codes, place-making and other community building tools and strategies.  Jane grew up in Lewiston, Maine and has been a city and regional planner since 1981. She has served as Town Planner in Conway, New Hampshire and as City Planner in South Burlington Vermont as well as a private planning consultant. She has worked with the Gateway 1 Planning project since its inception as well as other cutting edge projects in the Midcoast. She graduated from the University of Maine at Orono and received her master's degree in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University.  Jane lives in Camden.

Valerie Landry has served in senior executive positions in both public and nonprofit sectors. She is the founder of Landry & Associates, which specializes in strategic planning, multi-stakeholder projects, public policy, and organizational development. Landry & Associates clients have included health care, disability, technology, housing, humanities, mental health, and government. Prior to this work, Valerie served for eight years as Commissioner of Labor during the administration of Governor Angus S. King. She also was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift to the Massport Commission, which reviewed operations at MassPort, including Logan Airport, after the September 11 terrorist attacks for the purpose of improving the organization's effectiveness, efficiency and credibility. Valerie was appointed by Governor John E. Baldacci to review the needs and issues surrounding the merger of the state's human services and behavioral health agencies. She also has served: as a nonprofit Executive Director for a nationally accredited nonprofit organization providing services to people with disabilities; in municipal government; and, on numerous boards and commissions.

Joe Merrill is the Finance Manager for the Maine and Vermont Chapters of The Nature Conservancy.  He received his BS in Business Administration from the University of Maine in 1988.  He earned his CPA designation while employed by Ernst & Young in Portland, ME.  Prior to joining the Nature Conservancy in 2005, Joe also served as accounting manager for Pioneer Plastics Corporation and Associated Grocers of Maine and as financial analyst in Fleet Bank’s commercial lending department.  Joe lives in Brunswick with his wife Doreen.  In his spare time he enjoys photography, writing, gardening, baseball and bicycling.

Hon. John Piotti is a self-described "community junkie". He chairs the Planning Board and Comprehensive Plan Committee in Unity. He also serves as volunteer Executive Director of Unity Barn Raisers, a local community improvement organization that won the 2003 Noyce Award for Non-Profit Excellence. John is the Executive Director of Maine Farmland Trust. Prior to that, John served as Director of the Maine Farms Project, a program of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), a statewide community development corporation with a national reputation for innovation and effectiveness. John is also a state legislator representing eight towns in western Waldo County. John has served in leadership positions on numerous boards, including time spent as President of the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments and Chair of RTAC 4. He holds three degrees from M.I.T., in engineering, public policy, and management.

Bonita Pothier is a single mother of three children and was born in Biddeford. After graduating from Biddeford High and the University of Maine in Farmington, Bonnie taught for 9 years at Biddeford Junior High. From 1980 until 2010 Bonnie owned and operated several businesses, including a gift shop, hairstyling salon, and multi-family housing.   During those years, Bonnie helped reorganize the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce and Industry and served as its President; she was elected and served as Biddeford's mayor in 1990; she worked as General Manager for I. Zaitlin & Sons, helping to expand that company into Massachusetts; she served as Director of Saco Spirit, one of the original Main Street Maine 'downtown communities’; she opened and managed  the new Key Bank branch in Biddeford;  and was promoted to Key Bank's Key @Work Relationship Manager, overseeing Key's workplace banking program for the state of Maine.  In January of 2013, Bonnie was asked to join the team for newly elected Senator Angus S. King, Jr., presently serving as his Regional Representative for Southern Maine.  Bonnie has been a strong advocate for economic development, having worked on a number of regional economic development initiatives and strategies, including the York County Economic Development Summit, and now continues that effort through her involvement in Mobilize Maine.  Bonnie lives in Biddeford.

Chris Robinson is a Senior Vice President and Private Client Advisor with U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. Based in the Portland office, Chris has over 19 years of combined wealth, credit, and investment management experience.  Chris oversee strategy for client relationships and is also responsible for business development.  He leads a team of experienced professionals who provide objective and thoughtful advice regarding investment management, wealth structuring, trust, credit, and private banking services to high net worth individuals and multigenerational families.  Chris and his team are also active in working with the firm’s Philanthropic Group to provide investment management and administration support to public charities such as hospitals, museums, colleges & universities, animal welfare and social service agencies.    

Chris serves on the Board of Trustees of the Susan L. Curtis Charitable Foundation serving underprivileged Maine children.  He is also a member of the Maine Estate Planning Council, The Nature Conservancy’s Corporate Conservation Council for Maine, and the Kennebunkport Conservation Trusts Capital Campaign Committee.  Chris graduated from Denison University in Granville, OH and lives with his family in Kennebunk.

Matt Teare has spent the last 13 years as the Director of Real Estate Development for John Wasileski and Sea Coast Management – the developer and operator of 3 senior living communities in Maine.  These three communities – OceanView at Falmouth, the Highlands of Topsham and Highland Green – are large, master-planned communities that incorporate many of the essential elements of smart growth.  The physical size of the communities – and the fact that they must be warm, inviting, caring communities at their core – necessitates a lengthy, collaborative development process with all of the various public and private stakeholders.  This painstaking process has resulted in several successful developments and numerous long-term partnerships and collaborations. One of Matt’s current projects is the redevelopment of the former Falmouth Elementary School site (20 acres and 3 school buildings) located in the center of Falmouth. Matt lives in Yarmouth with his wife Tracy and their daughters Ellie, Caitlin and Natalie.

Anna Marie Thron also serves on the boards of Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Portland Stage, and  Maine Public Broadcasting.  She is a former trustee of several nonprofit boards including The Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Maine Community Foundation, and Friends of Casco Bay. Now retired, she was a founder, co-owner, and vice-president of a computer software company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She and her husband John live in Portland and Boothbay.