Board of Directors
Jerry McQueeney - Board chair
Jerry is President at Boost Employee Benefits Corporation and has over 20 year's of experience in the industry. After working for industry leaders such as Hub International, UNUM, Sun Life and PMA, Jerry started, grew and sold a Maine employee benefits operation. He has a strong record of service, leadership, innovation, and resourcefulness. His success with local, regional, and national businesses has allowed him to identify market opportunities and ensure resources are available to meet them. Jerry went to the University of Maine, graduating with a degree in Business Administration. Jerry has been active within his community serving on the local School Board as well as coaching multiple sports.
charrisse kaplan - vice Chair
Charrisse Kaplan has experience in business management, communications and community relations. She is the Managing Partner in her family owned commercial real estate business in South Louisiana. An owner/manager of the company since 1995, she is the liaison among the business partners, and the on-site General Manager, accountants, attorneys, and brokers, playing a pivotal role in developing strategies for maintaining the health and viability of over 200,000 square feet of retail space in challenging times for brick and mortar retail stores. She and her family prioritize community needs when making management decisions. Prior to working in the family business, she was a staff member in the United States Senate, working as Press Aide and as Executive Assistant to the Chief of Staff. Charrisse has served as a Board Member of Schoodic Arts for All, a community non-profit in Hancock County dedicated to building community through the arts in Downeast Maine. She also served as Secretary and Board Member of the summer community homeowners association in Hancock County, where she and her husband have owned a home for 23 years. For the past six years, she has mentored women in the Portland area through the McAuley Women’s Residence Program. When Charrisse’s three daughters were in school, she volunteered in numerous capacities, as a classroom volunteer, a Parent Association officer, and a Parent Representative to the Admissions Committee for the Washington International School (WIS). She also fundraised for WIS and Waynflete School in Portland. She served as the student member of the Admissions Committee at Tulane University, where she earned her degree in Communications. Charrisse, her husband and three daughters moved to Portland from Washington, DC in 2008.
David Vickrey - Treasurer
David is the retired Managing Principal of Seabridge Advisors LLC, a corporate finance advisory practice with a focus on educational technology and services. He studied at Boston University, the Universities of Freiburg and Cologne, and earned a PhD at Harvard University where he taught German and was a Teaching Fellow for the History and Literature honors program. David then worked in international finance at Deutsche Bank AG and other global investment banks in Frankfurt and New York. In 1996 he moved his family to Maine and became involved in the launch of SkillSoft, a global online corporate training platform where he was head of mergers & acquisitions. Since 2008 David has served on the board of Friends of Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland where he oversees the funding and curriculum for the “Creek-to-College” program, providing college-level credit courses to incarcerated youth. David also serves on the board of the Portland Center for Restorative Justice.
WENDELANNE AUGUNAS - Secretary
Wendelanne is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor with extensive experience in women and family health, individual/family counseling, clinical supervision and community outreach. She holds a B.A. in English and Education from The University of Montana and a M.S. in Counseling Psychology from Dominican University. Since 1997 she has worked for Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport, Maine. She is the mother of three grown children who live in Brooklyn, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Wendelanne loves to travel, visit family and is an avid gardener.
Jim Butler
Jim Butler has been editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Fly Rod & Reel magazine, vice president of operations for an iconic Maine publisher of magazines and books - Down East Enterprise in Rockport, Maine, and director of human resources for America’s oldest window manufacturer, Mathews Brothers in Belfast, Maine. He’s a 1984 graduate of Stony Brook University, where he earned a BA in history and competed in track and field. He has served on the boards of Literacy Volunteers of Midcoast Maine, including one term as board chair, and the Penobscot Bay YMCA, including one term as board president. Now retired, when he’s not doing chores, he enjoys fly-fishing, cycling, and eating peanut butter directly from the jar. He lives in Rockland with his wife, Michele, and two children.
BARBARA JOHNSON
Originally from South Boston, Massachusetts, Barbara married into a Maine fishing family and resides with her husband and three children on Long Island in Casco Bay. She has served multiple positions with the Town of Long Island including director of the Recreational Department and Tax collector. Barbara is currently the administrator and operations coordinator at the island's two-room schoolhouse focusing on budgeting, grant writing and fund raising among other responsibilities. She is also a certified EMT and serves on the Town's Fire and Rescue Department. Barbara enjoys travelling, cooking and catching tuna on her family's lobster boat.
Greg Marley
Greg Marley has been wandering the forests and shores of Maine since serendipity landed him here in 1980. He lives in Rockland with his wife Valli Geiger, and his adult son Dashiell lives next door. Over the past 45 years, Greg has served his community and paid his bills as a teacher, restaurant professional, mental health crisis clinician, new father mentor, and as an expert in suicide prevention and response after traumatic loss. For the past 20 years, he has worked with schools, community members, and mental health and healthcare professionals to implement education and strategies to prevent suicide. Greg has a parallel professional identity involving the study of, and teaching in, the world of wild mushrooms. For three decades, he has spread the gospel of mushrooms as a teacher, author, forager and a consultant to poison centers across New England.
Lateef o’connor
Lateef O’Connor lives in Hampden, ME, with his wife and their three beautiful daughters. He is a graduate of the University of Maine with a B.S. in Elementary Education. He is currently pursuing his Master's Degree in Adult and Higher Education at the University of Southern Maine. Lateef spent the early part of his career in education and counseling working with youth as a residential staff advisor in a dual diagnosis transition home, a teacher for the Maine Department of Juvenile Corrections, and a Job Program Preparation Manager for Jobs for Maine’s Graduates. For the past 16years, he has worked in Admissions and Recruitment for the University of Maine. He enjoys cheering for UMaine Athletics, the New York Yankees, playing golf, reading, and spending time with his family in his free time.
JESSICA O’ROURKE-SUCHOFF
Jessica O’Rourke-Suchoff is an Attorney Investigator at Aleta Law. Previously, Jessica was an attorney in the Investigations and Resolutions Practice Group at the Portland-based law firm Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer and Nelson, P.A. Her practice focuses on civil rights enforcement, implementation of Title IX policies and procedures at schools and universities, and investigations into claims of sexual misconduct and discrimination. Jessica grew up in Freeport, Maine, and completed her undergraduate education at the University of California, Berkeley. In her lifetime before becoming an attorney, Jessica studied literature, receiving a Ph.D in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. Jessica lives in Alna, Maine, with her wife, daughter, three dogs, and a handful of sheep, goats, and chickens.
ROSE piscuskas
Rose grew up on a farm in midcoast Maine and graduated from Wayfinder Schools in 2015. She holds her B.S. degree in Health Science and Psychology from Lesley University. Since graduating she has explored many paths and is currently working for The Opportunity Alliance in Portland, Maine doing in-home parenting and child development education. She has a special interest in exploring the cultural components to parenting given that she works with primarily recently immigrated families. She lives in a tiny house on wheels with her partner and loves trying new things and learning. She is in the process of pursuing a Masters degree to become a Physician's Assistant.