On Tuesday, Jan. 17, Governor LePage announced his nominations for the newest members of the University of Maine Board of Trustees. These nominations included Deputy Attorney General Lisa Marchese and financial advisor Kelly Martin from Fort Kent.
Marchese is a University of Maine graduate and currently serves as the criminal division chief at the Maine Attorney General’s (AG) Office. She is a longtime homicide prosecutor in the state of Maine, has chaired the Domestic Violence Homicide Review Panel and currently serves on the AG’s human trafficking working group. Her continued work with the community has been honored by the Maine State Bar Association and the Maine Child Abuse Action Network.
Included in LePage’s nominations was a chair on the University of Maine at Fort Kent’s Board of Visitors, Prudential agent Kelly Martin. The advisory group she’s involved with works closely with the university president. She served on the board of visitors from 2010 to 2016 and is a longtime member of the town’s budget committee.
LePage renominated former state senator and retired financial executive Karl Turner, who has been serving on the board of trustees since 2011. Turner is an alumni of the University of Maine in Orono.
All three nominations must submit to a public hearing before the Legislature’s Education Committee and receive final confirmation by the Maine Senate.
The board of trustees typically has 16 members, including the commissioner of education and an additional 15 members who are appointed to five-year terms by LePage and approved by the Maine Legislature. Members can be reappointed once. A student member may serve a single two-year term.
According to the Board of Trustees webpage on the University of Maine website, members include Commissioner of Education Robert G. Hasson, who began his term on Dec. 8, 2016; Samuel W. Collins (March 24, 2010- May 26, 2019); Jason E. Coombs (May 12, 2016- April 20, 2018); James O. Donnelly (Sept. 30, 2014- May 26, 2019); James R. Erwin (Sept. 6, 2012- May 26, 2017); Norman L. Fournier (Sept. 26, 2007- May 26, 2017); Mark R. Gardner (Sept. 12, 2012- May 26, 2017); M. Michelle Hood (March 24, 2010- May 26, 2018); Gregory G. Johnson (May 11, 2011- May 26, 2020); Kevin P. McCarthy (April 7, 2009- May 26, 2018); Shawn H. Moody (April 1, 2014-May 26, 2018); and Theresa A. Sutton (May 5, 2016- May 26, 2020).
The University of Maine currently has three representatives from the Orono campus. These include Professor Patti Miles, a lecturer in the Business College, Samuel Borer, an undergraduate student, and Kimberley Miner, a graduate student representative at the university.
