Seth Goodall of Richmond, Maine has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Maine Center Ventures which includes serving as the Executive Director of the University of Maine System’s Graduate and Professional Center (“The Maine Center”). In these roles, Goodall is responsible for leading The Maine Center and Maine Center Ventures, a tax-exempt nonprofit focused on expanding industry partnerships and ties to the state’s business, civic and legal communities.
The Maine Center is located in Portland’s Old Port and was made possible through a $55 million investment by the Harold Alfond Foundation. The Maine Center provides interdisciplinary, experiential, and market-driven graduate and professional programming across business, law, policy, and engineering to meet the needs of Maine’s employers and future leaders. The building hosts the University of Maine School of Law, MBA and engineering programs and is being expanded to further connect students, entrepreneurs and researchers throughout the state.
Goodall joins the University of Maine System from Santander US in Boston, Massachusetts, where he served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) leading the financial institution’s CSR, sustainability, philanthropy, higher education partnerships, and community impact across the country. At Santander he also led U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) Lending. Prior to Santander, Goodall was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the Regional Administrator for the SBA overseeing operations in New England. Seth was an attorney and served as State Senator and Senate Majority Leader in the Maine Legislature.
“Seth’s leadership, legal and business experience, and community building skills uniquely position him to successfully lead the Maine Center, while also strengthening our leadership team at the University of Maine System,” said Chancellor Dannel Malloy. “He has consistently demonstrated the ability to bring people together to achieve success, whether that be in public service at the state and federal levels, practicing law, or in executive management at a global financial institution.”
“The Maine Center is a transformative graduate and professional education model bringing together multiple disciplines to advance the careers of its graduates and drive economic prosperity statewide through innovation and industry partnerships,” said Seth Goodall. “Anchored in a state-of-the-art building in Portland, the Maine Center will serve as a dynamic and innovative hub for students, researchers, entrepreneurs and industry. I am honored to be working collaboratively with leaders across the University of Maine System and industry to grow the Maine Center.”
Seth holds a J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law, and a M.S. in Plant Science and B.S. in Agronomy from the University of Connecticut.
About the University of Maine System
Established in 1968, the University of Maine System (UMS) unites seven Maine’s distinctive public universities, comprising 10 campuses and numerous centers, in the common purpose of providing quality higher education while delivering on its traditional tripartite mission of teaching, research, and public service.
In 2020 UMS became the first and only statewide enterprise of public higher education in the country to transition to a unified accreditation for the system. Much different than a merger or consolidation, unified accreditation is a new operating model for the University of Maine System that removes the primary barrier to inter-institutional collaboration.
A comprehensive public institution of higher education, UMS serves more than 30,000 students annually and is supported by the efforts of more than 2,000 full-time and part-time faculty, more than 3,000 regular full-time and part-time staff, and a complement of part-time temporary (adjunct) faculty.
Reaching more than 500,000 people annually through educational and cultural offerings, the University of Maine System also benefits from more than two-thirds of its alumni population residing within the state; more than 123,000 individuals.
The System consists of seven main campuses: The University of Maine (UMaine), including its regional campus the University of Maine at Machias (UMaine Machias); the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA); the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF); the University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK), the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI); and the University of Southern Maine (USM). The System also includes a UMA campus in Bangor, USM campuses in Gorham and Lewiston-Auburn, the University of Maine School of Law, and the University of Maine Graduate and Professional Center.