Trustees

The University of Maine System Board of Trustees consists of 16 members, 15 of which are appointed by the Governor and approved by the Maine Legislature.

The Maine Commissioner of Education serves as a member ex officio. Members are appointed for a five-year-term and may be reappointed once. A student member of the Board is appointed for a singe two-year term.


Pender Makin

Commissioner of Education

Photo of Pender Makin

Across her more than 20-year career, Ms. Makin has devoted herself to the mission of public education. From 1997 to 2003, she served as a classroom teacher at Fred C. Wescott Junior High School in Westbrook. She went on to became principal at The REAL (Regional Education Alternative Learning) School on Mackworth Island in Falmouth, a position she held from 2003 to 2015. As principal at The REAL School which is an alternative and service-based high school for students who have struggled in traditional school settings. Ms. Makin and her team supported high risk students from 28 sending school districts through innovative academic and experiential programming. Since 2015, Makin has served as the Assistant Superintendent of the Brunswick School Department.

Ms. Makin has served on Maine’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Group since 2014. She is also a co-founder of Collaborative for Perpetual Innovation, a professional development, technical assistance and consulting company for educators, school and district leaders and counselors. She has served on a number of legislative work groups and committees seeking to improve educational opportunities for Maine’s students and to promote the work of Maine public schools. She also provides trainings for educators and mental health professionals and speaks at state and national conferences. Ms. Makin was named the 2013-2014 Maine Principal of the Year by the Maine Principal’s Association and has also received the Milken Educator Award, a national distinction bestowed upon educators for exceptional educational talent, exemplary educational accomplishments, and an engaging and inspiring presence that motivates and impacts students. Additionally, she won the MTV Local Hero Award.

Ms. Makin, grew up in Saco, attended local schools, and graduated from Thornton Academy. She worked as a mate and deckhand on her father’s deep-sea fishing charter boat during the summers beginning at age eight. She earned both her B.A. in English Literature and her M.S. in School Leadership from University of Southern Maine and received her teacher certification from the University of New England’s Department of Education in 1996. She lives in Scarborough with her husband, Mike and their two rescue dogs.

Appointment effective: 3/18/19
Appointment expires: ex officio


Barbara R. Alexander

Barbara Alexander

Barbara R. Alexander graduated from the University of Michigan (B.A., Pol.Sci.) in 1968.  After working on the Robert F. Kennedy for President campaigns in Indiana, Oregon, and California, she moved to Washington, D.C. where she joined The Conservation Foundation and was recommended for the nascent Earth Day 1970 staff.  Barbara was the Midwestern Coordinator for the original 1970 Earth Day.  During 1970-1972 she coordinated a national coalition of public interest and union organizations to lobby for a strong Clean Air and Clean Water Acts that were adopted under the leadership of Senator Edmund Muskie.  Following a move to Maine in 1973, Barbara received a J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law in 1976.  Under Governor Joseph Brennan, she was appointed Superintendent of the Maine Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection (1979-1983) and then from 1986-1996 the Director of Consumer Assistance Division, at the Maine Public Utilities Commission.  Since 1996, Barbara has operated her own consulting business as Barbara Alexander Consulting LLC.  Her clients include national and local consumer organizations, state public utility commissions, and state utility public advocates.  Her areas of expertise include consumer protections to accompany the move to retail electric, natural gas, and local telephone competition, service quality performance standards for electric, natural gas, and telecommunications providers, low income program design and implementation, and consumer protections for essential energy and telephone services.  She has testified as an expert witness in over 30 states before state regulatory commissions and authored numerous articles and testimony concerning consumer-oriented policies and programs in public utility regulation journals and conference proceedings.

In addition to her public service in Maine government, Barbara was a founding Board member of the Maine Women’s Lobby and is currently an elected member of the Winthrop Town Council and Secretary of the Winthrop Area Rotary.  Barbara and her husband Donald Alexander have two children and five grandchildren living in Maine and Montana.

Appointment effective: 5/27/22
Appointment expires: 5/26/27


Emily A. Cain

Emily A. Cain

Emily Cain joined EMILY’s List as Executive Director in 2017 with a decade of experience as a Maine state legislator and public policy leader, two cycles as one of the country’s top ranked Democratic congressional candidates, more than a decade of work in higher education and past leadership in a private sector tech company. Emily, who was first elected to office at age 24, made her mark in Maine politics serving in both the House and Senate over five terms in the state house, leading the Appropriations Committee as Chair and serving as the youngest woman House Minority Leader in state history.  In 2012, against all odds, Ms. Cain led House Democrats back into the majority by recruiting top candidates, electing more women, and winning tough seats in Maine’s challenging rural areas. As a leader in the legislature Emily Cain was known as a tough negotiator, deal closer, and champion for women, equality, domestic violence prevention, higher education, and economic development. In 2014 and 2016 Emily ran for U.S. Congress in two of the most competitive house races in the country. Prior to joining EMILY’s List, Emily was the Chief Strategy Officer at HistoryIT, a Maine-based technology company. Emily also worked for Jobs for Maine’s Graduates, and was the Coordinator of Advancement in the UMaine Honors College for more than ten years.

The daughter of a shoe salesman and a sign language interpreter, Emily is the oldest of three sisters and learned at a very young age the value of hard work, family, and education. Emily has lived in Maine most of her life, was born in Kentucky, and spent her childhood years in Illinois and New Jersey.  Emily is a proud graduate of the University of Maine and Harvard University, and is currently working to complete her Ph.D. in Higher Education at the University of Maine. Emily and her husband, Danny Williams, live in Orono, ME with their dog, Bartlet the pug.

Appointment effective: 3/10/2020
Appointment expires: 5/26/26



Lisa Marchese Eames

Board Vice Chair

Lisa Marchese Eames

Lisa Marchese Eames graduated from Bangor High School in 1977. In 1981, she received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of Maine at Orono. In 1986, she received her law degree from UNH Law, formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire. Following graduation, Lisa was hired to work in the Criminal Division of the Maine Attorney General’s office. As a member of the Criminal Division, Lisa taught for many years at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and handled extradition cases for several Governors. She has prosecuted all types of criminal cases from OUI to welfare fraud to sexual assault to murder. For several years, Lisa served as the State’s first Statewide Drug Coordinator for drug prosecution matters. In 1997, Lisa became one of four statewide homicide prosecutors in the State. In that capacity, she has handled over 100 cases involving murder or manslaughter charges. A substantial number of those cases have been complicated jury trials involving technical forensic evidence such as DNA, ballistics, fingerprints, pathology and state of mind.

Lisa has chaired the Domestic Violence Homicide Review panel for the past decade. This legislatively mandated panel examines all domestic violence related homicides in search of ways to reduce the number of people who die as a result of domestic abuse. Lisa has also served on the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking working group and as the Attorney General’s designee on the Rules of Evidence Advisory Committee. In 2001, The Maine Child Abuse Action Network awarded Lisa the Professional of the Year Award. In May of 2007, Port City Life, a Maine magazine ran an article entitled “At Home with Homicide”. In 2010, Lisa was awarded the prestigious Caroline Duby Glassman Award by the Women’s Law Section of the Maine State Bar Association. In 2014, Lisa was promoted to Deputy Attorney General, Chief of the Criminal Division.Lisa is married to Jon Eames and they reside in Cumberland. They have 3 adult sons.

Appointment effective: 2/21/17
Appointment expires: 5/26/25


Patrick S.A. Flood

 Patrick S.A. Flood

Pat Flood grew up on a farm in Chatham, New York. He was then in the first graduating class of the new Columbia Greene Community College in 1971.  After graduating, he married his best friend Marjorie and they moved to Syracuse, New York where he completed his BS degrees in Natural Resources Management from Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.  He began a career in Forestry in 1974 with International Paper in New York’s Adirondack Park. In 1987, Pat and Marge and their children Bria and Ben moved to Winthrop, Maine. He continued his career there and held more progressively challenging positions across the Northeast, and retired in 2004 as the Operations Manager for the Northern Region of International Paper’s Forest Resources Division. He served on the Winthrop YMCA Board of Directors and was a volunteer coach for the Winthrop Middle School track and field program.

In 2004, he was elected to the Maine State House of Representatives and was re-elected several more times, where he served most of his years as a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs, co-chairing the committee in his final term. He was elected to the Maine State Senate in 2012 and continued serving on the Appropriations Committee.  In addition to the budget-writing duties of the Appropriations Committee, he focused his efforts on passing bills for improvements to water quality and conservation.  He also sponsored and passed legislation to assist persons with developmental disabilities.  He received leadership awards from the Maine Association of Community Service Providers, Autism Society of Maine, Maine Developmental Disabilities Council, Maine Forest Products Council, New England Water Works Association, Maine League of Conservation Voters, and the Kennebec Chamber of Commerce.  He was named a Distinguished Maine Policy Fellow from the Margaret Chase Smith Center in 2011. Pat served on the Boards of Kennebec Behavioral Health, the Domestic Violence Project, and the University of Maine at Augusta Board of Visitors.  He retired again in 2014.

Appointment effective: 5/27/22
Appointment expires: 5/26/27


Roger J. Katz

Roger J. Katz

Roger Katz grew up in Augusta and is a proud graduate of Cony High School, Harvard College, and Boston University School of Law.  He served as road manager for singer-songwriter Livingston Taylor and for Boston concert promoter Don Law. Following law school, Katz worked for Congressman David Emery and clerked for a Maryland Circuit Court judge.

Katz returned to Maine in 1977 and began his current practice of law with friends he had known since nursery school, with concentrations in litigation, family law, criminal defense, and private mediation.  A former President of the Maine Trial Lawyers Association, he currently serves as a commissioner for the Maine Indigent Legal Services Commission. Katz served as Campaign Chair of the Kennebec Valley United Way, President of the Kennebec Valley YMCA, co- chair of the Augusta Bicentennial Committee, and Chair of the Augusta Charter Commission. He is the recipient of the Citizen of the Year Award from Le Club Calumet as well as the Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year Award.

In 2006, Katz was elected Mayor of Augusta and was a consistent advocate for revitalization of Augusta’s riverfront and downtown. In 2010, Katz ran for and won a seat in the Maine State Senate. He served four consecutive terms, serving on the Appropriations Committee and as Chair of the Government Oversight Committee. Additionally, for many years Katz was the co-host of “The Maine Event,” a television show on Maine Public exploring political and public policy issues.

Katz is particularly honored to serve as a UMS trustee because his father Bennett, was instrumental in the founding of UMA during his time in the Maine Senate, and also served as a trustee. Katz has two adult children, Jonathan and Shari, and lives in Brunswick with his wife Ericka and their dog Hudson.

Appointment effective: 2/25/21
Appointment expires: 5/26/25

Valerie Landry

Appointment effective:  4/27/23
Appointment expires:  5/26/24

Donna M. Loring

Donna M. Loring

Donna is an elder and former council member of the Penobscot Indian Nation she held the position of the Nation’s Representative to the Maine State Legislature for over a decade. She is most recently former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Janet Mills. She hosts her own radio show, Wabanaki Windows at WERU Community Radio in Orland.She is a graduate of the University of Maine at Orono was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Maine Orono. She received a second Honorary Doctorate from Thomas College in Waterville Maine this May 2022. Her professional background is in law enforcement. Donna served as the Police Chief for the Penobscot Nation from 1984-1990. She was the first woman police academy graduate to become police chief in the State of Maine. In 1992 she became the first woman Director of Security at Bowdoin College, a position she held until March of 1997. She served in the Women’s Army Corp in Vietnam from November of 1967 to November of 1968. She served during the TET Offensive.

Donna authored and sponsored LD 291 “An Act to Require Teaching Maine Native American History and Culture in Maine’s Schools”.  The law is changing the way Maine views its history. On October 1, 2009 the University of New England Women Writers Collection established an annual lecture series in the name of Donna M Loring. The Donna M Loring lecture series is held annually featuring a keynote speaker on Native, Civil Rights, Environmental or equal justice issues. On September 20th 2011, Donna was inducted into the University of New England’s prestigious Deborah Morton Society on its fiftieth Anniversary when she joined the ranks of such women as Senators Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, author Mary Sarton, internationally known artist Dahlov Ipcar, federal attorney Paula Silsby, Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Court Leigh Saufley and former first lady Mary Hermon to name a few. She was Awarded the  ‘Courage is Contagious Award’ by the University of Maine School of Law 2021. Donna was recently appointed to the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance  Board of Directors.

Appointment effective: 5/27/22
Appointment expires: 5/26/27


David M. MacMahon

Photo of David MacMahon

Mr. David MacMahon was born and educated in the United Kingdom (U.K.) where he attended the University of Nottingham. He graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science (BS) and a doctoral degree (PH.D) in Physical Chemistry. After working in the chemical and textile industries in the U.K. he immigrated to the United States in 1976, and has since become a U.S. citizen. Currently retired, his work experience in the U.S. includes marketing and general management. He was President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gates Formed Fibre, later Formed Fiber Technologies from 1984 to 2007 with facilities in Maine, Ohio, and South Carolina. During this period the company grew to over $150 million in sales. After a brief retirement he was recruited as CEO to rescue the financially stressed Maine Machine Products. Within two years of him becoming CEO all debt was retired. He then managed the sale to private equity and stayed with the acquirer as CEO before finally retiring in 2013.

David was a director of Mid Maine Savings Bank and joined the Board of People’s Heritage subsequent to its acquisition of Mid Maine Savings. He was a director and Executive Committee member of People’s Heritage through its acquisition of Banknorth. He has been an active member of the business community for many years. Volunteer activities have included Board membership and Chair of the Maine Development Foundation, the Lewiston Auburn Economic Growth Council, the Auburn Water District, the Central Maine Technical Education Foundation, and the 12 County Private Industry Council. David is a former Trustee of Thomas College and he has been a Trustee of the Maine Community College System since 2012. In addition he is currently a director of Androscoggin Home Healthcare and Hospice. David and his wife Mary celebrated 50 years of marriage in 2017. They have 4 children and 10 grandchildren, all but one of whom live in Maine. David and Mary enjoy visits to extended family in the U.K. and have spent time in New Zealand each winter since 2014. David is an active volunteer. Some of his volunteer projects include the High Street Food Pantry, hospice care, and being a Math tutor at Poland Middle School. He is the Finance Chair for both his local United Methodist church and the district. He is a member of the Conference (6 state) regional Finance and Audit Committees and a former director and Chair of the New England Preachers Aid Society.

Appointment effective: 6/5/23
Appointment expires: 5/26/28


Kelly A. Martin

Photo of Kelly Martin

Kelly A. Martin, CLU®, RICP® is an accomplished Registered Investment Advisor at Prudential with over 23 years of experience in the Financial Services industry. She specializes in asset accumulation, wealth preservation and retirement income planning. Ms. Martin is actively involved in her community. She currently serves on several boards and committees including the Northern Maine Medical Center’s Physician Recruitment and Retention Committee, the Northern Maine Medical Center’s Community Liaison Committee, and the Human Capital and Cross Border Workforce Mobility Committee of the Acadia of the Lands and Forest’s Core Leadership Team. She served six years on the University of Maine at Fort Kent Board of Visitors having held many leadership roles including two years as Board Chair. She has served as a board member for nine years at Lonesome Pine Trails, a local not-for-profit membership owned alpine ski area. Ms. Martin is a perennial volunteer at the Fort Kent Outdoor Center, home of the 2004 and 2011 Biathlon World Cup Championships, with her ongoing involvement in many programs and competitions hosted at this venue.

Ms. Martin has volunteered on several municipal boards including the Town of Fort Kent Budget Committee and the Northern Aroostook Regional Airport Authority. Ms Martin received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Maine in 1993. She has continued her advanced industry studies at The American College of Financial Services in Bryn Mawr, PA where she has obtained her Chartered Life Underwriter CLU® designation in 2014 and her Retirement Income Certified Professional RICP® designation in 2017. She is currently working on completing her Chartered Financial Consultant ChFC® designation. Ms. Martin resides in Fort Kent. Her interests include Nordic and alpine skiing, biking and traveling.

Appointment effective: 2/21/17
Appointment expires: 5/26/24

Owen McCarthy

Appointment effective:  4/27/23/
Appointment expires:  5/26/24


Michael H. Michaud

Photo of Michael Michaud

Nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Mike Michaud was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) in the U.S. Department of Labor on December 2, 2015. As the Assistant Secretary of VETS, Michaud served as the focal point in the federal government for veterans’ employment by preparing military service members for transition to civilian employment, assisting veterans to find good jobs, protecting veterans’ employment rights and promoting veterans’ employment in the private sector.

For more than 36 years, Mike has devoted his life to public service on behalf of the people of Maine and the country. Mike represented the 2nd Congressional District in Maine from January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2015. In Congress, Michaud spent all 6 terms serving on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and was selected by Leader Pelosi and the Democratic Steering Committee to become the ranking Democrat on the committee in his final term. Michaud also served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee as well as the Small Business Committee. Prior to his election to Congress, Michaud served in the Maine State Senate from 1994 to 2002 and was unanimously elected Senate President in 2000 presiding over an evenly divided chamber consisting of 17 Democrats, 17 Republicans and one Independent under a unique power sharing agreement. In the second year, Michaud traded position with his Republican counterpart and became Senate President Pro Tempore. Prior to his 4 terms in the Maine Senate, Michaud was elected to 7 terms in the Maine State House of Representatives beginning in 1980. During that time, Mike held various leadership positions including, Speaker Pro Tem, Chair of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee and Chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Mike was born and raised in the Katahdin Region and graduated from Schenck High School in East Millinocket. Prior to and during his political career, Michaud worked for over 29 years at the Great Northern Paper Company in East Millinocket. Michaud currently serves on the Maine Community College Board of Trustees, the Katahdin Region Economic Development Board, the Katahdin Region Broadband Utility and the Board of Selectmen in the Town of East Millinocket.

Appointment effective: 6/5/23
Appointment expires: 5/26/28


John Moore

Appointment effective:  4/27/23
Appointment expires:  5/26/26

Vacant

Student Trustee

Appointment effective
Appointment expires


Patricia (Trish) A. Riley

Board Chair

Trish Riley

Trish Riley is President Emerita of the non-profit  National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) with offices in Portland, Maine and Washington, D.C. She built the organization as CEO from 1988 to 2003 with initial support from the Muskie School at the University of Southern Maine and returned as CEO in 2014 retiring in 2020, after completing a turnaround and restoring the organization’s budget and reserves. From 2003 to 2011, she served as director of the Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance, where she was the principal architect of Dirigo Health Reform and served as Maine’s liaison to the federal government and Congress, particularly during deliberations around national health reform. She chaired the Governor’s Steering Committee to develop a plan to implement the Affordable Care Act in Maine. She was the distinguished senior fellow in State Health Policy at George Washington University and taught at USM’s Muskie School of Public Service.

Ms. Riley has also held appointed positions under five Maine governors, directing the Office on Aging, Medicaid and state health agencies. She has published and presented widely about state health reform. Nationally she has served as a member of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), the Health Services Committee of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and the Federal Council on Aging. In Maine, Ms. Riley has served on numerous boards and commissions including the Maine Community Foundation, the Maine Humanities Council, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics, the Maine Health Access Foundation and the Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute. She is an alumna of the University of Maine to which she returned, while working full –time, to earn an M.S. in Community Development. She has chaired the University’s Board of Visitors and the Alumni Association and served on the Board of the University of Maine Foundation. Ms.Riley resides in Brunswick.

Appointment effective: 6/5/23
Appointment expires: 5/26/28


Vacant Seats

The University of Maine System Board of Trustees currently has one vacancy.

Board Office Staff

Elizabeth Stickler – Clerk of the Board

The Board of Trustees can be contacted at:
University of Maine System
Board of Trustees Office
15 Estabrooke Drive
RM 251 Estabrooke Hall
Orono, ME 04469