FocusMaine has added two new Leadership Team members who have agreed to share their invaluable experience, knowledge, and perspective as we move into our next stage of impact.

Kristen Miale, Managing Director, Caswell Advisory Group

Kristen Miale is a managing director at Caswell Advisory Group, a sell-side mergers and acquisitions firm specializing in representing business owners throughout New England and facilitating the sale of businesses valued between $3 million and $15 million.
Prior to her role at CAG, Kristen served as president of Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine for eleven years. As president, she led the state wide organization through several transformational growth periods to become an innovative, equity-focused organization that distributed over 30M meals annually through a network of over 600 community-based organizations. While at the food bank, she co-founded Harvesting Good, a mid-scale, vegetable processing company whose mission is to strengthen small farms, improve access to local, nutritious food for all, and support ending hunger programs in the northeast. Before her work in food security, she worked for more than a decade in finance (both public and private equity) and business consulting.
Kristen is a board member of Harvesting Good and Daily Table in MA. She received her undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Boston College and a masters in business administration from Boston University.

Amanda Rector, Maine State Economist, Department of Administrative and Financial Services

Amanda Rector is the State Economist for Maine. In this capacity, she conducts ongoing analysis of Maine’s economic and demographic conditions to help inform policy decisions. She joined Maine state government in 2004 and has served as State Economist since 2011. She earned a BA in Economics from Wellesley College and a Master’s in Public Policy and Management from the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. She is also a graduate of Maine Development Foundation’s Leadership Maine program.
Amanda is currently the chair of the State of Maine’s Revenue Forecasting Committee and serves as the Governor’s liaison to the U.S. Census Bureau. She holds membership on the advisory board for the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Board of Visitors at the Muskie School of Public Service. Amanda is originally from mid-coast Maine and now lives in Union with her family.

In addition to these two new members, the current FocusMaine Leadership Team consists of:
– Michael Dubyak, (FocusMaine Co-Chair) Former President, CEO, & Chairman of WEX, Inc.
– Andrea Cianchette Maker, (FocusMaine Co-Chair) President, FocusMaine
– Michael Bourque, President and CEO, MEMIC
– Jay Dearborn, Chief Strategy Officer, WEX, Inc.
– John Fitzsimmons,PhD, President, Foundation for Maine’s Community Colleges
– Charles E. Hewett, PhD, Executive Director, Institute for Digital Engineering and Life Sciences
– Ed McKersie, Founder and President, ProSearch, Inc.