2020 Board of Directors
Mary H. Mayo, Chair
Mary is a life-long Mainer, raised in Southwest Harbor and Kennebunk. She and her husband Pete moved to Bowdoinham in 2009. Mary spent nearly 20 years as a fundraiser at MPBN and Growsmart Maine, retiring in 2015. Prior to her development work she worked for newspapers in Belfast and Kennebunk. She and Pete have two children and four grandchildren.
Dave Mention, Vice Chair
Dave has lived in Bowdoinham since 1986 with his wife, Dory Streett, where together they raised two sons. Dave is now retired but has worked for LL Bean, the Maine Island Trail Association, and various international schools doing technology consulting. He has served on various non-profit boards, including United Way of Greater Portland, Maine Island Trail Association, Maine Association of Sea Kayaking Guides and Instructors, and Maine Wilderness Guides Organization. Lately Dave has been working to improve his woodworking skills by joining with a neighbor to build cedar strip boats. Dave is keenly interested in finding innovative ways to enable local business to develop and thrive.
Rachel Murphy, Treasurer
Rachel Murphy is a Bowdoin native who, after attending Hampshire College lived in Bowdoinham for seven years. Rachel and her husband, Reggie Lebel, built a house on family land in Bowdoin where they now live with their two young daughters. Rachel has done office management and bookkeeping for multiple small-businesses in the area and has worked as Operations Manager for her husband’s construction business, Emerald Builders, since it was started in 2006. Most recently Rachel founded The Alcove, a workspace for local business people, entrepreneurs, and professionals located at the newly renovated “old post office” on Main Street in Bowdoinham.
Web Links:
Sam Berry
Sam is a native of Bowdoinham. After living in Boston, Miami, and San Diego, he now lives on the shores of the Muddy River and Merrymeeting Bay with his family where he grew up playing in the mud and chasing eels on his father Bruce’s boat when he commercially fished eel. When he’s not working with athletes and clients trying to move well and often, he’s outside playing in the water on his board or playing soccer.
Eric Ferguson
In 2011 Eric moved to Bowdoinham from his hometown of Fryeburg to pursue farming ambitions. In 2014 he and partner Bethany Allen founded Harvest Tide Organics and in 2015 bought their farm located on the Pork Point Road. They partnered with Brian Smith to open the FarmCart on Main Street, and have operated the small honor-system stand since then. They also grow vegetables for wholesale and CSA. Eric served on the Advisory Council for the Carroll County UNH Cooperative Extension and looks forward to supporting the mission, programing, and goals of BCDI.
Web Link:
http://www.harvesttideorganics.com
Sean Hagan
Sean Hagan owns and operates Left Field Farm, a certified organic vegetable farm next to Merrymeeting Bay in Bowdoinham. The farm sells produce through a CSA farm share program serving Bowdoinham and Portland, and to local stores and restaurants in Brunswick and Portland. The farm also grow organic seedlings for sale to gardeners and backyard farmers.
Sean started his farm in 2012 after managing farms on the West Coast for a number of years. He is also an artist and spends the farm offseason letterpress printing.
Web Link:
Michael Mahan
Michael Mahan has been a Bowdoinham resident since 1980, when he built a small cabin on Clay Hill. For over thirty years he was the owner and creative director at Mahan Graphics in Bath, a communications firm specializing in work with arts, environmental, and higher education institutions. He has previously served on the boards of Maine Preservation, Maine Arts, The Chocolate Church, Bourgeois Guitars, Five Rivers Arts Alliance, and the Maine Coalition to Fight Prostate Cancer.
Atlee Reilly
Atlee joined the BCDI Board in January 2019. He is an attorney who has worked in legal services and in private practice, but has always specialized in education law. He is currently a managing attorney at Disability Rights Maine, Maine's protection and advocacy agency for people with disabilities. Atlee also serves on Maine's Juvenile Justice Advisory Group. He moved to Bowdoinham in 2012 with his wife Harriet Van Vleck, who currently coordinates the Merrymeeting Food Council. They enjoy canoeing with their young son on Merrymeeting Bay and pretty much everything else about living in Bowdoinham.
Shay Ruggles
Shay Ruggles is the Director of UX (User Experience) for 9thWonder, a marketing agency based in Denver, Colorado. She specializes in user research and ensuring websites and apps are easy to navigate, enjoyable and convert visitors. After spending many years living with her husband and dogs in the front range of Colorado and more recently the Northwoods of Minnesota, Shay moved to Bowdoinham in 2017 when she and her husband purchased a contemporary cabin built by Seth Berry in the 1970s. Shay enjoys spending time outside hiking, skiing and at the beach with her husband Seth and dog Maisie.