Andrea (Annie) King is currently a School Counselor at South Portland High School, where she has been serving for the past 3 years. A resident of Portland, Ms. King obtained a B.A. in Psychology from Bates College in 2013, where she also received the Leland and Claudina Bechtel Award for her commitment to the Renaissance School in Auburn, Maine. In 2017, Ms. King graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a M.S. in Counseling.
Trevor Hustus serves as Legislative Assistant to Senator Jim Banks, advising on matters before the United States Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. He previously served as Senior Legislative Assistant to House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain and as Grants Director/Legislative Correspondent to Senator Susan Collins.
Prior to Capitol Hill, Trevor was elected to the Maine School Administrative District No.6 Board of Directors, the state’s largest regional school unit. Fellow Board members elected Trevor to two terms as Chairman, where he led the $50 million organization from 2019 to 2021. Trevor was appointed by Maine’s Governor and unanimously confirmed by the Maine Senate to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees, where he served on the Executive, Human Resources & Labor Relations, Investment, and Academic & Student Affairs Committees.
Trevor graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with Distinction summa cum laude and was inducted as a member of Phi Kappa Phi. He currently serves as a member of its Board of Visitors. He also holds a Master of Professional Studies in Political Management degree from The George Washington University where he was inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha.
A long-time member of Kiwanis International, Trevor currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Kiwanis Club of Portland, Maine. He previously served as Vice President and Club Secretary of the organization. Trevor is a Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society, a member of the American Numismatic Association, and a congregant at the Washington National Cathedral.
Dr. Emily Isaacson is a conductor, composer, and producer who is fiercely committed to reimagining classical music for today’s audience. She is founder and artistic director of Classical Uprising, a performing arts collective serving over 5,000 musicians and music lovers that believes classical music must rise up, challenge current norms, and re-envision where, how, and for whom we make music. For this work, Isaacson was named the 2018 Maine Artist of the Year, one of 50 Mainers Leading the State, a 2024 Outstanding Women, and a three-time winner of the American Prize. Isaacson has taught at Clark University and Bowdoin College. A St. Andrews Society Scholar, Isaacson holds advanced degrees from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; the University of Oregon; and the University of Illinois. eisaacson.com | classicaluprising.org
Jana Lapoint has been an active member in the USM community, as a volunteer for the University Of Southern Maine School Of Music and USM Board of Visitors. Jana earned a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree with high honors from the University of Bridgeport. She is a former business teacher and taught at the New Canaan High School. Jana previously owned Lapoint Industries in Auburn, Maine and served as a trustee on the Maine Community College System board for 11 years, with two years as Chair. She also served the Maine Charter School Board for 10 years, for 6 years as a Trustee of Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts, and 6 years as a trustee of Cheverus High School. Jana received a Distinguished Service Award from Dean College and a Women of Distinction Award from the Girl Scouts of Maine. She has been on the State Board of Education for 8 years. Jana also served on the Board of Habitat for Humanity for 8 years and has been a volunteer for Ronald McDonald House of Portland for many years. Jana is a resident of Falmouth.
Mohammad Nasir Shir, originally from Afghanistan, moved to Maine in April of 1984. He has been a proud citizen of Cape Elizabeth since moving his family in April of 1997. Nasir has been a Cape Elizabeth School Board member since 2017, serving on the Finance Committee, Policy Committee, and Technology Committee. Nasir has a B.A. in Geography and International Development from Clark University and a M.A. from the Muskie School at USM. Nasir’s professional expertise is in the field of Geographic Information Systems where he applies analytical spatial reference to databases in a map format. He has served on many boards including Waynflete’s Board of Trustees; Maine Community Foundation, Maine Civil Liberty Union, and the Cape Elizabeth Conservation Commission.
Aimée Petrin is the Executive Director of Portland Ovations, an over 80 year, Maine-based, multidisciplinary presenter. She is active in the field, participating in regional and national grants panels, showcase juries, curating excursions, and panels. She serves on the board of APAP, the Bates Dance Festival Advisory Board and until recently the Maine Arts Commission. Aimee is also a member of the USM Music Advisory Board.
She has participated as an international delegate for New England Foundation for the Arts. She is a former Board Chair for the Arts Presenters of Northern New England and has been instrumental in initiating and supporting regional performing arts projects.
She is the former Northeast partner representative to the National Performance Network. Aimee previously served as the Programming Manager at the Flynn Center in Burlington, VT, where she initiated partnerships focusing on diversity and access, designed and implemented residencies, and produced site-specific performances.
Rebecca (Beckie) Conrad is former President and CEO of the Lewiston Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Prior to the LAC Chamber, she was the Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine where she had worked since 2006. She was co-owner with her husband of Austin’s Fine Wines and Foods for 20 years, and for 3 years owned and operated Rÿsen Home Garden & Antiques, a retail gallery promoting local art and products that supported international women’s economic development. Both shops were located in downtown Auburn. Prior to Rÿsen, Conrad’s career spanned 21 years in higher education administration at Bates College, including 1999–2003 when she served as executive director of LA Excels, the college’s non-profit community development partnership in Lewiston-Auburn focused on leadership, arts, educational aspirations, and economic revitalization. She served on the Maine Arts Commission for seven years, with four as vice-chair. Volunteer board roles include chair of the Lewiston Auburn Economic Growth Council, past chair of L/A Arts and Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice, vice chair of the Maine Association of Nonprofits and as a board member of Advocates for Children, the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce and the advisory boards of USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College and Central Maine Community College. Conrad received her BA in English from Bates College and studied in the New England Studies MFA Program at the University of Southern Maine. She lives in Auburn with her husband Austin Conrad, Jr. and her cat, Charles Mingus.
Julia serves as the State of Maine Economic Development Plan Implementation Director. Prior to her role as Implementation Director she directed the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) at the City of Portland to assure access for underserved populations, including immigrants/refugees, to relevant, high-quality job training and workforce preparedness opportunities while also improving linkages between job seekers and employers; convene regional stakeholders to work collaboratively to identify gaps and existing initiatives in order to develop evaluative metrics to measure the collective effort’s impact, and overall serves as a connector among service organizations, employers, and job seekers. Prior to OEO, she served as Director for Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services’ Multicultural Affairs Office (OMA). The Office provided support to state agencies, non-governmental organizations and community partners in order to develop sustainable projects and initiatives to address the needs of Maine’s racially, ethnically and linguistically diverse populations. She was also responsible for supporting the long-term economic self-sufficiency of Maine’s refugee population by overseeing all workforce development, ESOL classes, health promotion, and programs and grants stemming from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. Prior to that, Julia was part of Maine’s Department of Education Federal Programs/No Child Left Behind Team (NCLB), as the Title I, Part C Maine’s Migrant Education State Director. She oversaw all the activities of the Statewide Migrant Education Program.
Julia has a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Southern Maine and a Masters in International Cooperation for Development from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
Julia is from the island of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, Spain. She also prides herself of having a strong cultural influence from Extremadura, Spain; where her mother is originally from. She lives in Portland with her two daughters Elia and Vera.