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Gay Grant is President of the Friends of the Maine State Museum and serves as Chair of the Maine Governmental Facilities Authority. From 2005-2023, she owned the Write Way writing consulting service.

She served in the Maine House of Representatives from 2012-2018, and is the author of three historical books. She lives in South Gardiner with her husband.

Denise Lord holds more than 40 years of public service in state and local government, including several executive positions at organizations including Maine Housing.

Over the course of her career, she was responsible for systems improvement, strategic planning, program development, and financial management. She lives in Belgrade (when not traveling the world).

A native of Ashland in Aroostook County, Rand worked for Maine Municipal Association for 11 years representing towns and cities before entering the State Legislature. In 1993, she managed Angus King’s Maine gubernatorial campaign and served as Policy Director and then Chief of Staff until January 2003. Rand managed King’s successful campaign for the US Senate in 2012 and then served as Senator King’s Chief of Staff in Washington, DC, from 2013 to 2019. 

In between working for Governor and then Senator King, she became Managing Director of Bernstein Shur Government Solutions, the consulting arm of the law firm, Bernstein Shur. Rand lives in Bar Harbor.

Michael Fiori, MD, of Winthrop, was raised in Brunswick. His extensive schooling includes Bowdoin College, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and the University of Maine at Orono.

In addition to his long career in pharmacy, Michael’s resume includes being the executive producer of the 1998 documentary, The Forgotten Maine. He is a past member of the Friends of the Maine State Museum Board of Directors, as well as many other museums and nonprofits in the state.

Frinsko spent her career inspiring students as a public school teacher.

After her retirement, she became a volunteer at the Maine State Museum in the 1990s. She was soon nominated to serve on the Maine State Museum Commission, acting as the chair for two years. She she was then recruited for the Board of Directors of the Friends, where she served as President. She lives in Cumberland.

Aimée L. Keithan, PhD, is Educational Programs Manager at Greater Portland Landmarks, developing programming and interpretive content for diverse audiences. She holds a PhD in Conservation Studies from the University of York (UK) and has international heritage experience.

A Maine native, Dr. Keithan has served as Executive Director of Boothbay Region Historical Society and Museum Manager at Pejepscot History Center. Her expertise in museum management, collections care, architectural history, and public programming, along with ongoing research on historically marginalized populations in historic buildings, strengthens her commitment to preserving and sharing Maine’s cultural heritage.

Catherine Leonard of Brunswick, Maine, worked in banking, law, and enjoyed a 30-year career with the Social Security Administration. She has also served on the board of several nonprofit and cultural organizations throughout the state.

Harvey A. Lipman, grew up in Augusta, and spent his career as an international trade and foreign project manager in the fresh fish industry.

Lipman is a Maine regimental historian, researcher, writer, and editor, and is fluent in English, Norwegian, and Hebrew.

John Ott has spent his long career in museum work as a curator, director, board member and volunteer at Hancock Shaker Village, Atlanta History Center, the  B & O Railroad Museum and the Scottish Rite Museum & Library. 

He recently completed nine years of board and committee work at Old Sturbridge Village.  A lifelong book collector, John moved full-time to Harpswell in 2016 and serves on a variety of non-profit boards, including Pejepscot History Center in Brunswick.

Phillips spent his storied career as a sailing ship and traveling museum captain, a historic shipyard manager, a contract proposal and grant writer, and a museum director.

Most notably, Phillips served as the director of the Maine State Museum for twenty years. During his tenure, the museum won an Emmy Award for a collaboration with PBS, and the 501(c)3 nonprofit, the Friends of the Maine State Museum, was created to find special projects and exhibit development at the museum.

Joe Reilly holds a degree in elementary education from Boston University and spent over three decades as a Grade 1 & 2 classroom teacher Brookline, MA. Reilly developed and ran a beloved program for 1st graders at the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum for 18 years.

He has also served as an adjunct professor at Boston College and was and a Fulbright Teaching Fellow. Until recently, Reilly was co-owner of Goose River Exchange, an antiquarian bookstore. He serves as the president for the Bayside Historical Preservation Society in Northport and lives in Portland.

Mary Sue Weeks was raised in Bremen and attended Colby College. She has had an extensive career in fundraising for nonprofits, including Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Rockland, and the Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center in Lincolnville. She has served on the board of trustees for Lincoln Academy and spent 11 years on the Maine State Museum Commission. She lives on her family homestead in Bremen in a renovated one-room schoolhouse (which she attended).