Speakers

Donna Strickler has been the Executive Director of the Sexual Assault Crisis & Support Center for over 23 years and has served in many capacities relating to sexual violence prevention and intervention, she brought the first Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program to Maine and participated in legislation to ensure victims received the victim centered approach of forensic medical exams offered through this program, which is now considered best practice throughout the state.  Donna has also participated in many local and national board, organizations and collaborative's relating to violence prevention, including chairing the Kennebec & Somerset Counties Sex & Labor Trafficking task force, Coalition Against Sex Trafficking & Labor Exploitation (C.A.S.T.L.E) She led the formation of the Children's Advocacy Center Program of Kennebec & Somerset Counties, which became the first accredited center in the state, this program provides comprehensive forensic interviews, wrap around free support services and a true multi-disciplinary team approach for child victims of sexual abuse and their families. 

Steve is Associate Professor of Science at Thomas College.  He is the host of Power for the People on WERU-FM, a call-in energy radio show and he writes the monthly Sustainability Minute which is distributed by Thomas College, SMMC, and WERU-FM.  He speaks regularly around the state on energy and environmental issues

As founding director of both the Senator George Mitchell Center for Environmental Research at UMaine and the Center for the Environment at Plymouth State University, Steve was a research scientist and program director for many years.  He has been awarded more than $26 million in grants and contracts at UMaine and PSU and at the various non-profits for which he has served on boards or as executive director.   Steve was the director of the US EPA acid rain research program in the northeast United States from 1983 to 2011 and continues to participate in this research, which is now run by one of his former graduate students at UMaine.

Steve’s areas of expertise are energy policy and technology, water resources, and environmental science.  He teaches the environmental, sustainability, and geology courses at Thomas.  He has a BA in Zoology, MS in Geology, and Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of Maine.

Senator Eric Brakey represents the people of Auburn, New Gloucester, Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls in the Maine State Senate. A libertarian Republican, Eric Brakey was first elected to office at the age of 26, which made him the youngest State Senator in Maine and America.

Recently, the Bangor Daily News called Senator Brakey as "one of the Legislature's most absolute gun-rights supporters" for championing Maine's Constitutional Carry law, passed in 2015, which allows all law-abiding people in Maine to carry a concealed handgun without a permit.

As Senate Chairman for the Health and Human Services Committee, Senator Brakey is also known as leader on issues of welfare reform, healthcare freedom and medical cannabis.

Joe Edwards is a graduate of MIT and the Yale Law School who served as Maine’s Insurance Superintendent from 1987-1991.  He was instrumental in reforming the state’s workers’ compensation system and since his departure from state government has administered a number of self-insurance trusts in Maine as well as consulted nationally on insurance legislation.

He is a member of the Maine Bar, the President of the Alliance for Maine, and holds the CPCU, CLU, CEBS, and ChFC professional designations.  He has lived in Readfield, Maine for over 30 years.

Shannon Haines was hired as the president and CEO of Waterville Creates! in October of 2016. From 2012 to 2016, Shannon served as the executive director of the Maine Film Center and as the director of the Maine International Film Festival from 2002 to 2017. Shannon was the executive director of Waterville Main Street from March of 2003 through October of 2012, during which time she oversaw $1 million in downtown revitalization grant programs, the creation of Common Street Arts and the Downtown Waterville Farmers’ Market, and numerous community events such as Kringleville and Harvest Fest. Shannon holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies and Japanese from Middlebury College. In 2008, she was named in Maine Biz’s “Next List” of top 10 individuals shaping the Maine economy and was presented with the Ken Curtis Leadership Award from the Maine Development Foundation. She was presented with the Downtown Visionary award by the Maine Downtown Center in 2012.

A native of Waterville, Earl Smith graduated from the University of Maine at Orono with a degree in journalism in 1962 when he began a 40 year career at Colby where he served in numerous administrative capacities including Dean of Students, Dean of the College, Secretary of the Corporation and as assistant to three Colby presidents.

He retired in 2002 and continues to serve as the college historian. His public service includes elected terms on the Waterville City Council and the Board of Education, and as a Representative to the Maine Legislature. He served as member and chair of the board of Mid-Maine Medical Center and the Kennebec Valley Community College Foundation, and as a Governor of the Colby Art Museum. 

He has received the Marriner Distinguished Service Award at Colby, the Bernard King Award at KVCC, and the Human Rights Award from the Elijah Lovejoy Society in St. Louis.

Smith has written numerous articles for newspapers and magazines, and is the author of six books including Mayflower Hill, a history of Colby College, and With the Help of Friends, a history of the Colby Art Museum. His novels include The Dam Committee, a comic Maine murder-mystery, and its sequel, More Dam Trouble. His most recent novel, Head of Falls (North Country Press, 2016) is a work of historical fiction, set in the Maine city of Waterville in the mid-1950s. Water Village, a history of Waterville, is his latest work.