Team Members

Board of Directors

Jim Pross

President

Jim Pross is an attorney at the Elder Law Office of Kienitz & Pross in Lewiston, Maine, where his law practice focuses on estate planning, probate, and long term care planning. He has been in private practice in Maine since 2004. Jim graduated college with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Charleston.  After graduation, he worked in the West Virginia Department of Tax and Revenue and then as a special aid to Governor Cecil H. Underwood.  After his work in state government, Jim moved to Concord, New Hampshire to attend law school.  He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of New Hampshire School of Law in 2004.  Jim has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Androscoggin Land Trust since 2009, including two years as Vice President and two years as President.  His commitment to conservation is rooted in his upbringing in rural Sussex County, New Jersey.  There, he developed an early appreciation for the many ways that open spaces, farmland, and public parks serve as the fabric of a community.  Jim served two-year terms as an Auburn City Councilor and as a member of the Auburn School Committee. His wife, Mia, hails from Lewiston, and the two reside in Auburn with their daughter.  Jim has played in two films, enjoys hiking, playing the guitar, and skiing with his family.

Justin LaFontaine

Vice President

Justin is a lifelong resident of Maine, moving back to his hometown of Greene 20 years ago when he started his family. He received his BS in Psychology, and his Master’s degree in CyberSecurity from Thomas College. He has spent the last 15 years working in IT, currently employed with Included Health as a Senior Support Engineer. He has also started a technology training program with the help of the Julia Adams Morse Memorial Library providing individuals an opportunity to learn about technology at no cost. Justin’s passion has been bringing people outdoors and exploring the wilderness together. To that end, he has spent almost 10 years as a Scout Master in the BSA where he had the privilege of introducing hiking, camping, and conservation skills to the next generation of young adults. He was also fortunate enough to be elected the Vice President, and then President of the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club (MOAC) where he led events, helped coordinate speakers, and played an important role in the adoption of digital tools to engage a broader public. Justin especially enjoys hiking, camping, snow shoeing, and kayaking, and even participated in the ALT Canoe & Kayak River Race.

Debbie Poliquin

Treasurer

Debbie is from Lewiston. She is a wife and mother of two young adult children. Her daughter, Jamie, currently attends UMO, and her son, Adam, is a graduate of MMA. Debbie attended Daniel Webster College in Nashua, NH, and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. She is employed as a Senior Accountant at Androscoggin Bank where she has worked for the last 22 years. She first became involved with the Androscoggin Land Trust when her bank participated in an Androscoggin River Clean-up Event in June of 2015. She has more recently taken part in some of the Androscoggin Land Trust snowshoe hikes in 2018 and 2019. Debbie is a member of the Central Maine New England Mountain Bike Association, and enjoys biking the Maine trail systems with her local biking group known as the Dirt Divas. When not working or biking, she enjoys spending time with her family, snowshoeing, reading, and listening to blue grass music. Debbie looks forward to serving the land trust by helping to promote outdoor experiences along the protected lands of the Androscoggin River Greenway.

Jeremy Lavertu

Secretary

Jeremy grew up in Turner, Maine and has always enjoyed the outdoors. He is an Eagle Scout and has played music as a percussionist since a young teen. He is graduate from Unity College with a B.S. in Ecology and also earned a M.S. in Business from Husson College. Jeremy and his wife thru-hiked the A.T. in 2010 and hope one day to do it again. Currently Jeremy is the Facility Service’s Horticulturist at Bates College and also the campus’ Arborist. He runs a small greenhouse there and grows pretty flowers and plants for the Bates community to enjoy.

Jeremy appreciates his time outdoors and tries to be there as much as possible. He loves it most when he is able to be with his family and friends. He likes to point out all the trees, plants, flowers, birds, animals and the ecology of the Maine landscape. Jeremy likes to walk in the woods, hike, camp, fish, and take long walks on the beach.

ALT has given Jeremy the exciting opportunity to explore the lands and community he has always called home. Jeremy believes in conserving our natural resources and keeping our world as wild as possible.

Emmy Andersson

Emmy is a Business Developer and Maine Network Coordinator with the Cooperative Development Institute. Emmy has a Master of Business Administrations degree with a focus on sustainable business practices and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies. She has many years of food retail management experience and most recently served as the General Manager for a local Food Cooperative. In recent years she has found joy in spending time with her two kids, coaching and playing soccer, acquiring a black belt in karate alongside her oldest daughter, fostering dogs and exploring the woods by attempting off-trail cross country skiing. She lives with her family in a house they designed and built in the beautiful woods of Androscoggin County. Emmy is originally from Sweden where public land access along with a deeply rooted sense of responsibility to care for the land is woven into the fabric of society. She is excited to bring her perspective on the delicate balance between the need for development, preservation of land, and land access to the ALT board.

Paula Curtis Everett

Paula is a retired registered nurse and health educator who has worked with elders, children, and in the health insurance industry. She became a Maine Master Naturalist in 2015.  She has seen herself as a naturalist/environmentalist since 1973 when her son Andy was about three. She owned an old farm in Chesterville, Maine, where she lived late spring and summer. She and her son, Andy, had a favorite place they walked to in the woods to sit under an old hemlock and read stories together.  The summer when Andy was turning four, she gathered their books and they walked to the their favorite spot in the woods. When they arrived after a year’s absence, what they saw broke their hearts. Acres and acres of trees had been clearcut, their favorite tree gone, no bird song was heard. Andy looked and said “Mummy, where have all the trees gone?” No answer came, only silence.

Paula has lived in North Auburn for 35 years on an old farm of seven acres that abuts the water district land. She calls it a habitat where she lives with her husband, dog and cat, many birds, porcupines, skunks, deer, squirrels, fishers, coyotes, foxes, deer mice and whatever else wants to live in the back yard.  She is an Androscoggin Hospice volunteer, a member of Stanton Bird Club’s Board/education committee, the Auburn Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, and recently the Senior College Board/curriculum committee.  She has lead hikes and snowshoe treks with her husband, and enjoys snowshoeing/hiking, drawing, camping, painting, reading, keeping a nature journal, and gardening.

Mary Howes

Allie Johnson

Allie grew up in the woods in southern Maine. From a young age she craved adventure and the outdoors. Allie graduated with a double bachelors in 2011, and an M.B.A in 2015. To further her education, Allie is in the middle of a Financial Accounting program at Harvard Business School. She is the Associate Dean of Finance and General Services at Central Maine Community College in Auburn, and previously worked at the Council of International Education and Exchange for 8 years.

Allie spends as much time as possible being outdoors. Favorite activities include hiking, traveling, and cross-country skiing. She is passionate about land, plant and animal protection and conservation and is excited to bring her passion to reality with ALT. Allie and her Husband have traveled the world, and been to about 20 countries, their favorite being the New Zealand Cook Islands. They enjoy renovating and selling houses, and currently reside at the latest renovation house in Lisbon Falls with their 4 Coon Cats.

Robert Kleckner

Bob has been a member of ALT since the late 1990’s, starting with a couple of years on the Board of Directors before having to back off in the face of a daily commute to Portland. Now retired, he has been enjoying his return to active duty with ALT. He has a BA in Biology from Hartwick College and PhD in Zoology from URI. Happiest when in the field, he participated on 15 oceanographic cruises and spent six lovely February through April seasons working on the Penobscot estuary, all while studying aspects of fish migratory biology. Love struck and in 1985 he accompanied his wife Nancy from Orono to UNC Chapel Hill where she completed a PhD in neuropharmacology. There Bob spun his varied background into a statistical analyst position in Epidemiology at UNC. He has a truly bizarre publication list including 15 research paper’s each in Ichthyology and Epidemiology. Nancy accepted a position at Bates College in 1994 and Bob kept his UNC position for another 5+ years by telecommuting. He then worked for Anthem as an epidemiologist and finally retired in 2013 from the Informatics Department at Martin’s Point Health Care in Portland. Bob and Nancy love to cross country ski, hike, kayak and travel.

Judy Marden

Judy lives in an antique farmhouse on a “mountaintop” in Greene, Maine. Her surrounding 200 acres of woods and fields, called the “Marden-Chittick Refuge,” is covered by Conservation Easements held by ALT since 2003, and her 200+ year-old brick house is protected by a Preservation Easement held by Maine Preservation.  She has grown to love the concept of perpetuity. Judy has served a number of terms on the Board, beginning in 1991, and previously served as Chair of the Lands Committee, Vice President, and President.  Before retirement, her last career (of five, from events management to HR, all at Bates College over a span of nearly 40 years) was managing the coastal Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area.  An avid outdoorsperson, cross country skier, snowshoer, and kayaker, her favorite way to spend time is in the woods and on the water.

Joshua Nagine

Originally from New Hampshire, Joshua has called Androscoggin County home for almost two decades. As a child spending summers on the family subsistence farm in Richmond, NH with his grandfather, he developed an interest in the interplay of natural environment, local history, agriculture, and outdoor activities which has blossomed into a passion. An avid hiker and outdoors enthusiast, Joshua believes that empowering people to experience our shared wild and green spaces facilitates stewardship and conservation. Joshua gravitated to ALT’s mission due to the overlap in focus and currently volunteers for ALT as a Property Steward of the Packard-Littlefield farm. A former business owner in Lewiston, Joshua works as a business development manager for a leading international travel company located in Portland, ME when he isn’t promoting public trail access, expansion, maintenance and usage or supporting local food access and agricultural small business integration in our community.

Megan Ricker

Rick Speer

Rick, originally from western Pennsylvania, moved to Androscoggin County in 1984 where he served as the director of the Lewiston Public Library for 33 years prior to retiring in 2017. Many of his lifelong interests revolve around his love for Maine’s wild landscapes. Over the years he has backpacked the entire Appalachian Trail in Maine and has canoed many of the state’s waterways. A volunteer stint as a guide at Thorncrag Nature Sanctuary led him to an interest in the flora of Maine which he nourishes through his involvement with the Josselyn Botanical Society and his work as a Plant Conservation Volunteer with the New England Wildflower Society. Other community commitments include serving on the Boards of Directors of both the Maine Humanities Council and the Auburn Nordic Ski Association.

Rob Taylor

ALT Staff