About Our Leadership

The Board of Directors and Community Advisors play complementary roles. The Board provides governance and accountability, while Advisors bring community knowledge and expertise. Together, they form a strong foundation that keeps us both visionary and grounded, ensuring our work reflects the needs and values of the Midcoast community.

Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors provides the leadership and oversight that keep our organization strong and accountable. They ensure sound governance, uphold fiduciary responsibilities, and set the strategic direction for our future. By safeguarding resources and monitoring performance, the Board ensures we deliver our mission with integrity, transparency, and long-term sustainability.

Jonathan M. Goss

President

Jonathan retired with 38 years of experience owning and running a successful local dental facility. During his professional career, he spent ten years as chair of the state-level dental Peer Review Committee, managing cases through mediation and arbitration. More recently, as a past president of the Camden Rotary Club and founding chair of the club’s economic and workforce development committee, Jonathan has devoted his volunteer efforts to raising awareness about local economic challenges and generating activity to enhance our region’s economy and workforce.

Mary Beth Thomas

Vice President

Mary Beth is a licensed clinical social worker/certified drug and alcohol counselor and systems consultant who has retired after working for 35 years in the mental health sector. As clinical lead for a group of federally qualified healthcare centers), she supervised 30 psychotherapists, wrote and managed a million-dollar National Institutes of Health grant for treating opioid addiction, and developed high-level skills in systems theory for creating functional working groups. Having lived in Camden for 40 years and seen the cost of housing outpace the incomes of many working professionals and tradespeople, Mary Beth aims to promote the economic diversity of our region’s neighborhoods and to ensure that the skilled caregivers and other providers of services to an aging population will be able to live within reach of their clients.

Steve Matteo

Treasurer

Steve brings expertise in financial compliance, risk management, credit, and commercial lending to his role as a senior vice president at Camden National Bank. He worked at several Connecticut-based banks before moving here in 1999. Since then, Steve has helped establish CNB’s policies and procedures for commercial underwriting. He received the bank’s Commitment to Core Values award ten years later. He has served on the Town of Camden’s Community & Economic Development Advisory Committee and the Penobscot Bay Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Stephanie Smith

Secretary

Stephanie is dedicated to advancing healthy and diverse communities in the Midcoast. She previously served on the Knox County Homeless Coalition board, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, the Megunticook Watershed Association, Stewardship Education Alliance and the Camden Conservation Commission. Before moving to Maine, Stephanie was a trustee on the Ross (California) School Board and the Edgewood Center for Children and Families. She brings professional experience in nonprofit management and advocacy for children in health care and school settings to her board focus on governance and community engagement. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education.

Martin owns Cates Real Estate in Rockland and has local family roots dating back to the 1800s. He began his career at FMC Corporation with supervisory positions, performance management training, manufacturing management, and facilitation for integrated business systems projects. Since transitioning to real estate in 1992, Martin has worked within the REALTOR@ trade association to support professional development, affordable housing, and fuel assistance and has served as president of Maine Listings. He has chaired the Camden Select Board and served on the Knox County Board of Assessment Review.

Martin Cates

As a realtor since 1985 and a broker with The New England Real Estate Co. since 2013, Sandy has served his industry in many capacities. He is past president of the Midcoast Board of Realtors and current president of the Pen Bay Council of Realtors. He serves on the Maine Association of Realtors board and was previously a board member and president of Maine Listing. Having lived most of his life in Camden and raised a family here, Sandy has served on the boards of various local nonprofit organizations. He is a Maine Community Foundation Knox County Fund advisor and a West Bay Rotary Club board member. He regards educators, nurses, emergency personnel, and tradespeople as the backbone of our communities and seeks ways for them to live and prosper here

Sandy Cox

Amy has been a practicing architect for twenty-five years, specializing in durable and sustainable buildings. As an Assistant Professor at the University of Maine Augusta for the last fifteen years, she developed and taught the Building Science and Material Technology curriculum and several innovative courses on Construction Techniques and Integrated Design Thinking. She has a range of experience with all phases of the construction process for institutional and residential projects. Amy enjoys the complex and creative problem-solving it takes to complete projects efficiently and affordably. She is deeply committed to finding ways to build more houses more efficiently to make workforce housing affordable for the people who live and work in Maine.

Amy Hinkley

Peter is a retired architect who has established architectural offices in Massachusetts and Camden and helped develop a build/design firm in Rockport. His portfolio included both commercial and residential projects, ranging from small to large single-family and multi-family developments. Peter grew up in Camden and earned degrees in civil engineering (structural) and architecture at Tufts and Harvard before starting his career in Cambridge. Since returning to Camden to raise his family, Peter has chaired the Camden Select Board and served on the Planning Board, the Camden Public Library board of trustees, and various committees. While in high school, he recognized the negative impact of rising housing costs on the backbone of the Midcoast economy: its worker

Peter T. Gross

Rockland resident Karen has lived in the Midcoast for 40 years. Her community activities include 10 years on the board of Homeworthy (formerly the Knox County Homeless Coalition). Karen is a diligent researcher who enjoys uncovering potential solutions and bringing them to fruition. A retired nurse, Karen holds a BS in chemistry, an RN license, and certificates in various nursing specialties. While helping her husband grow his dental practices, Karen saw firsthand how the housing crisis affects the workforce. She views enabling middle-income workers to live within our communities as crucial to our region’s future.

Karen Pier

Tony is an executive vice president for a global real estate services firm where he leads public-private partnership (P3) and development. His work primarily focuses on helping public sector clients achieve broader goals by understanding and actualizing strategic, viable asset development. Many of his efforts involve hospitality-related projects. Outside the office, he worked with the U.S. Department of Interior to execute a P3 to lease a historic structure within a national park. Tony and the nonprofit he founded for the project completely renovated and updated the abandoned structure to accommodate youth, educational, and other special events. Tony divides his time between Midcoast Maine and the Philadelphia area.

Tony Peterman

By combining strong governance with community insight, we build an organization that is both accountable to its mission and deeply responsive to the people it serves.

Community Advisors

Our Community Advisors contribute expertise, lived experience, and local insight to guide our work. They help us stay connected to the needs of the community, share diverse perspectives, and strengthen our decision-making. By offering knowledge and counsel, Advisors ensure our efforts remain relevant, responsive, and impactful.

Pinny Beebe-Center, Rockland

Patricia Burke, Rockland

Brad Chute, Camden

Jerod Cronkite, Rockport

Nate Davis, Rockland

Susan Deutsch, Owls Head

Dawn Harlor, Camden

Janet Heimlich, Rockland

Allen Mitchell, Rockport

Tom Pine, Camden

Joan Phaup, Camden

Susan Reider, Camden

Susan Silverio, Lincolnville

Clare Tully, Rockport

Mary Jane West, Union

Chip Bauer, Camden