Board Meeting Archive Page 1

Donna Pelletier

Title: President, Maine Learning Innovations

Donna grew up in northern Maine in a bilingual French community. She graduated with a BS from the University of Maine at Farmington and a master’s degree from the University of Maine Orono. She completed post graduate work at the University of Southern Maine. Donna worked as a speech/language pathologist for 21 years, director of special education for 13 years, and is a retired assistant superintendent in a public school system. She served as a member of multiple Department of Education committees, the Commission for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Late Deafened, was president of the Augusta Administrators Association, vice president of MADSEC, and is the secretary for the Kennebec Valley Superintendents’ Association. Her work has included presentations on Restraint & Seclusion, ADA 504 implications, staff conduct, response to intervention, truancy and drop out, special education regulations, and proficiency-based education.

In her free time, Donna can be found biking, camping, playing tennis in the summertime, and skiing during the snow season.

Contact: board@mainevirtualacademy.org

S. Peter Mills

Title: Secretary

Since 1973, Peter Mills has been a practicing attorney, first in Portland and then in Somerset county. Since 2011, he has served as executive director of the Maine Turnpike Authority. A native of Farmington, Peter graduated from Gorham High School and cum laude from Harvard College. After serving five years as a Naval officer aboard destroyers during the Vietnam War, he graduated from the University of Maine School of Law. He is a past president of the Maine Trial Lawyers Association and is a fellow of the American College of Trial Attorneys. As a member of the state legislature from 1994–2010, he acted as Republican lead on a number of committees and task forces advocating for pragmatic reforms in tax, health care, education, and public pensions. He is a founding member of both the Somerset Economic Development Corporation and of FirstPark in Oakland. In 2006 and 2010, he ran unsuccessfully for governor in GOP primaries.

Contact: board@mainevirtualacademy.org

Nicholas Gannon

Title: Treasurer

Nicholas Gannon is the director at the Capital Area Technical Center in Augusta.  Prior to working at CATC , Nicholas was principal at Richmond Middle/High School, part of RSU #2, and principal, assistant principal/athletic director, and math teacher at Lisbon High School in Lisbon Falls, ME.  Nicholas’s current work at CATC focuses on workforce development through program creation/expansion to meet the current labor needs and educating communities on the amazing opportunities for students at CATC.  Through this work he hopes to help students find and be engaged in school programs that are of high interest and that lead to jobs that are satisfying in high skill/high wage industries.  Nicholas's work in Richmond focused on establishing learner agency and structural supports for personalized learning in a proficiency based teaching and learning system.  He has presented at state and national conferences as part of a team of RSU #2 representatives. Nicholas' personal education interests include Career and Technical Education, alternative pathways to graduation, and school culture improvement through cultivating hope in all learners.  Nicholas holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Brandeis University, completed course work for education certifications at Salem State College, and holds a Master's degree in Educational Leadership from New England College.  He lives in Sabattus with his wife Lindsay, children Helen (7) and Wallace (5), and three cats.

Contact: board@mainevirtualacademy.org 

Amy E. Carlisle

Amy Carlisle is a former employment lawyer and human resources professional and an active community volunteer. She practiced labor and employment law at Moon, Moss, McGill and Bachelder prior to becoming the director of human resources at Time Warner Cable. She attended Phillips Academy, the University of Vermont, and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Maine School of Law. She has been an active volunteer for the March of Dimes for the last six years, with a primary focus on public policy advocacy, recently completing a term as Board Chair.

Contact: board@mainevirtualacademy.org 

Stacey Blanchard

Title: Member

Contact: board@mainevirtualacademy.org 

Tina Meserve

Title: Board Member

Contact: board@mainevirtualacademy.org