Leadership in Action Breakfast Series
Our Leadership in Action Breakfasts reflect ICL’s vigorous commitment to foster deeper, meaningful dialogue on critical community issues. This annual series provides a welcoming forum and networking opportunity that features presentations by passionate leaders who are making a difference. Our goals are to increase understanding of leadership challenges and opportunities; inspire new ideas for established and emerging leaders; and forge new connections between leaders from all sectors in our region.
2012-2013
ICL Leadership in Action Breakfasts:
Engaging Powerful Issues
Come learn, engage, and explore how you may connect to advance these topics. Breakfasts take place 7:00-9:00 am at the Portland Clarion Hotel, 1230 Congress Street. Tickets for each program, with Continental breakfast, are $20 per person (ICL alumni); $25 (public).
We thank our generous sponsors, Woodard & Curran, Norton Insurance and Financial, and TD Bank for believing in the transformative power of civil discourse.
Register today for this exciting line up!
Innovating for Positive Impact in Maine Prisons and Communities October 17, 2012. Joseph Ponte and Rachel Talbot Ross
What is the socio-economic impact on our State when individuals are detained in prison, released, and then returned to confinement? What cost-effective programs provide offenders the best opportunities to re-enter their communities as productive citizens? In this eye-opening presentation, join Maine Department of Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte, and Rachel Talbot Ross, Portland’s Multicultural Affairs Director, as they discuss success stories and ways to improve our communities by addressing complex issues in our prison system.
Homeless in Portland: Whose Problem is It and What Do We Do? December 12, 2012. Mark Swann and Suzanne McCormick
Mark Swann, Executive Director of Preble Street, and Suzanne McCormick, President and CEO of United Way of Greater Portland, will share the Task Force Report on Homelessness in this compelling conversation. Listen, learn and ask how we can help empower our neighbors who are experiencing poverty, homelessness, housing problems, mental illness and hunger.
Getting Things Done: Collaborating in the Political Environment February 26, 2013. Eliot Cutler
Many citizens are frustrated and weary of bickering stalemates fueled by divisive elected officials. What does it take to move beyond labels to solve the host of complex issues we face in our economy, schools and small businesses? Eliot Cutler, business and governmental leader and founder of OneMaine, will share an engaging vision of how to accomplish real change, what helps it work, and explore how we can create positive impact in our communities. Come with your questions and ideas.
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Our Distinguished Speakers:
Joseph Ponte began his career as a Corrections Officer with the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (DOC) in 1969, working up to the position of Assistant Deputy Commissioner in charge of five facilities on the Bridgewater Campus. Retiring from the Massachusetts DOC in 1991, he accepted the position of Assistant Director with the Rhode Island DOC. Since then, he has worked at various levels within private corrections, first with Cornell Corrections and most recently with Corrections Corporation of America. A national leader in prison reform, several times during his career, Mr. Ponte has been asked to take on organizations in need of major change, including state prisons, county jails and in private corrections. Prior to becoming Commissioner with the Maine DOC, he worked in eight states, serving in public or private corrections. Commissioner Ponte earned an Associate’s Degree in Business Management from Fisher College, Boston, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Bridgewater College in Massachusetts.
Rachel Talbot Ross is Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs for the City of Portland. Since 1995, she has managed the City’s commitment to equal opportunity and non-discrimination in delivering services and programs. She liaises with diverse racial and ethnic communities, government entities, social service agencies, and leaders in education and business on issues of racial equity. A noted leader in civil rights, for the past decade Ms. Talbot Ross has also served as President of the NAACP Portland Branch, one of Maine’s oldest civil rights organizations, and as NAACP State Director since 2008. Her passion is best illustrated in her work as founding President of Maine Freedom Trails, which has walking trails in Portland and Malaga Island that acknowledge the people, places and daily life associated with the Underground Railroad, abolitionist movement and the African American experience in Maine. Ms. Talbot Ross is active on various boards: the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition, Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, United Way of Greater Portland’s Diversity Cabinet, and the University of Southern Maine Jean Byer Sampson Center for Diversity. She is co-chair of the African American Collection of Maine, and chairs the Maine Advisory Commission for the US Commission of Civil Rights. An ICL alumna, Ms. Talbot Ross studied political science at The American University in Washington, DC, and worked for Senator George Mitchell. She proudly raises a son and carries forth the legacy of her father, Gerald E. Talbot, Maine’s first African American state legislator, and a founding President of the NAACP Portland Branch.
Mark R. Swann, MSPA is Executive Director of Preble Street. Since 1991, he has overseen significant growth of the agency and its mission: from a small soup kitchen with two employees in the basement of an old church to a multi-site, comprehensive social service agency for homeless and low-income individuals and families. Besides the original Resource Center, Preble Street now operates the Lighthouse Shelter, the Teen Center, Logan Place, Florence House, Food Programs, the Maine Hunger Initiative, and community casework and outreach, with 185 employees and 5,000 volunteers. Preble Street and Mr. Swann have won several awards and national recognition for efforts to provide basic, street-level services while also advocating for and building sustainable solutions to end homelessness and hunger. Prior to his work in Maine, Mr. Swann was Director of Social Services at the International Institute of Boston, a refugee resettlement agency. He has a BA from Bowdoin College and a Master’s of Science in Public Affairs from UMASS Boston. He was a volunteer basketball coach with the Portland Recreation Department and has served on numerous Boards, including Spring Harbor Hospital, York-Cumberland Housing, The Board Network, the Immigration and Legal Advocacy Project, and the Center for Preventing Hate.
Suzanne McCormick began her nonprofit career over 20 years ago as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand. Returning to the United States, she led a large volunteer program at the International Center in New York City. In 1994, Ms. McCormick held several senior level positions at United Way of Greater Portland, including Vice President of Agency Relations and Vice President of Major Gifts & Planned Giving. She later joined the American Red Cross of Southern Maine as Senior Program Director and then CEO until 2007. During her tenure, the organization received the WCSH-6 Six Who Care Agency of Distinction award for innovative programming, dedicated staff members and volunteers. Following the Red Cross, Ms. McCormick served as President & CEO of People’s Regional Opportunity Program (PROP), one of the region’s largest human service organizations, where she led a strategic planning process toward a new mission and vision statement. She also co-chaired Maine’s statewide Keep Maine Warm fundraising effort which raised over $2.5 million for fuel assistance. In December 2009, Ms. McCormick became President & CEO of United Way of Greater Portland, which raises over $11 million dollars annually to support hundred of programs at over 40 Greater Portland nonprofit agencies. A graduate of Duke University, Ms. McCormick serves as a Trustee of the Portland Public Library, Portland Provident Association, and is a member of the Piper Shores Board of Directors. She also serves on the United Way Worldwide National Professional Council and Inclusion Council.
Eliot R. Cutler has forged a 40-year career marked by success in government service, law and business. As an aide to Senator Edmund Muskie, he helped craft the Clean Air Act, the Water Pollution Control Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. From 1977 to 1980 he served as Associate Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and was President Carter’s principal aide in the environmental, natural resources and energy areas. A graduate of Harvard College and Georgetown University Law Center, Mr. Cutler is Emeritus Trustee of the Thornburg Investment Trust, a family of publicly traded mutual funds. Mr. Cutler also was the first American member of the board of directors of the worldwide construction company Skanska AB and a director of the International Law Institute. In 2010, he was an independent candidate for Maine governor, finishing second by a margin of 9,000 votes; his 36.3% of the votes was the highest percentage of any independent candidate for major office in the United States in 2010.
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Past speakers have included:
- Cross Sector Panel on Education, Technology and Jobs with Mike Dubyak, CEO of Wright Express; Rich Pattenaude, former Chancellor of the University of Maine System; Stephen Bowen, Commissioner of Education; and Ron Bancroft of Bancroft and Associates.
- Anna (Anne) Eleanor Roosevelt, President and CEO Goodwill NNE
- Angus King, former Governor, Maine
- Dan Reardon, Executive Director of Stone Soup
Leading With Values - Jill Duson, Portland Mayor
Leadership Without Authority - Leigh Ingalls Saufley, Chief Justice, Maine Supreme Judicial Court
Leading in a Time of Change - Hugh Farrington, former CEO, Hannaford
Developing the Talent Within - Hanley Denning, founding Director, Safe Passage
A Young Leader’s Experience: The Power of Passion - Tim Wilson, Vice President and Director, Seeds of Peace
Empowering Leaders of the Next Generation - Bill Ryan, CEO, TD Banknorth
Learning Leadership on the Job - Susan Gendron, Maine Commissioner of Education
Leadership: Ripening an Issue - Don Perkins, President, Gulf of Maine Research Institute
Leadership: Market- Focused, Mission-Driven - Cynthia Thompson, President and Founder, Transformit, Inc.
Artist as Leader - Richard L. Pattenaude, Chancellor, University of Maine System
Lessons Learned from Leadership Under Fire - Michael McCarthy, Principal, King Middle School
Leadership Lessons Learned in Prison - James Craig, Police Chief, City of Portland
Leading With Love: Leadership Lessons Learned on the Police Beat on the Streets of Los Angeles - Bill Burke, Co-Author of “Call Me Ted” (Ted Turner’s New York Times bestselling autobiography)
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure: Lessons on Leadership and Life Based on His Experiences With Ted Turner - Wendy Wolf, President/CEO of the Maine Health Access Foundation
The Critical Condition of Health Care and Whether Leadership Can Save Health Care Reform
For more information, please call 773-3254.
