The Better Maine Conference: Creating Equitable Workspaces

Ariel grew up in Maine and spent 15 years living in London, England, before returning to Maine in 2017. Ariel has a BA in Political Science from the University of Southern Maine and an MA in Human Rights from the University of Essex. While in London, Ariel practiced as a barrister, specializing in family law cases involving domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, and international child abduction. On return to Maine, Ariel conducted program evaluations and government accountability investigations at the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, a non-partisan office of the Maine State Legislature. Most recently, Ariel worked at an international non-profit evaluating effectiveness and outcomes for federal STEM entrepreneurship training programs, with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations was established in 2019, with the enactment of LD 777 and began its work in late 2021, after receiving its first funding with the enactment of LD 1034. The Permanent Commission has a mission to examine racial disparities across all systems with a goal of improving the status and outcomes for the historically disadvantaged racial, Indigenous, and tribal populations in the state. The Permanent Commission is empowered to advise all three branches of Maine government and to introduce legislation. More information about the Permanent Commission’s work can be found on its website: https://www.pcritp.me/

Jeff M. Poulin is an American educationalist, cultural administrator, and social entrepreneur whose work is grounded in social justice and seeks transformative local solutions to complex global challenges. In 2019, he founded Creative Generation, a values-forward global collective that collaborates with young creatives and those who cultivate their creativity to take local actions towards global changes in pursuit of a more just world. With over a decade of experience as a performer, teaching artist, education researcher, policy wonk, and arts administrator, Jeff has led cultural policy and education initiatives in the U.S. and abroad, with organizations like the World Alliance for Arts Education/UNESCO, LiveNation, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, ArtPlace America, Americans for the Arts, the Irish Ministries of Arts and Education, political campaigns, foundations, and local nonprofits. A recognized leader, Jeff is widely published and serves as a reviewer for grant and research panels. He is on the faculties of arts management at American University and Carnegie Mellon University and frequently speaks to diverse audiences at global and regional conferences like the World Youth Forum, the World Summit on Arts & Culture, U.S. Department of Education, American Educational Research Association, and 300+ national arts and education convenings in 25+ countries. Jeff hails from Portland, Maine and has earned degrees in arts management, cultural policy, and education at Oklahoma City University, University College Dublin, and the University of Glasgow.

As the Executive Director of the Maine Council on Aging (MCOA), Jess Maurer leads a broad, multidisciplinary network of more than 135 organizations, businesses, municipalities, and community members working to ensure we can all live healthy, engaged, and secure lives as we age in our homes and community settings, including diverse older Mainers. She leads a dynamic team and an engaged board to initiate and support data-informed policy change efforts through direct advocacy with federal, state, and municipal leaders. Recent successes include increased pay for direct care workers and significantly increased eligibility for the Medicare Savings Program in Maine. She creates shared-learning opportunities for community, social service, policy, and healthcare leaders across Maine and Northern New England. She collaborates with members and partners to convene processes and events geared toward action on issues related to ageism, equity related to all forms of bias, poverty, housing, transportation, food security, social inclusion, workforce, community development, and care across all settings. The MCOA has committed to ending ageism in Maine by 2032 through conversation, education, and action. Jess co-designed the first of its kind initiative called the Leadership Exchange on Ageism, a program that is helping Maine’s leaders take action on ageism. A licensed Maine attorney, Jess worked for 17 years in the Maine Office of the Attorney General. As Executive Director for the Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging, she co-founded the MCOA in 2012, and became its first Executive Director in 2018. She graduated from the University of Maine School of Law and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Carolyn Delaney is the founder Journey Enterprises – a media company on a mission to make recovery from addiction visible in places where people live, eat, work and shop. After spending 20 years leading IT departments, she saw an opportunity to elevate and promote inspiring personal recovery stories, recovery programs and resources in order to save lives by amplifying a message of hope and reducing addiction stigma. She envisions a world where all options for recovery are known and accessible. A world where people are celebrated for reclaiming their lives from addiction and positively impacting those around them. She does that now with a print magazine, community events and speaking.

Santi Zindel is the Director of the Roux Institute Founder Residency. In his role, Zindel organizes and leads the Founder Residency focused on Underrepresented Founders; working closely with 10 startups each year to help them build and scale. Zindel received both an MBA and a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University and has worked in entrepreneurship in various capacities. Notably, Zindel was part of the founding team for Upndo, an impact startup where he helped build up the company from scratch. He also ran 3 Techstars accelerators before officially joining The Roux; including building out the new program which operated at The Roux Institute in 2021 and 2022. Zindel’s role at Roux allows him to take learnings from the previous entrepreneurial support programs he’s organized and apply them to help drive impact for the founders in our programs.