Our Power’s mission is to drive change toward energy democracy and a more just and rapid transition to clean energy independence in Maine. We strive towards a day when utilities are accountable to those they serve, and when all Maine people can have trust, confidence and control in their energy future.
John Arimond, Bangor
John Arimond is a wind energy technologist. A mechanical engineer and a graduate of Harvard and MIT, John served as Chief Technology Officer for a manufacturer of 500 kW wind turbines in New Zealand from 2007 to 2013. In 2013, John joined the UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites Center as Business Development Manager. At UMaine, John has led wind blade testing projects for turbine manufacturers as well as blade manufacturing R&D efforts funded by the Department of Energy. John joined the Our Power board in 2023 and was elected board president in 2024.
Seth Berry, Bowdoinham
Seth Berry of Bowdoinham was the lead House sponsor of LD 1708, the Maine bill to create a consumer-owned utility. He served seven terms in the Maine Legislature, including four on the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology, including three terms as the House Chair. Rep. Berry is also an award-winning former teacher, business development director for a Maine biotech laboratory, and past Democratic Majority Leader and Assistant Majority Leader of the Maine House of Representatives.
John Brautigam, Falmouth
John Brautigam is an attorney and consultant with a practice in public policy and legislative advocacy. He has served in the Maine legislature as a member of the Energy, Utilities, and Technology Committee, as Assistant Attorney General, and as Director of Efficiency Maine. Mr. Brautigam holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, an M.A. from Trinity College, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University..
Bill Dunn, Yarmouth
Bill Dunn is a consultant based in Yarmouth with over 50 years of experience in the electricity industry and has advised clients of all utility ownership types (i.e., public, private, local and federal) worldwide (25+ countries) and throughout the US. He specializes in electricity market design and implementation, ancillary services, utility and power pool/market operations, inter-utility coordination, contractual power supply arrangements, and transmission access and pricing.
Rep. Gary Friedmann, Bar Harbor
Representative Gary Friedmann serves in the Maine State Legislature, the Bar Harbor Town Council, on the steering committee of Maine Climate Action NOW, on the Executive Committee of the Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club, and chairs the Energy Committee of A Climate to Thrive, the grassroots initiative to make Mount Desert Island energy independent by 2030. He was also president of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections and Treasurer of Friends of Baxter State Park.
Sophie Gaulkin, Washington D.C.
Sophie Gaulkin is a regulatory attorney practicing in Washington, D.C. Sophie grew up in Kennebunkport and, after graduating law school, moved to Harpswell, where she became involved in efforts to bring more reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy to our state. Sophie holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Ed Geis, Camden
Ed Geis is a web developer in Camden. A passionate advocate for renewable energy, Ed designed and installed a residential solar system at his home and works to promote smart, clean, reliable energy.
Sen. Nicole Grohoski, Ellsworth
Senator Nicole Grohoski of Ellsworth is serving her second term in the Maine Senate and previously served two terms in the House, as a member of the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee and cosponsor of LD 1708. She is a GIS specialist and cartographer and holds a degree in environmental studies and chemistry from Middlebury College. Sen. Grohoski sponsored a first-in-the-nation law to shift the burden of managing packaging waste from taxpayers to packaging producers. She is a member of the Science and Technical Subcommittee of the Maine Climate Council and the first graduate of the Maine School of Science and Mathematics to serve in the Maine Legislature.
Jasmine Lamb, Orono
Jasmine Lamb is a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point and a current PhD Student at the University of Maine. Jasmine has worked in the space of environmental justice for Wabanaki communities since 2021 and founded the Sipayik Resilience Committee to increase tribal members’ access to energy efficiency and renewable energy technology and to increase climate resilience..
Jill Linzee, New Harbor
Jill’s professional work has been in public folklore and ethnomusicology, with positions in state and federal government (American Folklife Center, Smithsonian and the National Endowment for the Arts), at colleges and universities and nonprofits. Her work has included a wide variety of public programs, exhibits (Deeply Rooted: New Hampshire Traditions in Wood), concert tours (Women’s Singing Traditions of New England; Sin Fronteras tour), festivals, publications, and radio programs (Culture of the Coast), which have ranged from programs featuring traditional music, to storytelling, crafts, and occupational traditions. In 2023 Jill was honored with the American Folklore Society’s Benjamin A. Botkin Prize for lifetime achievement in public folklore.
Steve Weems, Brunswick
Steve Weems is the Executive Director of the Solar Energy Association of Maine, a broad coalition of solar energy interests advocating for the development of solar energy projects as a key component of the clean energy infrastructure necessary to decarbonize Maine’s economy. He has committed himself to sustainable economic development in Maine since 1975, having founded, owned, or managed eight businesses (including three nonprofits) and as a commercial project financier. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School, a veteran, and served on the Brunswick Town Council.
Tyler Yentes, Monroe
Tyler Yentes is a farmer, builder, musician and father. A co-founder of North Branch Farm in Monroe, Tyler oversaw the draft horses, dairy, and grass-fed operations, He knows well the challenges of running a small business, adjusting to a changing climate, and facing rising electricity costs along with power outages. Tyler joined Our Power’s board in mid-2024 because he knows that for Maine’s rural communities and their children to thrive, clean electricity must be affordable, reliable, and responsive to rural needs.
Advisors
Below are some of the many individuals who’ve contributed their expertise to Our Power:
Dr. Jono Anzalone is Executive Director of The Climate Initiative, working to empower 10 million youth to climate action by 2025. He served as the Head of Disaster and Crisis, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for the Americas and Caribbean region, and as a Vice President at the American Red Cross overseeing programming in more than 34 countries. He holds an MS in Economics and a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Higher Education from the University of Nebraska.
Judy Berk of Northport has been a keen observer of energy issues in Maine since the 1970s when she sold wood-burning stoves and solar collectors in Belfast, wrote the Power Play newspaper column for three Maine weeklies, and co-established Maine’s Energy Extension Service for the Maine Office of Energy Resources. Later, she directed advocacy communications and media relations for the Natural Resources Council of Maine for 28 years, where she helped protect the nature of Maine’s woods, waters, wildlife and climate, through supporting laws to bring more energy efficiency and clean energy to our state.
Anne Butterfield is an environmental advocate and former journalist. She worked for 7 years as an energy columnist in Boulder, Colorado, where she bore witness to the city’s efforts to establish a municipal utility. She is also a board member with WildEarth Guardians and served 10 years on the board of Clean Energy Action, two climate and conservation focused nonprofits.
Senator Stacy Brenner of Scarborough is the Senate Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, serving her first term in the Maine Legislature, and a cosponsor of LD 1708. She began her career as a nurse-midwife and is an organic farmer and small business owner of Broadturn Farm. She is a board member of Maine Farmland Trust and Board President of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Organization (MOFGA).
Representative Nathan Carlow of Buxton is serving his first term in the Maine Legislature as a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology. He was a cosponsor of LD 1708 and has focused his work in committee on promoting a clean environment, ensuring affordable rates, and demanding reliable service for Maine people and businesses. He holds the distinction of being the youngest legislator ever elected in Maine history. Rep. Carlow is serving his fourth year on the Bonny Eagle School Board and is a member of the Board’s Policy Committee.
Richard Davies served two terms as Maine’s Public Advocate, representing the interests of of consumers in proceedings before the Maine Public Utilities Commission. He also served as senior staff to two Maine Governors, worked for the Maine State Housing Authority, founded Public Policy Associates, Inc., and was elected to four terms in the Maine House of Representatives, as well as two terms as county treasurer. Richard’s many decades of public service were well described by former Governor John E. Baldacci: “Dick has been a key public servant who progressed the quality of life for all the people of Maine throughout his career. He embodies the principles of democracy in all his actions.” Richard passed away in 2023 leaving behind a remarkable legacy of public service.
Jonathan Fulford is a carpenter and lives in Belfast where he serves on the Belfast Energy Committee. He is a member of the Sierra Club Executive Committee, represents Sierra Club on Maine Climate Action Now, and is a former democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in Maine’s second congressional district.
Sue Inches has worked in public policy for over 25 years. Sue previously served as Deputy Director of the State Planning Office and as a Director at the Department of Marine Resources. Sue now works as a consultant, teacher, and advocate with a focus on broadband connectivity, the environment and climate change. Her book Advocating
for the Environment: How You Can Make a Difference will be released in July 2021. Sue holds a BA in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic and an MBA from the University of New Hampshire.
Kevin J. Mattson is the Managing Partner of Dirigo Capital Advisors. He has overseen the execution and development of several large scale commercial real estate projects totaling more than $200 million, primarily in Northern New England. Kevin was appointed to the Maine Uniform Building Code Task force by Governor King, and was appointed to the Finance Authority of Maine by Governor Baldacci, on which he served as Treasurer. Kevin was awarded a BA in Accounting from Skidmore College and received an MBA from the University of Maine.
Emily Rochford is a climate activist and recent Unity College graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sustainable Energy Management. She serves as a core member of the Maine Youth for Climate Justice coalition and has worked with organizations such as the Maine Partnership for Environmental Stewardship, Window Dressers, Efficiency Maine, and ReVision Energy.
Dr. Richard Silkman holds a Yale Ph.D. in economics and is a nationally recognized expert in the regulation of public utilities, the development of competitive energy markets and the development, licensing and operation of power plants, including hydroelectric generating stations. He is the CEO of Competitive Energy Services, a Maine-based energy consulting firm.
Dr. David Vail is Adams Catlin Professor of Economics emeritus and former Director of Environmental Studies at Bowdoin College. He participates in the Citizens’ Climate Lobby as a member of its Economics Policy Network. He also serves on the Solar Energy Association of Maine board and the Coastal Enterprises, Inc (CEI) Policy Committee,
which he formerly chaired. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University.
Hon. Dr. Richard Woodbury is a Program Administrator at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a former Maine State Senator. He has also served as a visiting scholar with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and has written extensively on tax reform in Maine. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.
Vaughan Woodruff is the former CEO and founder of Insource Renewables and previously served as the chair of Maine’s solar industry trade group. He serves as an appointed member of the Maine Workforce Board and, in his multiple roles in Maine’s homegrown solar industry, he has been involved extensively in proceedings at the Maine Legislature and Maine Public Utilities Commission to modernize the state’s energy policy.
Coalition Members
Below are the proud members of the Our Power Coalition:
