The Maine Monitor is the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, dedicated to delivering high-quality, nonpartisan investigative and explanatory journalism to inform Mainers about issues impacting our state and empower them to be engaged citizens.
The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting is governed by an independent Maine-based board of directors with fiscal and strategic oversight responsibilities:
Board President
Jed Davis, who serves as president of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, grew up in New York City, where he practiced law for seven years after graduating from Yale Law School. He served as a lawyer in the U.S. Navy Reserve JAG Corps.
In 1971, Jed moved to an old farm in Fayette, where he still lives and where he helped raise three wonderful children. He has served as town manager of Fayette and Readfield. He has been in a law partnership, in Augusta, with Jim Mitchell since 1976. Recently, Mitchell’s wife, Libby, joined them.
Committed to issues of social justice, Jed was a founder of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine in 1985, and still serves on its board; is chairman of the board of the Augusta Boys & Girls Club for Teens; is chairman of Fayette’s Planning Board; and he served for a number of years on the board of Spurwink Services. He is proud to be on the board of this important organization.
Board Director
Emily Barr retired in June 2022 after a 43-year career in broadcast television, including the last ten as President and CEO of Graham Media Group, a subsidiary of Graham Holdings, Inc. formerly known as The Washington Post Company. During her tenure, she led seven local media hubs — Houston, Detroit, Orlando, San Antonio, Jacksonville and Roanoke (representing just over 7% coverage of the U.S.) — as well as the Social News Desk, a leading provider of social media management tools for newsrooms.
Emily’s career began in Minneapolis/St. Paul and took her to stations in Washington D.C., Houston, Baltimore, Raleigh/Durham, and Chicago, where she led the ABC owned television station for over 15 years. Emily helped create and develop the Live Well Network for ABC, its first-ever national digital outlet that aired on nearly 70% of U.S. television stations.
A nationally respected leader known for her empathy and quick wit, Emily is the former head of the ABC Board of Governors and the NBC Affiliates Board, and was the former TV Chair of the National Association of Broadcasters. She has testified before Congressional committees on the critical importance of local journalism to the health of our democracy.
Emily also serves on the boards of the Associated Press and Carleton College, and has devoted time as board member for Maine Journalism Foundation, Chicago Academy for the Arts, Chicago Food Depository and United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Chicago. She is a graduate of Carleton College and holds an MBA from George Washington University. Emily and her husband, Scott, live in Cape Elizabeth and are the parents of two wonderful children.
Board Director
Connie Sage Conner got her start in journalism at the Syracuse Herald-Journal and for 17 years held multiple editing positions at the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk-Virginia Beach. She also was communications director for Landmark Communications, the Pilot’s parent company, and recruited journalists for Landmark’s newspapers.
She is a graduate of Old Dominion University where she received the Outstanding Scholar Award from the College of Arts and Letters. Connie was a journalism fellow at Oxford University, where she studied glasnost and perestroika in Russia, which at the time was a developing democracy. She is the author of “Frank Batten: The Untold Story of the Founder of The Weather Channel.” Connie and her husband, Philip Conner, moved from Charleston, South Carolina to Harpswell where they are both active in the community.
Board Director
Cathy Lee is the managing director of Lee International, an international consulting firm that provides climate advisory services to public and private sector clients, project developers, and sellers and buyers of carbon credits in the compliance and voluntary markets around the world.
Cathy is an attorney with 42 years of legal experience and 37 of them in the energy and environment sectors. She has acted as legal advisor to greenhouse gas reduction projects in South Africa in many of the country’s largest cities, among others. She has worked on the development of carbon programs in the US including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the country’s first compliance Cap and Trade Program. She served as carbon advisor for several states, including Maine, in various stages of developing programs to measure and monetize carbon credits from retrofitting low income housing in the US.
Cathy founded — and for close to eight years served as chair of — The Maine Climate Table, an organization formed in 2013 to educate the public about climate change and to promote climate action that will protect our environment and economy.
She serves on the boards of various international and US organizations, including the University of Maine School of Law Foundation, The Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center, Lee Automalls, George Mitchell Scholarship Institute (Emeritus Advisory Board), Justice for Women Lecture Series (founder and organizer), Maine Business Immigration Coalition, Maine Democracy Collaborative member, Partners of the Americas Sister City Program, United Nations Women’s Gender Constituency, W+ carbon standard (Advisory Council member), WomenStrong International, among others.
Board Director
Nick Mills teaches journalism at Boston University and is a columnist for the Maine Outdoor Journal and Huffington Post.
He has traveled the globe in his 45-year career reporting from Iraq, Kosovo, Beirut, Tajikistan, Portugal, Vietnam and other hot spots.
Board Director
Nadia Saliba spent 17 years in finance at Goldman Sachs in the New York and London offices where she ran institutional sales groups within their fixed income, currency and commodities division.
After retiring from Goldman Sachs, and returning to Maine in 2018, she started Flying Point Consulting, a real estate and financial consulting group. Consulting projects include off-grid island home construction for private individuals, affordable housing property asset dispositions, and luxury condominium real estate development.
Nadia also serves on the board of Maine Medical Center including as vice chair of the finance committee, as a member of the Investment Committee for MaineHealth, as a board director on the General Alumni Association for Phillips Exeter Academy, and as vice president of the Freeport Historical Society.
Board Director
Doug Warren grew up in Brunswick, attended Brunswick High School and graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in English. He spent 32 years in the newspaper business as a writer and editor at the Portland Press Herald, Miami Herald and Boston Globe, where he worked for 21 years. He also taught journalism and advised the student newspaper, The Daily Texan, at the University of Texas at Austin.
Doug and his wife, Pam Berry, a small business owner and professional photographer, have two children, Emma and Jackson. He spends much of the year at their home on Orr’s Island and also resides in Austin.
Board Director
A graduate of Amherst College and Columbia University School of Medicine, Frank Bragg practiced internal medicine in his hometown of Bangor for 50 years, including as Chief of Medicine and on the national Peer Review Board.
He has served on numerous non-profit boards and capital campaigns. Frank’s current responsibilities include serving on the Bangor Public Library board as vice president, Bangor Water District and as president of a 51-member home-owners association. In his spare time, he enjoys reading American history.
Board Director
Lisa P. Jones is a dynamic serial entrepreneur, highly sought-after digital marketing executive, and a trailblazer in the travel, hospitality, and event industries. As the founder of Black Travel Maine, Black Travel Marketing, Jamaica Fit Trip, Worldwide Group Travel, and Leisure Group Tech, Lisa has built a portfolio of innovative brands that redefine group travel, tourism marketing, and outdoor recreation.
With over three decades of experience, Lisa has been a pioneer in group travel and influencer-driven experiences, curating high-impact events, retreats, and destination marketing campaigns. Her expertise in digital marketing, public relations, and strategic partnerships has positioned her as a leading voice in the travel, outdoor recreation and hospitality sectors.
Her groundbreaking work has been featured in TravelPulse, Essence, Black Enterprise, Mainebiz, Contemporary Bride, and Portland Press Herald. She has also made television appearances on Good Day New York and News Center Maine, amplifying her mission to make travel, tourism, and outdoor recreation more inclusive and accessible.
Lisa is a visionary leader who understands the power of community-driven storytelling, data-driven marketing, and the economic impact of diverse tourism initiatives. Whether she’s leading destination marketing campaigns, organizing high-profile retreats, or advocating for more representation in travel and hospitality, Lisa is committed to shaping the future of the industry.
Board Director
Alex Harriman is a lawyer at the Portland firm Preti Flaherty, where she practices civil litigation and is a member of the firm’s media law and freedom of information practice groups. Preti Flaherty has the largest media law practice group in northern New England, representing leading media trade associations, publishers, and broadcasters throughout the region.
Alex grew up in Brewer and received an English degree from the University of Maine in Orono and a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law. She and her husband now live in Portland.
Board Director
Amy Lamb is a business consultant working with Public Media Company, a nonprofit strategic consulting firm dedicated to strengthening and supporting public media. Amy brings 20 years of experience in financial planning and analysis, operational leadership, and strategic business transformation, with the last 15 years focused in news media.
Much of her career was spent as the financial strategy lead for Maine newspapers, serving as the Vice President of Financial Planning & Analysis at Masthead Maine and Chief Operating Officer for the Maine Trust for Local News.
Amy was born and raised in Caribou, earned her degree in business economics from the University of Maine at Farmington, and now lives with her husband and three children in Brunswick.