Steven Rowe, a former state attorney general and Maine House speaker, has been named the new president and chief executive officer of the Maine Community Foundation.

The foundation is the second largest in Maine, with assets of more than $410 million. It supports nonprofit organizations that are focused on strengthening communities and increasing access to higher education.

Rowe, who lives in Portland, was a Democratic member of the Legislature from 1992 to 2000 and was speaker of the House from 1998 to 2000, when he was term-limited out of the House. He was Maine’s attorney general from 2001 to 2009 and a lawyer with Verrill Dana in Portland after that. In 2011 and 2012, he was a consultant with the Maine Early Learning Investment Group, which raised money for early childhood education efforts. Since 2012. Rowe has been president of the Endowment For Health in New Hampshire.

Dighton Spooner, chairman of the Maine Community Foundation’s board of directors, said Rowe has a “proven ability to bring people together to address pressing issues, from clean air to access to education and early childhood development.”

The foundation was established in 1983 and has distributed more than $250 million in grants and scholarships. It distributed $24 million last year.

The foundation also provides investment services for more than 200 organizations and works with the Maine Development Foundation to manage the Next Step Maine Employers’ Initiative and with the University of Maine on the Aging Encore Leadership Corps.

Rowe will begin working for the foundation in September.


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