Maine’s venerable former Sen. George Mitchell welcomed roughly 70 business and community leaders to his namesake institute Wednesday night for a party to mark the organization’s transition to a new executive director. The party took place in the institute’s offices overlooking Monument Square in downtown Portland and featured food from Micucci’s.

Since the Mitchell Institute was founded, Colleen Quint has been at the helm guiding the organization to the top-notch scholarship and research organization it is today. When she decided it was time to step down, the board found a well-known and well-connected person to take the post. The party bid adieu to Quint and welcomed new executive director Meg Baxter, who headed the United Way of Greater Portland for more than two decades.

Additional Photos

Incoming executive director Meg Baxter, former Sen. George Mitchell and outgoing Executive Director Colleen Quint at the Mitchell Institute party to mark the leadership transfer.

Charrisse Kaplan, Robert Levine and Mary Mitchell Friedman. Levine serves on the advisory board and Friedman serves on the board and is Sen. Mitchell's niece.

Joyce McPhetres, who serves on the advisory board, and Margie Bride, who serves on the board of directors.

Deb Deatrick of MaineHealth, Ann Donaghy, Ron Bancroft, founder of Bancroft and Co., and Wendy Taylor of Konbit Sante.

“I think she’s a great fit,” Maine Medical Center President and CEO Rich Petersen told me. “It’s right up her alley.”

He then offered an observation that many at the party shared: “My sense is the visibility of the institute is going to rise because of Meg.”

The work of the institute goes beyond the scholarships awarded each year to graduating seniors from every public high school in the state.

“One of the big things that distinguishes us is what we do for them after they receive the scholarship,” Jared Cash, the institute’s scholarship programs director, told me.

The institute conducts leadership building, networking and professional development activities with its scholars and helps them secure jobs in Maine.

“Anything we can do to encourage education goes a long way,” board member Edward Demetriou told me. “The idea is these kids come back to Maine, so we’re educating the future work force of Maine.”

After the crowd mingled for a while, David Johnson, the organization’s board chair, took the floor to say a few remarks.

“Colleen was executive director for 13 years,” Johnson told us. “Under her leadership, the organization was able to raise millions for its endowment and earned a seat at the policy-making table.”

A little later he added, “to help us build on that foundation, we’re so happy to welcome Meg Baxter. Meg is one of the most well respected leaders in the nonprofit sector in Maine.”

When Baxter spoke to the crowd, she told us: “I’m a first- generation college grad and I know what it means to have a scholarship or a loan.”

She went on to say, “to me education is the path to equality.”

During the cocktail reception, I had a chance to chat with the former senator and I asked him what aspect of the institute he was most proud of.

“I’m most proud of the youngsters who we’ve been able to help, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in Maine,” he told me. “Over 90 percent got all As and Bs in college.”

Mitchell told me he started the institute after he decided not to seek re-election when his term expired in 1995. After reaching this decision, he had already raised $2 million for his re-election campaign. He wrote to all the donors and told them he could either refund their money or use it as seed money to launch the scholarship fund. Roughly half of the donors opted to contribute their money to the creation of the scholarship program.

Later, when he spoke to the assembled guests, Mitchell, who graduated from Bowdoin College and Georgetown University Law Center, told us that he “was able to go to college because of the helping hands that were offered to me.”

Picking up on what Baxter said about education being the great equalizer, Mitchell observed that “the United States is the first true meritocracy in all of human history.”

The power of a college education was clear when I spoke with Dakotah Atchinson, who is one of the 1,249 Mitchell Institute alumni. The first person in her family to attend college, Atchinson graduated from USM in 2007 and now works for the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

“Because of the (Mitchell) institute, not only was I able to go to college but now my mother is in college and my brothers know it’s an option,” Atchinson told me. “The institute is so much more than a scholarship.”

Staff Writer Avery Yale Kamila can be contacted at 791-6297 or at:

akamila@pressherald.com

Twitter: AveryYaleKamila

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