NEW FACES

• Karen Getchell joined Maine Community Health Options as manager of provider contracting.

Getchell has more than 15 years of experience at Martin’s Point Health Care.

• Smita Sonti, MD, joined Martin’s Point Health Care at its South Portland Health Care Center.

Dr. Sonti is board certified in family medicine. She previously worked at Second Street Family Practice in Auburn, part of the St. Mary’s Health System.

• Ellen Jordan joined Catholic Charities Maine as development manager.

Jordan, of Cape Elizabeth, was previously with Kids First and has served as president of the board of directors of Family Crisis Services in Cumberland and Sagadahoc counties.

• Pat Eltman and Regan Haines joined the Public Affairs Group, an affiliate of the law firm of Curtis Thaxter.

Eltman served as director of the Maine Office of Tourism and chief of staff to several speakers of the Maine House of Representatives. She was recently director of the Maine Democratic Party’s 2012 campaign.

Haines joined the Public Affairs Group to assist with lobbying efforts in the areas of health care, energy, real estate, tax and finance. She joined Curtis Thaxter in 2010 and has been practicing law in Maine for 16 years. 

• Michael Dunn was named director of Ouellette & Associates, P.A.

Dunn was previously with Macdonald Page and has more than 20 years of tax and business consulting experience working with small to mid-size business and individuals throughout Maine.

• Jennifer Arps joined Salem Advisory Group, LLC, as an investment adviser representative.

Arps is also a registered representative of H. Beck, a broker and dealer. Prior to joining the group, she managed banking offices for Sovereign Bank and The Bank of Maine, formerly Rivergreen Bank.

• Katherine Gatti joined McTeague Higbeeas as an associate attorney.

Gatti most recently served as a summer associate for Rudman Winchell in Bangor. She also served as a law clerk to the Hon. John B. Beliveau and Hon. Rick E. Lawrence at the Maine District Court in Lewiston.

BOARD APPOINTMENTS

• Gregg Frame, a Portland attorney and former basketball captain at Dartmouth College, was elected director of the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.

Frame, a founding member of Taylor, McCormack and Frame, LLC, graduated from Waterville High School and Phillips Exeter Academy. 

• Keith Collins, MD, Steven Fierberg, Cig Harvey and Louise Rosen were elected to the Maine Media Workshops + College board of directors.

Judy O’Dell was elected as the chair of the board.

• James Ward, president and principal of Patient Advocates, was selected to join the Maine Heritage Policy Center’s board of directors.

Ward founded Patient Advocates in 1995. He has more than 25 years of experience in providing risk management services to some of Maine’s most prominent employers.

AWARDS

• The Maine Rural Water Association was recently honored by Bay Bridge Estates in Brunswick with the Association’s annual Outstanding Small Water System award.

The award and recognition was for Bay Bridge’s commitment to compliance with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Act and the Maine Drinking Water Program’s safe drinking water rules.

CERTIFICATIONS

• Deb Bergeron, a personal and professional life coach, earned the prestigious Professional Certified Coach designation by the International Coach Federation.

Bergeron is the founder of Ocean of Possibilities. To receive the designation, she completed more than 200 hours of training and logged over 1,400 coaching hours.

GENERAL

• Sewall has opened a new office in Portland to provide engineering, natural resource and GIS consulting services to clients in southern Maine and central New England.

The office is located at 477 Congress St., Suite 805.

• Bob’s Clam Hut in Kittery has opened a second location at Sugarloaf.

• The Brunswick office of the Law Offices of Arthur J. Lamothe recently moved to 157 Park Row in the restored Skolfield-Carney house in Brunswick.