Ken serves Island Institute in the role of Community Development Officer, working in the Center for Sustainable Communities. He supports island students and teachers by helping coordinate the The Teaching and Learning Collaborative program. He also manages grants and scholarships for children and young adults.

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Ken graduated from Brown University with a degree in Religious Studies, and he has spent much of his career in both the entrepreneurial and educational spaces. His career spans from software marketing to school administration, and most recently, he has worked at Lincoln Academy in Newcastle, where he taught psychology as well as leadership and entrepreneurship. He launched Lincoln Academy’s boarding program, and he also focused on hands on hands-on project-based programing that made students aware of workforce pathways beyond traditional four-year universities.

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Ken grew up outside of Princeton, New Jersey, but he spent time as a child on his grandfather’s farm in Waldoboro, Maine. Years later, he now lives on that same farm with his wife, five kids, four dogs, three sheep, and ten chickens. In his free time, he enjoys sailing, camping, cross country skiing, and contributing his many talents to The Waldo.

Chris serves as Executive Director of the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center and also as an adjunct associate professor of Marine Sciences for the University of Maine. He teaches courses in aquaculture and shellfish biology at the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center. Chris is celebrating his 35th year of farming oysters in the Damariscotta River as a founding partner in the Pemaquid Oyster Company. He received his BA from Colby College and Ph.D. from the University of Maine and lives in Waldoboro with his wife Janet, and are fortunate to have their two daughters living nearby.

Liz brings a background in film and film festivals to the Waldo Board.  The Newcastle resident has worked in all aspects of the film industry over the past 25 years. She has been helping with the theatre’s film programming and social media presence. Liz is a Producer/Director of short documentary films and Publisher with BoonDocs Media. She also runs her family’s Bed & Breakfast, The Osprey Nest, during the summer months. She loves being a part of The Waldo and enjoys connecting with and celebrating the diverse interests of our midcoast community. 

Barbara is an architectural and landscape designer and a certified organic farmer. She fell in love with Maine while attending College of the Atlantic and later did her graduate studies at Harvard School of Design in Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Moving to Waldoboro in 2000 with her family she became an active member of the Waldoboro Planning Board, the Comprehensive Plan Committee, and the Waldoboro Farmers Market. As a member of the Building Committee her focus is the renovation and maintenance of the historic structure. She strongly feels that The Waldo’s reinstatement into the cultural life of our community is key to local economic development.

Maia Zewert started her career at The Lincoln County News, the only weekly newspaper locally owned, printed, and published in Lincoln County, in August 2015 as a general assignment reporter. In November 2017, she received the Maine Press Association's Bob Drake Young Writer's Award, which recognizes the top young journalist in the state. In January 2023, she was named the 12th editor in LCN's century-plus history. Maia, an Iowa native, graduated from Iowa State University in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and English. When not on assignment, Maia enjoys reading, cooking, and watching basketball. She lives in Waldoboro.

John Mullaney is a retired philanthropy and nonprofit executive, having spent most of his professional career helping organizations articulate and implement their missions and address their sustainable impact on communities. Prior to his 21 years in philanthropy, John held a variety of roles at the Institute for International Development at Harvard University. He has served on numerous boards and is excited to assist The Waldo with a broad range of development projects in his role as member at-large. John currently resides in Woolwich. 

Raised in Belfast and Washington Maine, Maya is a passionate educator with degrees in Microbiology and Journalism from the University of Rochester. She pursued a graduate degree in Marine Science from the University of Maine and hopes to engage in further research in learning sciences towards a PhD. Sprinkled in between, she has been a cook, biotechnologist, editor, shellfish biologist and instructional designer. Her diverse education and experiences reflects her multifaceted interests, blending the realms of science, writing, and human cognition. Outside of work as Director of Applied Learning at Lincoln Academy, she explores nature, travels and enjoys culinary experiments. Maya strives to embody a cephalopod-like spirit of curiosity and resourcefulness, and hopes to leave a lasting impact on her students and community. "One of the things that drew me back home to Maine was the powerful effect of a small community coming together. The Waldo Theatre has been a catalyst towards growth in the midcoast, and I want to help it reach its vision of connecting and enriching lives for community members of all ages."

Michael moved to Waldoboro with his husband, Conrad, a composer, from Berlin, Germany, where he was a Research Scientist at the Center for the History of Emotions at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. There he began experimenting with a new methodology of ‘close feeling’ to become better attuned to how feelings and emotions shape the world. Central to his process has been developing a general emotional grammar of action and social change. Michael has been applying this grammar and its sexual ‘cases’ to the writing of history. His focus is the United States. He holds a PhD in American Studies from Yale University. His dissertation was about the love between two men who fought in the Civil War. He has been employing artistic structures and techniques as mediums for research and writing. They come out of his experience as an actor and theater practitioner.  He is also the author, with Michael Bronski and Ann Pellegrini, of “You Can Tell Just by Looking”: And 20 Other Myths about LGBT Life and People, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Nonfiction. 

Kimberly Sampson is an early childhood educator and director of the Little House School, which is located on their small family farm in Damariscotta. She and her husband were drawn to the prevailing sense of community and down-to-earth lifestyle here in the Midcoast. Kimberly places great value on helping people connect with each other and is excited about taking on the role of volunteer coordinator for The Waldo. Her enthusiasm is much appreciated by her students, her farm animals, and her new friends at The Waldo.