Speakers

Mary Kozicki LaFontaine, Regional Director of the Southern CareerCenters, has over twenty-five years’ experience in the private and public sectors.   She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a Masters in Adult Education from the University of Southern Maine. 

 

In addition, she teaches at USM-LAC, is President of the Central Maine Human Resources Association and the Lewiston Auburn Economic Growth Council and serves on several other civic and business association boards.   She recently served on the LA Metro Chamber of Commerce Board including one term as chair, as an Auburn City Councilor for two terms, and the Auburn School Committee. 

 

Bob Clark is CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, a position he has held since 1990. He is responsible for providing overall direction to a youth development organization serving more than 2,900 area boys and girls each year. During his tenure, the organization has grown from two Clubhouses to five Clubhouse facilities serving an average 500 youth each day. In partnership with the United Way and the City of Auburn, he worked with a team of Lewiston-Auburn business and community leaders in 1995 to plan and launch the Boys & Girls Club there, located in the New Auburn section of the city.

 

Bob attended New York University and graduated from the Metropolitan Leadership Program, and before starting his career in youth work as a playstreet director for the Police Athletic League in the Bronx, drove taxi for a summer job (before coming to his senses!).

 

Bob lives in Yarmouth with his wife Lorna, who is a Chemistry Department lab instructor at Bates College, and with their two daughters, Elisabeth (22) and Alison (20), who are currently attending UVM and St. Lawrence University respectively.. He has served on numerous national Boys & Girls Club committees, along with various community and church committees and boards over the years, and has been an active member of Portland Rotary Club since 1990.

 

Bob will be retiring from Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine at the end of March, after a collective 45 years of service with Boys & Girls Club organizations in Maine and Rhode Island.

 

 

Holly joined SeniorsPlus in 2016 and is the Chief Operating Officer.  Holly is responsible for providing strategic leadership for the organization’s Community Services programs for Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties and also the state-wide Care Coordination program.  Holly oversees the planning, developing, implementing, operating, and evaluating of these programs and services in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and policies and procedures.

 

Holly has over 25 years of experience working with older adults and has held numerous senior management positions in senior living and healthcare in Maine, Florida and Missouri. She has held administrator licenses for both assisted living and skilled nursing facility management.  As the project director for three start-up senior living communities in Florida she oversaw the development, marketing, construction, and fill-up of these independent, assisted, memory care and skill nursing care facilities. Holly has developed several educational workshops on patient advocacy, aging in place and outreach. She is a passionate advocate for community-based programs that enrich the lives of seniors and allow them to remain at home and maintain healthy, independent lives.

 

Holly holds a BA in Business Administration from New Hampshire College.

Al has been a Rotarian since 1998 starting with the Waterville Rotary Club and then transferring to the Farmington Rotary Club. He was Club President in 2008-2009 and served as Assistant Governor in Area 13 and then the Assistant District Governor Coordinator for Maine and served as District 7790 District Governor, 2015-16. Along the way he served on the District Youth Exchange committee for 6 years, 2 years as the District Finance chair and is currently the District Grant Co-Chair.

To know Al well is to know his passion and dedication to family, Rotary and children.

Al and his wife Sue live in Belgrade, Maine but enjoy most of their time at camp on the lake with family and friends. They have been married for 43 years and have two children Chris and Abby, a son-in-law Jeff and their grandchild Chase. You can check out Al’s great sunset pictures on Face Book and you can see for yourself why they enjoy their summer days at the lake.

Al’s passion for Rotary is both global and local. His travels to Rotary Service projects have taken him to such places as Colombia, Guatemala and most recently to Nicaragua. Locally he has been very involved with Farmington Rotary’s 5 Youth Service Clubs which he helped start 14 years ago and is still very active in.

His passion for kids has included 20 years of coaching area youth sports, helping build a ball field in his town and being very active on building committees for local schools and the community recreation center. Sue and Al have hosted Rotary Youth Exchange students and have sponsored a child in the Safe Passage program in Guatemala City for several years along with volunteering and leading teams to volunteer at the Reinforcement Center there many times.

Al was awarded the Maine State Principles Association Dr. Phylliss Deringis Service Award to Maine Youth in 2012 and the District 7790 Rotarian of the Year Award in 2009-2010. Recently Al was chosen by the Rotary BREW Fellowship as their official Ambassador for the State of Maine to represent all things Rotary and the love of Brews Rotarians Enjoy Worldwide.

AL is always very HAPPY to share his Rotary experiences and fellowship with everyone he meets.