Island Institute recently appointed four new members to its board of trustees. Each member will support and guide the Institute’s mission to boldly navigate climate and economic change with island and coastal communities to expand opportunities and deliver solutions.
“It is with great enthusiasm that I welcome four exceptional individuals to our board of trustees,” said Kristin Howard, chairwoman of the board. “These new members exemplify our diligent efforts to maintain a diverse board of experts dedicated to championing Maine’s coast and advancing our mission,” she said.
“The new trustees are joining us during a period of notable momentum and impact,” said Kim Hamilton, president of Island Institute. “I deeply appreciate their contributions and insights that will further enhance Island Institute’s role as a steadfast and strong community partner with bold aspirations for the future.”
John Conley is a board member and investor at Boston’s Launchpad Venture Group, the largest angel investor group on the East Coast, and serves on the boards of its healthcare portfolio companies. He was a co-founder of the RNA-interference therapeutics company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Over ten years at Biogen he served in several marketing, business development, sales, and finance positions.
For the past ten years he has been a director of the national YMCA of the USA.
Des FitzGerald graduated from Harvard University in 1975 then attended a year of graduate school at the University of Washington, College of Fisheries, in Seattle before founding Ducktrap River Fish Farm the following year. He sold a portion of his company to Continental Grain and a year later was named CEO of ContiSea, a holding company made up of Ducktrap River Fish Farm and Atlantic Salmon of Maine.
Fitzgerald was a management consultant with Brimstone Consulting for two years and taught a class on “Leadership for the 21st Century” at the University of Maine as an adjunct professor. In December 2008, he became the vice-president of business development for Principle Power Inc., a deep-water wind technology company based in Seattle.
He serves on the board of The Natural Resources Council of Maine, The Camden International Film Festival, The Camden Conference, The Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, Maine Businesses For Social Responsibility, Coastal Mountain Land Trust, two local school boards, and The Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership. He and his wife live in Rockport.
Nadia Rosenthal is the scientific director and Maxine Groffsky Endowed Chair at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor and holds a chair in cardiovascular science at Imperial College London. She obtained a PhD from Harvard Medical School where she later directed a biomedical research laboratory.
Rosenthal established a laboratory at the Cardiovascular Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-published a textbook, Heart Development, followed by its sequel, Heart Development and Regeneration, considered the definitive texts in its field.
In 2001 Rosenthal established the European Molecular Biology Laboratory campus in Rome and acted as its head until 2012.
Rosenthal has served on the board of trustees at College of the Atlantic and on the scientific advisory board of the MDI Biological Laboratory and the Institute of Medicine at the University of Maine. She resides in Seal Harbor and on Sutton Island, where she spent summers as a child.
Mike Steinharter and his family have a lifelong commitment to Deer Isle. He chairs the board of directors of Junior Achievement of Greater Fairfield County in Connecticut and provides pro bono consulting services to other non-profits via the National Executive Service Corp.
He retired from corporate life in the information technology industry having spent 22 years with IBM and another 18 years with various IT services and software companies. He holds a BA degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. He is married with four children and acts as chairman of Ospreys Echo Sea Kayaking, his son’s business, based in Stonington.
