Open Door features personal reflections from local leaders about their career trajectory, management style and lessons they've learned along the way. Our president & publisher Stefanie Manning interviews local CEOs and business leaders for a behind the scenes look at their career paths, the ups and downs of running their businesses and the trends shaping them.

Kaveri Subbarao Nauhaus, CEO of Bernstein Shur, sat down with Maine Trust for Local News President and Publisher, Stefanie Manning for a conversation at the Roux Institute at Northeastern University on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026 at 8 a.m.

Heather Paquette, CEO of Good Shepherd Food Bank sat down with Maine Trust for Local News managing director, Stefanie Manning for a conversation at the Roux Institute at Northeastern University on Thursday, October 23, 2025.

About Heather

Heather Paquette came to Good Shepherd Food Bank after a dynamic 24-year career with the companies of Ahold Delhaize USA, including 22 years at Hannaford Supermarkets. She most recently served as Vice President, Retail Innovation Center of Excellence, with Retail Business Services, a services company for Ahold Delhaize USA brands. Prior to her most recent position, Paquette served as Vice President, Retail Operations, for the state of Maine and Vice President, Retail Services, for Hannaford Supermarkets.

After growing up in Biddeford, Maine, Paquette received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southern Maine in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. She received a certificate in executive leadership from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a certificate in the Food Executive Program at Cornell University. Paquette now resides in Scarborough, Maine, with her husband and two children.

If you enjoyed our Like a Boss series, please join us for Open Door. Open Door features personal reflections from local leaders about their careers, management styles and lessons they've learned along the way.

Steve Mills, CEO of Maine Beer Company sat down with Maine Trust for Local News Managing Director Stefanie Manning for a conversation at the Roux Institute at Northeastern University on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.

About Steve

Steve Mills has taken on many leadership roles throughout his over thirty years in the craft beer industry.

As CEO of Maine Beer Company, Mills expands on the company's purpose of "doing good through great beer" which the company was founded on in 2009. His priorities are to take care of the company's employees, give to environmental and local nonprofits, and make exceptional beer. Under his leadership, Maine Beer Company has outpaced most peers as far as growth. It is now in the top 100 of the more than 9,500 US breweries.

Mills is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps where he spent most of his active duty as a member of the honor guard in Washington D.C. He enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, barbequing with friends, and boating in Casco Bay.

About Safa Zaki

Copyright Jessica Scranton

Safa R. Zaki is the sixteenth president of Bowdoin College, a renowned psychologist and cognitive scientist, and the first woman to lead the College since its founding in 1794.

Safa's research focuses on how people divide the world into categories, using computational approaches to model cognitive processes in order to enrich our understanding of the human mind.

On Wednesday, March 6, Portland Press Herald CEO and Publisher Lisa DeSisto interviewed Tate's Bakeshop CEO, Esi Seng at The Roux Institute at Northeastern University.

About Esi Seng

Esi Seng is a proven, inspirational global leader with more than two decades of accelerating business growth and building high-performing CPG businesses and teams across the globe including Switzerland, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brazil and the United States.

Currently she is the Chief Executive Officer of Tate's Bakeshop, the iconic cookie brand that disrupted the category and continues to be one of the fastest growing cookies in the aisle. Before taking on the cookie kingdom, Esi was all about toothpaste as the General Manager for Tom's of Maine. Here she focused on elevating the Purpose to Purchase model. Under her leadership, Tom's of Maine, a BCorp, developed the first-of-its-kind recyclable tube toothpaste, which was recognized as one of The Best Inventions of 2020 by TIME Magazine and launched a 100% plastic free deodorant line.

Esi, a Nicaraguan Chinese Immigrant is a proponent of diversity, equity and inclusion and passionate about community-building; She is currently on the board of the United Way of Southern Maine.

Like A Boss is a live Q&A business event where you can hear insightful, first-hand accounts of the realities of running a business. Our CEO and Publisher Lisa DeSisto interviews local CEOs and business leaders for a behind the scenes look at their career paths, the ups and downs of running their businesses and the trends shaping them.

Maine State Director of AARP, Noël Bonam sat down with Portland Press Herald CEO Lisa DeSisto for a conversation at The Roux Institute at Northeastern University on Wednesday, October 18.

Noël Bonam has been AARP Maine's State Director since July 2021. Before joining AARP, Noël had been the head of The Global Institute, a public benefit organization (with operational hubs in Denmark, India and the US), specializing in social equity, leadership development and organizational sustainability. Before his tenure with The Global Institute, he was the Director for the Bureau of Multicultural Affairs for the State of Maine.

Noël is a graduate of the Senior Executive in State and Local Government mid-career program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He holds a Master's in Public Personnel Management from Osmania University and a HR certification in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from Cornell University.

Noël has extensive experience in leadership development, stakeholder engagement, EDI practice, and civic leadership. He is currently serving a two-year term on the Global NGO Executive Committee (United Nations), and he is a Commissioner for the Maine State Housing Authority. He is a visual and performing artist when he is not at work.

President of The Boulos Company, Jessica Estes sat down with Portland Press Herald CEO Lisa DeSisto for a conversation at The Roux Institute at Northeastern University on Tuesday, April 4.

President and CEO of Central Maine Power, Joe Purington sat down with Portland Press Herald CEO Lisa DeSisto for a conversation at The Roux Institute on Wednesday, March 1.

About Joe Purington

Joe Purington was appointed President and CEO of Central Maine Power (CMP) in September 2021. CMP serves approximately 646,000 electricity customers in an 11,000 square-mile service area in central and southern Maine. The appointment brings Purington home to Maine and to CMP where he began his career in utility operations.

President of Baxter Brewing, Jenn Lever joined Portland Press Herald CEO Lisa DeSisto for a conversation at The Roux Institute on October 19, 2022

Jenn is an Auburn, Maine native who graduated from Edward Little High School in 2004, and then attended Hobart and William Smith Colleges, earning a BA in Economics and Sociology. In 2008, Lever ignited her career in the Food & Beverage Industry when she accepted a Warehouse Supervisor role with Pepsi Co. Her upward trajectory included successive leadership positions that took her from New York to Virginia, before returning to Maine in 2014, where she worked for three years in fresh cut vegetable processing with the Curran Company, later Growers Express. She left the role as President to take on a Director of Operations position with Baxter Brewing in 2017 and in September of 2019 she was promoted to President of Baxter Brewing. In her very first year as President, she led Baxter Brewing through the COVID-19 pandemic, launching a successful rebrand and expanding distribution while keeping the health and safety of her staff at the fore.

Don Perkins has served as GMRI's President/CEO since 1995. Don works with GMRI's staff, board, and external partners to drive GMRI's evolution as a strategic science, education, and community institution that serves the Gulf of Maine bioregion and to scale GMRI's impact beyond.