Speakers

In her role, Quincy Hentzel has worked to advance the Greater Portland Region and find opportunities to grow our workforce and to build and sustain a vibrant business environment.  Prior to her time at the Chamber, she served in the role of Director of Governmental Affairs for the Maine Credit Union League – a trade association representing all credit unions in the state.  In her position, she advocated for public policy issues in Augusta and Washington, D.C. and worked closely and cultivated relationships with state and federal lawmakers and regulatory agents to protect and advance the credit union mission.  Born and raised in the Midwest, Quincy earned her Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of Illinois and her law degree at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Maine, however, is her home.

David Daigler is committed to building strong relationships with the state’s employers and leaders that lead to transformational educational opportunities for all Mainers.

As president of the Maine Community College System since 2019, he has put that belief into action, overseeing the dramatic expansion of what community colleges offer and creating new educational opportunities that are more effective, efficient, affordable, and accessible to Maine people.

Maine’s seven community colleges serve more than 30,000 people a year, through two-year associate degrees, one-year certificate programs, short-term workforce training, early college programs, advanced certificates, and other learning opportunities.

During his tenure, Daigler guided the colleges to record high enrollments, historic new transfer agreements with both public and private colleges in Maine, doubled the capacity of the system’s nursing programs, launched the Maine Free College initiative, and attracted more than $125 million in public and private investments exclusively for short-term workforce training programs. He is also the co-chair and founding member of the Maine Defense Industry Alliance, a public-private alliance coordinating workforce development for Maine’s defense manufacturers.

Daigler also serves on several boards including the New England Board of Higher Education, the Alfond Scholars Board, New England Delta Dental, and the Finance Authority of Maine. He is also an advisor to the Boston Federal Reserve Maine Working Communities Challenge and the Maine Economic 10-Year Plan Steering Committee.

Bruce Perens co-founded the Open Source Initiative, and was the creator of the Open Source Definition. Before a long career in Open Source that included appearances before the UN and national governments, he was a systems programmer at Pixar Animation Studios, and is credited on some of their films. Bruce still programs today, from high-level languages to microcode, and makes his living mostly as an intellectual property expert, mainly helping companies that have accidentally infringed the copyright of Open Source software to resolve the issue. He is also active in helping Open Source projects, from space satellite projects to digital voice codecs, negotiate ITAR and EAR. Bruce is a Radio Amateur with callsign K6BP, and does a presentation on his remote ham radio site called "10 Acres for Antennas Where My Wife Doesn't Live."

Dr. Jacqueline “Jackie” Edmondson brought to USM more than two decades of collective service and progressive leadership experience at the Pennsylvania State University, which currently enrolls over 90,000 students. She was a tenured professor and associate dean in the College of Education and later associate vice president and associate dean for undergraduate education, where she worked across 20 campuses to develop curriculum and programs to advance college access and affordability. From 2017 to 2022, she served as the Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer of Penn State Greater Allegheny, where nearly half of students are the first in their families to attend college.

Edmondson’s research focuses on education policy, rural education, teacher education and popular culture. In addition to publication in numerous academic journals, she has authored eight books on subjects ranging from education policy to American music.

In her first three years at USM, Edmondson stabilized enrollments and budgetary challenges. She led the continuation of the Portland Campus Transformation, which includes the Crewe Center for the Arts which will be completed in August 2025. She has worked closely with the USM Foundation to successfully raise more than $30 million during her tenure as president.

Her experiences as a low-income student, who, at 17, became the first in her family to attend college, have driven her dedication to fostering a sense of belonging for all students, and ensuring they have the services and support they need to realize their full potential. She also has a deep commitment to ensuring that all students have meaningful experiences with the arts and humanities.

Edmondson lives in the president’s residence on the Gorham campus with her husband, Michael and her dog, Elbow. They enjoy spending time with their three grandsons in Vermont.

Jennifer Fong is a former classroom teacher and instructional designer who now leads continuing education products and business development for Educational Activities at IEEE, the world’s largest not-for-profit technical association dedicated to advancing technology for humanity. Jennifer’s team works with top technical experts from around the world to develop the IEEE eLearning Library, a collection of hundreds of online courses designed to provide students and working professionals with peer-reviewed content on the latest technologies and essential skills. She also leads the staff team at IEEE that is charged with coordinating IEEE activities related to semiconductors, and collaborates closely with IEEE volunteers involved with the IEEE Future Directions Global Semiconductors ad hoc.

Brian Whitney is President of the Maine Technology Institute; Maine’s unique public private partnership that helps catalyze innovation. He has more than 30 years of experience in economic development and legislative matters at both the state and federal level. During his decade-long tenure at MTI, he has overseen the deployment of more than $200 million in funding, commemorated MTI’s 25^th anniversary, and helped generate thousands of jobs, and more than a billion in private sector matching investment and economic impact. He currently serves on the Maine Innovation Economy Advisory Board, Maine & Company, and the Maine Space Corporation.

As Manager of the Power System Studies group, Brian Conroy, P.E., oversees transmission and distribution system planning and operational studies for electric utilities, grid operators and energy developers. Brian provides leadership and guidance for our team of highly technical and forward-thinking engineers. With over 33 years of experience in the electric utility industry, Brian and his team are prepared to assist utilities and developers interconnecting to the power grid with the most trustworthy power system studies to maintain the security and dependability of the electric grid. Brian is a senior member of IEEE and is a registered PE in ME and NY.

Dr. Ashanthi Maxworth is currently an Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern Maine. She is originally from Sri Lanka, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in electronic and Telecommunication Engineering at University of Moratuwa. Her Masters and Doctorate are from the Electrical Engineering at University of Colorado Denver. Her graduate thesis work was on electromagnetic wave propagation in the Earth’s ionosphere and magnetosphere. Upon graduation she held a postdoctoral fellowship at University of Saskatchewan Canada for almost three years, analyzing satellite observations of natural EM waves. She has a decade of teaching experience and has published more than ten peer reviewed journal articles. She joined the faculty of the University of Southern Maine in August of 2020. Her teaching and research interests include electromagnetic fields, communication theory, and electromagnetic wave propagation in near-Earth Space. In December 2024 she published her first book “One Hundred Applications of Maxwell’s Equations” via Springer Nature.

Mr. Bala Prasanna’s professional career of over 35 years includes working in institutions such as SUNY (State University of New York), AT&T and IBM in various roles in senior technical and management positions. He volunteers his time at IEEE Region 1 as a member of its Board of Governors. He has also served as a board member at IEEE-USA during 2016-17. Mr. Prasanna is a proud to be a member of IEEE HKN Honor Society.

He cherishes his time talking to students and career professionals, specifically on the importance of career management skills and technology frontiers. As an IEEE national speaker, he has spoken at various U.S. and international universities and colleges on career management skills needed to survive and thrive in today’s workplace.

His passions are photography, reading biographies and meeting people of accomplishment. He is also a regular writer for a monthly magazine in his mother tongue language Kannada on variety of topics.

Mr. Prasanna is currently serving as IEEE Region 1 Director (2024-2025). He can be reached at [email protected].

Phoenix McLaughlin is the Director of Strategy Implementation at the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. In this role, he oversees the Maine Economic Development Strategy and manages numerous Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan initiatives. Previously, Phoenix led the Department’s business incentives programs, including the development of the Dirigo Business Incentives program, and worked on legislative affairs. Additionally, he managed special projects for the Commissioner and the Office of Business Development, including the creation of the Maine Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub. McLaughlin received a B.A. in International Political Economy from Colorado College and a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. He resides in Lewiston.