Ending Student/childhood Hunger In Maine: Full Plates Full PotentialWhat’s The Issue?In Maine, of the 84,000 children (1 in 5) are food insecure. Food insecurity is the most broadly-used measure of food deprivation in the United States. The USDA defines food insecurity as meaning “consistent access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources at times during the year.” The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) makes it possible for all school children in the United States to receive a nutritious lunch every school day. NSLP provides per meal cash reimbursements to schools as an entitlement to provide nutritious meals to children. This means that all eligible schools can participate and all children attending those schools can participate.USDA research indicates that children who participate in School Lunch have superior nutritional intakes compared to those who do not participate. Congress enacted the 1946 National School Lunch Act as a “measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children.”In Maine, we have 80,000 low-income / National School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligible students. However, only 60,000 are enrolled in any of the available free or reduced school meal programs. Of those registered reports show that student NSLP participation is 70% and 40% participation for breakfast. Maine lags behind dozens of states and our goal is to change that reality by creating a vibrant partnership among government departments and private businesses like the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, the School Nutrition Council, UMaine Extension, the Agriculture Industry, Food Distributors and national and local non-profits and many others.

Share Our Strength® is a national organization committed to ending childhood hunger in America. Hunger is a reality for 12.4 million American children, impairs healthy development and adversely impacts all of society. Share Our Strength recognizes that the problem is not a matter of food production but of access and education. We weave together a network of community groups, activists and food programs to catch children at risk of hunger and provide them with access to nutritious food where they live, learn and play. We work with the culinary industry to create engaging, pioneering programs like Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation®, Bake Sale No Kid Hungry®, No Kid Hungry Dinners®, Dine Out No Kid Hungry™, and Cooking Matters®. We build partnerships, provide grants and seek service and financial partners who share our goal to end childhood hunger in America. In Maine alone 69,874 (19.5%) children under 18 years of age are food insecure and I am going to do something about it.

Serving clients ranging in size and including both start up and ongoing operations. Case study: In 2006, we began work with a client consulting on all aspects of their business including but not limited to sales, angel funding, and business development. As an on/offline publishing company our client had enjoyed tremendous success driving traffic to their online site and powerful “street cred” with other major media outlets. They were struggling with how to drive ad and partner revenue and badly needed to find angel investment to fund and expand existing operations. By the end of 2007, we were able to re-launch a state of the art website that would allow us to drive significant first year ad, partner and subscription revenue. At the same time, we were able to secure 1.5 million dollars in committed angel funding.

Red Ventures, Headquartered in Fort Mill, SC is a technology-enabled platform for growing marketing and sales businesses in dynamic global industries. Part of the start up team at Red Ventures (formerly RedF). Red Ventures has always been a team of entrepreneurial minds who disrupt and improve every step of the marketing and sales funnel. Founded in 2000 and headquartered just south of Charlotte, N.C., Red Ventures has more than 2,200 employees and is the largest technology-enabled platform in the US for launching and growing sales and marketing businesses. Success at Red Ventures is driven by proprietary technology, advanced data analytics, and the company’s greatest competitive advantage: its people. For more information, visit www.redventures.com or connect with Red Ventures socially at www.facebook.com/redventures and www.twitter.com/redventures.

Entertainment Publications was the industry leader in consumer savings guides and merchant promotions. At the time, a wholly owned division of Cendant Corporation. My responsibilities included the management of all business operations and sales efforts for the 6 New England States and from Ottawa to Nova Scotia. * Direct oversight and publishing of 27 local dining and shopping guides / fundraising products generating $20 million in annual revenue.*Strong revenue and profit growth resulting in a 25% average increase in yearly revenue over each of my 5 years.*Responsible for general management, P&L and 6 field offices.*Managed sales, operations, budgets, finance, and human resources, and set region’s annual objectives and business plan.*Created and implemented targeted sales strategies, training programs, and cross team selling solutions for the 18 outside and 3 inside sales representatives.*Excellent analytical, problem solving, planning, business and computer skills.