Pendred E. Noyce (Penny) is the daughter of the Libra Foundation's founder, Betty Noyce. Penny grew up in California and graduated with a degree in biochemistry from Harvard University and an M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine. She did her internship and residency in internal medicine in Minneapolis-St. Paul and then worked at the East Boston Community Health Center. She received a diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the London School of Tropical Medicine. Subsequently, she worked at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, but she left the practice of medicine after the birth of her fifth child.
In 1991, Penny became a founding trustee of the Noyce Foundation, which supports K-12 mathematics and science education across the U.S. For nine years she also helped lead a statewide, NSF-funded effort to improve mathematics, science, and technology education in Massachusetts. Currently she serves on the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Penny is a past trustee of Radcliffe College and a past board member of the Concord Consortium, TERC, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, and the Center for Engineering Education Outreach at Tufts University. She is an advisory member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Public Outreach Committee. Currently she also serves a board member of the Irving Foundation and the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (COMAP), as well as board chair for the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy and the Libra Foundation.
Penny edited a volume titled New Frontiers in Formative Assessment from Harvard Education Press. She is author or co-author of seven novels for children ages 9-12, including Lost in Lexicon and The Ice Castle from Scarletta Press and five books in the Galactic Academy of Science series from Tumblehome Learning. Her most recent book is Magnificent Minds: Sixteen Pioneering Women in Science and Medicine. As cofounder of Tumblehome Learning, which publishes science mystery and adventure stories for young people, Penny serves as Tumblehome's editor and chair.
Penny and her husband, Leo X. Liu, MD, live in Boston with their youngest child.
Owen W. Wells was born in Kittery, Maine in 1943. He attended the University of Maine, graduating in 1965 and subsequently graduated from George Washington University Law School in 1968. He served as a Captain in the United States Army in Vietnam where he was awarded the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster.
From 1972 to 1997, Mr. Wells was a Partner, Director and Shareholder of the Portland law firm of Perkins, Thompson, Hinckley & Keddy. On January 1, 1998, he became of counsel to that firm, retiring on December 31, 2011. He is admitted to the Bars of the State of Maine, United States District Court and United States Supreme Court and is a charter Fellow of the Maine Bar Foundation. He is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Mr. Wells formerly served as the President of the Cumberland Bar Association, President of the Portland Museum of Art and Chairman of the President's Advisory Council of the University of Maine, President of the Board of Overseers of Berwick Academy and Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. From 1990 to 1995 he served as a Trustee of the University of Maine System. He has also served as a Trustee of Maine Public Broadcasting, Colby College, Westbrook College and the University of New England.
Mr. Wells is a former Trustee and Chairman of the Board of the Maine Medical Center and a former Trustee of MaineHealth. He is formerly President and CEO of the Libra Foundation where he presently serves as Vice Chairman and Trustee, Trustee of the Fisher Charitable Foundation and formerly President of October Corporation. He is a former Director of Chittenden Corporation, Maine Bank & Trust Company and several other business corporations. He is also a former member of the Board of The Hauser Center of Harvard University.
Publications include: "Investing in Maine's Higher Education"; "Maine Choices: 1995"; Maine Center for Economic Policy.
Mr. Wells has received several honorary degrees and awards.
Mr. Wells is a member of the Cumberland Club and Portland Country Club. He is married to Anna Hosmer Wells and resides in Falmouth, Maine.
William J. Ryan is retired as Chairman of the Board of TD Bank, N.A.
Prior to joining the Bank in 1989, Mr. Ryan served as President of the Bank of New England North in Lowell, Massachusetts, and as Executive Vice President of Community Banking for the Bank of New England in Boston. Earlier in his career, he was President of BNE Baystate, a commercial bank subsidiary of the Bank of New England, and a Vice President of the Bank of New England. Mr. Ryan began his banking career with Essexbank in Peabody, Massachusetts, where he held numerous senior management positions of increasing responsibility.
Previously Mr. Ryan served as a Board Member of TD Bank Financial Group, Group Head, U.S. Personal and Commercial Banking, Vice Chair of TD Bank Financial Group, and President and Chief Executive Officer of TD Banknorth, Inc. During this period, Ryan oversaw the growth of the bank from a small 2 Billion dollar regional bank to a large 45 Billion dollar U.S. franchise, as a result of 29 bank acquisitions. In 2005, the bank was recognized by Forbes magazine as the best managed bank in America.
He is a Director of Anthem, Inc., Lead Director and former Chairman of the Board of Unum, Chairman of the Board of Berkshire Hills Bancorp, serves as a Trustee of the Libra Foundation and a Trustee of the U.S. Biathlon Foundation. He is also on the Board of Advisors at the University of New England, Emeriti Trustee of Colby College, and participates in various other civic and professional activities.
Mr. Ryan is a graduate of St. Francis College in New York and the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University.
Mr. Ryan and his wife, Peg, have four children and make their homes in Marco Island, Florida, and Falmouth, Maine.
Craig N. Denekas has served since 2012 as the Chief Executive Officer of the Libra Foundation after first being named a Trustee in 2010. Mr. Denekas joined the Foundation in 2001 and served successively first as Vice President, Executive Vice President and President.
Prior to joining Libra Foundation, Mr. Denekas was a director and shareholder at the law firm of Perkins Thompson in Portland with particular focus on corporate acquisitions, business law, real estate and commercial lending, having joined the firm as an associate attorney in 1991.
Mr. Denekas has served as a Trustee of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, is a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Maine Public Broadcasting and is a former Board President of the Park Danforth. He has been a Director of the Portland Public Library, is a Corporator of MaineHealth and was an appointee to the Governor's Task Force on Passenger Rail Funding. He is admitted to the Bars of the State of Maine and the United States District Court for the District of Maine.
Mr. Denekas currently serves as a Director of Camden National Corporation (NASDAQ: CAC), the parent company of Camden National Bank and is a Director of MEMIC (Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Company), a leading workers' compensation specialty insurer. He is also on the Board of Directors for both Pineland Farms Natural Meats, Inc. and Pineland Farms Dairy Company, Inc., closely-held food companies.
Other charitable foundation board work within the community has included service with the Fisher Charitable Foundation and other organizations.
Mr. Denekas received his bachelor's degree cum laude in Economics from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. He went on to earn a law degree cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Mr. Denekas resides in Falmouth with his wife, Betsy and they have two adult daughters.
Jere Michelson is President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer of Libra Foundation, with oversight responsibility for all operating and financial aspects of the Foundation's interests.
Prior to joining Libra Foundation, Jere was a member of the management group at the accounting firm of Baker Newman Noyes, LLC in Portland, where he consulted primarily on closely-held corporations and shareholders with multi-state operations in that firm's corporate tax department. In 2001, he left public accounting to join Libra Foundation in its pursuit for the betterment of Maine's citizenry.
Jere is a trustee of MaineHealth, member of its Executive Committee, and chairman of the Finance Committee. He is also past chairman of Maine Medical Center. Through appointment from Sen. Susan Collins, Jere serves on the Military Service Academy Selection Committee for the first district of Maine.
He received his bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Southern Maine in Portland and his master's degree in taxation from Thomas College in Waterville. Mr. Michelson also serves on the boards of Pineland Farms Natural Meats, Inc., Pineland Farms Dairy Company, Inc., and Gorham Savings Bank.
Erik K. Hayward is Executive Vice President at Libra Foundation where he started as a Financial Assistant in 2004. Mr. Hayward's primary responsibilities include financial and operational oversight of the Foundation's investment in Pineland Farms, a diverse business and agricultural campus in New Gloucester, Maine.
Mr. Hayward serves as a Director of Pineland Farms Dairy Company, Inc. and Pineland Farms Natural Meats, Inc., both closely-held corporations and program-related investments of Libra Foundation. He was a Director of Pineland Farms Potato Company, Inc. leading up to that company's sale to Bob Evans Farms, Inc. Mr. Hayward is a Director of Bath Savings Institution, a mutual savings bank serving Midcoast and Southern Maine. Mr. Hayward is a Trustee of the Portland Museum of Art, and he is a former Trustee of the Maine Maritime Museum, located in Bath, Maine, and The Park Danforth, a nonprofit senior living facility located in Portland, Maine.
Mr. Hayward graduated in 2004 with a B.A. in economics from Yale University, where he was a four-year member of the Yale Varsity Sailing Team. Mr. Hayward holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. Since 2006 he has been a member of the Portland Yacht Club. Mr. Hayward is married to Carrie D. Hayward and resides in Falmouth, Maine.
Paul D. Pietropaoli is Executive Vice President and General Counsel with Libra Foundation, where he oversees the Foundation's real estate holdings and a wide range of its other interests. Prior to joining Libra Foundation, Mr. Pietropaoli was in private law practice for 25 years and was a shareholder and director of the Portland law firm of Perkins Thompson. During that time, he handled a broad spectrum of real estate and business transactions, having worked extensively with the Foundation, as well as with a significant number of owners, real estate agents and their brokerage agencies, property managers, commercial lenders, and other organizations in the successful purchase, financing, development, leasing, and sale of commercial, industrial, and residential properties in Maine and throughout northern New England.
Mr. Pietropaoli received his J.D., summa cum laude, in 1993 from the University of Maine School of Law, where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Maine Law Review. He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Boston College. He is a member of the bar in the states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. Mr. Pietropaoli is a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, a member of the Maine State Bar Association and its Real Estate and Title Standards Section, and a member of the Cumberland Bar Association. He is a former trustee of Pineland Farms, Inc. and currently serves as a director of Pineland Farms Dairy Company, Inc., a director of Pineland Farms Natural Meats, Inc., and a member Maine Medical Center's Finance Committee.