Maine Banking News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Elissa English
eenglish@mainebankers.com

NEWS RELEASE

Maine Bankers Association & Higher Education Assistance Foundation Awards $10,000 in Scholarships

The Maine Bankers Association and the Higher Education Assistance Foundation (HEAF) recently awarded ten, $1,000 scholarships to students majoring in business, finance and information technology at Maine colleges and universities.

HEAF was established over 60 years ago by business leaders from a wide variety of industries including banking, small business, and community organizations. In 1990, HEAF initiated a scholarship program funded by the financial return on the original corpus of funds. The scholarship program is now managed by the Maine Bankers Association. To date, HEAF has contributed over $430,000 in funds to students in Maine pursuing their degrees.

“Administrating the HEAF scholarship awards and helping to ensure that young people, some of whom will one day work for a bank, lay a solid foundation for their individual careers by completing their degrees is a worthy goal, one we’re very pleased to be a part of,” shared Maine Bankers Association President, Jim Roche.

Colleges receiving HEAF grants this year are: Husson University; three campuses of the Maine Community College System; St. Joseph’s College; University of Maine at Farmington; University of Maine Fort Kent; University of Maine at Machias; University of Maine at Orono; and University of Maine at Presque Isle.

Scholarship recipients are: Sean Hyatt of Husson University; Sarah McKenna of York County Community College; Elissa Sieber of Washington County Community College; Annaset Jackson of University of Maine at Presque Isle; Kyle Kruse of University of Maine Orono; Katelynn Holland of University of Maine at Machias; Reece Kneissler of University of Maine at Farmington; Julia Labbe of University of Maine Fort Kent; Cole Leclerc of Thomas College; and Cameron Wiggins of Kennebec Valley Community College.

The Maine Bankers Association’s 29 retail bank members operate 443 offices in nearly every community throughout the state and employ over 9,000 residents. With assets exceeding $41 billion, Maine’s banking industry provides the fuel to power the state’s economic engine, including the state’s lobster industry. Several Maine-based banks have already committed substantial financial support to MLA’s legal and policy efforts to protect its industry.

###

Check out our new weekly electronic newsletter E-Brief – December 2, 2022

All issues of E-Brief

Check out our new weekly electronic newsletter E-Brief – November 18, 2022

All issues of E-Brief

Check out our new weekly electronic newsletter E-Brief – November 11, 2022

All issues of E-Brief

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jim Roche
jroche@mainebankers.com
(207) 791-8401

NEWS RELEASE

 Maine Bankers Support Maine Lobstermen’s Legal Challenge

The Maine Bankers Association announced its support today for the Maine Lobstermen’s Association’s (MLA) legal challenge to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s ten-year right whale plan. MLA is suing the federal government to stop the plan and is asking the court to fix it using “accurate science” to protect the whales without sacrificing the lobster fishery and Maine’s lobstering heritage. The plan requires the lobster fishery to reduce its risk to the endangered North Atlantic right whale population by 98%, effectively shutting down the industry in Maine.

MLA argues the National Marine Fisheries Service acted arbitrarily when it failed to rely on the best scientific information or account for the positive impact of conservation measures already adopted by the Maine lobster fishery. Maine’s 400-year-old lobster industry is worth over $1 billion to the state’s economy and directly supports more than 12,000 jobs on the water.

“No one disputes that reasonable measures should be taken to reduce the risk of injury to right whales, but we owe it to the working men and woman of Maine’s lobster industry to use the best available science,” said MBA Board Chair Blaine Boudreau of Partners Bank.  “The industry has already taken substantial steps to protect right whales and reduce the risk of entanglements. The fact is, there have been no entanglements directly attributed to Maine gear in nearly two decades,” he added.

The Maine Bankers Association’s 29 retail bank members operate 443 offices in nearly every community throughout the state and employ over 9,000 residents. With assets exceeding $41 billion, Maine’s banking industry provides the fuel to power the state’s economic engine, including the state’s lobster industry. Several Maine-based banks have already committed substantial financial support to MLA’s legal and policy efforts to protect its industry.

###