Maine Senate Confirms New Members to Maine's State Workforce Board Bookmark and Share

April 23, 2021

For Immediate Release: April 23, 2021

Maine Senate Confirms New Members to Maine's State Workforce Board

AUGUSTA - The Maine Senate confirmed five nominees to the State Workforce Board (SWB) in a vote held late Thursday afternoon. These five new SWB members, nominated by Governor Mills, are Adria Horn of Pittston, Allyson Coombs of Brunswick, The Honorable John Patrick of Rumford, Meryl Fogg Ryan of Falmouth, and Vaughan Woodruff of Pittsfield.

"With yesterdays confirmation vote by the Maine Senate, the State Workforce Board has gained five experienced leaders who will work to address the pressing needs of Maine employers and workers for a skilled workforce in high demand jobs," said MDOL Commissioner Laura Fortman. These five individuals are qualified, and well respected in their fields. I am confident their expertise will be beneficial to the Workforce Development Board as it tackles the important work ahead.

Adria Horn serves as the Vice President of Workforce at Tilson Technology Management, a high growth, Maine-based national company on a mission to build America's information infrastructure. Adria graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 2001 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Military Police Corps and served in various positions as both a Military Police Officer and a Psychological Operations Officer. She deployed five times in support of the Global War on Terror. Still serving, Adria is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserves. She holds an MBA from Northeastern University.

Allyson Coombs serves as the Director of HR Services at Bath Iron Works. She has over 20 years of human resources experience working in various manufacturing and construction market sectors including marine, transportation, power generation, industrial, and ransmission & distribution, and has extensive knowledge of human resource activities, specifically project staffing, recruiting, training and EEO compliance. Allyson received a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in HR Management from the University of Southern New Hampshire.

The Honorable John Patrick served as a member of the Maine House of Representatives and the Maine Senate for 14 years. Prior to his first election in 2000, John worked for 29 years as a journeymen mechanic in the NewPage Paper Mill in Rumford. While working as a journeyman mechanic, Patrick eventually became President of the United Paperworkers Union Local 900, the mill's union. He also served on the board of directors of the Maine AFL-CIO. Patrick graduated from Mexico High School in 1972.

Meryl Fogg serves as a Vice President at Grand Rounds Health, where she is responsible for leading all aspects of member care. Prior to Grand Rounds, Meryl worked at J.P. Morgan where she was responsible for growing and scaling teams in support of global regulatory change for the Cleared Derivatives business. She started her career at UBS gaining experience in Process Re-engineering and Program Management. Meryl has a BA in History from Davidson College and a Postgraduate Certificate in International Business Practice from Cambridge University.

Vaughn Woodruff is the Owner and Founder of Insource Renewables. Insource, which Vaughn founded in 2012 and expanded to a 20 person staff by early 2020, provides design, installation, and service of residential, commercial, and municipal solar energy, heat pump, and energy storage systems. From 2014-2019, Woodruff oversaw a nearly 900% increase in revenues while increasing the quality of work provided by the firm. He directly oversees the companys business development efforts and supervises management of the financial and operations teams. In 2019, Vaughn worked with employees to convert the business to a worker cooperative. Under Woodruffs leadership, Insource became the tenth solar company in North America to earn the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP), the most respected, well-established and widely recognized certification organization for professionals in the field of renewable energy. In 2019, Insource was recognized as a Best for the World Company for its treatment of workers. Vaughn received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Maine and his M.A. Education from Prescott College.

The State Workforce Board (SWB) is an employer-led board whose purpose is to ensure that Maines workforce development system helps Maine people and businesses compete successfully in the global economy. The SWB advises the Governor on workforce policy and the development and evaluation of the Workforce Development System (WDS), which includes other state agencies such as Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services along with the Community College System, University of Maine System and employers.