AUGUSTA
John Wolanski, Kevin Raye and Harvey Smith were recently appointed to the Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership board of directors.
Wolanski is vice president of sales and marketing for GAC Chemical Corp. in Searsport. He implemented GAC’s Logistics Solutions strategy and formed the GAC joint venture partnership with Mexico based Dalegip, leading to GAC’s receipt of the 2015 Maine Foreign Direct Investor award.
Prior to joining GAC, Wolanski was vice president for Safe Handling Inc., a chemical logistics company based in Auburn. He has more than 30 years of technical sales and marketing experience, has served on numerous trade and manufacturing boards including the University of Maine Pulp and Paper Foundation, as well as the Maine International Trade Center, and is a graduate of the University of Vermont.
A native of Eastport and former Maine Senate president, Raye is a graduate of Bates College and, with his wife Karen, owns and operates Raye’s Mustard Mill in Eastport, a fourth-generation small family business.
He has four decades of Maine politics and public policy experience, including numerous legislative leadership positions and as adviser and chief of staff for former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe. Drawing from this background, Raye also operates Down East Strategies, LLC, a public affairs consulting firm that provides a range of strategic networking, grassroots and communication services. He has served on a number of business, community and nonprofit boards.
Smith is director of quality at Kennebec Technologies, where he has been Lean Champion for the last 15 years. He previously was quality manager for Sanmina SCI. Prior to that, he was business operations manager at Digital Equipment Corp., where he directed manufacturing operations for the electronic module production. He has more than 40 years of experience in manufacturing and is a graduate of Babson College.
“We are thrilled with the depth and variety of backgrounds that John, Kevin and Harvey will bring to our leadership,” said Muriel Mosher, president of Maine MEP. “Their combined experience — 40 years in public policy, 40 years in manufacturing and 30 years in sales and marketing — will add valuable perspectives to our planning and decision-making processes, helping us better meet the needs of Maine’s small manufacturers.”
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