Vincent Micale, WEDC President

Vincent is the founder and president of SystemArchitecture.NET, a Maine-based consulting company which provides database development, network engineering and website design headquartered in Windham, Maine. He is also very involved in the community and serves as President of the Windham Economic Development Corporation, as well as the Chairman of the Board for Fiddlehead Center Art and Science Center.

Larry Eliason, WEDC Vice-President

Larry is a Commercial Broker with Butts Commercial Brokers specializing in Commercial Real Estate Sales and Leasing.  Larry is a graduate of Husson College where he received a B. S. in Accounting Management.  Larry has a diverse background including Senior Commercial Credit Analyst at a Commercial Bank and Mortgage Banker at a Savings Bank, Regional President for a Land Development Company, Project Manager for a local Private Investor/Developer and Residential Real Estate Sales.  Larry is a member of the Maine Real Estate & Development Association (MEREDA), as well as a member of the Sebago Lake Region Chamber of Commerce. Larry resides in Windham with his wife and two sons.

Dan Hancock, WEDC Treasurer

AVP/ Senior Business Officer
Gorham Savings Bank

Dan has eleven years of experience in the banking industry, including six at Gorham Savings Bank where he is currently the Senior Business Officer/AVP in the Windham office.  Dan’s primary responsibility in this role is assisting business clients with commercial financing and deposit needs.  Dan also has a strong background in residential and consumer lending and has been an instructor for the Northern New England Center of Financial Training since 2000.

Dan has a B.S. from Colby-Sawyer College in New London, NH and recently graduated from the New England School of Financial Services at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. 

In addition to serving on the board of the Windham Economic Development Corporation, Dan is actively involved with the United Way, and a member of the Sebago Lakes Rotary Club.

Chris Lanza, WEDC Board of Directors, former Vice President
Managing Director, Exchange Traded Fund Services
Foreside Financial Group – Portland, Maine

Chris has 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, including 20 years in investment management and securities processing operations, technology and product management (Portfolio Management, Trading, Transfer Agency, Fund Accounting and Custody). His experience has focused on building and fixing investment operations for high growth businesses for the following companies: Citigroup Asia, AGF Funds Canada, Price Waterhouse Consulting NYC, Charles Schwab Investment Management, and Mitsubishi Bank of California.  In addition to his U.S. experience Chris also has on the ground experience having lived in Canada, Europe and Asia. Chris currently is the head of Foreside's ExchangeTraded Fund business which services $7 billion in assets in for institutional clients.  Chris is a 1984 graduate of Northeastern University with a B.S. in Accounting.

Barbara Clark, WEDC Board of Directors
Executive Director
Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce

Barbara is the Executive Director for the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, representing 10 communities in the Sebago Lakes Region.  Barbara is a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston where she majored in Business and Marketing Management. Barbara’s many years of business experience throughout the country include her involvement as the New England President of the Telecommunication’s Community Service Program with AT&T; Director of the New England Women’s Association of Telecommunication Managers; President of Naples Main Street; Board Director for the Lakes Region Development Corporation; President of the Western Maine Lakes and Mountains Tourism Council, Vice President of the Maine Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives; regional member of the New England Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. In 2008 Barbara graduated from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute of Organizational Management Program and received her IOM national certification credit.  Barbara resides in Naples with her husband Brian.

Priscilla Cutts, WEDC Board of Directors
 

Wendy Caisse, WEDC Board of Directors
Owner
Buck's Naked BBQ

After receiving her degree in Marketing Communications from Ithaca College and a brief stint in corporate advertising in Boston, Wendyll owned and operated a full service restaurant in the Berkshires for 7 years (starting in 1990) and developed from the ground up, a catering business with banquet facilities for 250 persons and on and off premise service.  Wendyll sold her share of that restaurant and went on to manage Savori Bistro in Lenox, MA before moving to Maine.

Upon moving to Maine in 1998, Wendyll continued with the restaurant and catering industries first at the Harraseeket Inn in the event sales department, Wendyll also worked for PFG Food Service as a Sales Associate, as a Restaurant and General Business Consultant for Downeast Associates out of Boston, MA and also worked as a Restaurant Industry Recruiter for Gladieau and Goodwin Associates as the Portland, Maine Office Manager. 

In 2001, Wendy and her husband Alex went on to create their own restaurant consulting group called Caisse the Joint and worked as consultants, certified Serve Safe Trainers and founders of the Independent Restaurant Council of Maine. Wendyll has written articles for culinary magazines, and was a guest teacher at local culinary colleges. They operated the seasonal kitchen at the Portland Yacht Club from 2001 to 2004 and were the exclusive caterers at the Freeport Hampton Inn’s Gatehouse Convention Center from 2003 to 2005 and a select caterer for the USM’s Stonehouse property in Freeport.

Their catering business, Artistic Eats, blossomed and they bought Isabella’s Café in Freeport in 2003 to have a base of operations.  They sold Isabella’s in 2007.  Wendyll and Alex developed a second restaurant in Freeport in 2005, this time a start-up of their own creation, called Buck’s Naked BBQ.  The business was exceptionally successful and quickly outgrew their small, original location and they relocated to a larger facility at 568 Route One in Freeport in April of 2008.  They also opened and operated the 1912 Café in the Freeport flagship store of L.L. Bean, selling that business in the Spring of 2010, and opened a second Buck’s Naked BBQ restaurant in Windham, ME in the spring of 2010.

Wendyll has served on the Freeport Planning Board since 2006 and is currently the Chair the Freeport Economic and Development Corporations board since 2007 and is currently the Vice Chair.  Wendyll has also volunteered on the Chamber formation committee and the FCC’s interim board, the comprehensive plan and peddler cart committees.  Wendyll lives in Freeport with her husband Alex, they have a 9 year old son and a 20 year old daughter and three obnoxious dogs.