Nexus Maine - Memorial Day Edition
What a week and welcome to Summer!
Wow, what an incredible week!
Massive shoutout to Katie Shorey and the Startup Maine team for pulling off a wonderful Startup Maine Week. Kudos as well to all of the Nexus community members who showed up to volunteer, speak, and learn. We had over 100 people at our coffee meetup, serving as a great reminder that the optimism, momentum, and energy of this community - and Maine more broadly - is unstoppable.
On this Memorial Day we remember all those who have served and made the ultimate sacrifice.
Lastly, if you know anyone great for this group, please send them here to apply.
Baxter the Moose grilling some burgers and hot dogs with his woodland friends. Let's include a lighthouse in the background. Make it in the style of Pixar.
What’s in this newsletter
Community Update Note
Event Highlights
Jobs & Talent
Member Spotlight: Laura Shen
Community Update Note
With upcoming improvements to our website, bigger aspirations for events and this community, and after talking with many of you directly - we have set up a stripe link for subscriptions and are charging a subscription for new slack members who joined after May 9th, 2025.
One of the major goals of this initiative is to ensure new members are incentivized to be highly engaged. For those already in this group, you are NOT required to subscribe, but we greatly appreciate any support you are all willing to provide if you find this community valuable.
Event Highlights
May 28: Dirigo Labs Pitch Competition
June 3: Build Maine Conference
June 10: Maine Center Awards
June 11: Maine Data & AI Meetup
June 18: Nexus Maine Happy Hour
These are coming back! Location TBD
Check out our Events Calendar Link in Notion for more. Are you an event owner? Submit your event here to be added to the calendar!
Nexus Jobs & Talent
Hiring:
Gulf of Maine Research Institute is hiring a Senior Program Manager
Nexus Contact: Katie Shorey
Teens to Trails is hiring an Executive Director
Nexus Contact: Mike Perna
North Spore is hiring a Retail Sales and Marketing Manager
Nexus Contact: Aleks Strub
Thos. Moser is hiring a Chief Revenue Officer and a Sales Account Executive
Nexus Contact: Jamie Storrs
Maine Initiatives is hiring a Director of Finance
Nexus Contact: Rumbi
Loop is hiring a VP of engineering
Nexus Contact: Chelsea Allen
UDisk is hiring a growth marketer
Nexus Contact: Josh Lichti
FYI - There are more postings in the #Nexus-Jobs channel in slack. If you are looking for great talent or considering your next move please reach out to Jimmy and George and we’ll help connect you!
Member Spotlight: Laura Shen
Career/Bio overview
I lead Global HR Operations & Technology at IDEXX. Before IDEXX, I was the Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at WEX managing corporate inclusion efforts and the philanthropy & community relations function. I am a recent convert to the HR / People space. I worked in consulting, finance, and international development before coming to Maine.
Why Maine?
My boyfriend (now husband) moved here for a job in 2018. I was the trailing significant other who refused to move up from Boston until I secured a job (because hybrid/remote wasn't as big of a thing then). After 8 months of networking, landed a role at WEX and have never looked back. When I moved here, I enrolled in Leadership Maine (leveraged corporate professional development funds). That was critical in exposing me to all things Maine - local industries and companies, politics, demographic trends, state economy - and solidified the decision to build my life and career here. (FYI - they're still accepting applications for the next class here)
Away from the keyboard
The balancing act of being a present mom and partner, and pursuing my own passions.
Let’s talk
Excited to build out the #non-profits channel - highlighting the organizations that members are already involved in and also connecting folks with amazing local Maine organizations. Whether that be direct service, attending an event, or opportunities to leverage your skillset to serve on non-profit boards - there's opportunity abound!
DM me or shoot me an email (lauraelizabethshen@gmail.com)
Thank you for making this community special, everyone! See you on Slack.
George & Jimmy
Thank you to our sponsor Maine Technology Institute for supporting Nexus Maine.
