Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is pleased to welcome several new members to the Board of Directors. We hope the brief write-ups below will help you get acquainted with all of them.

John Abbott

After graduating from Middlebury College, John joined GE Power Systems in Schenectady, N.Y., and since then has held several managerial positions in finance, information technology, and marketing for GE’s automotive and aviation divisions. He is currently President and CEO of the Asset Management Group at Aviation Financial Services, leading GE Capital Aviation Services’ aviation equipment finance businesses in Stamford, Conn.

John and his wife, Nancy, divide their time between homes in Fairfield, Conn.; Ocean Point in Boothbay, Maine; and Punta Gorda, Fla.  John serves on the board and several committees of the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor and has served on Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens’ Board of Overseers and Finance Committee.  He and Nancy are active members of the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club, Boothbay Region YMCA, and Boothbay Region Land Trust. In addition to boating, John enjoys international travel, jazz, tennis, and learning to play the guitar.

Elisabeth Kelly

Betsy retired from L.L. Bean after 25 years in marketing, product development, and merchandising. She was vice-president and founder of L.L. Bean Kids. She is past chair of the Opportunity Farm board and is a past board member of Outward Bound and the Trust for Public Land. She has also served as a trustee of the Portland Stage Company. She is not only a member of the Gardens’ Board of Directors, but is also chair the Marketing and Visitor Services Committee. She previously served as vice chair of the Board of Overseers.

Betsy, who lives in Yarmouth, is married to John Kelly and has three children and seven grandchildren.

Penelope Brigham Pollard

Penny is a retired health policy analyst who served for many years in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress, and in the private sector at The Lewin Group.  Earlier in her career, she developed and oversaw the graduate program for Pediatric Nurse Practitioners at Catholic University in Washington, DC, and previously was a Public Health Nurse for the City of Boston. 

Penny graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelors of Science; she also earned a Master of Science from Boston College, and Master of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business (with concentrations in finance and marketing).  She is currently President of the Docent Corps at the Textile Museum of Washington, DC, is on the board of Friends of Burnt Island Light, and co-chairs the Garden Committee of the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club.  She also serves as a volunteer Ambassador at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens and volunteers for the Boothbay Region YMCA and the Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club.  She served as a flag officer (secretary) for the Southport Yacht Club for eight years. 

Penny was born in West Palm Beach, Florida:  her parents were retail and wholesale florists whose clients covered a wide swath of the South Florida coast from Jupiter to Ft. Lauderdale.  She worked with Osamu Shimizu on the design and installation of the gardens of her Chevy Chase, Maryland residence.  Penny and her husband, Michael, have been long-term supporters of CMBG and are both active volunteers. Their Maine residence is on Dogfish Head on Southport Island.