The Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce Board Members Susan Beemer, of Cornerspring Montessori School, and Erin Merrifield, of RE/MAX Jaret & Cohn Real Estate, have been promoted from within the Board to take on the roles of President and Vice President, respectively.

Additionally, Terri Tower, of Camden National Bank, and Megan Day, of Waldo County General Hospital, have joined the Board of Directors. Board President Alex Hawthorne, of Mathews Brothers, and Vice President Rob Fowler, of Waldo County General Hospital, both termed out after 6 years on the Board.

“The Chamber is very grateful for their leadership and contributions and wish them the very best,” said the Chamber, in a news release.

Susan Beemer, Head of School of Cornerspring Montessori School for the past seven years, holds a BS in Home Economics Education with an emphasis on Family Life and Child Development from Minnesota State University — Mankato. Beemer has worked in early education for over thirty‐five years, serving as a parent educator, preschool teacher, and administrator. With expertise in nonprofit management and small business administration, Beemer will lead the Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors in supporting the development and care of the Chamber staff and its members as it continues its mission to champion a thriving business environment for its members through promotion, networking, advocacy, community partnerships and access to relevant information.

Beemer currently lives in the woods in Searsport with her husband, Jeff, and beagle Chewie. Her two grown children live in the NYC area and visits with her grandchildren are the highlight of vacations and holidays. Beemer also enjoys baking, sewing, crocheting, gardening, hiking and a good snowstorm.

Erin Merrifield is a Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Jaret & Cohn in Belfast and currently serves as the companies' CEO, overseeing their five offices and Agents throughout Mid‐Coast Maine. For over a decade, Merrifield 's career was focused on Marine Safety and Aquatic Education. Working for McMillan Offshore Survival Training, she traveled the coast of Maine and New England instructing emergency preparedness and marine safety education to commercial fishermen and mariners. From 2010‐2016 she served as the Aquatics Director at the Waldo County YMCA developing and expanding the Aquatic programming offered and teaching the community children to swim safely and enjoy the water. Merrifield joined the Board of Directors for the Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce three years ago and is excited to step into this new role as Vice President. She looks forward to supporting Sue Beemer's goals in continuing the mission of our Chamber to champion a thriving business environment here in Waldo County, support the staff, and engage with the members.

Merrifield is a proud member of the Belfast Rotary Club and enjoys volunteering and supporting the Waldo County YMCA's programs. Merrifield grew up here in Waldo County and considers it a privilege to give back to the community that has provided her with so much. She is now raising her family here and lives in Belmont with her husband. Josh, two boys, and yellow lab Zoey.

Terri Tower, Vice President and Banking Center Manager III of Camden National Bank, has over eighteen years of banking experience. She currently leads her team in the Belfast Banking Center. Prior to joining Camden National Bank in 2018, Tower was a Vice President at Bank of America where she was asked to move to Atlanta, GA to assist. She resided in the Atlanta area for seven years.

Tower has experience in credit, sales and marketing, lending, loss prevention, retail banking and relationship management. She has always led teams to exceed performance metrics and be in top percentile of ranking reports. In addition to leading her team, she is responsible for building, deepening, and maintaining strong customer relationships by sharing the bank’s products and services that best fit their needs and situation. She works closely with consumers and small business owners to achieve all their financial goals.

Under her leadership the Belfast branch has been recognized as a top performing branch four years running based on all areas of performance.

Tower is active in the community. In addition to joining the Chamber Board of Directors, she can often be found with her church wherever there is a need. She graduated top ten in her class from BAHS and was a member of NHS and FBLA.

Megan Day is the Communications and Public Affairs Manager for Waldo County General Hospital, where she works with leaders at all levels to develop and execute internal and external communication strategies. Before joining the communications department, she began her hospital career as part of the community health team, coordinating outreach and developing health education programming and marketing for the Journey to Health program. During that time, she was honored with an award of excellence in creative design from the New England Society for Healthcare Communications for the Journey to Health program guide.

Day has more than a decade of marketing and communications experience, including writing, graphic design, and social media management. Day received a bachelor’s degree in English from Bates College and a certificate in Marketing Strategy from Cornell University.

Day lives in Belmont. A lifelong Waldo County resident, she is passionate about fostering a healthy and vibrant community. She is an avid gardener who enjoys spending time with her family, reading, running, swimming, and “adventuring” around her home state.