Island Institute recently appointed four new members to its board of trustees. Each member will support and guide the Institute’s mission to boldly navigate climate and economic change with island and coastal communities to expand opportunities and deliver solutions.

"It is with great enthusiasm that I welcome four exceptional individuals to our board of trustees,” said Kristin Howard, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Island Institute, in a news release. “These new members exemplify our diligent efforts to maintain a diverse board of experts dedicated to championing Maine’s coast and advancing our mission."

"The new trustees are joining Island Institute during a period of notable momentum and impact,” said Kimberly A. Hamilton, PhD, President of Island Institute. “I deeply appreciate their contributions and insights that will further enhance Island Institute’s role as a steadfast and strong community partner with bold aspirations for the future."

John Conley is a Board Member and Investor at Boston’s Launchpad Venture Group, the largest angel investor group on the East Coast and serves on the boards of its healthcare portfolio companies. He was a co-founder of the RNA-interference therapeutics company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals where he held the position of Vice President, Strategy and Finance, and CFO through its successful 2004 IPO (NASD: ALNY). Over ten years at Biogen he served in several marketing, business development, sales, and finance positions, including Country Manager - United Kingdom and Ireland, and Treasurer. He was a Manager at the strategy consulting firm Bain & Company.

He has been the Chief Operating Officer of Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll), a nonprofit accelerating economic and social impact through fostering entrepreneurship in under-resourced communities. He previously served as Board Chair of the Greater Boston YMCA and for the past ten years has been a Director of the national YMCA of the USA, during which he has served as Chair of its Investment Committee, Treasurer, and Chair of Finance and Audit Committee, and Chair, Strategy Committee.

Conley currently volunteers at EforAll, Yale's Program on Entrepreneurship, Harvard's Innovation Labs, and MIT's Venture Mentoring Service. He graduated with a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He was a 2014 Fellow in the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University.

Des FitzGerald graduated from Harvard University in 1975 then attended a year of graduate school at the University of Washington, College of Fisheries, in Seattle before founding Ducktrap River Fish Farm the following year. Des sold a portion of his company to Continental Grain and a year later was named CEO of ContiSea a holding company made up of Ducktrap River Fish Farm and Atlantic Salmon of Maine.

He worked as a management consultant with Brimstone Consulting for two years and taught a class on “Leadership for the 21st Century” at the University of Maine as an adjunct Professor in the Business School from 2003 through 2007. In December 2008, Des became the VP of Business Development for Principle Power Inc., a deep-water wind technology company based in Seattle Washington. FitzGerald then worked for the Maine Venture Fund (MVF) from 2012 to 2018 as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR). He worked with several portfolio company boards and management to help in their governance, execution, and strategic thinking. In 2019 FitzGerald joined the one-year Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) fellowship program at Harvard.

FitzGerald is the father of four children ages 30 to 40 and is married to Lucinda Ziesing. They live together in Rockport, Maine. He serves on the board of The Natural Resources Council of Maine, The Camden International Film Festival, The Camden Conference, The Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, Maine Businesses For Social Responsibility, Coastal Mountain Land Trust, two local school boards, and The Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership.

Nadia Rosenthal is the Scientific Director and Maxine Groffsky Endowed Chair at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine and holds a Chair in Cardiovascular Science at Imperial College London. She obtained her PhD from Harvard Medical School, where she later directed a biomedical research laboratory. Subsequently, Professor Rosenthal established a laboratory at the Cardiovascular Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-published a textbook, Heart Development, followed later by its sequel, Heart Development and Regeneration, considered the definitive text in its field.

In 2001 Professor Rosenthal established the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) campus in Rome and acted as its head until 2012. Since 2005, she has also held an endowed chair in the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London. She was Founding Director of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University (2007-2016) and was awarded an NHMRC Australia Fellowship. Rosenthal spearheaded the election of Australia to EMBL as its first Associate Member and founded EMBL Australia as its Scientific Head. Rosenthal is an EMBO member, a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science, and an NH&MRC Australia Fellow.

Dr. Rosenthal has served on the board of trustees at College of the Atlantic and MD365, on the scientific advisory board of the MDI Biological Laboratory and the Institute of Medicine at the University of Maine. She resides in Seal Harbor and on Sutton Island, where she spent summers as a child.

Mike Steinharter and his family have a lifelong commitment to Deer Isle. In addition to serving as a Board of Trustee at Island Institute, he also Chairs the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of Greater Fairfield County in Connecticut and provides pro bono consulting services to other non-profits via the National Executive Service Corp (NESC). He has retired from corporate life in the Information Technology (IT) industry, having spent 22 years with IBM and another 18 years with various IT services and software companies in Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Revenue Officer roles. Mike holds a BA degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. He is married with four children and acts as Chairman of Ospreys Echo Sea Kayaking, his son’s business, based in Stonington.

About Island Institute

The Island Institute is a 40-year-old nonprofit organization, based in Rockland, Maine, that works to sustain Maine’s island and coastal communities and is committed to a just, resilient, and vibrant future for the coast of Maine. For more information, visit islandinstitute.org.