Emalee Couture Contributed photo
Dirigo Labs hires Emalee Couture as growth manager
WATERVILLE — Central Maine Growth Council recently announced the appointment of Emalee Couture as growth manager for Dirigo Labs, a Waterville-based startup accelerator. Couture will be responsible for developing and managing relationships with a variety of organizations, startups, founders and business professionals across New England, catalyzing entrepreneurship and innovation for both the mid-Maine region and the accelerator to ensure successful use of the Dirigo Labs platforms and suite of services.
“Maine has always felt like home to me,” said Couture in a news release from the council. “I grew up here, went to school here, and I’m so excited to be back in the state I love and have the opportunity to work for Dirigo Labs to support the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the central Maine region.”
CMGC designed and led the initiative to create Dirigo Labs, encouraging the establishment of a vibrant startup hub for the mid-Maine region. In 2020, CMGC received a federal grant from the U.S. Economic Development Agency’s Build-to Scale Venture Challenge to implement the $1.2M project. Core to the initiative will be the development of an innovation hub model that combines an entrepreneurship center, coworking space for remote workers, and an accelerator platform that empowers and connects entrepreneurs and startups with the innovation ecosystem, venture funding, and an entrepreneurial community to aggressively scale and master their business.
Couture previously served as an associate officer at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology — Technology Licensing Office where she was responsible for evaluating and protecting inventions and working with entrepreneurs and established companies to execute on intellectual property agreements, enabling the commercialization of MIT inventions. She graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in May 2018 with a bachelor of science in engineering physics with a concentration in mechanical engineering.
Applications for the accelerator will open in late 2021, with an anticipated launch in early 2022. For more information about Dirigo Labs and Central Maine Growth Council, visit centralmaine.org.
Andrew Alexander Contributed photo
Richmond Area Health Center welcomes Alexander as family nurse practitioner
RICHMOND — The Richmond Area Health Center welcomes Andrew “Andy” Alexander as its newest family nurse practitioner. Alexander looks forward to providing medical care to his hometown of Richmond and the surrounding communities. He brings experience from both direct patient care and larger operational and training efforts at various hospitals.
He obtained his master of science in nursing degree at Walden University in Minnesota, and his undergraduate nursing degree at the University of New England in Biddeford. He has 15 years of experience as a registered nurse in a variety of settings. Most recently, he completed his final clinical rotation at the Richmond Area Health Center while training under Melissa Hackett, a nurse practitioner.
Alexander joins soon-to-retire physician Linda Hermans, podiatrist Henry Scheuller, and nurse practitioners Melissa Hackett, Tom Bartol and Jessica Krol. Richmond Area Health Center clinicians offer medical and behavioral health services, serving patients of all ages.
Richmond Area Health Center is a part of HealthReach Community Health Centers, a group of 12 federally qualified health centers located across central and western Maine. Providers offer medical and behavioral healthcare in nine of Maine’s 16 counties. To ensure access for everyone, HealthReach accepts Medicare, MaineCare and major insurance providers.
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