Staff

Brett Pierce is the Executive Director of Meridian Stories. He is a program developer, producer and educator who spent over 25 years working in media production that entertains around a defined curriculum.

Along with his work on Meridian Stories, Brett is the Co-Executive Producer of a new US Institute of Peace radio drama in the South Sudan, having just finished four years working on a TV series targeting Iraqi teens called Salam Shabab (“PeaceYouth”), which finished shooting its third season in the summer of 2012.

Prior to that Brett served four years as the Executive Director of Panwapa, a digital initiative about global citizenry from Sesame Workshop, the creators of Sesame Street. This project capped over 8 years as a Supervising International Producer for Sesame Workshop, working on projects about a wide range of topics including math, science and conflict-resolution. He has worked in over 20 countries including China, Macedonia, Indonesia, Poland, Cyprus, Mexico and Ecuador.

Brett holds Master Degrees from both Middlebury College and Columbia University, and a BA from Kenyon College. Brett lives in Maine with his wife, Kerry Michaels, and two children.

Board of Advisors

Kathy Biberstein is a Sr. Vice President and General Counsel, Alkermes, a global biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Boston, MA. Ms. Biberstein held several senior legal positions prior to joining Alkermes in 2003, including General Counsel and member of the Executive Committee at Serono in Geneva, Switzerland from 1993 to 2000, where she built a worldwide legal department. Just prior to joining Alkermes, Ms. Biberstein was Of Counsel at Crowell & Moring LLC, and earlier in her career, Ms. Biberstein was a member of the Executive Board of the World Economic Forum. Ms. Biberstein received a Bachelor of Science degree from Kettering University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School.

Dr. Sarah Childress is a Research Associate and Adjunct Lecturer in Film Studies at Bowdoin College. After spending ten years as an advertising executive, Sarah earned her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University. Sarah has taught Introduction to Film Studies as well as courses in avant-garde cinema, documentary cinema, and Latin American cinema at Vanderbilt University and Bowdoin College.

Dr. Christina Finneran is the Director of Academic Technology and Consulting within Information Technology at Bowdoin College. She provides strategy and vision for enhancing teaching and learning via technology. Along with technology training for Bowdoin faculty, staff and students, Dr. Finneran oversees the support of technology that supports student learning, such as digital storytelling, mobile learning, academic software, and the learning management system. She has a bachelors of science from Cornell University, a master’s degree in geographic information systems from the University of Buffalo, and a master¹s of library and information science and Ph.D. from Syracuse University.

Gregg Gettas has been a feature film, television and internet producer/writer for 35 years, working for, among others, Warner Brothers, Jim Henson, CBS, Sesame Workshop, Disney Interactive, LeapFrog Toys and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.  Currently, Gregg is a doctoral student at Columbia University in New York City where his studies combine organizational psychology with counseling psychology.

Dr. Fiona Wilson joined the faculty of the Whittemore School of Business at the University of New Hampshire in Fall 2011. Previously, she spent 9 years on the faculty at the Simmons School of Management, in Boston, MA, where she taught MBA and Executive Education courses in Business Strategy, with a special focus on the intersection of strategy and society/sustainability, as well as running experiential, study abroad and service learning courses with mission-driven, social ventures.  Dr. Wilson has undertaken extensive work with mission-driven organizations, including being the volunteer co-founder and Director of a social venture, the Team with a Vision, an initiative of the Massachusetts Association for the Blind, where she also served on the Board of Trustees.

Drew Wing is the Executive Director of Boys to Men in Maine, a nonprofit that targets the healthy development of adolescent boys. Drew moved into the position of director after several years as a business developer for a commercial construction company. While at Michigan State University, Drew received an undergraduate degree in Employment Relations and most recently completed his Master’s degree in Theology at Bangor Theological Seminary. His goal has been to become involved with pastoral counseling and social service work, making Boys to Men a perfect fit for his education, interests and experience. Drew is an avid outdoorsman and takes every opportunity get out in the woods and on the water. He resides in Freeport with his wife, Kim and two children, Lucy and Gus.

Key Volunteers and Advisors

There have been a small host of undergraduate student interns and volunteers whose contributions have been nothing less than critical to the development and ongoing success of Meridian Stories. Without their innovative thinking and dedication, this project would not have survived. These hard workers have hailed from Bowdoin College, Colby College, the New England School of Communications and Southern Maine Community College.

• Stephanie Bond
• Molly Clark
• Sasha Davis
• Ben Guido
• Sydney Hammond
• Sarah Hirschfeld
• Betty Mercier
• Jared Morneau
• Alexander Morris
• Rachel Pollinger
• Caelin Weiss
• Cole Whitney