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Board of Trustees - Bios

Peter Leslie of Waterford was appointed to serve on the Board of Trustees in 1995 and currently serves as Board Chair. Peter was a 1958 honors graduate of Princeton University. He worked seven years with Citibank in Brazil, then joined a New York investment bank and traveled extensively working with government and corporate clients. In 1972 he founded Leslie, Weinert & Co. Inc., an investment banking firm whose clients included governments, corporations, financial institutions, and the United Nations. In 1984, he retired from active management to devote time to public service and private business. Mr. Leslie's public and community service have included the National Commission on Responsibilities for Financing Postsecondary Education, the United States Commission on Improving the Effectiveness of the United Nations, the Committee to Study the Retirement System (The Monks Commission) the Maine Health Care Finance Commission, the Cape Elizabeth School Board, the Maine Audubon Society, the Lakes Environmental Association, the McWain Pond Association and the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.



Benedetto "Ben" Viola, in the capacity of Board Vice Chair, was named as a Trustee of MainePERS by Governor Baldacci effective in April, 2004. Mr. Viola serves in the position reserved by statute for "a state employee…who is duly elected by the Maine State Employees' Association." He is a Registered Professional Engineer and works as an Environmental Engineer in the Southern Maine Regional Office of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in Portland.



Catherine R. Sullivan of Portland was designated by retired teachers to serve on the Board. With a Bachelors degree from Mount St. Mary College and a Masters of Education from UMO, Ms. Sullivan was a teacher and school administrator for 37 years. She brings to the Board the perspective of the System's retired teacher constituency. As with all of the State's public school teachers, she was herself a System member, and she came to the Board in 1999 with a range of experience and participation in organizations with public responsibilities. In addition to her separate role as a Trustee, she serves on the Executive Committee of MEA-Retired, the Guidance Committee of National Retired Teachers Association, and as Trustee of MEA Benefits Trust. Ms. Sullivan is also a volunteer with her church and continues to be active on matters of education.



Dimitri N. Balatsos is the Chief Investment Officer of Tesseract Partners, a global investment advisory firm he founded in 1996 to provide investment management to institutions and wealthy private clients. His professional career includes positions as Senior Economic Advisor and Chief International Economist with Manufacturers Hanover Trust; Director of Global Investments and Senior Portfolio Manager with Kidder, Peabody & Co.; and Director of Business Development and Senior Portfolio Manager with Lombard Odier & Cie, a large Swiss private bank. His worldwide reputation is built on over 30 years of experience as an authority in global finance and economics. He is the author of numerous articles on global financial markets and the world economy and has appeared frequently in featured interviews in Barron’s Magazine. Mr. Balatsos was born in Athens, Greece and came to America to attend Knox College in Galesburg, IL, graduating at the top of his economics class with a BA Degree in Economics. He went on to receive an MA degree in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley, where he also completed advanced work toward a Ph.D. in Economics and served as a Teaching Fellow. He completed additional advance work in economics (ADB) at New York University in New York City.



Retired State employee and former System Trustee (1989-2003) George Burgoyne rejoins the Board having been nominated by other retirees and appointed by the Governor. Mr. Burgoyne is a graduate with a BA in History and a Masters in Public Administration, both from the University of Maine, Orono. His work experience with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services includes many positions ranging from social worker to Quality Control Supervisor. Now retired, Mr. Burgoyne has served on the Deferred Compensation Board and MSEA’s Voluntary Employee Benefits Association Board and has held many positions at MSEA. Mr. Burgoyne has served and chaired both the Bangor Zoning Board of Appeals and the Bangor Planning Board and has been an election worker for the City of Bangor for many years.



Richard T. Metivier was appointed in 2007 by the governing body of the Maine Municipal Association. Mr. Metivier had over three decades of experience in Lewiston city government, and had served as the City's Director of Finance for 30 years before retiring in 2010. A graduate of Husson College in Bangor, he is an active member of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) and its regional and State affiliates, and has held a number of leadership positions with the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, Maine Municipal Health Trust, Lewiston Municipal Federal Credit Union, and other organizations.



Bruce Poliquin, Treasurer of the State of Maine, serves ex officio as a member of the MainePERS Board of Trustees. Mr. Poliquin took office as Maine's State Treasurer on January 5, 2011. He is a third generation Waterville native, completing high school as a scholarship student at Phillips Academy, Andover. Mr. Poliquin then worked his way through Harvard University, also as a financial aid student, studying economics and graduating in 1976. Poliquin has been a private sector business owner and manager over the past 35 years. He started his career in the financial services industry in 1976 at the Harris Trust and Savings Bank in Chicago, working in the employee benefits area. Two years later, he joined Evaluation Associates, Inc. in Westport, CT, a nationally recognized pension fund consulting firm. In 1981, Mr. Poliquin became a principal of Avatar Investors Associates Corporation in New York, an independent investment management firm. Avatar Associates was managing nearly $5 billion of pension, endowment, and foundation assets when he left the company in 1996.




Kenneth L. Williams was named by Governor Baldacci effective in May, 2005. Mr. Williams is a 20-year veteran of middle school education, all at Nobleboro Central School. He taught environmental education before public school work and currently leads wilderness trips for eighth graders. Other board work for Mr. Williams has included the Pemaquid Watershed Association and the Maine Education Association. He is currently a Director and partner teacher for the Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute and Maine's public school laptop program has been a focus for him over the last three years.