Since co-founding PC’s for Maine with her husband Chris in 2002, Jodi has personally connected thousands of people with the computers and training they need to improve their lives.
As our Executive Director, Jodi is responsible for helping people from all walks of life and every type of challenging situation to “get IT.” and improve their lives. To say that give IT. get IT. is Jodi’s passion is a radical understatement. From providing step-by-step instructions to new clients who need help setting up their new computers to stepping away from the dinner table to provide technical support on a Saturday night, Jodi’s devotion to every client is without limits.
In addition to working with every client, Jodi maintains give IT. get IT.’s relationships with all of our partner organizations, including The Hope Program, Goodwill Industries, the Eastern Maine Development Corporation, and dozens of libraries and vocational rehab programs throughout New England. When these organizations refer a person in a challenging situation to Jodi, they know she will treat them with dignity, respect, and a profound sense of urgency to get them the technology, support, and training they need to turn their lives around.
Jodi and her husband Chris live in Waterville, where they enjoy visiting their children and grandchildren and exploring the Maine woods every chance they get.
Chris’s fascination with computers began when he took the $200 he earned from stacking firewood and mowing lawns to purchase a Commodore Vic20 from Radio Shack when he was 11-years old. That was many years ago, but Chris still gets just as excited about technology today as he did when he was a kid, only now, he’s more interested in sharing that experience with others.
As our co-founder and Operations Director, Chris oversees the “give IT.” side of our organization which involves convincing businesses throughout New England to use our certified e-waste recycling services. Retired corporate technology is the lifeblood of give IT. get IT. Each piece of equipment we receive from our recycling clients has one of three different outcomes:
Working closely with our Operations Manager Ray Buker, Chris makes sure every part of our recycling operation runs at peak efficiency. Chris is equally passionate about delivering maximum value for our recycling clients and producing the best technology tools possible for our “get IT.” clients.
Chris and his wife (and our Executive Director) Jodi live in Waterville, just minutes from our facility. When Chris isn’t supporting our team, talking with New England area businesses, or working with our board of directors to find new efficiencies and technology sources, he loves exploring the Maine woods with Jodi and spoiling their grandchildren.
In 2007, Chris Martin decided to start an electronics recycling business to acquire the computers he and Jodi needed to fulfill PC’s For Maine’s digital inclusion mission. Chris and Jodi made this decision from their home in Stockton Springs, Maine. They realized that to service the entire state, they needed a central Maine location and a knowledgeable Operations Manager to oversee it. His search for a viable warehouse space led him to Waterville and his search for an operations person led him to Ray Buker.
E-Waste Alternatives, the company Chris and Ray co-founded is now give IT. get IT. and Ray is still as indispensable to our daily operation as he was when Chris first hired him to help start the business. Throughout his career, Ray has been a chef, a painter, and a construction worker. At the time he met Chris, he was working as a supervisor at a local tannery where he learned how to manage people and processes. Ray’s diverse background and relentless work ethic made him the perfect person to turn an empty warehouse into a fully operational recycling facility.
Today, Ray manages our team in the collection, cataloging, disassembly, cleaning, refurbishing and distribution of every piece of electronics equipment that arrives at our facility. He leads by example every day and provides one-on-one coaching and training in our latest processes and procedures.
Marty Duggan retired from Sappi Fine Paper North after a 45-year career in IT. He went from working as a keypunch operator in the Navy to leading Sappi’s IT Service Center to exceptional levels of customer satisfaction. To put the 28 years Marty spent at Sappi in perspective; his first project was to help the Accounting department understand how this new tool called a Personal Computer could do away with all of their green sheets and make them more productive.
Throughout Marty’s extraordinary career, he prided himself on figuring out how to improve an existing system before replacing it with a new one. A skill that would make him a terrific fit for give IT. get IT. from the moment he met our co-founder Chris Martin in 2011. Marty had been tasked with cleaning out 20+ years of e-waste from the basement storage area of Sappi’s Boston office. After searching Maine companies for a responsible certified recycler, he found E-Waste Alternatives and the rest is history.
Two years later, Marty retired from Sappi but agreed to work for E-Waste Alternatives as a consultant. For the next 2 years Marty assisted with process improvement, process documentation, management coaching, team building, 2 Second Lean, and financial reporting. Marty even developed a training program for our customers. When Marty decided to retire for good, he agreed to remain an integral and cherished part of our organization as a member of our board of directors.
Today, Marty still hates to throw out anything that has a useful remaining life. Instead of computers, these days Marty and his wife enjoy restoring vintage pieces of furniture that other people left for disposal. The couple lives in Standish where Marty also serves on the Board of Directors of the Pickerel Pond Association and the Board of Trustees for the Steep Falls Library.
With over 16 years of leadership experience as executive director of the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce, Jaimie has an extensive background in assisting businesses with goal setting, marketing strategies and management. As a Governor’s Account Executive for the Maine Dept. of Economic and Community Development, Jaimie worked collaboratively across state government to help resolve business-related issues and match businesses with the resources and assistance that they require. Her service territory included Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, Sagadahoc, Piscataquis and Penobscot Counties.
Today, Jaimie is a business consultant who works one-on-one with businesses to help them navigate the state bureaucracy and to serve as a knowledgeable and professional economic development liaison whose primary responsibility is to help businesses succeed and grow. She actively engages businesses, trade associations, chambers of commerce, regional economic development entities, municipalities and counties to spread the word about the services DECD offers. She also gleans and conveys information on opportunities, ongoing business challenges and criticisms to the Governor’s office so that improvements can more easily be made.
Jaimie joined the board of give IT. get IT. in 2020 and is an essential supporter of our business development and government relations efforts. She lives in Boothbay Harbor with her husband, Bill, and their 18-year-old cat Cosmo. When she’s not helping businesses grow, Jaimie enjoys cooking, reading, gardening, boating, water and land-based fitness programs, and traveling.
Scott Blake is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Bangor Savings Bank. A member of the bank’s Leadership Committee, Scott is responsible for overseeing the Information Technology, Business Intelligence, and Project Management units of the bank. Among other previous positions, he was Chief Information Security Officer of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, where he created an enterprise-level information security program, and Vice President for Information Security of BindView Corporation, where he led advanced technology strategy and information security research.
Scott holds a MA in Sociology from Brandeis University, a BA in Social Sciences from Bard College at Simon’s Rock, and the Certified Financial Planner™ and Certified Information Security Manager designations. Scott has served on and led the boards of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, FUSION: Bangor, and Simon’s Rock Alumni Leadership Council. In addition to give IT. get IT., he currently serves on the board of the Maine Development Foundation. He has also participated in numerous academic, civic, nonprofit, and industry activities and councils. Scott lives in Bangor, Maine with his family and is an avid skier, sailor, and traveler.
Dennis Tuttle first connected with give IT. get IT. in 2016 when he was the Director of Information Technology and Security at Covenant Health. In this role, Dennis gained firsthand experience with our recycling services when he worked with us to clean up the obsolete stockpiles of technology at St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s hospitals in Nashua NH, and Bangor, ME. When a positioned opened on our board in 2019, we were delighted when Dennis accepted our invitation and have benefitted mightily from his extensive experience in IT security.
In addition to upgrading Covenant Health’s electronic medical system, Dennis led the modernization of a $1.4 billion bank’s remote computing platform and the upgrade of their human capital management software. Dennis was also pivotal in the merger between Northeast Bank and a Boston-based investment firm. He led the integration effort that built out a new corporate headquarters and colocation of computing infrastructure in Boston. After spending the last two years at Colby College in Waterville, Dennis is excited to be starting a new position at Cross Insurance where he will lead the build out of a new security operations center for their entire organization.
Dennis received his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern Maine and his Master of Sciences degree in Computer Information Systems from Boston University. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) through ISC2. An avid bicyclist, Dennis is a 12-year participant in the American Lung Association’s Trek Accross Maine. He is also a 10-year participant in the Dempsey Challenge which has inspired him to volunteer at the Dempsey Center for Hope and Healing.
Dennis lives in Auburn with wife Lydia, their daughter Sage and their golden retriever Baxter.
After graduating from the University of New England with a BS in Medical Biology, Seth indulge his passion for entrepreneurship by purchasing the Pine Point Market in Scarborough. The four years Seth spent running this coastal convenience store gave him priceless insight into the demands small business owners face and the importance of having an effective inventory management system.
In 2009, Seth felt the urge to put his degree to work and joined IDEXX as a Business Analyst where he was responsible for creating the software requirements for a suite of veterinary software and instruments. During his time at IDEXX, Seth joined the company’s Sustainability Committee where he developed a keen interest in streamlining the flow of the company’s retired tech. Seth’s research lead him to Chris Martin where his influence established one of our longest-running and most productive recycling partner relationships.
With 20+ years’ Information Management experience, Seth Gillis has extensive experience in Application and Data warehouse development. Seth has developed several successful small businesses and provided many years of IT consulting services to the Retail, Education, Banking, and Health care sectors in Maine and New Hampshire.
A native of Lewiston, Seth graduated from University of New England in ‘96 with a B.S. in Medical Biology. Seth currently resides in Portland with his wife and children.
While Kevin has officially retired from our board of directors, he remains a phone call away to provide Chris with the invaluable advice and guidance he’s so generously offered since 2011. At that time, Chris was struggling with how to organize our Waterville facility to process both e-waste and cardboard. The Plant Manager at Sappi Paper learned about Chris through the company’s sustainability committee and thought that Kevin’s IT background and Six Sigma Black Belt certification could be helpful. Kevin became enamored with our mission immediately. Over the next three years, he devoted many hours helping us grow from a scrambling non-profit organization to an R2 certified recycling service trusted by some of the largest companies in New England.
While Kevin has officially retired from our board of directors, he remains a phone call away to provide Chris with the invaluable advice and guidance he’s so generously offered since 2011. At that time, Chris was struggling with how to organize our Waterville facility to process both e-waste and cardboard. The Plant Manager at Sappi Paper learned about Chris through the company’s sustainability committee and thought that Kevin’s IT background and Six Sigma Black Belt certification could be helpful. Kevin became enamored with our mission immediately. Over the next three years, he devoted many hours helping us grow from a scrambling non-profit organization to an R2 certified recycling service trusted by some of the largest companies in New England.
Professionals and advocates ranging from Workforce development, education, public libraries, Corporate IT and many other fields help us locate sponsors for our Digital Inclusion projects, computer donations, corporate recycling program partners and a host of other resources and outreach that we could not hope to do alone. Many of these folks join or advise our board of directors and have been immensely helpful in building this organization into the powerhouse that it is today.
As a non-profit organization, we at give IT. get IT. owe it to our clients and supporters to apply the overwhelming majority of our resources toward connecting people in need with the technology they require to fulfill their dreams. Digital inclusion is the “get IT.” side of our organization. Our dedication to it doesn’t leave much money for advertising to connect with the businesses throughout New England we depend on to “give IT.”