MEREDA Matters

After 28 years and owning one of Maine’s largest commercial real estate portfolios, Jim Howard remains a name you might not know. On the latest MEREDA Matters, host Justin Laverriere and co-host Andrew Silsby, President and CEO of Kennebec Savings Bank, sit down with the founder of Priority Group to unpack the quiet playbook behind 62 property companies across Maine and New Hampshire. They trace H...

What does AI actually mean for the people who build, design, and invest in the places we live and work — and what's hype versus reality? In this episode, we sit down with Steve Weikal, industry chair of MIT's Real Estate Transformation Lab and managing partner of the MET Fund, alongside Maine-based architect and Woodhull founding partner Caleb Johnson, for a wide-ranging conversation that's equal...

https://legislature.maine.gov/committee/#Committees/HED

Maine is in the midst of a housing affordability crisis, but the issue is far more complex than rising prices. In this episode of MEREDA Matters, Dr. Chris Herbert of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and Elizabeth Frazier, Partner at Pierce Atwood sit down with MEREDA President, Shannon Richards to unpack why the system is strained, where the bottlenecks really sit, and what it will take...

Corinne Watson, Co-Founder of Tiny Homes of Maine, and Kevin Hancock, Managing Owner of Hancock Lumber, sit down with MEREDA Vice President Jenn Small for MEREDA Matters - the podcast that lets you listen in on conversations with the people driving responsible development in Maine. In this episode, Watson and Hancock talk about their partnership and plans for scaling Tiny Homes of Maine. Now locat...

Andrew Silsby, President and CEO of Kennebec Savings Bank, and Tim Soley, President and CEO of East Brown Cow, sit down for MEREDA Matters - the podcast that lets you listen in on conversations with the people driving responsible development in Maine. In this episode Silsby sits in the interviewer chair and asks Soley about his path to real estate development and his passion and drive for the work...

Bob Montgomery-Rice, President and CEO of Bangor Savings Bank, and Matthew Lewis, Director of Four Directions Development Corporation, sit down with MEREDA President Shannon Richards for MEREDA Matters - the podcast that lets you listen in on conversations with the people driving responsible development in Maine. In this episode, Montgomery-Rice and Lewis share their insight on the development lan...

Michael Barton, Managing Director of Real Estate Development at Reveler, and Jason Howe, Partner and chair of the Real Estate and Finance Practice Group at Preti Flaherty, sit down with MEREDA President Shannon Richards for MEREDA Matters - the podcast that lets you listen in on conversations with the people driving responsible development in Maine. In this episode, Barton and Howe share their ins...

Matt O’Malia, Co-Founder and CEO of TimberHP, and Ben Herzog, Wood Technologist at the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, sit down with MEREDA President Shannon Richards for MEREDA Matters - the podcast that lets you listen in on conversations with people driving responsible development in Maine. In this episode, O’Malia, who is a licensed architect and manufactures w...

Elizabeth (Beth) Frazier, Partner at Pierce Atwood, and Jason Howe, Partner and chair of the Real Estate and Finance Practice Group at Preti Flaherty, sit down with MEREDA President Shannon Richards for MEREDA Matters - the podcast that lets you listen in on conversations with people driving responsible development in Maine. In this episode, Frazier and Howe provide a legislative update, setting t...

Ryan Kanteres of Simons Architects, Paul Becker of Thornton Tomasetti, and Matt Tonello of Consigli Construction sit down with MEREDA President Shannon Richards for MEREDA Matters - the podcast that lets you listen in on conversations with people driving responsible development in Maine. The group discusses mass timber - an engineered product that can perform like steel beams. Kanteres, Becker, an...

Greg Payne, Senior Advisor on Housing Policy at The Governor’s Office of Policy, Innovation and the Future, sits down with MEREDA President Shannon Richards for the fifth episode in the second season of MEREDA Matters - the podcast that lets you listen in on conversations with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine. Payne, whose work is focused on addressing the housing crisis...

Josh Levy, Principal & Co-Founder of Waterstone Properties, sits down with MEREDA President Shannon Richards for the fourth episode in the second season of MEREDA Matters - the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine. Levy, who is behind the 100 acre Rock Row project in Westbrook, talks about growing up in Cape Cod and having an early pass...

Chantal Harris, Director of Monson Arts, and Stuart Kestenbaum, Senior Advisor at Monson Arts and the former Director of Haystack and previous Maine Poet Laureate, sit down with MEREDA President Shannon Richards for the second episode in Season 2 of MEREDA Matters - the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine. Harris and Kestenbaum, two pr...

From The Grant , Sean Ireland, a Principal at Windward Development, and Mandy Reynolds, a real estate development consultant, sit down with MEREDA President Shannon Richards for the first episode in Season 2 of MEREDA Matters - the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine. Ireland, who grew up in Phippsburg and Cumberland, talks about why h...

Incoming President of MEREDA Shannon Richards sits with current MEREDA President Craig Young and immediate past President Josh Fifield for the eighteenth episode of MEREDA Matters - the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine. Richards, who is the Founder of the design-build firm Hay Runner, shares the origin of her company, including the...

Mayor of Portland Mark Dion sits down with MEREDA President Craig Young and MEREDA Board Member and MaineHousing’s Senior Director of Government Relations and Communications Erik Jorgensen, for the seventeenth episode of MEREDA Matters - the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine. Dion, who grew up in Lewiston, discusses his life-long car...

The founders of GreenMars – Nate Green, Lead Developer, and Chris Marshall, Business Manager – sit down with MEREDA President Craig Young and MEREDA Board Member Josh Soley, for the sixteenth episode of MEREDA Matters - the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine. Green and Marshall discuss how they search for development opportunities by...

Kevin Bunker, Principal of Developers Collaborative; Greg Payne, Senior Advisor on Housing Policy at the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future; and Danielle West, City Manager in Portland, sat down with MEREDA President Craig Young for a MEREDA Morning Menu event on February 1st entitled ‘Housing the Unhoused and Asylum Seekers.’ The thought-provoking discussion was recorded and re...

Rebecca Hatfield, President & CEO of Avesta Housing, and Ed Gardner Broker/Owner of Gardner Real Estate Group, sit down with MEREDA President Craig Young and MEREDA Vice President Shannon Richards for the fourteenth episode of MEREDA Matters - the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine. The group delves into an important topic: Diversity,...

Jeanne Hulit, President and CEO of Maine Community Bank, and Steve deCastro, President and CEO of Gorham Savings Bank, sit down with MEREDA Board Member Josh Soley for the thirteenth episode of MEREDA Matters - the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine. Hulit and deCastro share how the recent merger of Gorham Savings Bank and Maine Commu...

Tom Watson, Founder of Reveler Development and John Laliberte, CEO of Reveler Development, sit down with MEREDA President Craig Young for the twelfth episode of MEREDA Matters - the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine. Watson shares how he got his start in real estate development with a four-unit building and talks about why, after ear...

Maine Senator Matt Pouliot of Augusta and House Representative Traci Gere of Kennebunk sit down with MEREDA President Craig Young and Pierce Atwood attorney and government relations’ advocate Elizabeth Frazier for the eleventh episode of MEREDA Matters -the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine. Both Senator Pouliot and Representative Ge...

Ken Entenmann, Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Office and Chief Economist at NBT Bank, sits down with MEREDA President Craig Young and Senior Director of Affordable Housing at NBT Bank Kim Twitchell (formerly Maine Regional President of NBT Bank) for the tenth episode of MEREDA Matters - the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine....