*02/13/15 ERIK JORGENSEN, MAINE LEGISLATIVE SESSION

This week we will be hearing from one of our own members, The Honorable Erik C. Jorgensen, who is serving his second term in the Maine House of Representatives. Erik will offer a preview of many of the issues to be taken up by the legislature in the coming session, especially the ambitious budget proposal put forth by Governor LePage. 

Erik is a returning member of the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs, the legislature's budget-writing committee. He has also served on the Commission to Study Transparency, Costs and Accountability of Health Care System Financing.

Erik has 25 years of experience as an administrator in Maine's educational and cultural sector. Since joining the Legislature, he has been working in that field as a consultant, and continues to serve on the boards of several nonprofit organizations.

Prior to his election in 2012, he served as the executive director of the Maine Humanities Council, a statewide educational organization and Maine's affiliate of the federal National Endowment for the Humanities. He also spent a decade as director of the Brunswick-based Pejepscot Historical Society.

Erik has overseen local history and cultural projects in schools, libraries, museums and other organizations across the state. He believes that cultural understanding is a critical underpinning of successful public policy.

He earned a bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College and a Master's degree in public administration from Harvard University, where he was a Henry Brooks fellow at the Kennedy School of Government.

Erik and his wife, Tamarra Risser, live in Portland's Deering neighborhood, along with their son, Will, a student in the Portland public schools. His district includes Deering Center and surrounding neighborhoods.