Posted by Bob Martin

Erik Jorgensen, a member of Portland Rotary, also sits in the Maine Legislature representing Maine House District 41, which includes Deering Center and some of the Portland neighborhoods near USM. Elected to the Legislature in 2012, he has served on the Joint Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs, the legislative body responsible for developing and overseeing the state budget. He has been particularly focused on working to make sure that urban issues, especially Portland’s unique needs, are not forgotten in Augusta.

Erik’s professional career includes more than 25 years working in Maine educational and cultural organizations. He served as director of the Pejepscot Historical Society in Brunswick for ten years, and from 1999-2012 worked for the Maine Humanities Council where he served as the Executive Director for five and a half of those. When the Legislature is not in session, he works on various consulting assignments.

Erik earned his bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College, and an MPA from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he received the Henry Brooks Public Service Fellowship.

He has served on a number of boards and community groups, at the local, state-wide and national levels, including over 20 years as an active member of Rotary. He has served on the board of directors of the Maine Center for Economic Policy; the board of Good Will-Hinckley, and two charitable foundations. A former chair of the MPBN Community Advisory Board, his activities outside of Maine has included the board of the Project on Civic Reflection, a Chicago-based program that uses literature and history to help provide insight into civic and community issues; and, the Board of Directors of the Federation of State Humanities Councils.

Erik has lived in Greater Portland since the 1980’s, and been a Deering neighborhood resident since 2000, along with his wife, Tamara Risser, and their son, Will, a student in the Portland Public schools.