CAMDEN — The Stewardship Education Alliance (S.E.A.) has tapped three new members to the local nonprofit’s Board of Directors. The announcement comes from S.E.A. president and Board chairman, Barbara Lawrence.

The year-old nonprofit works to increase community awareness of the importance of stewardship in protecting the Midcoast’s water resources and fragile watersheds. With S.E.A. support, students, teachers and communities are benefitting from grants for special watershed-related projects, activities and professional development.

Joee Patterson, originally from Anchorage, Alaska and a graduate of Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, moved to Maine in 2007 to pursue her interest in sailing traditionally rigged boats. Since then she has cultivated a diverse skill set in the marine trades while working at boat yards in Midcoast Maine, and while restoring and sailing traditional craft with her husband, Tim Clark.

From 2016 – 2019 Patterson helped facilitate oceanographic, biological and geologic field research on a 350 ft. research vessel/ice breaker in Antarctica as part of the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

In addition to her work with USAP, Patterson, who holds a USCG 100 ton inland masters license, has worked as development coordinator for Friends of Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge; an advisory board member for Maine’s First Ship; a crew member on the Mystic Seaport Museum’s historic wooden whale ship, Charles W. Morgan; and as a schooner-based educator overseeing onboard programs in marine ecology, marine sampling, environmental education and navigation.

When not participating in sailing voyages or science expeditions, Patterson is at home in Lincolnville, indulging her passion for nature through photography, and contributing to science education and environmental stewardship in Maine.

Jay Burnett is a retired magazine editor and entrepreneur, having spent more than 25 years with publications in Alabama, Rodale Press in Pennsylvania and Morris Communications in Florida before founding Bold Bean Coffee Roasters, Inc., a certified organic, specialty coffee company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

A former board member and past president of the Florida Magazine Association, he is the recipient of more than 60 state, regional and national awards for feature writing, opinion, service journalism, magazine production and photography. 

A native of Alabama, he is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of Tennessee, where during that time he worked as an Extension communications specialist at both schools, and later with the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium in Charleston, South Carolina.

A Florida Master Naturalist, he was named in 2016 by the Florida Times-Union as one of 13 “Visionaries for the New Jacksonville,” which cited his company, Bold Bean Coffee Roasters, for creating that city’s flourishing coffee culture, and his company’s roastery and shops as idea salons in and for a “new” Jacksonville.

He and his wife Maureen live in Camden.

A native Mainer, Sarah Doudera credits her sense of adventure and passion for the outdoors as helping her develop the diverse set of skills and experiences she brings to the S.E.A. Board.

She and her husband Matthew ran and operated dive charter businesses in the Caribbean prior to returning home to Maine. Doudera has worked with the Nature Conservancy on coral restoration, co-founded a community supported fishery, and crewed aboard traditional rigged educational schooners and mega-yachts.

A USCG master captain, PADI divemaster and marine biologist, Doudera’s most recent work includes kelp aquaculture at Maine Sea Farms on the Damariscotta River.

A graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a degree in marine biology, Doudera is currently completing a master’s degree in marine science at the University of Maine. She lives in Hope with her husband, two young boys and their dog, Marlin.

S.E.A,. www.stewardshipeducationalliance.com, has been supporting public and private school educators and after-school programs in Camden and Rockport since 2020, and in January expanded its support to also include public and independent schools in Appleton, Hope and Lincolnville.