Meet Our Team

Lidie Robbins

Executive Director

Lidie was a founding board member of 30 Mile and became its first executive director in 2009. A native of Vienna, Maine, Lidie began her career as a National Park Service Ranger in Yellowstone and Denali National Parks. After living in six other states, she returned to Maine and Parker Pond, where her family has lived for eight generations. She spends her time-off biking, hiking, kayaking and Nordic skiing with her husband Josh and daughter Brynne.

Kirsten Heck

Development Coordinator

Kirsten joined 30 Mile in May 2024 as a part-time staff member. A Pennsylvania native, she has 15 years of experience in the Development and Alumni/Member Engagement field. Kirsten holds a BA in Corporate Communications from Lycoming College, and an MLA from Johns Hopkins University. Her spare time is spent leading a local Girl Scout troop, participating in the Mill Stream Grange, and running a small homestead in Vienna. Kirsten, her husband Josh, and daughters Caroline and Natalie love living where they can hike, swim, kayak, snowmobile, and snowshoe – right in their backyard!

Silas Mohlar

Program Leader & Field Technician

Silas joined 30 Mile staff full time in May of 2023, but was a part of our summer seasonal staff in 2021 & 2022. He graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington with a B.S. in Environmental science in May 2023. Silas likes to spend his time off hunting, fishing, exercising, at camp, and with his family.

Frank Chin

Courtesy Boat Inspection – Program Coordinator

Frank is a watercolor artist and printmaker. He gets his art inspiration from his grandchildren and the beautiful Maine scenery. 

Frank and his wife, Patricia live in West Farmington. He loves the outdoors and wants to see the ponds, lakes and trails preserved for the generations to come. Retired from education, Frank is avid in hiking, kayaking, bicycling, cross country skiing, Tai Chi, and spending quality time with his 3 grandchildren!

Sonya Clark

Administrative Assistant

Sonya is a lifelong resident of Readfield. She has over 35 of experience in accounting, management and administration, working for Saunders Manufacturing, Potter Oil and Downeast Energy. She is semi-retired, and very active as a volunteer for local organizations including the Mt. Vernon Food Bank, the Readfield Community Library and the Town of Readfield. She began volunteering for 30MRWA in 2017 and joined the staff in 2019. She loves the outdoors and has been drawn to lakes, streams and rivers all her life, ever since her parents took her brook fishing at age five.

Andy Tolman, Treasurer

Town of Readfield

Andy is retired from the State of Maine Drinking Water Program, where he used his hydrogeologic training to help water systems and towns protect their drinking water. Over the years, he worked with many lake associations and land trusts helping to conserve water quality. Andy is Readfield’s town representative on the 30 Mile Board and lives on an old farm where he and his wife, Susie, work on their woodlot and fields. They canoe, kayak, hike, cross country ski and snowshoe regularly. Andy is active in theater and local music. He is an active amateur photographer, documenting local birds and the changing landscape.

Tom Arminio

Greater Minnehonk Lake Association

Tom is a native of Union, NJ, a 1977 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy where he received a B.S. in International Security Affairs, and a 1996 graduate of the U.S. Naval War College where he received a M.A. in National Security and Strategic Studies. Tom spent 24 years in the U.S. Navy in a variety of challenging assignments at sea and ashore, retiring as a Captain in June 2001. He made multiple deployments in the P-3 Orion aircraft. His aviation career culminated with command of Patrol Squadron 10 in Brunswick, Maine. Ashore, Tom served on both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Navy Staff, and was a faculty member at the U.S. Army War College. After retirement from the Navy, he worked for a small private-sector consulting firm as Director of Emergency Management Services. He then moved to Penn State Harrisburg where he taught in the Intercollege Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security Program. Tom and his wife, Jan, live part of the year in Mt. Vernon and part of the year in Carlisle, PA. Tom has been dedicated to the health of our lakes for several years, volunteering for courtesy boat inspections, coordinating invasive plant patrols, and serving as one of the Directors of the Greater Minnehonk Lake Association (GMLA), and most recently as GMLA’s representative on the 30 Mile Board of Directors.

Bob Capers

Basin-David-Tilton Ponds Association

In April of 2024, Bob Capers joined our Board as the representative of the Basin-David-Tilton Ponds Association. A lifelong resident of New England, Bob attended Colby College, but spent most of his working career in southern New England. He returned to Maine five years ago after retiring as a botanist from the University of Connecticut, where he also spent two years doing surveys of invasive aquatic plants. Bob began coordinating invasive plant surveys for the Basin, David and Tilton Pond Association in 2023 and welcomes opportunities to work with Mainers in learning about the natural world. He continues to do botanical research, primarily on alpine plant communities, while also doing surveys of rare plant communities in Maine and learning to identify additional species. He and his wife, Toby, now live in Fayette and enjoy hiking, canoeing, gardening and exploring the state of Maine.

Beth Trehu

At Large Member

After many years of sailing on the Maine Coast, Beth and her family spent a week at a camp on Great Pond in 2007 and were hooked on lakes. They soon bought a camp on Flying Pond and within a few years decided to move to Maine full time. Beth and her husband, Steve, live in Vienna year-round and she loves swimming, kayaking, hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and growing fruit, as well as cooking with all of the wonderful local meat and produce. She is a graduate of Princeton University and New York University Medical School and is a hematologist-oncologist who recently retired from 20+ years developing new drugs for cancer in the Cambridge, MA biotech industry. She previously served on the boards of a non-profit arts organization and a public biotech company and is currently a member of the Biotech Board of the Maine Technology Institute. She belongs to the Flying Pond Improvement Association and is a member of both the Invasive Plant Patrol and Lake Smart Evaluation teams for Flying Pond. She joins 30 Mile’s Board as the representative from Vienna.

Doug Frantzen

Echo Lake Association

Doug is Echo Lake’s representative on 30 Mile’s Board of Directors and is President of the Echo Lake Association. Doug has been coming to Echo Lake since he attended a boys camp there in the ’60’s. He lives in Falmouth, Maine during the winter and has had a camp on Echo Lake since 2003. After a 40+ year career working for an Employee Benefits company based in Portland, Maine, Doug retired in 2018. Since then, he has had the good fortune of spending all of his summers full-time on Echo. Doug and his wife Kelly enjoy all that Maine has to offer, including hiking, biking, water and snow skiing and kayaking.

Diana McLaughlin, Secretary

Lovejoy Pond Improvement Association

Diana has served 30 Mile’s Board since it began in 2008. She and her husband live in North Wayne and own a small, undeveloped parcel of land on Lovejoy Pond near the North Wayne dam. Diana has been involved in efforts to protect the watershed and conserve local land over the past two decades. Diana is now retired after a career of working for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. She enjoys hiking, kayaking, sailing, cross country skiing, swimming in Lovejoy Pond stream, and looking for wildlife.

John “Buddy” Cummings

Androscoggin Lake Improvement Corporation

Buddy has been summering on Androscoggin Lake throughout his lifetime. His grandfather, Jack Cummings, purchased the family property on the lake in the late 1920’s. Buddy is President of Androscoggin Lake Improvement Corporation, the lake leader for its invasive plant patrol (IPP) team, and the lake coordinator for its LakeSmart initiative. Buddy is also an active member of the Sierra Club, a strong supporter and volunteer for Best Friends Animal Society and long active in the LGBTQ rights movement. Buddy is retired from a career in software development and winters in Palm Springs, CA.

William MacDonald

Kimball Pond Association

Bill MacDonald is a resident of Farmington and represents the Kimball Pond Association on the 30 Mile Board. Bill graduated from Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute majoring in heating and air conditioning. He is retired after many years in the residential, commercial, and industrial heating and air conditioning industry. Bill served as Assistant Facilities Director for the University of Maine Farmington campus for 22 years, after which he served as Assistant Director of Maintenance for six years and then Clerk of the Works for major construction projects for another six years on the Clarkson University Campus in Potsdam, NY. Bill’s commitment to the lakes is evident. He was instrumental in starting the Kimball Pond Association, serving as its President three times or more for multiple years since the association was formed in 1978. Bill and his wife own a camp on the Day Road on the east side of Kimball Pond which he helped his father and mother build in 1960. Now the 5th generation of family members enjoy the special attraction of being at camp each summer where they pass the time swimming, boating, canoeing and kayaking on the serene pond.

Annie Moran

Town of Wayne

In March of 2024, Annie Moran became the Town of Wayne’s new representative on our Board. Annie and her husband Tom purchased their “little slice of heaven” on Pocasset Lake in 2017 after visiting family in Wayne for more than 25 years. A silver lining of the pandemic was their ability to work remotely, and in 2019 they sold their home in NJ and moved to Wayne full time. As an Operations Executive at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Annie has held leadership positions in Supplier Management, Procurement, and Mergers and Acquisitions. She has also held various roles in non-profits. Annie has had a passion for nature and the outdoors since she was a child, spending many vacations with family camping, hiking, fishing, and visiting National Parks. Joining 30 Mile’s Board to help protect the outdoors in her backyard was a natural fit for her.

Nancy Hemphill, Vice Chair

Flying Pond Improvement Association

Although Nancy is “from away,” she has loved Maine since her family built a camp on Flying Pond. In 60+ years, she’s never missed a summer at the camp. After graduating from Bowdoin College and law school at UNC, she practiced law in North Carolina for many years and served on or staffed four state boards and commissions. Now retired, she and her husband, Todd, have become more involved in the Maine community, both to enjoy places she loves and to help preserve them for future generations. Nancy is on the Board of the Flying Pond Improvement Association and serves as its representative to 30 Mile. She is also a member of Kennebec Land Trust, 7 Lakes Alliance, and the Triangle Land Conservancy. Nancy loves hiking, kayaking, swimming, gardening, and arts and crafts.

Kirstie Ludwig, Chair

Town of Fayette

Kirstie Ludwig is Fayette’s representative on the board of 30 Mile. Kirstie majored in Natural Resource Management in college, and then managed and co-owned a family hardware store. She and her wife moved from Massachusetts in 2010 and built a home on David Pond. Kirstie is also involved in her community as a member on Fayette’s Planning Board, the Election’s Warden for the town, and the chair of Fayette’s Comprehensive Plan Committee. She is the President of the David Pond Road Association and has worked diligently with the residents to invest in the future by sustaining and improving the quality of the private road. She is inspired daily by the beauty and peacefulness of living on the pond and enjoys kayaking, reading on the dock, hiking the trails with her dog, and gardening.

Cindy Ripley

At Large Member

Cindy Ripley is a retired middle school science teacher who has spent 45 years enjoying the beauty and serenity of Flying Pond with her family and friends. She brings a background in science education and a lifelong passion for the natural world to her work on the 30 Mile River Water Association and Flying Pond Improvement Association Boards. Cindy and her family enjoy being outdoors walking, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and gardening. She is an active photographer, and spends many a summer sunrise in her canoe paddling around the pond for a glimpse of wildlife.

Jane Rogers

Town of Mt. Vernon

Jane Rogers lives in Mount Vernon on Minnehonk Lake with her husband, Carl. They bought an 1850 farmhouse in 2007 and have been fixing it up ever since. Jane is a member of several town committees including the Minnehonk Lake Association. She works full time for Cengage Learning, a global educational content and technology company as a Sr. Manager for human resource technology. In addition to spending time with family, she enjoys gardening, kayaking, swimming, walking and traveling. Having lived in several states, Maine is truly her favorite for the wonderful friends she’s made here and the beautiful environment surrounding her.

Jeremy Smith

Pocasset Lake Association

A Maine native, Jeremy attended college in Colorado, but on a family visit in 2003, he heard a speech about Maine’s “brain drain” that inspired him to return to the Pine Tree State. Jeremey teaches art at Maranacook Regional High School in Readfield and serves as the Civil Rights Team Advisor. Jeremy is a passionate outdoorsman who loves skiing, mountain biking, fly fishing, canoeing, hiking, and building bike trails. He loves being connected to local people and speaking about issues related to lakes in our region. Jeremy is committed to finding creative new ways to defend our natural resources both now and in the future.

Bill Swan

7 Lakes Alliance

Bill Swan was born and raised in Maine. He worked in the computer industry for 21 years and is currently the Director of Licensing at the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, where he has worked for the past 19 years. Bill and his wife, Karen, lived on Long Pond for 28 years then moved to Parker Pond in 2008. He loves to fish, hunt, hike, canoe, kayak, and anything else related to the outdoors. He has been a Registered Maine Guide since 1997.

Susan Tinguely

Parker Pond Association

Susan is a retired Family Nurse Practitioner from Farmington, ME. After participating in the Plant Patrol Program and the Lake Smart Training, she became aware of how critical the work of the citizen scientist is in the stewardship of the lakes! She joined the board in 2019. She and her husband Gerry live on Parker Pond and are both active in the Parker Pond Association. She enjoys cross country skiing, ice-skating, swimming, hiking and playing the fiddle, as well as visits to the lake from their two kids and grandkids. It is her goal to work with and inspire others knowing that together we can make the difference in improving our water for generations to come.

Don Welsh

Town of Wayne

Don is a retired Marine Corps colonel who lives in Wayne with his wife, Susan. They started in Wayne as camp owners on Androscoggin Lake in the early ‘70s and became permanent residents in 2011. Don is very busy doing volunteer work for his town, where he is Chair of the Wayne Select Board, member of the Board of Directors for the Wayne library, and member of the Board of Directors for the Androscoggin Lake Improvement Corporation (ALIC), and an active member of the Wayne Historical Society and the Kennebec Land Trust. Don loves the outdoors and enjoys swimming, boating, fishing, and hiking.