We are fortunate to have Peter Van Allen as our speaker this week. Since becoming Editor of Mainebiz in April 2014, Peter has racked up thousands of miles traveling around Maine, visiting scores of businesses, and talking with hundreds of business people in all corners of our large, diverse state. What stories he could tell about those places, people and the things they are doing. This Friday we will hear about the view of Maine from a business editor’s desk.
Peter has spent the past 29 years writing and editing newspapers and magazines. Prior to joining Mainebiz, he was with the Philadelphia Business Journal for 15 years. Previous to that, he was both editor and reporter for such publications as Vanguard, American Banker, the (Gary, Ind.) Post Tribune, the (Camden, NJ) Courier Post, as well as writing for the NewYork Times and Philadelphia Inquirer. An avid waterman who has gotten to know many of the Casco Bay islands by sea kayak and standup paddle board – he also likes to sail, surf and row – it is no surprise that he has also contributed to Rower’s Digest, Rowing News, and Liquid Salt.
Peter graduated in 1988 from Goddard College with a BA in non-fiction writing. He and his family reside in Yarmouth. Peter said of the decade before moving to Maine in 2014: “My family and I have been lucky enough to spend our vacations in Midcoast Maine. My younger daughter summed up our love of Maine this way, ‘It was one week of vacation and 51 weeks of waiting.’” After experiencing record snowstorms and memorably frigid temperatures in recent years, we expect the Van Allen family understands how winters imbue us with hardiness while spending many weeks waiting for summer weather.