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In Your Corner: Meet AARP Maine’s Volunteer Executive Council

AARP

Behind every AARP Maine effort is a dedicated team of volunteers committed to improving the lives of older adults across our state. Our Volunteer Executive Council brings together passionate leaders from communities across Maine who lend their time, expertise, and perspectives to help guide our work, strengthen our impact, and ensure we remain connected to the needs and priorities of Mainers 50 and older. We are grateful for their service and proud to introduce the volunteers who help shape AARP Maine's mission every day.

Pious Ali: Pious Ali is a dedicated public servant and pragmatic, compassionate leader with deep experience in community organizing, activism, and civic engagement. He currently serves as an at-large city councilor and Mayor Pro Tempore on the Portland, Maine City Council.

Pious is the founder of African Elected Leaders in America, a national initiative that connects, supports, and elevates African immigrant elected and civic leaders across the United States while building stronger relationships with African American, Indigenous, immigrant, and other communities of color.

He is also the Founder and Principal of BridgePoint Strategies LLC, a consulting firm that helps organizations, institutions, and communities strengthen civic engagement, build cross-cultural relationships, and develop more inclusive and responsive approaches to community well being. Through BridgePoint Strategies, he supports community-centered conversations that address barriers to health, opportunity, belonging, and civic participation.

Pious serves on several local, national, and international boards and leadership bodies focused on racial equity, civic engagement, immigrant rights, youth empowerment, and leadership development.

In 2013, Pious made history as the first African-born Muslim American elected to public office in Maine and the first Ghanaian elected to public office in the United States.

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André Chassé: A Maine native, André was born in Van Buren. The youngest of three children, his mother was French Canadian, and his father was from a potato farming family in Madawaska. The family moved to Bangor in 1973 and André graduated from John Bapst High School before heading off to college. André eventually moved to southern California where he lived for almost 30 years before moving back to Maine in 2014. André has made his career in Human Resources and Employee Benefits, and currently works for Northern Light Health in Retirement Benefits. André joined the AARP Maine Executive Council in 2022 and took on the role of State President in 2024. The focus of his volunteer work with AARP has been in the areas of Social Security and Medicare, as well as advocacy for LGBTQ+ issues. In addition to his AARP role, André has served on the Board of Equality Maine, been a member of the Advisory Committee on Racial Equity, Inclusion & Human Rights for the City of Bangor, and taken leadership roles at Hammond Street Congregational Church, where he has been a member since 2015.

Philip Chin, Retired Journalist: For the past few years, Phil has been a volunteer spokesperson for Maine’s AARP Fraud Watch Network. He is also a volunteer instructor for AARP’s Safe Driver Program. In addition to serving on the Executive Council of Maine AARP, Phil is presently on the Board of Directors for the Freeport Players and on the Board of Directors for ChoralArt in Portland. Phil has previously served on the Falmouth Memorial Library Board of Trustees. He has been a past President of the Board of Directors of the Queens College Chorus in New York City.

He retired from CBS News in New York after a 37-year career as a radio news writer, editor and producer.

He has been an adjunct journalism professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York.

Phil is active in the vibrant world of community theater and choral music. He has been in productions with the Royal River Community Players, the Freeport Players, the Theater Resources Unlimited in New York City, the Massachusetts based Jakespeare Virtual Theater Company, Maine’s Midcoast Theater Company, Studio Theater of Bath, the Children’s Museum and Theater of Maine, the Crow Bait Club, the Polyphonic Theater Ensemble, the Choral Art Society, the Greater Freeport Community Chorus, the Freeport Historical Society and the St. Bartholomew’s Choir in Yarmouth.

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Virginia “Ginny” Joles: Ginny serves as the Philanthropy Coordinator for the Foundation of the Aroostook Agency on Aging. A lifelong resident of Aroostook County, Ginny is widely respected for her leadership in communications, community engagement, and volunteerism.

Before assuming her current role, Ginny served as the Agency’s Community Ambassador through the Governor’s Community Connections Pilot Grant. Prior to that, she coordinated the Access Points Project, which connected 22 nonprofit organizations to northern Maine communities using virtual technology to deliver essential programs and services. She remains actively involved as a volunteer at the Agency, with a deep passion for the Aroostook Civic Academy and the RSVP Advisory Council.

Ginny’s professional journey includes an impressive 46-year tenure at Maine Public Service (now Versant Power), where she advanced through various roles in economic development, utility communications, and regional outreach.

Throughout her career, Ginny has led or supported initiatives with numerous organizations, including Rotary International, United Way, the Northern Maine Community College Foundation, and several local boards. Notably, she was the first female president of the Presque Isle Rotary Club and later served as a Rotary District Governor.

Ginny and her husband, Jerry, have two grown children. She continues to live and lead by the belief that “nobody accomplishes anything alone.”

Gary McCrane: As a native Penobscot I have a deep need for belonging. I put in more time and more commitment to things that I believe can be helpful to others. Therefore, I have accepted positions of accountability by volunteering. As a board member of Seniors Plus, I enrich the lives of older people and adults with disabilities and as a volunteer I work with individuals that ask for help in managing a month-to-month budget. As a Board member for Western Maine Community Action Program, I help individuals overcome poverty through services and advocacy; and as a Selectman in my community, it gratifies me to know that I have been elected to do the people’s work. As an elected official I was elected by my peers, to represent my Senate District 19 for the Maine Municipal Association’s Legislative Policy Committee (LPC). As a retired teacher I was tapped to lead our local affiliation, the Franklin County Retired Educators (FCRE) while simultaneously serving on the Maine Education Association’s Board of Directors. Other notable positions include the Greater Franklin County Prevention Alliance Coalition and the Spirit of America which recognizes volunteerism in Maine.

Pamela J. Partridge: Pam grew up in New Jersey where her parents owned an hardware store at the Jersey shore. She came to Maine in the early 70s to attend Unity College, earning a degree in forestry and meeting her future husband, Deane. After marriage and the birth of their son, she returned to college as a non traditional student in the secondary teacher education program at the University of Maine, Farmington. Now retired, Pam taught middle level science for 11 years, and varying combinations of grades 3, 4 and 5 for 13 years at the Garret Schenck School in Anson, while also earning her M.Ed., Middle Level Education, at the University of Maine and her K-6 teacher certification. Presently, she volunteers with AARP as a Fraud Watch speaker, does a monthly virtual fraud prevention program with Phil Chin, volunteers with the AARP Maine TASH group, and actively volunteers with other organizations. She belongs to several local, state and International organizations. In her spare time she enjoys sewing, crafting, gardening, social gatherings, listening to music, gazing at the night sky, and having breakfast with the birds. She has a son, a step-daughter, several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Jessica Perez: Jessica Perez is the Digital Opportunity Senior Manager at Maine Connectivity Authority, Maine’s quasi-government agency for internet connectivity. Her work is focused on ensuring Maine people, especially those most impacted by the digital divide, can meaningfully benefit from new broadband infrastructure.

Prior to her current role, Jessica worked at Bates College and Bowdoin College where she designed and managed programs for first-generation-to-college students. She pursued her own studies at Stanford University and Harvard Graduate School of Education. She lives in Westbrook and enjoys birding, dancing, and reading.

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