Board of Directors

 

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Scott Carson, President

Scott joined BCC on a whim in 2001 when he saw the “open house today” sign in front of the club.  When he delivered his first stone, he was instantly hooked. He immediately signed himself and his wife, who was out of town, up to curl for a full season. When she came home, he broke the news that they would be curling every Monday night for the entire winter!

Since then, Scott has enjoyed playing in many leagues, traveling to bonspiels in Canada and the US, and introducing all three of his sons to the game. Scott joined the Board of Directors in 2016 and was elected 2nd Vice President in 2019. Additionally, he served on the Lower-Level Renovation Committee, and co-chairs the Men’s Little International Bonspiel.

 

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Sierra Dietz, Vice President

Sierra has served on the Board since 2021 and is currently the 2nd Vice President. She previously served two terms on the Board and has chaired the Operations Committee for 12 years. Sierra’s parents curled when she was growing up, but she didn’t pick up the game until she moved back to Maine in 2000, and her father, Ken Schweikert, suggested that she and her husband, Rob, try the winter activity. 

Sierra owns the Grasshopper Shop with locations in both Belfast and Rockland, having taken over the family business that her parents started when she was a baby. She also spent 6 years on the Board of Rockland Main Street, Inc., including 2 years as President, and now serves on the Promotions Committee for Our Town Belfast. When not curling or running her business, her kids, Emma and Pierson, fill her spare time with ballet, scouts, or just keeping the kitchen stocked with groceries.

 

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Ben Mailloux, 2nd Vice President 

Ben and his wife, Robyn, joined the Belfast Curling Club in 2018, where they’ve found a great group of people and a fun, challenging sport to enjoy during the winter months. Ben was elected to the BCC Board of Director’s in April 2022. He has represented BCC at away bonspiels in the US and Canada.

Ben grew up in Belfast and remembers trying the sport when he was a Cub Scout back in the 1980’s. He moved away for higher education and returned to Belfast with his family in 2009. He works at Waldo County General hospital as a Family Medicine Physician.  He has served as the President of the Medical Staff at WCGH, a member of the WCGH Board and is currently the Medical Director for Primary Care. He is also the Scoutmaster of Troop 37 here in Belfast. When not curling, Ben is usually attending one of his kids’ events, skiing, or playing in the woods with his Scout troop. 

 

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Justin Sanderson, Treasurer

Justin has been a member of the Belfast Curling Club for almost 15 years. He has served as BCC Treasurer since April 2021. In his professional capacity, Justin is President of the Searsport-based American Landmark Companies, a shopping center auditing and consulting firm. 

Justin is married with a soon-to-be graduating college daughter and a soon-to-be-starting college son. He spends his free time playing guitar, traveling to see live music, skiing and acting as lighting/sound director for his son’s deejaying or musical gigs. In the off-season you can find him on the golf course or spending time at Swan Lake.   

 

 

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Jody Moser, Secretary 

Jody has served as BCC Secretary since August 2021. A second-generation curler with 17 years of experience, Jody spent countless hours at the Belfast Curling Club as a young child, but never really curled until graduate school at Northwestern. There he helped found the Northwestern Curling Club and served three terms as its President. In the College Curling USA national tournament, his team took gold twice in Division 2 and silver once in Division 1.

Jody has curled as a member with the North Shore Curling Club and Chicago Curling Club, and at countless bonspiels across the Midwest. Now back at home at BCC, Jody lives in Searsport and is Assistant Professor of Humanities and Composition at Maine Maritime Academy where he also coordinates the Ethics Across the Curriculum program. He spends his summers as Assistant Director and Ethicist in Residence of Camp Medolark in Washington, ME with his boisterous Boston Terrier, Luca. 

 

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Steve West, Past President

Steve joined the Belfast Curling Club in November of 2013, was elected to the Board of Directors in April of 2016, then elected as 2nd Vice President in April of 2018.  He served as BCC President from May 2021 through April 2023. 

Steve is a 1989 graduate of Liverpool High School located outside of Syracuse, NY, and graduated from SUNY Albany in December of 1994 with a BS in Economics and History. He moved to Maine in 1998 and has been employed by American Landmark Companies since that time.

He currently resides in Belfast with his partner and fellow curler, Carolyn Gaiero. He has two children, daughter Olivia who is a student at UMaine Orono, and son Tyler who will be attending the Maine College of Art in the Fall. Steve is an avid reader, lover of jam band music, and dedicated fan of the NY Yankees, NY Giants, and Boston Bruins.

 

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Jeffery Dutch, Lifetime Director

Jeff has been a member of the Belfast Curling club since 1975. He is a lifelong resident of Belfast, and his parents were members of the club dating back to the early 60s. Jeff served on the BCC Board of Directors from 1981-1984, s again from 1995-2001. He was club president in 2000. In 2001, Jeff was named lifetime member of the Board of Directors based on his faithful and meritorious service to the club.  

In Jeff’s 48 years as a member he has held many other positions: Ice Committee Chair, Bar Chair, Membership Chair, Francis Dykes Bonspiel Chair, and Little International Chair. He has traveled to many bonspiels in the US and Canada including 38 of the 39 Riverboat Classics in Saint John, New Brunswick, where he was named an honorary Riverboat Captain. Additionally, he has played in the USCA Men’s and Mixed Championships and participated in the Olympic Trials in 1987. In 2002 and 2004 Jeff’s wife, Mary, competed as a member of Team USA for the World Wheelchair Curling Championships, and Jeff served as Coach and Team Leader when they competed for the World Title in Sursee, Switzerland. 

When not curling, Jeff is an avid golfer, who serves on the board of Northport Golf Club, and an active member of the Anah Temple Shrine Club.

 

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Sharon Besso, Director

Sharon threw her first stone in 2014 at the Woodstock Union High School ice arena. Yes, she hogged it and thought it best to keep her day job as a Nurse Practitioner at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Two moves changed her life. First, she took a position at the White River Junction Department of Veterans’ Affairs as a vascular specialist, meeting another curler--now husband, Joe Duggan. They were invited to join a team for BCC’s Maine-iac ‘Spiel and there they got their introduction to dedicated ice.

Several bonspiels later and with retirement looming, Joe and Sharon moved to downtown Belfast in 2019, seeing the opportunity to be part of a wonderful community and to help BCC grow and prosper. Sharon immediately joined the Maine-iac ‘Spiel Committee, later co-chaired the COVID Committee, and has recently become the BCC representative to the United States Women’s Curling Association. She was elected to the Board of Directors in April 2021.

Outside of curling, Sharon and Joe have participated in the Pen Bay Stewards program and Climate Crisis Committee, and are active in the Northport Golf Club and on the pickleball court.

 

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Kathy Cleason, Director

Kathy moved to Maine in 2017 and joined the Belfast Curling Club in the Fall of 2018.  It didn't take long for her to feel at home at BCC, jumping in to volunteer wherever assistance was needed and quickly assuming responsibility for running the Pro Shop. She was elected to the Board of Directors in April 2019 and has taken the lead on a wide array of Fundraising appeals and events. 

In addition to having found a lifetime sport, she credits curling with enabling her to step out of her comfort zone as an introvert. She has been amazed at the breadth and depth of BCC’s membership, and what brings her the most joy is watching new members grow and develop as curlers as well as dedicated BCC community members.

Professionally, she has worked in the insurance industry, ranging from Reinsurance in Manhattan to marketing Pet Insurance in Western and Central NY.  In addition to curling, she enjoys hiking and snowshoeing with her two dogs, kayaking small lakes and ponds, and finding old back roads and trails to explore with her husband on their motorcycles.  

 

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Ken Gordon, Director

Ken was elected to the Board of Directors in 2018. During that time, he also has served as Building and Grounds Manager, providing BCC with the expertise to execute projects of every scale due to a nearly 40-year career in engineering management in the pulp and paper industry.  

In 2011, following retirement, he and his wife Sue relocated to Belfast where they built a home on land that had been in his extended family for many generations. They became active golfers at Northport and took up curling in the winter. Soon after joining BCC, Ken saw the opportunity to help out with various projects. Some were as simple as fixing a broken door closer, but before long he devoted his time to larger projects, such as revising the well to meet current code requirements or providing the Board with calculations to better understand energy usage and potential savings. 

Then the 800-pound gorilla showed up with the 2020 flooding of BCC’s Lower Level. This required major renovation to the club and the addition of a fire sprinkler system, all of which had to comply with current codes. Drawing upon his engineering experience, Ken was able to perform the multitude of tasks needed to manage a project of that enormity. Ken says managing projects can get hectic, but there is great satisfaction when they are successfully delivered.   

 

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Faith Hague, Director

Faith and her husband, Dave, have been curling for about 10 years. They discovered BCC in a year when the ski conditions were off, and the skis have been gathering dust ever since then. Faith is a freelance graphic designer, mostly working in book design. She manages the club’s social media accounts, helped redesign the club website, and also serves on the Wood Bonspiel Committee. She was elected to the Board of Directors in April 2021. 

When the curling season ends, Faith and Dave head out in their camper or boat whenever possible. 

 

 

 

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Rachel Petersen, Director

Rachel first tried curling at BCC with the Girl Scouts at age 12, then promptly forgot it existed. When she saw it at her college activities fair as a freshman, she signed right up. She could barely throw a stone over the hog line for the first two years but surprised her coaches by continuing to come back.  She curled for 4 years out of the Utica Curling Club, followed by 1 year with Frogtown Curling Club in St. Paul, MN before moving back to Maine and joining BCC in 2017. 

Rachel is an attorney at Bourassa & Petersen, a law firm in Augusta started by her grandfather in 1957.  When not curling, she is working on her vegetable garden, helping her partner Garrett with home improvement projects, or enjoying the great Maine outdoors. Rachel has served on the Doubles bonspiel committee since its inception in 2020, and she joined the Operations Committee in 2021. She is passionate about growing the sport and sharing her affinity for the game, and so after instructing many Learn-to-Curls and Skills Clinics, she joined the Membership Committee in 2022.

 

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Jill Weber, Director

Jill began curling around 2009. Although she lived in Belfast for a few years in the mid-1990s, she never entered the club; rather, she waited to start until she lived in Bar Harbor where she still lives, works, and plays. Jill volunteers at most bonspiels, usually in the kitchen, and finds it a great way to meet people who curl on nights when she doesn’t. She was elected to the Board of Directors in April 2022.

Jill is a consulting botanist and coauthor of the books The Plants of Acadia National Park and Sedges of Maine. She also teaches at College of the Atlantic and is a research coordinator at Material Research. Jill has two daughters: one in Hoboken, NJ and the other in Cuenca, Ecuador. She’s been lucky enough to travel to Ecuador twice, including visits to that biologist’s holy place, the Galapagos Islands. Of course, Bar Harbor also offers a great outdoor playground for hiking, skiing, skating, paddling and more. Jill is grateful to have found the Belfast Curling Club and all of its wonderful members and friends.

 

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CONTACT US
Belfast Curling Club
2
11 Belmont Ave (Route 3)
P.O. Box 281, Belfast, Maine 04915

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