Jeff Sosnaud

As Deputy Commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic & Community Development, the number two position in the agency, Jeff Sosnaud manages the operations of the department and assists the Commissioner in implementing the policies of the Baldacci Administration. In addition to his duties at DECD, he was appointed by Governor Baldacci to serve as co-chair of the Maine Creative Economy Council.

Jeff has extensive experience working with, developing, and promoting Maine businesses. He most recently served as the founding executive director of the Maine Small Business Alliance, a statewide nonpartisan advocacy organization. Currently a Portland area resident, Sosnaud is equally familiar with the Bangor region, where he was Associate Dean and a member of the faculty at the College of Business Administration at the University of Maine, Orono. During that period, Sosnaud was elected to the Bangor City Council, and chaired the Council’s Economic and Community Development Committee.
An attorney, he is a member of the bar in Maine and California. In addition to practicing law, he has headed his own conflict resolution firm, where he mediated cases for business, government and nonprofit clients. He is a past president of the Maine Association of Dispute Resolution Professionals.

Jeff’s experience in the economic development field extends back more than thirty years. In the 1970’s, he served as an assistant to civil rights leader Charles Evers, mayor of Fayette, Mississippi, where he helped design and implement the town’s economic development strategy. During the Carter Administration, he was an assistant to Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus, and worked on a groundbreaking urban parks/economic development initiative.

He received his B.A. degree from Yale University and his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

E-mail
jeff.sosnaud@maine.gov