Hannah Pingree, former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, was appointed today to lead the state’s Office of Policy Management by Governor Janet T. Mills.

The Office of Innovation and the Future (OIF), which General Mills announced she would create during her Inaugural Address. will “dive into major policy challenges, foster collaboration and propose concrete, workable solutions” to the state’s problems. Her appointment of Pingree today begins that process. Pingree will be responsible for developing a more detailed framework for the OIF in the coming months and then proposing that frame-work to the Legislature for its consideration. The OIF will bring back some of the essential functions of the former State Planning office.

“I am asking the state government to take the long-view, engage in strategic planning long-term research, and tap into federal funds wherever appropriate and always look to the future,” said Governor Mills. “That is why I have appointed Hannah Pingree to lead the Office of Policy Management and o transform it into a more robust entity called the Office of Innovation and the Future. This office will lead the change in charting our state’s path forward in critical issues like health care, workforce development and climate change. Hannah is extraordinarily well-qualified to lead this transition and the state is in need of it. I look forward to working with her to accomplish this goal and t put Maine back on track to more strategically and comprehensively thinking about its future.”

Hannah earned a degree in political science from Brown University and lives in North Haven with her husband and two children. She is the daughter of Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME). for District 1.