BIO

Donna M Loring

Donna is a tribal member of the Penobscot Indian Nation and holds the position of the Nation’s Representative to the Maine State Legislature. She has held this position through the last half of the 118^th, full terms in119th, 120th, 121st, she stepped down to run for State Senate in 2003. She served the first three months of the 122nd, (She was appointed temporary Tribal Representative when the elected Representative became ill). She was re-elected to represent the Penobscot Nation in the 123^rd 2007 and 2008.

She served as the Penobscot Nation’s Coordinator of Tribal, State and International Relations through the 121^st. She is a lecturer and consultant.

Donna was elected to serve as a select person for the Town of Richmond. She served for almost a year until she moved to the Town of Bradley in 2006.

She is a graduate of the University of Maine at Orono and has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Her professional background is in law enforcement and she is a graduate of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. Donna served as the Police Chief for the Penobscot Nation from 1984-1990. She was the first woman police academy graduate to become police chief in the State of Maine. In 1992 she became the first woman director of security at Bowdoin College, a position she held until March of 1997. She was a member of the Maine Chiefs of Police for eleven years.

Donna is a Vietnam Veteran.

She served in the communications center at Long Binh Army Base located approximately thirty miles northeast of Siagon. It was her job to process all the casualty reports for Southeast Asia. She was stationed in Vietnam from November of 1967 to November of 1968. She served during the TET Offensive.

She was appointed Aide de Camp to former Governor Angus King on March 17, 1999 and was commissioned with the rank of Colonel by the Governor. She was advisor to former Governor King on women veteran’s affairs.

On November 4, 1999, Donna received the Mary Ann Hartman Award from the University of Maine’s Women in Curriculum and Women’s Studies Program. The award recognizes outstanding Maine women for their accomplishments in the arts, politics, business, education and community services.

Donna conceptualized and advocated for the first “State of the Tribes Address” in Maine History. Tribal Chiefs addressed a Joint Session of the Legislature on March 11, 2002. The event was carried live on Maine Public Television and Radio.