Laurie Lachance, former Thomas College president, to get award for education leadership

Laurie Lachance standing in Thomas College building

File photo / Tim Greenway Thomas College President Laurie Lachance was honored as a Mainebiz Woman to Watch in 2022.

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Former Thomas College President Laurie Lachance will be honored with Educate Maine’s Weston L. Bonney Education Leadership Award for her work as an industry trailblazer.

The award will be presented at the organization’s annual Education Symposium in Poland next month.

Lachance recently retired from her leadership role at the Waterville school, where she served as president from July 2012 through October 2024. She was the school’s first female president and fifth president overall, passing the reins to Jeannine Diddle Uzzi on Nov. 1.

Lachance was also the first woman to serve as Maine’s state economist and first female CEO of the Maine Development Foundation. She is being recognized for her achievement in both education and business and for her work making education and career training more equitable.

She was honored on the Mainebiz Next List in 2015 and as a Woman to Watch in 2022.

“Laurie Lachance led Thomas through significant growth and multiple innovations to better prepare its students for successful careers,” said Jason Judd, executive director of Educate Maine. “But her own remarkably successful career also includes significant service to all Mainers. She understands that education is foundational to a robust economy.”

Many of the innovations pioneered under her leadership have been aimed at making college affordable, including free college classes offered to high school students and programs across every discipline to earn a degree in three years.

“Laurie helped forge more pathways to success and made them more equitable and achievable for Thomas students," Judd said. “She has worked tirelessly to improve access to higher education for high school students and adult learners.”

The Weston L. Bonney Education Leadership Award is named in honor of a founding member and former chair of the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education, who died in October 2023 at age 98. Bonney spent his career as a banker in Maine and Massachusetts, working at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and at commercial banks in Massachusetts and Maine, before retiring as CEO of Peoples Heritage Bank in 1991.