Steve Letourneau '89 leads by example -- and with compassion -- as CEO of Catholic Charities Maine

By Marc Glass (Winter 2008 issue)

Steve Letourneau ’89 cuts the figure of a conventional CEO in a gray flannel suit. But listen to him talk about his role as chief executive officer at Catholic Charities Maine and you realize compassion is the most important capital in his managerial philosophy.

“We have 1,200 volunteers and 600 employees. The most important thing is the job that each of them does to improve other people’s lives,” he said. “My role is to support and serve so they can do the work they’re called to do.”

Last year 41,000 people in Maine were aided by CCM’s array of services, including clinical dental care, residential chemical dependency programs, child development services, education services for the blind and visually impaired, and in-home support for children and adults with mental health and developmental disorders. Letourneau, a community health education major at UMF, oversees it all—from food banks in Caribou to the Jessie Albert Memorial Dental Center in Bath.

Among the more visible of CCM’s activities as of late are the services provided to refugees and secondary migrant populations in Lewiston and Portland. More than 3,000 secondary migrants have settled in Lewiston, giving it one of the largest densities of refugees in the nation. Initially overwhelmed with the influx, the City of Lewiston’s general assistance program contracted with CCM to provide language and job-skills instruction, as well as on-site job coaching among other crucial integration services.

“The work we’ve done to help refugees has been controversial at times, but it so closely fits our mission,” he said. “First, it’s important to understand that all the refugees and secondary migrants we work with are here legally. Our goal is to help people help themselves. I see our programs not as hand-outs, but as hand-ups to create self-sufficiency and independence.”

Creating self-sufficiency and independence have been the hallmarks of Letourneau’s work ever since his first position as a group-home worker with Eagle Lake Group Homes in Aroostook County, where he and his wife, Lisa, worked with one-time residents of the former Maine Youth Center for eight years while starting a family of their own. And while the promotion from direct service to senior administrator is reward for a job well done, Letourneau said the career change is not without some sacrifice.

“The further and further away you get from direct service the less you see the immediate impact you have on individual lives. There comes a point when you realize you can have a greater influence on more people if you’re willing to put that personal desire for immediate gratification aside,” said Letourneau, who was a regional director, supervising CCM program directors across Maine, before taking the reins as CEO a year ago. “It’s an honor to be given the responsibility. All I can do is what I’ve done from day one—do the best I can and lead by example.”