Blaine Grimes

Blaine leads GMRI’s Gulf of Maine Ventures group. This new initiative supports the incubation, acceleration and funding of mission-driven business ventures and partnerships to leverage private sector market opportunities where GMRI’s involvement, leadership and investment can accelerate positive social and economic impacts in the Gulf of Maine.

In this capacity, Blaine leans on her prior sixteen years heading GMRI’s development team and career concentration in the science and technology sectors. She brings deep experience in fundraising, product development, marketing and sales, and operational process design to assist startup companies with market and technology innovations within the wild and farmed seafood supply chain. Blaine’s role is to draw on GMRI’s institutional knowledge and ocean climate expertise to advance business ideas, coalesce investment, and lead partnerships that will contribute to the New England marine industry’s economic health and development.

Having lived at the intersection of private, non-profit, and public interests, Blaine is passionate about exploring the continuum of financial and social outcomes within the “blue economy” at the intersection of impact investment and venture capital.

She is a former trustee and board chair of the Maine Venture Fund, a current board member and treasurer of the Portland Development Corporation and serves on the board of GMRI’s two for-profit subsidiary companies, Gulf of Maine Sashimi and New England Marine Monitoring.

Before joining GMRI in 2005, she held senior management positions at IDEXX Laboratories and The VIA Group.

Blaine received her undergraduate BA from Amherst College and her M.B.A. with Distinction from Harvard Business School.