"This is a big step for the PCEDC and we're delighted to have Sheila come on board," said PCEDC Executive Director Mark Scarano. Noting that Grant already had extensive experience working with the county's municipalities, Scarano emphasized her collaborative style of leadership and ability to build consensus.

Grant, a lifelong Piscataquis resident, will be assigned to assist several communities with economic development initiatives, improved tourism infrastructure and affordable housing issues. She will also assist some non-profits in the region with capacity building and economic development strategies.

Grant has been involved in numerous ways in economic and tourism development efforts in Piscataquis County for over a decade. She has served as executive director of the Dover-Foxcroft Affiliate of Literacy Volunteers, a journalist with The Piscataquis Observer and, most recently, as the Executive Director of the Piscataquis County Soil & Water Conservation District. Grant has extensive experience in public relations, non-profit capacity building and grant writing.

She is co-author of the Piscataquis Region Cultural Heritage Directory published by the Cultural Heritage Eco-tourism Committee. She has been a member of the Penquis Resource Exchange, a networking organization of non-profit groups, for more than a decade and served as co-chair in 2005. During that time she assisted in publication of the Penquis Resource Directory.

Grant is a 2004 graduate of the Penquis Leadership Institute (PLI). As part of her class project at PLI, she helped produce the 2004 Southern Piscataquis County Chamber of Commerce Visitor's Guide. Married to Guilford Fire Department Captain Gary Grant, she has assisted that department in getting three successful Homeland Security grants in the past four years.

She is also a freelance writer/photographer. She is a frequent contributor to Bangor Daily News Special Sections. Her work has appeared in Maine Times, Tennessee Sportsman, Ohio Game & Fish, Pennsylvania Game & Fish, New York Game & Fish and New England Game & Fish, where she also writes a regular monthly column.

Grant, her husband Gary, son Jonathan and daughter Rebecca live in Parkman with two dogs, a cat, a turtle and a tank full of goldfish.