BANGOR – A local consulting firm has hired Kathryn Hunt, editor of the publication Maine Policy Review, in an effort to expand its services to the for-profit sector.

Starboard Leadership Consulting LLC, which specializes in advising nonprofit agencies and family owned businesses such as the Ronald McDonald House, Unity College and the Galen Cole Family Foundation, has hired Hunt as a principal of the now three-member firm.

George Eaton and Jeff Wahlstrom, managing directors of Starboard Leadership, said they recognized Hunt’s talents for helping businesses find ways to be sustainable, grow, improve their performance and generate more economic development in their region.

“Kathy has impressive experience with Maine Yankee, Georgia Pacific, Harley-Davidson and with other businesses, and some of the strengths she brings are different from what I have, particularly in the areas of team building, leadership development and economic development,” Wahlstrom said in a recent interview.

Since 1995, Hunt has worked at the University of Maine’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center as editor of Maine Policy Review, which addresses public policy issues relevant to Maine and New England. Hunt also coordinates many of the center’s civic engagement and community and economic development projects. She specializes in promoting tourism and the creative economy.

Hunt said she looks forward to using her strategic planning skills with private and public organizations statewide.

“All of my career I have been working with groups and organizations around issues of change and leadership and strategic planning,” Hunt said. She described the move to Starboard as “one step, one foot farther into the community.”

Starboard Leadership is a subsidiary of the Rudman & Winchell law firm in Bangor. Hunt will begin a two-month transition on Feb. 1 and be fully employed at Starboard Leadership by April 1.

Hunt resides with her husband and two young daughters in Bangor, where she helped to establish the Maine Discovery Museum.