Bell named VP of Pellet Fuels Association
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
ASHLAND — The Maine Pellet Fuels Association elected its new slate of officers during a meeting on Sept. 28. The session took place in Augusta, where 15 industry representatives were on hand to participate in the event. Among those elected was an Ashland businessman whose developed a reputation for knowing the pellet industry, from the bottom up — having built his business from the ground up, not once but twice, following a fire that destroyed the first mill.
Matt Bell, owner and president of Northeast Pellets, LLC, located in Ashland, was elected as vice president of the organization. Northeast Pellets, LLC, manufactures premium wood pellets for homes and businesses using 100 percent recycled wood. The business offers their products throughout Maine and the rest of New England.
Photo courtesy of MPFA
MATT BELL, owner of Northeast Pellets, LLC, located in Ashland, was recently named vice president of the Maine Pellet Fuels Association. Here, Bell is pictured outside his mill, following completion of its reconstruction earlier this year.
Named Aroostook County’s top young entrepreneur at an annual meeting of northern Maine’s two economic development organizations, the Aroostook Partnership for Progress and LEADers Encouraging Aroostook Development, Bell is not a newcomer to the industry or to the region. A native of Aroostook County, he has made it his passion to establish a state-of-the-art pellet production facility, located in the heart of Maine’s wood basket. Northeast Pellets is the first of four pellet production plants in Maine.
“I consider it a privilege to have been selected by my peers to serve in such a capacity,” said Bell. “My work both here in the pellet industry as well as my contributions to the efforts of Mobilize Northern Maine initiative certainly played a role in my having been selected.”
Mobilize Northern Maine is a home-grown, asset-based initiative aimed at growing a sustainable energy economy for northern Maine, explained Bell.
“I hope my contributions will serve the MPFA well and will hopefully help a part of Maine I proudly call home,” said Bell.
“Dutch Dresser” of Maine Energy Systems in Bethel was elected president for the next two years, replacing George Soffron of Corinth Wood Pellets who also served for two years. Members re-elected Jonathan Kahn of Geneva Wood Fuels in Strong as their treasurer. Bede Wellford of Thayer Corporation in Auburn was elected to the association’s board of directors, to which Tim Heutz of Heutz Premium Pellets in Lewiston was re-elected.
