Young Connelly, a Cape Elizabeth resident, has served as vice president of philanthropy for the Maine Community Foundation since 2005. She oversees the foundation’s statewide advancement and donor services departments, and works directly with donors to help them pursue their philanthropic goals.

Prior to joining the Maine Community Foundation, Young Connelly worked as senior vice president and director of corporate philanthropic initiatives at Demont & Associates, a Portland firm providing philanthropic counsel and related services to not-for-profit organizations.

Focusing on issues related to capital fundraising, she counseled such nonprofits as the Maine Central Institute, Breakwater School and Maine Public Broadcasting. Her work also included feasibility planning, volunteer coordination and client communications.

Young Connelly previously worked in fundraising for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and as a staff member for George Mitchell during his time as U.S. Senate majority leader. She has served on the boards of the Portland Rotary, the Center for Grieving Children and the Association of Fundraising Professionals of Northern New England.

Abelson, of Gloucester, Mass., is president and CEO of Ora, Inc., an ophthalmic drug and device development firm based in Andover, Mass. He has been a company director since 1995 and served as Ora’s chairman from 1997 until becoming president in 2007. Ora is a leading employer of Bates graduates, offering career opportunities in the applied science of clinical research.

Abelson previously worked at Amphenol Corp., most recently as director of technical business development at Amphenol World Headquarters, and as general manager of Amphenol’s Fiber Optic Product Division from 1999 through 2005.

Abelson graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with a bachelor of science degree in neuroscience from Bates. While a Bates student, he founded the Water Ski Team and the Bates Aviators, and chaired the 1997 Senior Class Gift Committee. He served as president of the College Key from 2001 to 2003.

He holds a master of business administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Abelson is also a trustee of the Chicago Zoological Society and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and serves on the Alumni Council of the Kellogg School.

Abelson, who founded the Bates waterskiing club, has been waterskiing for more than 16 years and was the National Collegiate All-Star Trick Water Ski Champion in 1995. He also was named an All-American on the National Collegiate All-Star Water Ski Team that year.

On May 26, Abelson graduated magna cum laude with an interdisciplinary major in neuroscience. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, a North American honor society that recognizes excellence in scientific research. Abelson has worked as a volunteer in the emergency room at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

Located midway between the coast and the mountains in south-central Maine, Bates is a 142-year-old undergraduate college of the liberal arts and sciences and is rated among the top 25 national liberal-arts colleges by U.S. News & World Report. Bates offers majors in 23 academic departments and seven interdisciplinary programs, and encourages independent study, research with faculty members and participation in off-campus programs. Bates does not require standardized-test results for admission.