Senior Staff
Peter Mertz, Chair
Headmaster
207.846.9051, extension 215
pmertz@nya.org
Headmaster’s Comments
On July 1, 2001, Peter Mertz became the eighteenth Headmaster of North Yarmouth Academy. A native of Albany, New York, he is a graduate of The Albany Academy and Williams College.
His thirty year career in independent education began as teacher and coach at The Albany Academy, where he eventually served as Director of Admission and Financial Aid. In 1983, he left to assume the same position at Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Grove, Florida, where he also continued to teach. While in Florida, he earned his MBA from Barry University. In 1990, he assumed his first Headmaster position, at Walden School in Louisville, Kentucky. Since 1993, he has held leadership positions at Brookwood School in Thomasville, Georgia and Annie Wright School in Tacoma, Washington.
At NYA, he has led the school through an unprecedented period of growth, both in the student population and in improvements to the campus. Examples include the addition of a Fifth Grade and expanded Upper School, the building of the Priscilla Savage Middle School, the Science Center, and an artificial turf field, the complete renovation of Russell Hall, and refurbishment of the Travis Roy Ice Arena.
Peter and his wife Lisa live in Cumberland. Their son, Pete, graduated from NYA in 2008 and is attending Williams College.
John Drisko
Head of the Upper School
207.846.9051, extension 211
jdrisko@nya.org
Mr. Drisko’s Page
John Drisko arrived at NYA in the summer of 2008. He holds a B.A. in History from Brown University and an M.A in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern Maine. His learning really began while taking Liberal Studies graduate courses at Dartmouth.
John came to NYA from the public school system including schools in New Jersey, Falmouth, South Portland and Gorham. He was Principal of Gorham High School for ten years prior to NYA. He has been enjoying the change to an independent school and specifically the community of NYA.
His passion is being in the classroom with students, learning along with them. He has taught many courses including American History, Psychology, Western Civilization, Sociology, The Holocaust, American Government and more. Currently he teaches Modern World History to sophomores to complement his administrative duties.
John and his wife Cindy live in Gorham where he likes to cook, read and play guitar. After 34 years he is still trying to perfect James Taylor’s picking style. He especially relishes jam sessions with friends and singing with his daughters. His youngest (Kimberly) has turned him on to Broadway musicals while his eldest (Katelyn) prefers choral music, having graduated with a degree in voice. Either is fine with him.
Marissa Markonish
Head of the Middle School
207.846.9051, extension 510
mmarkonish@nya.org
Mrs. Markonish’s Page
Marissa Markonish has been teaching Latin in both middle and upper school at NYA since 1995. She graduated with a BA in Classics from Wesleyan University and spent a semester in Rome at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies. She went on to earn an MAT in Latin and Classical Humanities from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where middle school teaching was a major focus of her graduate studies. She spent a year teaching Latin on the island of Maui (who knew that Hawaiians studied Latin?) before settling down in the (almost as) beautiful state of Maine. Marissa is thrilled to be taking on her new role as Head of Middle School and to be teaching Latin 1A and1B once again.
Marissa finds great pleasure in the complexity of the Latin language and loves sharing the intricate puzzle of Latin with her students. It is her goal as a teacher to teach students how to think and to challenge them to push themselves to the next level. Marissa is also passionate about introducing students to service to others through activities such as NYA’s Make-A-Wish committee.
Marissa has a great interest in linguistics and has taught an Etymologies course for 7th-9th graders with the Center for Talented Youth for many summers. She is also passionate about travel, leading two NYA student trips to Italy and Greece, coordinating summer homestays in Maine for students from Spain, and traveling with her family as often as she can. Marissa lives in Raymond with her husband Ross, chair of the English Department at NYA; their two children, Alex and Luke; and their cat, Vanilla. In her “off time,” Marissa loves spending time with her immediate and extended family, taking day trips, and reading mysteries.
Katherine Sillin
Director of College Counseling
207.846.9051, extension 217
ksillin@nya.org
Katherine graduated from Williams College with a BA English and traveled immediately to Japan to share her knowledge of the conversational portion of the language with students ages 3-72. She took time just prior to that departure to marry her college sweetheart and fellow Williams alum, Peter, who is NYA’s History Department Chair. They enjoyed almost a year of travel together after Japan, and Katherine soon found her way into independent schools, working in college counseling at Woodberry Forest School and Foxcroft School in Virginia. Having navigated the worlds of single-sex boarding schools, she is delighted to have found the perfect balance in the co-ed day school dynamic at NYA where she began in 2006. She is involved in regional and national college counseling association events and conferences and travels regularly around the country doing her own campus ‘research’ at the invitation of colleges.
When not helping students and families navigate the college search and application process, she can usually be found enjoying life on Littlejohn Island with her family. Son Jack and daughter Annie embrace the challenges and joys of three season Littlejohn ‘Triathalons’ involving biking, running trails, and an eventual dip in the ocean. The adult version of this event for Katherine usually involves biking for several hours, followed by a paddle around the island, and then ‘recovery’ in the Adirondack chair in the sunny backyard, with or without a cold beverage and a bowl of Sun Chips. The entire family has learned to embrace both kayaking and boat camping with friends. Katherine also enjoys traveling, entertaining family and friends, reading and writing in her spare time.
Alanna Olivadoti
Assistant to the Headmaster
207.846.9051, extension 213
aolivadoti@nya.org
Alanna is a Maine native who has lived in places as diverse as Lenox, MA, New York City and San Diego and even spent a brief stint on a communal farm in Dillwyn, Virginia before returning to her roots in the early 1980’s.
She came to NYA in the fall of 1983 working part time for the Academic Dean. By the end of that year, she was given the responsibilities of Registrar, working closely with College Guidance and soon became the Assistant to the Headmaster. For several years Alanna also taught keyboarding and computer skills in the Upper School.
Although she graduated from Winterhill, a small school in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in 1972, while at NYA, she went back to school earning a degree from Norwich University. Currently she is studying Italian with the intent of spending several months each year near family in Calabria.
Of her three children, Johanna attended NYA through grade 9, Trevor is an NYA alum (’92) and Bobby was happy as “a townie” at Yarmouth. She enjoys making wine with her family in their “cellars” in Yarmouth.
Kim Bridgham
Chief Finance Officer
207.846.2380, extension 9304
kbridgham@nya.org
Kim arrived at NYA in July 2010 after 15 years with Hannaford Bros. Co and its Belgian parent company. Prior to joining Hannaford, Kim spent 7 years with Peat Marwick, a public accounting firm. Kim is a native Mainer and has lived in Maine all but the 2 ½ years she and her family were in Belgium. Kim has a B.S. in business from the University of Maine and an M.S. in Public Policy from USM’s Muskie Institute. Although the bulk of her career has been working in the for profit sector, she has always had a calling to academia. It is in her blood as both of Kim’s parents were educators.
Kim currently resides in Scarborough with her sons, Wyatt (13) and Liam (9). When not attending one of the boys’ sporting events, she enjoys remaining physically fit, participating in road races and most recently a sprint triathlon. Skiing, boating and traveling are their favorite family activities.
Kim so looks forward to looking out her office window each day and watching the NYA students travel from class to class—seeing them grow intellectually and physically into young adults with great potential.
Laurie Hyndman
Director of Admission
207.846.2376, extension 341
lhyndman@nya.org
Laurie Hyndman, Director of Admission at NYA has followed an unusual path to the world of admissions. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, she began her career working for the public television station in Cincinnati and that led to New York City and an adventure working on several soap operas as supervising producer. Armed with an ear for a good story, she moved with her husband to Los Angeles where she was Director of Development for a television production company. Coming to Maine meant a break from TV production and time to raise a family. She walked onto the NYA campus in 1999 hand in hand with her daughter (NYA ’07) who was entering sixth grade. Her youngest son (NYA ’09) followed three years later. During their years at NYA, she published a regional lifestyle magazine, Port City Life. At first glance it might not seem like a natural progression to admissions, but having two children benefit from all that NYA has to offer is a great story to share with prospective families. A lifelong competitive golfer, she can often be found on a golf course, but her favorite place to recharge is at a cottage on Ingalls Bay on Lake Michigan.
Kate Putnam
Chief Development Officer
207.846.2380, extension 9303
kputnam@nya.org
Kate Putnam has been at NYA since 2006. She keeps a dress-up closet at Dole House filled with crazy wigs, hats, feather boas and sparkly accessories. Since she’s worn a lot of different hats during her career, she still needs a place to keep track of them all! After graduating from University of Maine-Orono, Kate dabbled as a writer for a large weekly newspaper, taught high school English and history, owned a catering business and a preschool. She has taught three year olds not to eat play dough and four year olds how to build rockets out of oatmeal boxes, planned 22 charity auctions, worked with hundreds of wonderful volunteers, managed large and small annual funds and capital campaigns and raised many millions of dollars in the process. Kate has the best job at NYA—she gets to work with alumni, parents, volunteers, faculty members, grandparents, friends and most especially with her wonderful freshmen advisees—her NYA kids.
She is the mother of three grown children, who have all sadly disappointed her thus far in the grandchildren department. She loves living on Great Diamond Island six months out of the year in her 128 year old cottage, cooking for her family and friends, and curling up with a good book—sometimes wearing a sparkly purple boa and a cotton candy pink wig.
Mike Dutton
Director of Athletics
207.846.9051, extension 121
mdutton@nya.org
Mike Dutton has been at NYA since July of 2008. In addition to Athletic Director, he is the Head Varsity Boys’ Basketball Coach and Head Varsity Golf Coach. He spent seventeen years at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York and was their Assistant Director of Athletics and Head Men’s Basketball Coach before he came to NYA. He has a B.S. from the University of New Hampshire, where he was on the varsity golf team. He has a M.S. in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, graduating first in his class. Dutton also has extensive experience as a basketball coach, serving as Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Vassar and Assistant Coach at both Mount Holyoke and Marin Catholic High School.
He lives in Brunswick with his wife Marsha and their young son Toby. He enjoys bike riding, hiking, and skiing with his family.
