Founder/Chief Community Officer
Hey! I’m Gabe, and I’m the Founder of Hearts. Consider me just your friendly fellow Mainer who wanted to contribute as much as he could to the city and state that he loves. Soccer, social good and an unrelenting (fortunately or unfortunately) desire to make a difference are sort of who I am, so here we are! I’m a Portland resident and former Portland area youth soccer player, who went on to play in college, and professionally; followed by (gasp) a two year stint in the finance world in New York City; before coming home to contribute, to the best of my ability, the absolute most that I possibly can to the future vitality of the place that I call home. My role at Hearts is to do as much as I possibly can to ensure that we accomplish our mission of rallying the community and culture of Maine around Soccer, and to create a purpose-driven club that represents all those who have their hearts in Maine.
In the truest sense of the term, no I am not a Mainer. I was not born in Maine. Despite spending the large majority of my summers in Maine as a child (shout out Long Lake and Clapboard Island!), I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and didn’t move to Maine until middle school. Hope you’ll forgive me. It wasn’t entirely my choice! Either way, since 2002 Maine has been home and forever will be. I live in Portland’s West End with my dog Anfield, or Annie for short (she’ll never walk alone).
I was raised by a collegiate soccer coach and athletic director for a father, and an international peace-builder for a mother. Each badasses in their own right, but my father’s love of teaching, coaching and this beautiful game, combined with my mother’s devotion to catalyzing authentic cooperation and progress to co-create healthy communities and a more peaceful world… instilled an unquenchable desire to use soccer as a way to contribute to the future vitality of Maine.
Soccer and community are “basically” who I am. I genuinely believe the two are synonymous, and that through the appropriate and strategic employment of the true power of this beautiful game the contribution we can make to future Maine is incalculable.
I spend a lot of time in Harrison, Maine on Long Lake. It’s my home away from home. But, my real ‘favorite place outside of Portland’ answer is Montana. It’s like Maine, in most of the best ways, but I don’t live there… and it’s a place I can escape to that I love… without having to feel like I’m at home.
I love all seasons. All of them. Summer is obviously incredible. That crisp Fall feeling in the air means it’s soccer season… Mt. Washington is easily visible from Munjoy… the foliage, Halloween and then Thanksgiving… so hard to beat. Winter is undeniably cold… but BEAUTIFUL. There’s nothing quite like the beauty of a fresh blanket of snow.. plus I’m a big snowboarder, so off to the mountains we go. Spring is kinda ‘eh… BUT you can’t tell me there is anything more welcomed to mankind than that first 50-degree day in March in Maine. I swear that sun hits harder than any other sun in the world.
