Behind the Scenes with Merritt Carey: From Sailing Around the World to Supporting Maine’s Innovators

As a Marketing & Communications Consultant with the Maine Technology Institute (MTI), Merritt Carey works to connect Maine businesses and entrepreneurs with opportunities, resources, and funding—and to help tell the story of innovation happening across the state.

Her own path to MTI is a story of creating opportunities, embracing risk, and drawing on a remarkably wide range of experiences. Before joining Maine’s innovation community, Carey sailed around the world on the second all women’s team to compete in the Whitbread (now Volvo Ocean Challenge), was a member of the first and only all-women’s America’s Cup team, practiced law, worked in fisheries and rural economic development, and became involved in workforce housing development.

Today, those experiences inform her work helping MTI reach a broader and more diverse community of Maine innovators.

From Maine to the World—and Back Again

Carey’s connection to MTI began well before she became a consultant. She had worked with MTI through SEAMaine and had received an MTI grant years earlier for an aquaculture cooperative she helped start.

“I was familiar with the type of work MTI did,” she says. “When there was an opportunity to get involved more formally, I jumped.”

But her path to that opportunity was anything but conventional.

After graduating from Brown University in 1992, Carey entered a difficult job market. Instead of waiting for the right career opportunity to come along, she took a chance and joined a sailing yacht bound for Antigua.

One opportunity led to another, eventually landing Carey on the second all-women’s team to compete in the Whitbread Around the World Race, now known as The Volvo Ocean Challenge. From there, she joined the first and only all-women’s team to compete in the America’s Cup.

That experience is now the subject of Mighty Mary, a new documentary about the groundbreaking team. Carey is featured in the film, which tells the story of the women who challenged expectations in one of sailing’s most prestigious competitions.

For Carey, the film has created an opportunity to revisit an important chapter of her life—and to share that story with a Maine audience.

A Career Built on Unexpected Turns

After tearing her ACL during the America’s Cup campaign, she continued racing before eventually having surgery. While recovering, she went to law school in New Zealand. She later transferred back to the University of Maine to finish her degree and practiced law for several years.

She then moved into rural economic development and fisheries, serving as Director of Maine Operations for Acadian Seaplants and later as Community Relations Director for Luke’s Lobster.

Along the way, Carey became increasingly interested in Maine’s housing challenges. She completed several small development projects in the Midcoast, became a modular home developer, and earned her real estate broker’s license.

While the experiences may seem disconnected at first, Carey sees a common thread.

“Sailing, fisheries, rural economic development, housing, thinking creatively about economic solutions—all of that led me to MTI,” she says.

Her broad range of experiences has given her different ways to connect with people and approach challenges.

“I think having a broad range of life experiences lends itself to creative thinking and problem solving,” she says. “My experiences have also taught me a lot about being resilient and persistent; helpful qualities for any challenge.”

Helping More Maine Innovators Find Their Way to MTI

Today, Carey’s work at MTI spans communications, events, sponsorships, and outreach. She helps organize and promote MTI events, supports efforts to build brand awareness, and works to make sure Maine businesses and individuals who may be eligible for MTI funding know that those resources exist.

“While I am not on the front lines at MTI, I am trying to think about creative ways to reach a broader audience,” she says.

That includes thinking about who MTI serves and how its impact is communicated to the broader public.

Carey also keeps Maine taxpayers in mind when she thinks about communications.

“I think a lot about the Maine taxpayer who partially funds our work, and trying to make sure Mainers know the positive economic impact MTI has across every part of the state.”

A Story Worth Sharing

For Carey, the event is another opportunity to share a story about people who were willing to take a risk, challenge expectations, and pursue something that had never been done before.

Watch the Mighty Mary trailer and learn more about the November 5 screening

Why Maine’s Innovation Community Keeps Her Engaged

For Carey, the same willingness to take risks and challenge assumptions that shaped her career continues to make Maine’s innovation ecosystem exciting.

“What I love about Maine is that it’s a state where you can really move the needle,” she says. “The state is a small big town.”

Working with MTI gives her the opportunity to support innovators while helping more people discover what is happening across Maine.

“My job in part is to help tell the stories of these innovative businesses and to reach more of them,” she says. “What could be better?”

She is especially passionate about seeing more women and people from all backgrounds become founders and leaders of successful companies.

“Honestly, I think if we can get there, it will solve a lot of the inequities that exist across the board,” she says.

Life Outside of Work

When she’s not supporting Maine’s innovators, Carey spends much of her free time outdoors. She rides and competes in eventing with her horses, spends time on the water, walks her dogs, and enjoys time with her family.

In winter, she loves snowshoeing—especially at night—and cross-country skiing. She also makes time for the 6 a.m. hot yoga class at Portland Power Yoga.

She is currently rereading All the Light We Cannot See and recently finished listening to True Nature, a biography of Peter Matthiessen, who is also her cousin. Her current television recommendation is Slow Horses—“not actually about horses!”

And if she could have dinner with anyone from history, Carey would choose Margaret Chase Smith.

“She doesn’t exactly fall into either of those categories,” Carey says of the prompt to choose an entrepreneur or innovator, “but what a lady—strong, smart, willing to step in and take a risk and so ahead of her time. We need more humans like her!”

Whether she’s helping Maine businesses find the resources they need, telling the stories of the state’s innovators, riding horses, or spending time on the water, Carey continues to bring the same curiosity and willingness to take risks that have shaped her unconventional career.