About Project Staff

Andrea L’Hommedieu, Project Director and Interviewer
Andrea L'Hommedieu was appointed Director of the George J. Mitchell Oral History Project in November 2007. A librarian and oral historian, L'Hommedieu formerly served as oral historian for the award-winning Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Project at Bates College as well as for several community-based oral history projects. While in Maine, she maintained her interest in children's literature, serving on the Lupine Award Committee, which presents the Maine Children's Literature Award. In 2011, she accepted the position of oral historian for the Oral History Program at the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.

Diane Dewhirst, Interviewer
While serving as a project interviewer, Diane Dewhirst was senior advisor for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She has a long career on Capitol Hill and in national politics, having worked at the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and in the U.S. Senate for Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell as his communications director for over ten years. She also has worked as a communications and management consultant to numerous national organizations, including the Children's Defense Fund, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Alliance for Retired Americans, and the Alliance for Justice. Previously, she served in the Clinton-Gore administration for the Office of the First Lady, at the State Department, the Commerce Department, and Voice of America. In addition, she worked at ABC News in the Political Unit and has held management positions for numerous Democratic National Conventions and for the 2009 Inauguration Ceremony for President Barack Obama. She resides in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Robert Hickmott, and their three children.

Mike Hastings, Interviewer
A native of Morrill, Maine, Michael M. Hastings was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1972. Following a year of graduate study in Public & International Affairs at George Washington University, he worked for seven years as a foreign and defense policy aide to Senator William S. Cohen (1973-1980) and for four years for Senator George J. Mitchell (1980-1984). In 1984, he joined the international staff of Catholic Relief Services and, over a span of eight years, worked as a development administrator in Kenya, Tanzania, Togo, and The Gambia. During the same period, he assisted in the provision of emergency food for people displaced by civil wars in the Southern Sudan and Liberia. In 1992, he returned to Maine to direct a “center for excellence” focusing on aquaculture and economic development. Since 2004, he has worked for the University of Maine as its director of Research and Sponsored Programs. Between 1992 and 2008, he also served on several civic boards and institutions including the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, the Maine Oil Spill Advisory Committee, the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission, the Down East Institute, and the Maine Sea Grant Policy Advisory Committee. Between 1996 and 2001, he was elected three times to the Town Council of Hampden, Maine, where he resides with his wife, a middle school teacher.

Brien Williams, Interviewer
Brien Williams, an oral historian and documentary video producer based in the Washington, D.C., area, has contributed to numerous oral history projects since 1987—as an interviewer, historian, project director, or advisor—including the Jack Kemp Oral History Project, the Robert J. Dole Oral History Project, the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress, as well as other corporate and private undertakings. In 2009, he was the Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region’s Forrest Pogue Award Recipient. He has also served as the historian for the American Red Cross and has taught media production and theory and produced documentary and oral history programming at George Washington University, the Indiana University, American University, and Gallaudet University.

Nicci Leamon, Transcriptionist
Monique “Nicci” Leamon, proprietor of TranScrip in Casco, Maine, specializes in oral history, literary, academic, and legal transcription. Previously, she provided transcription services for the Edmund S. Muskie Oral History Project, hosted by Bates College. Other of her clients have included numerous academic institutions in Maine, New England, and the East; cultural heritage institutions and private corporations; community agencies; and individuals.