Rebecca Austin

LEWISTON — Safe Voices Executive Director Elise Johansen will be succeeded by Rebecca Austin, the agency’s director of programs, when Johansen steps down in June.

Austin has been with the agency for 15 years, beginning first as an advocate based in Franklin County and most recently leading the programmatic teams that run the agency’s advocacy, intervention, prevention and sheltering programs.

“The board of directors had no easy task in choosing how to fill the executive director role,” board President Amy Gagne said in a Safe Voices news release. “We are so fortunate to have found that the skill, expertise and passion for this work necessary to lead the agency was already present on our team. We are thrilled to see the agency benefit from Rebecca’s leadership in an even more impactful way than it already has.”

Austin has been serving as an expert at the state level for many years in her work as a member of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women and as chairwoman of the Maine Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Legislative Commission.