Portland resident Lori Thayer and Yarmouth entrepreneur Tay Veitch have been elected to the 21-member board of directors of Friends of Casco Bay/Casco Baykeeper.

The nonprofit organization, Friends of Casco Bay/Casco Baykeeper, is based in South Portland. The 1,200-member group, established in 1989, works to protect the environmental health of Casco Bay through advocacy, research, education and collaborative partnerships with other nonprofits and agencies.

Thayer, a medical and environmental anthropologist originally from Farmington, works as a research associate at the University of New England’s Center for Community and Public Health in Biddeford.

Veitch describes himself as a “recovering attorney” – a refreshing perspective for the board, which already has five lawyers, said Mary Cerullo, associate director, whose husband is an attorney, too. Veitch now operates a manufacturing company that designs, fabricates machinery and assembles automated and non-automated equipment. He’s a “true entrepreneur and inventor,” said Cerullo.

Each board member can serve as many as three three-year terms.