AUGUSTA – The Maine Community College System is sponsoring a half-day conference for policy makers, education officials, business leaders and others on models and approaches to nurture and support entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship: The Spirit of Maine will be held from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday, April 8, at Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield. It will feature state and national leaders in entrepreneurship.

Keynote speakers include Gov. John E. Baldacci; Dr. Joseph Kayne, Cintas Chair and professor of entrepreneurship at the Richard T. Farmer School of Business at Miami University in Ohio; and Dr. Deborah Markley, co-director of the Rural Policy Research Institute at the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship at Chapel Hill in North Carolina.

Other speakers include Charles Summers, New England regional administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration; Rep. John Richardson, speaker of the Maine House of Representatives; Susan Gendron, Maine commissioner of education; and Jack Cashman, Maine commissioner of Economic and Community Development.

The presenters will discuss various models used by states to nurture entrepreneurship and enhance their economic well-being. Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no cost to attend the conference. To register go online at www.mccs.me.edu or phone Marcia Schools at 629-4000.