SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Shriners Hospitals for Children® welcomes Frank R. Preble of Auburn, Maine, as the new chairman of the hospital’s board of governors.

Preble has been a board member since 2003 and most recently served as vice chairman from 2007 through 2009. Preble, who has been a Shriner for 25 years, will serve a three-year term as chairman. Board members are made up of Shriners from 17 centers located throughout New England and upstate New York.

Preble is a member of the Kora Shriners of Lewiston, Maine, and served as its potentate in 2001, 30 years after his father served in the same capacity. His Masonic career began in 1984 and in 1992 he served as master of his Blue Lodge.

An active Scottish Rite Mason, Preble headed several bodies of the Rite in the Valley of the Androscoggin and was bestowed with the honorary 33rd degree by the Scottish Rite of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in 2002.

He joined Kora Temple in Lewiston, in 1985, where he became one of the founding fathers of the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl Classic. Preble continues to serve Kora as its treasurer and as a member of its executive committee. Additionally, he served as an officer of the Grand Lodge of Maine in 2002 and 2003. He has also been a member of the Imperial Sports Committee for a number of years.

Preble has two children, Jacob, a 2009 graduate of Springfield College, and Eliza, who is currently pursuing a degree from the New England Culinary Institute. He is owner/president of Landfall Custom Tours in Auburn, a diversified travel company.