PORTLAND – A Wilton native has been named Maine’s first “Emerging Leader” by Aspen Institute 2009 Henry Crown Fellowship.

Maine businesswoman Rosa Scarcelli, 39, of Portland joins a class of 20 others named as Crown Fellows.

After being nominated for the fellowship she participated in an interview process in Washington and was chosen from among 60 candidates.

The Aspen Institute’s focus is on creating a “good society,” Scarcelli said. She will participate in four retreats over the next two years that encourage understanding of what makes a good society and what she could contribute outside her business.

“They are calling us to do something that has an impact on society,” she said Wednesday.

Scarcelli, owner and president of Stanford Management, runs more than 80 affordable housing complexes in Maine, Connecticut, Mississippi and Pennsylvania. Locally, the business owns Deer Crossing and the Ethel Walton complex in Farmington.

As a child, Scarcelli lived in Wilton and Farmington. Her father, John, was a dean and art teacher for 35 years at the University of Maine at Farmington. Both parents were artists and owned a small restaurant in Farmington, A Piece of Cake, she said.

When her mother ran for but lost a state political position, she became involved in the Maine State Housing Authority, which then led her to develop Stanford Management. After graduating from Bowdoin College with an art major, a lack of jobs led Scarcelli to join and learn that family business.

Scarcelli sought investments that provide for quality affordable housing, restore and reuse historically significant properties and assist in revitalizing neighborhoods, she said.

The Henry Crown Fellowship program is designed to engage leaders bringing together entrepreneurial executives and professionals under age 45 who have achieved success. The program honors the life and career of Chicago industrialist Henry Crown.