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Katie Richards Co-founder PFAS Laboratories V O L . X X X I N O. X V I I A U G U S T 1 1 , 2 0 2 5 28 An MBA tackles 'forever' chemicals with Maine's first testing lab B y L a u r i e S c h r e i b e r Katie Richards identified a critical gap in Maine's ability to respond to PFAS contamination. With no in-state testing options available, she co-founded Maine PFAS Laboratories with her husband Chris. Maine's first PFAS-accredited lab gives homeowners, farmers and munici- palities faster access to environmental data. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY O perational in 2023, the company leverages their combined exper- tise — Katie in business and project management at Bank of America, Wells Fargo and elsewhere; Chris in analytical chemistry. In two years, she led the company through rigor- ous national, international and U.S. Department of Defense accredita- tion, implemented in-house test- ing methods, tripled lab capacity, leveraged startup and accelerator resources and built a team in rural Norridgewock. e company was recently selected to support research in Greenland. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals have been used in industries worldwide. Studies show certain levels of exposure may be linked to negative health out- comes. e "forever chemicals" resist breaking down. Mainebiz: What's your reach? Katie Richards: National testing, mostly from companies that are treating PFAS contamination and researchers answering tough PFAS questions — from California to North Carolina, Texas and Massachusetts. We recently tripled capacity to conduct up to 10,000 PFAS tests annually, so business development is a big focus for us now. MB: Why is in-state testing important? KR: Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency put out guidelines for a national maximum contaminant limit for PFAS and required public water systems to test and then publish those results. Based on initial testing, there are some estimates that close to