Public Affairs and
Government Relations

Land Use and Permitting

Public Relations
and Marketing

Facilitation and Mediation

Elizabeth Swain

Elizabeth Swain is President of Barton & Gingold, specializing in regulatory affairs and communications.  She is a registered professional forester and her consulting practice concentrates primarily on natural resource-related issues.  She has been with the company since 1986.

Ms. Swain has extensive experience in managing complex public policy issues to achieve a successful outcome.  Her work has focused on permitting clean energy projects, and providing strategic consultation on conservation easements, transportation projects, Superfund, forest policy and community development issues.  She also regularly assists clients with marketing, communication, planning and media relations. 

Ms. Swain has been involved in public policy matters on behalf of utility, government, non-profit and private sector clients.  A member of the quasi-judicial Maine Land Use Regulation Commission from 1984-1992 and four-term Chair, she brings a thorough understanding of regulatory decision-making to each project.

Ms. Swain is currently Vice President of the Vinalhaven Land Trust, and serves on the board of the Western Mountains Foundation and the Mainewatch Institute.  She is also a member of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Verification Oversight Panel in Maine.  She has served on the Board of the Forest Society of Maine, Friends of Casco Bay and the University of Maine Forest Resource and Research Advisory Council.

Prior to joining Barton & Gingold, she worked for the non-profit Technical Development Corporation in Boston, and for five years served as the forestry program director at the Maine Audubon Society.

Elizabeth Swain received a Masters of Forestry from Yale University in 1983. She graduated from Hampshire College with a B.A. in Land Use Planning in 1976 and was a Special Student in Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.