Our Team

Elizabeth Swain is President of Barton & Gingold, specializing in environmental permitting 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 energy projects, and providing strategic consultation and community relations for a variety of land use and environmental projects. She also regularly assists clients with government and media relations.

Ms. Swain was amember 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..

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. Ms. Swain is Vice President of the Vinalhaven Land Trust, and also serves on the boards of Maine Huts & Trails, Maine Businesses for Sustainability and E2-Tech.

Connie Gemmer is Vice President of Barton & Gingold. As a Communications Strategist she specializes in public relations, marketing and community outreach.

Very often, she helps clients achieve widespread public acceptance for projects or policy issues, by anticipating regulatory and citizen roadblocks and developing strategies to overcome them. She also often leads a team of associates of Barton & Gingold in implementing marketing communications efforts, and oversees media relations for a variety of clients.

For non-profit organizations, she assists with corporate and individual fundraising campaigns, marketing plans, educational programs and membership expansion. Ms. Gemmer is a winner of the YWCA Tribute to Women in Industry Award and a graduate of Leadership Maine.

Connie Gemmer is a graduate of Connecticut College and studied for one year at the Institute for European Studies, Vienna, Austria. She lives in Portland with her husband and four children.

Ann Kerry is the receptionist and office manager for Barton & Gingold. She has been with the firm since 1986, and has an excellent working knowledge of the companys history and client base. She often provides administrative support for client projects.

Ms. Kerry spent many years in the political arena and continues to work on various local, state, and national campaigns.

A certified histologist, Ann Kerry trained at Mercy Hospital, and worked at Webber Hospital, now Southern Maine Medical Center.

Tobey Williamson specializes in community and media outreach, conflict resolution, meeting facilitation, and strategic planning and decision-making. He has worked with private enterprise, government, non-profit organizations, on projects in fields as diverse as renewable energy, transportation improvement, land conservation, telecommunications, business planning, agriculture and the fine arts.

While working with groups to improve communication either internally or with a set of external stakeholders, he is especially skilled at building trust between people who disagree about a particular issue or set of issues. He does this through active listening, creative problem solving, and by gently encouraging people to take a broader view of their situations.

Tobey Williamson received a Masters of Regional Planning and training in mediation and facilitation from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2001. He graduated from Colby College with a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies in 1995.

Jeraldine Herrera is experienced in market research, marketing and community relations. She has worked extensively with government agencies, non-profit organizations, health care institutions, and real estate developers in achieving improved communication with their stakeholders and the community.

An effective organizer and planner, her responsibilities include creating and implementing community relations programs, producing marketing/communication material and managing media and public relations.

Prior to joining Barton & Gingold, Jerry taught micro and macroeconomic theory at the University of Washington. She has a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Washington, where she focused on environmental and natural resource economics.

Randy Seaver specializes in media relations, communications and community support networking for a variety of clients with goals tied to legislative approval or successful public relations support. He works closely with his clients to develop successful action plans to overcome public relations challenges.

Mr. Seaver possesses a keen understanding and appreciation of the states political and socio-economic climate. Before joining Barton & Gingold in 2006, he spent more than a decade as the editor-in-chief, reporter and political columnist for a group of newspapers in southern Maine.

He also served as communications director for the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, a non-profit organization that included fishing communities and industry associations along the New England coast, where he developed community mitigation plans to offset increasing federal regulations and other industry challenges.

Kathy brings experience with media and community relations to the B&G team. Prior to joining the firm, she was the editor of the Gorham Times, a nonprofit community newspaper. For Barton & Gingold clients, she manages the complex logistics of community outreach, media contacts and event planning. Kathy handles advertising placement and collaterals development for a variety of business and nonprofit clients.

Kathy was elected to the Gorham School Committee in 2008. She was the community leader when Gorham took part in the Maine Readiness Campaign, and helped develop an action plan to ensure students graduate from high school ready for college, community and citizenship.

Corey Hascall is a recognized expert in community and public relations, communications and grassroots lobbying. For nearly a decade she has provided strategy, media relations, operations, planning, and crisis management solutions for both corporate and political clients. As Campaign Director on a 2008 race for U.S. Congress, Corey managed 12 paid positions and over 300 volunteers while directing paid and earned media, communications, strategy and field operations.

Corey serves as Executive Director of A Rising Tide, a non-profit organization that she co-founded in 2004 to provide campaign leadership training to Maines young people. Under her leadership, the organization has graduated nearly 300.

A South Portland, Maine native, Corey did her undergraduate studies at both Boston University and the University of Southern Maine, where she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Political Science.

Ann serves as Barton & Gingold’s Accounting Manager. She has worked with the firm for more than nine years, and is well acquainted with our clients, projects and procedures.

Ann is also available to provide accounting, administrative and project-intensive services on each of our projects. She is meticulously organized and skillfully manages projects like mass-mailings and media clipping.

She is affiliated with Barton & Gingold on a contractual basis, and she also serves several other clients in greater Portland.