our staff
Christopher O’Connor
Executive director
PRONOUNS: HE/HIM
Chris joined us as manager of the ECC in February of 2022, and as of April 2023, has become our first-ever Executive Director. He is no stranger to LGBTQ+ organizing in Maine as he worked for EqualityMaine as their Development Director for seven and a half years prior to joining the ECC family. He is one of the co-founders and chairs of Pride Portland, and also served as a co-chair for Governor Mills’ Inaugural Ball in 2019.
Prior to his professional work in the LGBTQ+ movement, Chris worked in student affairs at the University of Southern Maine for 16 years, Originally from NJ, he moved to Maine several years after receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Chris’ passion has always been in social justice / community organizing work, and he enjoys bringing his knowledge and skills in organizational leadership, fundraising, large scale event planning, organizing and relationship building to the ECC.
In his personal life, Chris is the proud papa of a beautiful rescue puppy named Bella, and an even prouder uncle to his niece and nephew in NJ. He enjoys music of all kinds, attending concerts, musical theater, and marching band/drum corps shows, watching tv and movies, eating out and traveling. Provincetown is his happy place!
KT Trenbeath
office manager / Bookkeeper
PRONOUNS: they/THEM
KT is an avid roller skater, spreadsheet maker, and community builder. They’ve been on the founding committees of the Bellport Tenants Union, the Restaurant Workers Coalition, and Rockers United (precursor to a formal workplace union). They see themselves as a Helper, and they’re thrilled to join the ECC team and be a part of such a beautiful and queer-focused community space.
Originally from Southern California, KT went to college in San Francisco, receiving their BA in Comparative Religious Studies and minors in both Philosophy and Urban Agriculture. They’ve worked in many industries over the course of their life, such as landscaping, healthcare, restaurants, and online gaming. Through it all, they’ve always made time for long roadtrips, lackadaisical hikes, and throwing hyper-specific themed parties. Their favorite pastimes are starting (but rarely finishing) crocheting projects and performing the same Cher song every time they do karaoke.
OUR BOARD
Matt Dubois
President
Pronouns: He/Him
One of the founders of the ECC in 2014
Matt is an attorney and partner at the law firm of Vogel & Dubois in Portland where he focuses his practice in the areas of family law, planning for aging and retirement, planning for LGBT persons and their families, elder law, estate planning, end-of-life planning and probate.
He is the past Chair of the Elder Law Section of the Maine State Bar Association (MSBA) and has served as Board President of the advocacy group EqualityMaine, as a Director on the board of AIDS Lodging House (ALH) and as a Director on the board of SAGE Maine. Matt completed his undergraduate B.A. at Northeastern University in Boston and his J.D. at the University of Maine School of Law in Portland.
Matt also co-owns Frenchies’ Natural Products, a manufacturer and distributer of Frenchies’ Maine Woods Bug Dope (insect repellent), as well as other balsam fir, pine, spruce and cedar soaps, hand lotion and room sprays. Matt is an avid hiker and gardener and lives in North Yarmouth, Maine with his husband Lou Demers and their three Samoyed dogs.
Betsy Smith
VICE PRESIDENT
CHAIR. CapitAL CAMPAIGN
Pronouns: She/Her
One of the founders of the ECC in 2014
Betsy has been an organizational leader for over 20 years, and served as Executive Director of EqualityMaine during the multi-year effort to win the freedom to marry. During Betsy’s tenure at EqualityMaine, our community also won statewide non-discrimination protections, numerous rights and benefits for domestic partners, and anti-bullying protections for LGBTQ youth. Betsy later founded Vision and Strategy, LLC, a consulting business that specializes in organizational development, fundraising, capacity building, and other non-profit needs and focuses.
Betsy has a master’s degree from Colorado State University and an undergraduate degree from Jacksonville University in Florida. She lives in Portland with her wife and two children. In 2017, Betsy and her family lived in London for a year and traveled extensively throughout Europe.
Theo Greene
SECRETARY
Pronouns: He/Him
Joined the board in 2021
Theo Greene is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Bowdoin College. His research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of sexuality, urbanism, and culture. His research broadly uses sexual communities to understand how urban redevelopment shape and reconfigure how individuals conceptualize, identify to, and participate in local communities.
His current book project, entitled Not in MY Gayborhood: Gay Neighborhoods and the Rise of the Vicarious Citizen (under contract with Columbia University Press) explores the persistence of iconic gay neighborhoods in Washington, DC through ephemeral acts of placemaking by nonresidential community actors (vicarious citizens). Theo is excited about incorporating Portland and Maine in his upcoming research.
In addition to a project on queer placemaking in Portland (culminating in a digital archive historically tracing Portland’s queer geographies), he also hopes to incorporate Portland and Maine in future research on placemaking and the production of queer communities in resort towns.
Dale McCormick
Treasurer
Pronouns: She/Her
Joined the board in 2016
Dale grew up in Iowa where she raised sheep with Old Testament names and showed them at the County Fair in Boys 4-H. She received a BA from the University of Iowa in 1971in nearby Iowa City while protesting the War in Vietnam, Co-founding the Women’s Liberation Front, The Gay Liberation Front, and Ain’t I A Woman. After becoming the first woman to complete a carpentry apprenticeship with the carpenter’s union in 1975 Dale started her own construction Company; wrote 2 books about carpentry and founded Women Unlimited, a program that successfully trains women on welfare to compete for high-paying jobs in trade and technical occupations.
Dale co-founded the Maine Lesbian Gay Political Alliance (MLGPA) in 1984; was elected to the State Senate in 1990, serving 3 terms; was the first open lesbian State Senator elected in the US; became Maine’s first female Constitutional Officer when she was elected State Treasurer in 1996; directed the Maine Housing Authority for 7 years; was a city Councilor-at-Large for the City of Augusta.
Dale is a mother of three daughters, and a farmer. She plays the cello and lives on a tiny urban farm in Augusta Maine where she raises peaches, pears, blueberries, and grapes and makes wine.
Barb Wood
immediate past President
Pronouns: She/Her
Joined the board in 2016
Barb came out as a political activist in 1984 by hosting MLGPA’s first mailing party. EqualityMaine created the “Great Pioneer Award” for Barb when she was recognized for being the first openly gay or lesbian elected official in Maine. Barb served on the Portland City Council from 1988 through 1991 and was a key spokesperson for Portland’s anti-discrimination referendum.
Currently, Barb serves as the Equality Community Center Board President, cPort Credit Union Board Director, West End Neighborhood Association (WENA) member and the EQME Foundation Board VP. She also volunteers as a driver with the Independent Transportation Network (ITN), providing rides for seniors and people with disabilities, and enjoys working with LGBTQ+ youth through EQME’s New Leaders Project.
Professionally, Barb enjoyed a 30-year career with LL Bean. She started as a seasonal employee and retired as Senior Operations Manager of Distribution/Returns, and was named one of Bean’s Best for her outstanding leadership skills. During these years, she bought and restored a condemned Victorian house in the West End, where she has lived happily for 25 years, the past 15 with her partner, Carol Capomaccio.
In 2020 Barb was elected to the Maine State House of Representatives serving Portland’s West End.
Jenevieve Arrigan
Pronouns: SHE/HER
Joined the board in 2022
Jenevieve is a technologist who specializes in implementing cloud technology for enterprise organizations. She is the founder and CEO of Escapist Reality, a consulting company based in Westbrook, Maine. Jenevieve’s passion is to leverage technology to promote equality and equity for marginalized communities.
With her values of justice and innovation, and experience in positions of leadership, she aspires to be of service to the Equality Community Center in its mission to give queer and trans people in the Greater Portland Area a safe space to gather and connect.
April Fournier
Pronouns: She/her
joined the board in 2023
April is a member of the Navajo Nation, an At-Large City Councilor in Portland, and is the National Program Manager for Advance Native Political Leadership. She supports the development and delivery of the Native Leadership Institute’s Leadership Training Program, Alumni Network and Program Development.
April has extensive experience in community organizing, community leadership and development, coalition building, and training. April is the co-founder of the first all-Indigenous roller derby team and worked to leverage technology and community building to engage team members globally.
April resides with her husband, four children and two dogs in the East Deering Neighborhood. She enjoys Maine’s different seasons, and will swim in the ocean year-round. She also enjoys live music indoors or outdoors, sometimes traveling south to Boston for shows, visiting the many eateries and micro-brews around Portland, family game night, beading, and reading science fiction and fantasy novels.
Ed Gardner
CHAIR, HOUSING Committee
Pronouns: He/Him
One of the founders of the ECC in 2014
Ed Gardner is the owner/Broker of Gardner Real Estate Group, one of Portland's favorite boutique real estate companies. With over 35 years of real estate experience, from sales to development and management to investment properties, Ed has the tools and trusted knowledge to professionally market and sell your current property or skillfully navigate you to your next purchase. You will appreciate his vast knowledge of the Greater Portland real estate housing market and commitment to excellent service!
Ed has the pleasure of volunteering in the community as being the president of the Greater Portland Board of REALTORS in 2014, State REALTOR of the Year in 2014, and the president of the Maine Association of REALTORS in 2016. His hard work representing the REALTOR organization has built a respected name in the world of real estate for Maine. Many other local organizations that he volunteers for and give back to, have awarded the keen knowledge needed to best guide his clients to their greatest investment, through community. They include past president of Greater Portland Landmarks, a historic preservation organization. He has served on the BOD and many committees of the Friends of Eastern Promenade and is on the Board of Directors at Norway Savings Bank.
Linda L. Nelson
Co-CHAIR, Communications Committee
Pronouns: Sh/e, hir, we
Joined the board in 2023
Linda is the Economic & Community Development Director for the Town of Stonington, ME. A nonprofit consultant, author, journalist, and producer, Linda moved to Maine in 2001 to be the founding Executive Director of Opera House Arts (OHA) at the 1912 Stonington Opera House, on the National Register of Historic Places. She believes deeply in the power of gathering, and was a co-founder of the Bowdoin College Women's Resource Center (now the Center for Sexuality, Women, and Gender) in 1980 before graduating from Bowdoin in 1983.
In addition to her 25 years of nonprofit management and theater production, Linda has more than 30 years experience in the media industry as reporter, writer, editor, new media pioneer and designer and CIO / CEO, beginning with her career with Village Voice Media in NYC. In 2022, she co-chaired the 50th Anniversary of Women at Bowdoin and was awarded the college's Common Good Award by the McKeen Center for the Common Good.
She is currently working on a book, Incite Art/Create Community, telling tall tales in the intersection between queer rural community development and arts and culture. She has lived on Deer Isle for 24 years with her lovely wife, Judith Jerome, a writer/producer/actor, and their families of two- and four-legged beloveds.
Ann Price
Co-CHAIR, Communications Committee
Pronouns: She/They
Joined the Board in 2023
Ann is a librarian and harm reductionist living in Portland, Maine. They focus on the information needs of people in crisis, and have volunteered and worked with anti-violence organizations and shelters since 2013.
Ann has her Master’s in Library and Information Science from Simmons University in Boston and received a Bachelor's degree in English Literature and Women & Gender Studies as well as the LGBTQ certificate from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Carolyn Thomas
Pronouns: She/Her
Joined the Board in 2017
Carolyn is the SVP, Chief Risk Officer at Norway Savings Bank. Carolyn joined Norway Savings in 1999 and has over 30 years of banking industry experience. In her current role, Carolyn oversees the Bank’s risk, compliance, commercial credit, commercial loan administration and special assets departments.
Carolyn has a Bachelor’s degree in Math and Economics from the University of Rhode Island and has studied Financial Planning.
Carolyn has formerly volunteered with PFLAG and EqualityMaine. She also volunteers with the Friends of the Shakers
Carolyn lives in Falmouth with her wife Jennifer and their 14 year old teenager.
She looks forward to retiring someday (once her child is through college) and becoming an activist. It will be quite a change from being a banker!
Rich Waitzkin
Pronouns: He/Him
One of the founders of the ECC in 2014
Rich grew up in Ohio where he went to school and then, became a VISTA volunteer and teacher’s aide in California before moving east. In Massachusetts, Rich received a masters degree in education and one in social work. He’s been working in those capacities for forty-five years.
On the front lines in the early days of HIV-AIDS work in Maine, he sat on the Governor’s commission on AIDS, attended the first regional training to provide HIV counseling and testing, volunteered as an AIDS buddy and contributed to Maine’s first AIDS hospice facility.
Rich lives in Portland, loves to work on his old house and yard and, dances in both public and private.
