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In 1989 Friends of Casco Bay was organized by concerned citizens in response to “Troubled Waters,” an alarming report that claimed that Casco Bay was one of the most polluted estuaries in the nation. The grassroots organization quickly became embroiled in two controversial issues: a proposed new marina in Portland and sewage treatment on Peaks Island. The group soon recognized that it needed someone to work with interested parties to find collaborative solutions. Within two years the organization hired its first staff person, Joe Payne, as Casco BAYKEEPER®, making him the seventh WATERKEEPER in the WATERKEEPER® ALLIANCE movement.
To email our staff, simply click on their name. Cathy L. Ramsdell, Executive Director
Cathy Ramsdell is a Certified Public Accountant and marine ecologist, and has served nonprofits and businesses in a variety of executive, scientific, board, and consulting roles. Prior to joining Friends of Casco Bay as Executive Director in May 2003, Cathy’s consulting practice helped chief executives, non-profit boards, business owners, and family foundations with financial, professional and organizational development. She has run retail businesses and worked as a public accountant. Her earliest work was in evolutionary behavior and ecology: she conducted field research on seabird populations in Alaska, sea turtles nesting on Georgia beaches, and marine mammals in the Gulf of Maine. Cathy is a board member of Mainewatch Institute and is Trustee Emeritus of College of the Atlantic.
 Joe Payne, Casco BAYKEEPER®Friends of Casco Bay was a grassroots, volunteer-run organization until the hiring of Joe Payne in 1991. Joe became Casco BAYKEEPER®, making him the seventh WATERKEEPER® in the country, resulting in Friends of Casco Bay becoming a founding member of the WATERKEEPER® ALLIANCE, an international environmental network that has grown to more than 150 organizations. Under Joe’s leadership, Friends of Casco Bay has implemented programs that combine environmental protection with economic pragmatism.
A native Portlander who summered on Peaks Island as a child and the grandson of a fisherman, Joe is guided by both a passionate love for Casco Bay and an understanding of its physical and biological dynamics. His work as a marine biologist from 1974 to 1991, including 12 years with Normandeau Associates, involved years of field work and investigations into a wide variety of marine species, dynamics and impact assessments.
 Mary Cerullo is responsible for our publications, public relations, and educational outreach. She works with communities on BayScaping, a six-step program for homeowners on environmentally friendly lawn care, and the Casco Bay Curriculum, 37 activities for 4th-6th grades using our data. Mary has over 30 years experience as a science translator. She has interpreted marine issues for the general public and for marine user groups through the New England Aquarium, the Maine/New Hampshire Sea Grant College Program, the Great Bay (NH) National Estuarine Research Reserve, and the Gulf of Maine Aquarium. Mary is the award-winning author of 12 non-fiction children’s books on the ocean, as well as a handbook for teachers on using children’s literature in the science classroom. Will Everitt has over ten years of fundraising experience with environmental organizations from Alaska to Maine. Will has always felt a close connection to environmental issues, having grown up on a farm in New Jersey. At a young age he also fell in love with Maine, as his family visited Popham Beach each summer. Before working with Friends of Casco Bay, he spent seven years working with Toxics Action Center, helping dozens of communities across New England fight leaking landfills, sludge spreading and pesticide spraying. He also directed the organization’s fundraising program and launched its major donor program. He was drawn to Friends of Casco Bay because of our effective approaches to protecting the water right in his front yard.  Kristel Sheesley, Development Assistant
Kristel Sheesley joined Friends of Casco Bay after working for Assateague Coastal Trust, an allied WATERKEEPER organization on Maryland's eastern shore. She has worked as an environmental educator in her home state of Delaware, and with the Fish & Wildlife Service at a wildlife refuge on Plum Island in Massachusetts. Kristel holds BAs in Political Studies and Environmental Studies from Gordon College in Massachusetts, and she is working toward her Masters degree in community planning at the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. Peter Milholland has had considerable experience working with volunteers on environmental projects. Before joining Friends of Casco Bay in 1995, he worked as caretaker and stewardship coordinator for 12 years at Maine Audubon’s Mast Landing Sanctuary. He also worked with student volunteers through Portland West to monitor water quality in the Bay, and the students made Fort Gorges accessible to the public by picking up debris, carting away miles of steel cable stored there and building stairways to the upper levels of the fort.
At Friends of Casco Bay, Peter has helped train more than 450 volunteers in EPA-approved water quality sampling procedures, earning national recognition for our Citizen Stewards Water Quality Monitoring Program. He pilots and maintains our Baykeeper boat and coordinates many of our research projects.  R. Michael Doan, Research AssociateMike Doan first joined us in 1995 as an intern and water quality volunteer, then joined the staff as a Research Associate in 1998. Mike coordinates seasonal research initiatives, involving low dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, nutrients, water currents, sediment toxics, and stormwater sampling. He maintains our water quality testing equipment and assists with on-going monitoring efforts. Mike is our point person on state water quality standards, local shellfish management issues, marine invasive species, and juvenile lobster stock status and trends.
Mike is working on his Masters degree in Biology at the University of Southern Maine, involving coastal nitrogen dynamics and algal nitrogen uptake. Mike has worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service, Maine Departments of Marine Resources and of Environmental Protection, and the marine/algal invertebrate lab at the University of Maine. Mike holds a BS in Biology and is SCUBA certified.
 Jeff came to Friends of Casco Bay in 2007 with over 10 years of administrative and development experience with Maine nonprofits. Jeff keeps the day-to-day operations of our office flowing smoothly and efficiently, handling everything from phone and email inquiries from people in our community, to bookkeeping, computer operations, meeting preparation, and insurance details.
Jeff holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Southern Maine and enjoys gardening, canoeing and photography.
Helen Mattson operated her own lobster boat and worked as a dockhand at Spring Point Marina for five years before joining Friends of Casco Bay in 2006 as our seasonal Pumpout Coordinator and Ambassador. She has completed an 80-hour captain’s license course and has a Masters 50-ton Captain's License. In 2004, she received her NAUI scuba diving certification. Her boat handling skills, combined with her knowledge and love of the Bay, make her an articulate spokesperson on the water, teaching recreational boat owners about issues that confront the Bay and the importance of responsible pumpout practices.
During the rest of the year when Helen is not on Casco Bay on our behalf, she is pursuing an undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Maine Orono.
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