Personnel

Principals

• Robert D. O'Neal, CCM, INCE Board Certified
  Co-Managing Principal
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  Specialty: Sound, Wind, & Industrial

  Robert O’Neal is a member of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE) with more than 30 years of experience in the areas of community noise impact assessments, meteorological data collection and analyses, and air quality modeling. Mr. O'Neal's noise impact evaluation experience includes the design and implementation of sound level measurement programs, modeling of future impacts, conceptual mitigation analyses, and compliance testing. He also provides expert witness testimony on noise impact studies and air pollution modeling in front of local boards, courts of law, and adjudicatory hearings.

  Mr. O'Neal is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist, INCE Board Certified, and he previously served on the Board of Directors for the Institute of Noise Control Engineering of the USA.

• Michael D. Howard, PWS, CWS
  Co-Managing Principal
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  Specialty: Complex Wetlands & Environmental Permitting

  Michael Howard has more than two decades of experience in wetland ecology, wetland restoration and replication, wildlife biology, vernal pool assessments, natural resource inventories, impact statement preparation, environmental regulatory analysis, and environmental permitting. He is an experienced biologist with extensive experience in wetland delineation and functional assessments using federal and state methodologies.

  ​Mr. Howard is a Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) and is a Certified Wetland Scientist (CWS) in the State of New Hampshire.​

• Theodore A. Barten, PE
  Founding Principal
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  Specialty: Transmission & Pipeline Permitting

  Theodore Barten has more than 30 years of experience in engineering and environmental consulting. He served as Co-Managing Principal of Epsilon for 20 years and was one of the original founders of the firm.

  His principal technical focus is siting, environmental analyses, licensing, permitting, and compliance work for merchant power, electric utility, and industrial clients. His projects involve route selection or site selection studies; adjudicatory level environmental review; a full array of federal, state, and local level permits; extensive regulatory agency interface; and public presentations. Mr. Barten’s expert testimony experience includes twelve successful Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board proceedings.
  

  Mr. Barten is a Registered Professional Engineer in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Illinois.

• Dale T. Raczynski, PE
  Principal
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  Specialty: Air Quality Engineering & Consulting

  Dale Raczynski, PE has 35 years of experience in engineering and environmental consulting for industries, utilities, developers, institutions, and public agencies. His primary specialty is air quality engineering. He manages complex multi-disciplinary licensing efforts for many major and controversial energy projects. He has obtained and negotiated air permits for numerous new and modified industrial and energy facilities and has provided engineering and regulatory support in defense of several major enforcement actions and lawsuits. He also has extensive expert witness testimony experience.

  Mr. Raczynski is a Registered Professional Engineer in Massachusetts. He is on the Executive Board of Directors (Treasurer) of the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association.

• Cindy Schlessinger
  Principal
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  Specialty: Local Permitting (including Article 80), MEPA, & NEPA

  Cindy Schlessinger, Manager of Epsilon’s Planning Group, develops strategies for the completion of regulatory processes to ensure that clients finish the entitlement phase of their projects efficiently. Proficient at coordinating project teams and working effectively with agency staff, Cindy helps clients negotiate paths through permitting and review processes that enable projects to proceed to construction. Prior to beginning her consulting career, Ms. Schlessinger was a project manager at the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) and retains an excellent working knowledge of the BPDA.​

• Douglas Kelleher
  Principal
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  Specialty: Historic Preservation Planning & Tax Credits

  Doug Kelleher has more than 25 years of experience in historic preservation planning, architectural design review, state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits, and regulatory compliance. Mr. Kelleher’s prior experience includes numerous years as a Preservation Planner with the Massachusetts Historical Commission. He specializes in providing public and private sector clients with strategic consulting for complex real estate projects involving historic resources for compliance with local, state, and federal historic preservation regulations. Widely recognized as a leader in the preservation community, his well-established expertise is a cornerstone of Epsilon’s historic resources and historic tax credit practice.

• AJ Jablonowski, PE
  Principal
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  Specialty: Air Permitting & Power Plant Permitting

  A.J. Jablonowski has experience with a variety of industries, including power production, surface coating, chemical production, waste treatment, metalworking, electronics, food processing, and groundwater treatment. His work includes environmental licensing, compliance and due diligence audits, air permit applications, pollution control studies, accidental release prevention, and regulatory applicability studies. He reviews operations at a variety of industrial and power facilities and recommends process changes for regulatory compliance. He uses strong technical engineering skills and an ability to grasp regulatory nuances as part of his problem-solving approach. He acts as a technical resource for air pollution capture and control options, emissions tracking, and air regulatory interpretations.

  Mr. Jablonowski is a Registered Professional Engineer in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

• David E. Hewett, LEED AP
  Principal
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  Specialty: Local Permitting (including Article 80), MEPA, & NEPA

  Dave Hewett has 34 years of experience in the field of environmental impact analysis and permitting. His work focuses on permitting for large private sector development projects in Massachusetts, particularly in Boston. He helps clients develop an overall permitting strategy and manages the preparation of documentation under MEPA and Article 80 of the Boston Zoning Code. Mr. Hewett also has experience specific to environmental permitting for public infrastructure projects, including highway, bridge, rail, and airport projects. He has led the preparation of NEPA documentation and permitting for public projects throughout New England.
  

  Mr. Hewett is a LEED Accredited Professional.

• David Klinch, PWS, PMP
  Principal
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  Specialty: Transmission & Pipeline Permitting

  ​David Klinch has more than 25 years of experience in wetland ecology, wetland delineations, wildlife habitat evaluations, environmental regulatory analysis, impact statement preparation, and environmental permitting with a strong focus on the energy sector. Mr. Klinch is an environmental regulatory specialist providing environmental permitting, consulting and regulatory compliance, and due diligence services associated with natural gas pipeline projects, and electric generation and transmission project siting and permitting. He also provides regulatory agency coordination, wetlands and waterway assessments, waste site characterization, and construction management and oversight services.

  Mr. Klinch is a Professional Wetlands Scientist (PWS) and a Professional Project Manager (PMP).

• Dwight Dunk, LPD, PWS, BCES
  Principal
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  Specialty: Freshwater & Coastal Wetland Ecology

  Dwight Dunk is a senior environmental scientist whose professional practice, and academic research, has focused on developing interdisciplinary solutions to environmental challenges. He has applied his ecological and policy expertise to projects nationwide servicing federal, state, local, and private-sector clients. Dr. Dunk’s scientific expertise is in the fields of freshwater and coastal wetland ecology; while his permitting and policy expertise focuses on developing and implementing strategies to secure approvals for National Environmental Policy Act documents and state-level equivalents, as well as federal, state, and local environmental approvals.

  Dwight’s external credentials include Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS), New Hampshire Certified Wetland Scientist (CWS), and Board Certified Environmental Scientist (BCES).

• Maria Hartnett
  Principal
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  Specialty: Offshore Wind

  Maria Hartnett specializes in environmental permitting and scientific analyses for offshore wind energy development, coastal and marine projects, dredging and disposal activities, and waterfront developments. For more than 18 years, she has been providing environmental consulting services in support of permit applications at the local, state, and federal levels. Ms. Hartnett’s areas of expertise include environmental regulatory analysis, preparation of impact assessments, coastal studies, geochemical evaluation of sediments, and development and implementation of monitoring and mitigation programs. Ms. Hartnett advocates effectively for clients with her strong grasp of scientific principles and clear, well-organized, and persuasive technical reports and presentations.
  

• Richard Lampeter, INCE
  Principal
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  Specialty: Sound Level Impact Assessments

  Richard Lampeter has more than 17 years of experience in conducting community sound level impact assessments. His areas of expertise includes the measurement of ambient sound levels, modeling sound levels from proposed developments, evaluation of conceptual mitigation, and compliance sound level measurements. Mr. Lampeter conducts impact assessments for power generating facilities, commercial developments, industrial facilities, and transfer stations. His understanding of acoustical standards and modeling software allows him to provide accurate and reliable modeling results to developers and communities. Mr. Lampeter routinely presents the key aspects of impact assessments to local boards and provides expert testimony.

• Geoff Starsiak, LEED AP BD+C
  Principal
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  Specialty: Local Permitting (including Article 80), MEPA, & NEPA

  Mr. Starsiak is a talented project manager with more than 15 years of experience conducting environmental analyses and permitting. He works closely with project teams to develop expeditious and effective permitting strategies as well as to prepare environmental regulatory documentation in compliance with Article 80 of the Boston Zoning Code as administered by the Boston Planning & Development Agency, the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act and National Environmental Policy Act. In addition, he provides consulting services related to Article 37 of the Boston Zoning Code, including its Green Building and Climate Change resilience requirements for projects subject to Article 80.

• Marc Bergeron, PWS, CWS
  Principal
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  Specialty: Transmission & Offshore Wind

  Marc Bergeron has more than 20 years of experience with environmental studies; wetland delineation, assessment, and mitigation; construction monitoring; ecological inventories; wildlife habitat assessments; and vernal pool ecology. He regularly manages large complex energy projects developing permit strategies, project alternatives assessments and routing analysis studies; and providing technical review of permit documents. In addition, he has successfully completed numerous local, state, and federal environmental permit applications for various private and public development as well as transportation-related projects throughout the Northeast.

  Mr. Bergeron is a Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS), and is a Certified Wetland Scientist (CWS) in the State of New Hampshire.​

• Alyssa Jacobs, PWS
  Principal
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  Specialty: Wetlands, Infrastructure, & Airport Permitting

  Alyssa Jacobs has more than 20 years of experience in wetland ecology, vegetation monitoring, habitat inventories, wetland restoration and environmental regulatory analysis. She has managed several multi-year permitting efforts and acts as primary client contact and regulatory liaison for large-scale projects, most recently for airport and roadway transportation projects. At Epsilon, Ms. Jacobs works on inland and coastal permitting actions at the local, state and federal levels including wetland jurisdictional determinations and delineations, preparation of permit applications such as Notices of Intent, Water Quality Certifications, and MEPA and NEPA documents, presentations to public agencies and permit compliance monitoring for residential, commercial, and industrial and public sector projects.

  Ms. Jacobs is a Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) and leads the ecological sciences group.

• John Zimmer
  Principal
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  Specialty: Energy Facility Permitting

  John Zimmer has over 26 years of experience primarily on energy related projects including the licensing and permitting of natural gas pipelines and electric transmission facilities throughout the Northeast. He is responsible for the preparation of federal, state, and local permit/license applications and coordination and management of field studies including wetland delineation and rare species surveys. He is also regularly involved with regulatory/resource agency consultation, corridor/route selection, environmental inventory and assessment, post-construction monitoring, EIR/EIS preparation, wetland and rare species mitigation planning, public participation, and construction compliance management and inspection. He has successfully managed a wide range of projects ranging from linear energy facilities to large-scale residential and commercial developments.

Associates

• Brian Lever
  Associate
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  Specialty: Historic Preservation Planning & Tax Credits

  ​Brian Lever has more than 16 years of experience in architectural history, archaeology and preservation planning. Mr. Lever provides assistance to clients in meeting regulatory requirements through consultation with state and federal agencies and the preparation of historic preservation compliance documentation. He has experience in implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and related local, state, and federal environmental laws, regulations, and guidelines affecting historic resources. Additionally, Mr. Lever has expertise in state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits and formerly was the Senior Preservation Planner for the City of Newton.

• Holly Carlson Johnston
  Associate
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  Specialty: Transmission & Offshore Wind

  Holly Carlson Johnston has a strong background in environmental law, geology, groundwater resources, coastal processes, and urban geography. Her project experience in over 15 years at Epsilon includes offshore wind transmission and other linear infrastructure projects, real estate development, waterfront permitting, coastal science/management issues, dredging and disposal site analysis and permitting, site remediation, field investigations, and scientific research. She has also testified as an expert witness and conducted regulatory research to aid permitting efforts. Ms. Johnston provides integral permitting assistance on local, state, and federal levels working closely with a range of regulatory agencies.

• Dorothy Buckoski, PE, AIChE Fellow
  Associate
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  Specialty: Air Quality Engineering & Consulting

  Dorothy Buckoski (formerly Austin) has more than 30 years of experience in the environmental and project engineering field. Her work includes air quality, environmental compliance auditing and due diligence, toxic chemicals use and inventory reporting, and odor measurement and abatement. She has extensive experience in quantifying air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions and has conducted numerous technical and economic evaluations of emissions control technologies. Ms. Buckoski also provides assistance to clients with procurement of air pollution control devices, and has led large and small permitting efforts.

  Ms. Buckoski is a Registered Professional Chemical Engineer in Massachusetts, New York and New Hampshire and a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

• Talya Moked, LEED AP BD+C
  Associate
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  Specialty: Local Permitting (including Article 80), MEPA, & NEPA

  Talya Moked joined Epsilon in 2013 as a Staff Planner. She is an environmental planner by profession with experience preparing documentation in compliance with the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) and the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA). Talya in fact got her start at BPDA as a Green Building and Zoning Intern conducting research and policy recommendations on municipal green building policies and climate change adaptation practices. She now provides consulting services related to Article 37 (Green Buildings) of the Boston Zoning Code, including its Green Building and Climate Change resilience requirements for projects subject to Article 80 (Guidelines for developments and institutional master plans).

  Talya has managed numerous very complex projects with large teams, including the 5 million square foot Dorchester Bay City and Nexus at Allston Innovation Corridor. Her expertise in MEPA and BPDA rules serves stakeholders well, augmented by a keen insight into evolving elements related to climate change and environmental justice (EJ).

  Talya received her M.C.P. City, Community and Regional Planning from Boston University and her B.S. Economics from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

• Erik Rexford
  Associate
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  Specialty: Chapter 91

  An environmental consultant with over 15 years of experience, Erik Rexford joined Epsilon in 2015. Erik is known both inside and outside Epsilon as a “go-to” expert on the Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act, or “Chapter 91,” covering commercial, energy transmission, and residential development projects. Though Epsilon has been and remains the permitting expert of choice on many of the largest development projects across the region, Erik, like his colleagues, works on a variety of projects, both large and small.

  Erik is a member of the Environmental Business Council of New England’s Ocean and Coastal Resources Committee; the NAIOP Massachusetts Government Affairs Committee, and serves on the Medford, Massachusetts Conservation Commission. He received a Master’s degree in City Planning (MCP) from Boston University, a Graduate Certificate in Environmental Studies from Tufts University, and a B.A. in Geography from the University of Vermont.
  

• Jill Rowe
  Associate
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  Specialty: Offshore Wind

  An experienced ocean science director and offshore wind lead, Jill has over 20 years of experience in environmental consulting including offshore wind and oil and gas development, with subject matter expertise including National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) support; modeling the fate and exposure of biota to oil and other chemical releases; developing fish, benthic, and essential fish habitat analyses; and evaluation of spatial abundance and recruitment patterns.

  Ms. Rowe has managed and assisted on major projects with teams consisting of both academic expert and consultant subcontractors such as facilitating and leading technical working groups and expert committees for both the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Relative Environmental Sensitivity Analysis. She is an author of and contributor to numerous scientific papers.

• Ryan Callahan, INCE
  Associate
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  Specialty: Sound Level Impact Assessments

  Ryan Callahan is a member of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE) with 17 years of experience as a noise consultant, in acoustic modeling, and sound level monitoring. An Associate of the firm, Ryan assists clients with a range of projects from such as wind farms, solar energy centers, energy storage facilities, traditional power plants, commercial developments, and industrial facilities. Ryan performs acoustic modeling using industry leading software, recommends conceptual mitigation, designs, and implements field monitoring programs for permitting purposes and for demonstrating compliance with local and state noise regulations. He has successfully completed sound monitoring or modeling for over 250 different projects. During his career, Ryan has provided expert testimony and presentations before state authorities, county boards, and town boards.

Senior Staff

• Katie Raymond, PE, LEED AP
  Senior Consultant
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  Specialty: Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Mitigation & Sustainability

  Katie Raymond has more than 20 years of environmental consulting experience focused on greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation and sustainability. She has become an industry leader in the planning, design, construction, and operation of green buildings. Katie has extensive experience providing GHG, energy efficiency, and sustainability analyses in support of National Environmental Policy Act and Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act filings for commercial real estate, energy, and other projects. She has a successful track record of achieving client’s sustainability goals through data-driven analysis and innovative problem solving.

  Ms. Raymond is a Registered Professional Civil Engineer in California and a LEED Accredited Professional.

• Jack Vaccaro
  Senior Consultant
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  Specialty: Freshwater & Coastal Wetland Ecology

  Jack Vaccaro has over 30 years of professional experience in wetland ecology and permitting of energy transmission and communications infrastructure projects on land and sea. He also has extensive experience with permitting associated with residential and commercial real estate development throughout southeastern Massachusetts with an emphasis on projects located along the waterfront. He routinely supports projects that involve construction in the coastal zone and the management of permitting efforts in accordance with regulations established under state and federal statutes and local bylaws.

• Caitlin Hamer
  Senior Consultant
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  Specialty: Offshore Wind

  Caitlin Hamer has over 13 years of experience in the environmental field having worked as a scientist, permitting specialist, policy analyst, and facilitator. She provides permitting support to the energy sector, assisting clients with federal, state, and local permitting for offshore wind, offshore oil and gas, solar, and pipeline projects. She assists clients with environmental constraints analyses, public affairs, and permitting, including the development of Environmental Impact Statements, Environmental Assessments, and a variety of scientific and strategy documents. Caitlin works closely with developers to permit and develop construction and operations plans for offshore wind energy projects.

• Sonja Sax, ScD
  Senior Consultant
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  Specialty: Human Exposure and Risk Assessment

  Sonja Sax is an environmental health scientist that specializes in evaluating exposure and health risk from environmental pollutants. She has over 20 years of experience in environmental regulatory assessment, health impact assessment and cost-benefit analyses. Dr. Sax has managed large multi-year projects advocating for clients involved in litigation or providing permitting support. She has performed indoor and outdoor air quality investigations evaluating exposures and health impacts of airborne gases and particles. In 2019, she served as an advisor to the US EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee for the particulate matter and ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

• Matthew Kelly
  Senior Consultant
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  Specialty: Complex Wetlands & Environmental Permitting

  Matt Kelly joined Epsilon in January 2019 as a Senior Scientist with 17 years of professional experience, beginning his career as a research technician with Ducks Unlimited Canada. Matt combines an extensive background in energy and utilities with deep technical knowledge in wetlands ecology, wetlands regulations, permit issuance, and compliance monitoring. He leads a multimillion-dollar portfolio of complex projects with a calm and steady hand.

  Matt earned his B.S. in Biology with an Environmental Studies minor in 2004 at the University of Prince Edward Island. He earned his New England Regional Soil Science Certificate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is a member of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions; Association of Massachusetts Wetland Scientists; New Hampshire Association of Natural Resource Scientists, and the Soil and Water Conservation Society.

• Richard Paquette, Jr.
  Senior Consultant
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  Specialty: Transmission & Offshore Wind

  Richard Paquette is a Senior Consultant with 25 years of experience working on large, complex energy projects throughout the Northeastern United States. Richard is an environmental permitting and regulatory expert with significant experience managing Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-regulated natural gas pipeline transmission projects in offshore and onshore locations. He has expertise guiding projects through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process. His technical skills include wildlife biology, wetland science, rare species agency consultation, natural resource inventory, environmental regulatory analysis, environmental impact assessment, construction management, and site restoration. Richard also has significant experience representing projects in public meetings and hearings, at agency meetings, and as an expert witness. At Epsilon, Richard supports our Coastal and Marine Sciences’ Offshore Wind practice throughout the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. His technical responsibilities include federal, state, and local permitting, regulatory agency coordination, environmental impact assessment, and project strategy consultation.

• Ken Hickey
  Senior Consultant
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  Specialty: Surface Water Quality, Hydrodynamics, and Sediment

  Ken Hickey has over 25 years of experience leading, designing, and conducting marine water quality, hydrodynamic, and sediment quality studies. A problem-solver by nature, Ken has practical experience dealing with high-profile clients in the New England market and nationally. His experience with marine and coastal sciences, regulatory permitting, and project management will support Epsilon’s current and future marine, coastal and offshore wind (OSW) projects. Ken is highly regarded for his depth of technical expertise and ability to find sensible approaches to managing complex technical and regulatory issues. Ken has recently managed projects supporting offshore wind development permitting; Consent Decree and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit compliance support to a major industrial discharger; and provided marine environmental program management services to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District.

• Robert Weiner
  Senior Consultant
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  Specialty: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) & Spatial Data Analysis

  Rob Weiner is a geographer with experience in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spatial data analysis, quality assurance and quality control. As GIS Group Manager, Rob leads a team of outstanding GIS experts, leading his team by supporting hundreds of Epsilon client projects each year. He is proficient in numerous applications such as ArcGIS and AutoCAD, and graphical software such as the Adobe suite, implementing environmental constraints mapping and devising solutions to geospatial issues in support of Epsilon’s project managers. Prior to joining Epsilon Associates, Mr. Weiner served as a senior analyst in the Sewer Mapping Unit for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and was appointed by the Deputy Commissioner to Mayor Bloomberg’s Flood Mitigation Task Force to analyze and map sewer backup and street flooding events to help target areas for capital improvements.

• Clint Cyr, PE, INCE
  Senior Consultant
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  Specialty: Acoustics

  Clint Cyr is a senior consultant and acoustical engineer at Epsilon Associates with expertise in environmental impact assessments and noise control. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and holds a Master’s Degree in Acoustics. At Epsilon, he helps developers successfully site and permit a wide variety of projects, including industrial-scale wind farms, electrical substations, cogeneration facilities, battery storage systems, and commercial developments. Clint has honed his skills through years of experience conducting on-site measurement programs, generating acoustic models and mitigation analyses, and performing feasibility studies for a diverse range of industries across the United States. He also conducts sound level compliance testing and stands as the subject matter expert at hearings for both sound level and shadow flicker studies.

Administration

• Karen Roth, PHR, SHRM-CP
  Director of Administration
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  ​Karen Roth is Epsilon's Director of Administration. She manages Epsilon’s procurement matters, and coordinates relationships with IT specialists, communications companies and the document reproduction industry. She has been with Epsilon since its founding, and worked closely with Epsilon Principals prior to that.

  Ms. Roth holds a certification as a Professional in Human Resources.

• Jennifer Alker
  Senior Finance Administrator
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  Since joining Epsilon in 2018, Jennifer provides a range of expertise at Epsilon including but not limited to accounts receivable, accounts payable, contracts, time/billing, coordination with agencies and other clients, year-end audits, and everything else that comes with the job.