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Meet the AIGA Maine Board of Directors
Katie began to serve with AIGA at the beginning of 2022 to connect with like-minded creatives in her local community. Her day job is Digital Communications Specialist at Dechra, a global animal health organization, where she creates content particularly focused on communicating the organization’s sustainability strategy and related activities to a global audience.
A native of Massachusetts, Katie obtained a business degree from Suffolk University in Boston. She spent time living in Sweden and Texas before making Portland her home in 2014. Outside of work, her hobbies include writing, reading, exploring (ideally on a bike), playing pool, and spending as much time with her two cats as possible.
Rachel Guthrie is currently a Professor in Communications & New Media at Southern Maine Community College. She was born and raised in Texas where she spent the 50s and 60s learning more about ranching than shoveling snow. So when she moved to Maine, the four seasons inspired her creativity. Rachel earned her BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Southern Maine, followed by a one-year exchange in London at Whitelands College. From there, her graduate studies began in France, where she earned a certificate of Higher Education in European studies, then pursued a career in graphic design.
Rachel had a successful career in the field, working for such companies as LL Bean, Cuddledown, Tom’s of Maine, UNUM and the Ohio Art Company. These experiences, along with the inspiration from a few amazing educators inspired a career change, and she earned her M.Ed. at Goddard College in 2003. Rachel taught first in elementary education, then at the middle level, and finally, after a two-year stint at the high school level, she was recruited by her mentor from Southern Maine Community College.
Rachel is a painter and also a registered yoga teacher.
Travis is an award-winning creative director and brand designer with over 25 years of being a navigator, brand connector, listener, contextual designer, athlete and defender of simplicity.
As a native of New Hampshire, he completed his BFA dual degree in Graphic Design and Illustration while also being a top ranked Division I men’s tennis student-athlete from the University of Hartford, Hartford Art School. After graduation, Travis worked as a senior designer at Spalding Sports in western Massachusetts. From there he relocated to Maine in 2000 working as a designer for the VIA Agency. Over the course of his career, he has had the opportunity to work for several agencies and in-house groups as a design director and lead designer on campaigns for Gillette, IDEXX, NBA, Sugarloaf, TD, Verizon and Y Combinator. His design work has been recognized by Rebrand 100, GDUSA, HOW, Adweek and Broderson. Most recently, he completed his role as Principal, Brand Design at Unum to refocus his efforts and passion for design as an independent design consultant.
Although his passion lies in typography, information design, architecture and design/brand systems, Travis can also be found outside working on various landscaping projects and playing league tennis.
Gina Sterling
gina@maine.aiga.org
Gina is a young, expressive digital designer and artist living in Portland, ME. She began using design software in middle school computer club, and although she had a life plan to become a German professor after graduating from Hood College in 2020, the pandemic pushed her back towards her creative roots. In her creative endeavors, she has grown a healthy online community of other designers, both young and old, from across the globe. Gina seeks to merge art and design to create work that is emotional, thought provoking, and cathartic.
You can find more of Gina’s work at her website and connect with her and her community on Instagram.
Emily Foran is an award-winning Creative Director and Multidisciplinary Designer with more than two decades of professional experience. Through her independent consultancy, Foran Concepts, she designs brand identities, digital and print communications tools, and marketing campaigns for nonprofit, government, startup, and tech clients. These include Michael Phelps Foundation, Proof Collective, True Ventures, and the National Partnership for Women & Families.
Prior to establishing her business in 2013, Emily worked for agencies in San Francisco and NYC including Better World Advertising, where she designed over 100 public service campaigns for health departments and colleges including the CDC, FDA, Trevor Project, Harvard, and University of California. Emily attended Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts where she earned a BFA in Communications Design. A native Mainer, she resides in southern Maine with her husband and daughter. In addition to serving on the board for AIGA Maine, Emily is a volunteer Girl Scout Troop Leader and co-founded a local “anti-networking” social club for solopreneurs called Solo League.
Cassie is a creative entrepreneur, graphic designer, illustrator, and multi-disciplinary artist, born and raised in Maine who still resides here with her husband and their two cats. She’s been working professionally in the marketing and graphic design industry for about ten years after graduating from Eastern Maine Community College in 2014 with her degree in Digital Graphic Design. In 2018 she acquired her Bachelors in Graphic Design from Full Sail University. She’s worked in-house for a variety of Maine-based companies doing marketing and creative design work all while going to school and/or freelancing on the side. She owned and operated her own creative studio, Dirigo Creative Co., with her business partner and friend from 2021 through 2024. Since she joined AIGA Maine in 2025, she’s started her own branding and illustration studio, Saltycake Studio, where she creates intentionally human-made branding, design and illustration for small businesses, women-owned and creative businesses throughout Maine and beyond.
Cassie enjoys painting, drawing, tending to her many houseplants, gardening, time with her family, husband and animals, 90’s alt pop and 2000’s pop punk, a good cup of coffee, and nature walks spotting mushrooms, flowers and other beautiful things in the wild. Cassie is excited and honored to be a member of the AIGA Maine Board, and with this position, to bring more accessible and creative connection opportunities to her local community.
Spencer is a freelance designer and art director whose work has mainly focused on creating websites and interactives for nonprofits, Government agencies and NGOs. Spencer grew up in Massachusetts and lived in Washington DC and Baltimore for 13 years before moving to Portland in 2021. He went back to school for design later in life, and is a strong advocate for designers with a “non-traditional” path to this career. Spencer hopes to help make AIGA Maine an even better resource for all emerging Maine designers, no matter where in the state they live. Before going freelance, Spencer helped organize a union at his workplace and wants to help other designers who want to take this step with their coworkers.
When he’s not designing, Spencer enjoys Climbing ladders in Acadia National Park, Grabbing a tofu banh mi and a boba tea at Sun Vietnamese Restaurant on Forest avenue in Portland, Volunteering at Portland Adult Education, grabbing breakfast at a diner with my daughter, Taking my dog to Quarry Run Dog Park, and going to the Cumberland County Fair in the early fall.
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