State Office Welcomes New Additions to Staff

July 1, 2008

Editor’s Note: New to the state are Karen Gay and Simone Talbot. Karen will serve as a Human Resources Specialist for New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. Simone will lend a helping hand as the main office Receptionist. Rachael Phillips-Tibbetts moves to the Durham office from Epping. She joins the ASTC-Operations staff as a Resource Conservationist.

New Hampshire NRCS welcomes Karen Gay. Although Karen will be based at the New Hampshire Office, she will be assisting NRCS employees located in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine as a Human Resources Specialist.

Karen comes to us with 15 years of Federal Service and possesses a broad knowledge in Human Resources. She started her career in Human Resources with the Department of Defense at the Kingsbay Naval Submarine Base located in Georgia, under the College Co-Op Program. In 1999, she moved on to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center serving as a Management Analyst and Human Resources Specialist.

Ms. Gay resides in Portsmouth, NH and her interests include any activity outdoors, traveling, staying fit, football (not a Patriot’s fan yet), and Rod Stewart.

Rachael Phillips-Tibbetts graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2000. There she majored in Plant and Soil Science and minored in Environmental Science. She began her career with NRCS in 1999 as a Student Trainee as part of the Student Career Experience Program. As a SCEP, she assisted with soil mapping for the Franklin County Soil Survey and soil map correlation for various other counties. After graduation, Rachael continued to work for MA NRCS as a Soil Conservationist in the Hadley and Westford field offices before taking a position as a Natural Resource Specialist in the Hyannis Field Office. In February of 2005, Rachael accepted the District Conservationist position in Epping, NH. In her 9 years with NRCS Rachael has worked in two states and covered a total of 11 counties.

Rachael lives in Candia, NH with her husband Jon and their ferrets Fiora and Wendy. In her spare time Rachael practices Karate. She currently holds the rank of green belt. She enjoys volunteering when her school works with the Manchester Police Department to teach the women’s self defense course.

Simone Talbot comes to New Hampshire NRCS from Vermont, where she worked as an Office Coordinator for the Manchester Parks and Recreation Department. She has a 19 year old son, who is in college, and lives with her dog, Dottie.

< Back to News...