Debora Keller
Executive Director
Debora has been with Bath Housing since January 2014. She is a community development leader in Maine with 30 years of experience in non-profit management. She holds a Masters Degree from Tufts University in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning and a Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University. She received the 2016 Stephen B. Mooers award from MaineHousing in recognition of the creation of Comfortably Home. She was the 2010 recipient of the Joseph Kreisler Community Impact Award from Preble Street for her work developing Florence House in Portland.
Keller currently chairs the City of Bath’s Housing Committee and sits on the board of the Maine Association of Public Housing Authority Directors (MAPHD). Debora worked at Avesta Housing from 2004 to 2013, serving as Director of Programs. Prior to joining Avesta, Deb served as Associate Director of the Genesis Fund, a Maine-based Community Development Financial Institution providing loans to nonprofit organizations. Deb started her affordable housing career as a VISTA Volunteer in Iowa where she created a security deposit loan program for low income clients and a breakfast café for the homeless.
Jess Irish
Deputy Director
Jess oversees the integration of all housing programs and services, including Property Management, Maintenance, Resident Services, Vouchers, and Comfortably Home. She has extensive non-profit leadership experience and a deep commitment to human services. Prior to Bath Housing, she spent ten years with GMS in Westbrook, Maine where she served as both the Director of Residential Services and the Director of Operations. In this capacity, Jess worked to expand not only the Residential Services Department, but also the variety of services available to adults with intellectual disabilities and autism, leading to a growth from 27 to more than 150 individuals supported. Jess worked internally – and with outside agencies and contractors – to ensure staffing, housing, training, and policy needs were met to provide each new service in a quality manner.
Prior to returning to her home state of Maine, Jess worked as a counselor and then as director of adolescent behavioral health homes in the greater Boston area with Northeastern Family Institute of Massachusetts. She is a graduate of the University of Maine at Orono.
Jess serves as the Secretary of both the Board of Directors for the Maine Real Estate Managers Association and the Centralized Waitlist Advisory Group that oversees the statewide Housing Choice Voucher Waitlist. She is also a member of the steering committee for the Age Friendly Communities of the Lower Kennebec.
Seth Parker
Director of Real Estate Development
Prior to joining Bath Housing in March 2024, Seth was a Vice President of Development at Silver Street. He has over 25 years of experience across multiple disciplines of the real estate development process, including 14 years developing affordable housing. He led the acquisition, financing, construction/rehabilitation, and stabilization of Silver Street’s affordable housing development, managing the redevelopment of over 400 units of affordable housing in multiple states totaling approximately $80M — crucial preservation of affordable housing that Seth takes great pride and satisfaction in contributing towards.
Previously, Seth led Avesta Housing’s real estate development team, overseeing $125 million in total development costs and the creation or rehabilitation of more than 700 affordable apartments. Other experience includes as a development manager for the Procida Companies in New York City, a developer and builder of affordable and market-rate housing and mixed-use projects. and as a construction project manager for Suffolk Construction in Boston.
Seth has a M.S. in Real Estate Development from Columbia University in New York and a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Vermont. He is the Vice President of the Yarmouth Housing Collaborative board of directors and serves on Zachau Construction’s advisory board. Seth lives in Yarmouth, Maine with his wife and two children and enjoys access to all of the outdoor activities that Maine has to offer.
Joshua Manahan
Director of Facilities
Josh joined Bath Housing in September 2024. He has been in the trades in Maine since 2000 as a boat builder, cabinetmaker, and business owner. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College and later attended The Landing School of Boat Building and Design. Josh enjoys staying connected to his community through his role as Co-President of the board of directors at The Center for Teaching and Learning. His most gratifying professional experiences involve working with teams to solve problems and achieve something difficult. Josh lives in Alna with his wife and son and enjoys playing with his two hunting dogs, making firewood, maple syrup, and apple cider.
Betsy Bewsey
Director of Housing Programs
Betsy joined Bath Housing in March 2022. With over 16 years of non-profit experience, Betsy draws on her varied program management and social service experience to help support the housing needs in the Bath area. The bulk of her career has been in the social service arena, where she has maintained oversight of compliance with various federal agencies and assisted with humanitarian aid projects in several different countries. She helped process hundreds of adoptions in her nine-year tenure at MAPS International, where she initially supported families in the Russia and Guatemala programs and later as the Director of Adoption Programs & Services. She served as the Parent Coaching Program Coordinator at the Opportunity Alliance for two years prior to setting off in a truck camper bound for Florida, where her career track unexpectedly shifted toward maritime museums; she was the Assistant Store Manager at the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum and more recently held the Guest Services Manager position at the Maine Maritime Museum. Betsy has degrees in communications and Elementary Education. When not working, she is typically on the sidelines of a marathon or Ironman, cheering on her daughter, or galivanting with her husband, Adam, and Fraulein Tessa Crescent Von Der Hettlingshone, their beloved German Shepherd.
Bath Housing Authority Board of Commissioners*
Pia Neilson, Chair
Arrowsic, ME
Term: February 2029
Phyllis Bailey
Bath, ME
Term: February
Karen Robbins
Arrowsic, ME
Term: February 2027
Barbara Gaul
Bath, ME
Term: February 2026
VACANT*
, ME
Term: February 2029
George Sprague
Bath, ME
Term: February 2025
Sandra Wentworth
Bath, ME
Term: February 2028
Julie Ambrosino — City Council Representative (non-voting)
Bath, ME
Term: Annual
Maine State Statute requires that in a municipality with housing that is subsidized or assisted by programs of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, at least 2 of the commissioners must be residents of that housing. When tenant associations exist in the housing, the appointing authority shall give priority consideration to nominations made by the associations.
Bath Housing Development Corporation Board of Directors
Barbara Gaul, Chair
Bath, ME
Nancy Jennings, Vice-Chair
Bath, ME
Roberta Jordan, Treasurer
West Bath, ME
Catherine Powers
West Bath, ME
CR Davis
Woolwich, ME
Michelle Rines
Woolwich, ME
Erik Nelson
Bath, ME
Pia Neilson
Woolwich, ME
Alexis Mann
Bath, ME
Emily Wood
Bath, ME