AUBURN – GrowSmart Maine announces the appointment of Rich Livingston of Auburn as communications director, a new position at the Yarmouth-based private nonprofit organization.

Since moving to Auburn from Washington, D.C., in 1992, Livingston has operated a consulting practice specializing in strategic planning, consensus building and effective communications for businesses and nonprofits throughout northern New England.

Livingston served four terms as a member of the Auburn City Council, and was the city’s delegate to the Legislative Policy Committee of the Maine Municipal Association. He has also been active in the Maine Service Center Coalition and the National League of Cities. He is a past president of the Auburn Business Development Corp. and the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce; past member of the board of the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council, the executive committee of Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, and is an active member of the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce.

Livingston attended Michigan State and Johns Hopkins universities, and an MBA program at American University. He is the father of two grown sons and a stepdaughter and lives with his wife and collection of dogs and cats in Auburn.