Nicole Ballinger has more than a decade of communications experience. Her work includes exhibit design, website design and content, print design and content, marketing and outreach campaigns, and working with television and radio media. She has experience working with artists, photographers, reporters, and database developers, and can manage projects from concept to final production. Her specialty is delivering scientific and environmental information to the public.

In addition to her independent work, Nicole is employed by the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC) as a marketing project manager on the Efficiency Vermont project. Her focus is on marketing energy efficiency solutions to businesses throughout Vermont. Prior to VEIC she was the Lake Champlain Basin Program's (LCBP) Communications and Publications Coordinator, where she served as the webmaster and lead staff on communications projects. While at the LCBP she worked on the "Champlain 2000" and "Champlain Connection" news partnerships with WPTZ News Channel 5 television (Plattsburgh, NY / Burlington, VT). This partnership garnered several awards, including a US Environmental Protection Agency Merit Award, and the Vermont Governor's Award for Excellence in Pollution Prevention.

Nicole served on the Marketing Committee for the Vermont Lake Champlain Quadricentennial Commission and is a former Board member of Vermont State-Wide Environmental Education Programs and Climbing Resource Access Group of Vermont.

Nicole holds a Master of Science degree in Natural Resource Planning from the University of Vermont and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology with a Minor in Studio Art from Skidmore College. Prior to moving to Vermont in 1995, Nicole was an Interpretative Park Ranger at Big Bend National Park in Texas and North Cascades National Park in Washington.

Nicole derives inspiration from the natural beauty and local communities in Vermont and in nearby New York and Quebec, and she enjoys hiking, skiing, canoeing, running, yoga, and sailing, depending on what suits her—and Vermont’s fickle weather—on any given day. She resides in Burlington, Vermont with her husband, Peter Warner.