About Our Founder
Libby Post
Libby Post brings a wide range of communications experience, advocacy and political campaign expertise as well as organizational development/building experience to her clients. Her interest in assisting libraries and advocacy organizations with her marketing, development and public relations expertise led her to starting Communication Services in 1984.
A political consultant by training, she has managed the messaging and/or campaign for a number of successful candidates including Albany City Comptroller Nancy Burton (1993), Albany Common Council President Helen Desfosses (1997/2001) and John McDonald for Assembly (2012). She has developed message content and voter contact materials for countless other candidates.
Her electoral victories include:
- Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, 2015 Primary
- Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, 2015 General
- NY State Supreme Court Justice Michael Mackey, 2016 General
- Albany City Court Judge Holly Trexler, 2017 Primary
- Albany County Legislator Vicky Plotsky, 2017 General
- Guilderland Town Justice Bryan Clenahan, 2018 Primary and General
- Albany County Family Court Judge Amy Joyce, 2019 Primary
- Albany County Court Judge Andra Ackerman, 2019 Primary
- Albany City Court Judge Bill Kelly, 2019 Primary
- Albany County Legislator Joanne Cunningham, 2019 Primary
- Menands Village Trustee Brian Marsh, 2019 General
- NYS Assemblymember John McDonald, 2020 Primary
- Albany Common Councilmember Deb Zamer, 2021 Primary
- Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, 2021 General
- Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran, 2021 General
- Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi, 2021 General
- Bethlehem Highway Superintendent Marc Dorsey, 2021 General
She also uses her political communication skills to help libraries throughout New York State wage successful building referendum, redistricting campaigns, budget votes and funding initiative. She has a win rate of over 80%.
Hired in 2005 by the Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS), Post developed a 4-part Library Campaign Training Institute which enabled 28 out of 30 MHLS member libraries to wage successful library campaigns. She serves on the United for Libraries board of directors as the organization’s Advocacy Committee Chair and its representative to the American Library Association’s Committee on Library Advocacy.
Among Post’s victories in the library field are:
- Doubling the funding for the Hudson Area Library in November 2017
- Saving the Mount Vernon Public Library by passing a $4.3M budget in May of 2014. Without this victory, the Library might well have closed.
- Passing a $6.9 million building referendum in May 2008 for the Saugerties Public Library
- Creating library districts for the Johnstown Public Library, Grinnell Library in Wappingers Falls, Long Lake Library, Schuylerville Public Library, Basloe Library in Herkimer, the Barker Library in Niagara County and the Dunkirk Library in Chautauqua County.
- Turning around a losing situation in Spring Valley where the Finkelstein Memorial Library lost its budget vote in 2008 and successfully passed the library’s budget this year with 70% of the vote.
- Overwhelmingly passing a school district ballot proposition for the Jervis Public Library in Rome, NY with 74% of the vote.
Post is a sought after trainer/speaker for libraries, library systems and state associations. She was one of United for Libraries’ Neal-Schuman Library Advocacy Trainers. This work took her to California, Michigan, Minnesota and Connecticut.
She provided campaign/advocacy training to the library trustees and staff at the Clarkston-Independence Public Library and the Salem-South Lyon Public Library in Michigan. Both were successful in their votes for increased funding. She worked closely with the Public Library of New London (Connecticut) and helped them to develop a strategy to obtain a 20% increase in their funding from the City.
She is relishes the challenge of building a new organization from scratch–from developing its brand to building membership to solidifying governance and creating a strong, solid organization. She has done just that for the New York State Animal Protection Federation which represents the state’s humane societies, SPCAs and municipal animal shelters. When Post became the Fed’s executive director in 2014, the organization had ten members–it now has over 100 from throughout the state. Among a number of legislative victories is the work Post did to establish the $8 million Companion Animal Capital Fund. Included in the state budget for three years, the state has invested $20 million in animal shelter capital projects.
Post has extensive volunteer and professional not for profit experience. She has been instrumental in the organizational development of the Empire State Pride Agenda, the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Council (now known as The Pride Center of the Capital Region), the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society and Congregation Ohav Shalom.
She was the president of Congregation Ohav Shalom from 2011 through 2015. She has served on the board of directors of Faith in America, a national not for profit dedicated to exposing religion-based bigotry and the harm it does to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. She also served as President of the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society.
From 1999-2004, Post served as President of the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Council. During her tenure, she provided insightful leadership that enabled the organization to grow in ways never thought possible. The Council’s budget tripled, its board of directors understood its role as policy makers and fund raisers, it was seen as a resource for the greater community and it greatly expanded its program offerings. As President, Post put her professional skills to work and shepherded the Council through a rebranding process that has been well received in the local community.
In 1991, Post became the founding Chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda, New York’s statewide lesbian and gay political organization. Since its inception, the Pride Agenda has become one of the most powerful and influential lobbying and political action committee organizations in the state. In June 1993, Post received a public citation from Governor Cuomo for her work on behalf of the lesbian and gay community.
She is a regular Monday morning panelist on WAMC/Northeast Public Radio’s The Roundtable. She had she contributed political commentary to the station from 2004 to 2010. She previously wrote ProudlyOut, her LGBT blog, for Albany Times-Union. She has been Political Editor of GayWired.com, one of the leading LGBT news and entertainment sites on the Web. She has contributed to Advocate.com, the website of the nation’s lesbian and gay news magazine. Her work has appeared on PageOneQ, 365gay.com and she wrote the bi-weekly Lesbian Notions column for Q Syndicate from 2004-2008.
Libby Post has received numerous honors. In May 2015, she was named Rockefeller College’s Distinguished Alumna in Political Science. In May 2013, she received the prestigious Harvey Milk Alumni Award from the University at Albany. In 2012, she was named Media Person of the Year by the Women’s Press Club of New York State. In June 2005, she received Community Service Award from the University at Albany Alumni Association. In October 2004, she received the Council Leadership/Lifetime Achievement Award from the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Council. In addition to this honor, the Council Leadership Award was named in her honor. In 2000, she was named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. She completed the Chamber’s 2003 Capital Leadership Program and her business recently received the Chamber’s Small Business Council Community Service Award. In addition, she received the 1997 Council Leadership Award from the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Council, Inc., the 1995 Jim Perry Progressive Leadership Award from Capital District Citizen Action, the 1994 Making Waves Award from the Albany Area N.O.W, the 1992 National Association of Social Workers Public Citizen of the Year award, and the 1989 Tribute to Women Award from the YWCA.
Post holds a Master’s Degree in Political Communications from the University at Albany/SUNY. She lives in Menands, NY with her spouse, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and two golden retrievers, Shayna and Sophie. Libby and Lynn have a 37 year old son, Alex, who is an organic farmer in Wappingers Falls, NY.