Staff

Gretchen M. Ashton, President

Ashton Associates, formed in 1996, is a consulting firm primarily focused in transportation demand management and urban planning, with additional skills in marketing and group facilitation. Ms. Ashton is president and founder of Ashton Associates, Inc. She oversees all aspects of projects, particularly in the area of design and implementation. She has extensive hands-on experience with developing and managing many innovative and strategic projects for both the public and private sectors. She specializes in facilitating public/private partnerships, administering surveys, conducting access and mobility analysis, managing parking and commuter services, and developing policy. Ms. Ashton has a Masters Degree in Urban Affairs from Boston University.

Ashton Associates, Inc. is a Massachusetts certified WBE/DBE and is a DBE firm for the Maine Department of Transportation. The firm has operated in seven states (Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, Virginia and Kentucky). She has considerable knowledge of local public-sector processes as well. Ashton Associates was awarded Best of Boston in 2009. For current Ashton Associates work/projects see Projects page.

For five consecutive years she was a consultant for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ $5 million Access to Jobs (AtJ) Initiative (1999 – 2003). She enabled the successful transition of welfare recipients into the workplace utilizing the regional transit systems statewide. Ms. Ashton created the model and implementation plan, and was responsible for: writing legislative reports; developing a process and guidelines for delivery of transportation services to transitioning welfare recipients; determining the guidelines for contract administration; and defining the administrative process.

Prior to forming Ashton Associated (1995 to 1996) Ms. Ashton was responsible for administering CMAQ funds available through the program under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Bureau of Transportation Planning & Development and managed the contract for CARAVAN for Commuters.

In 1990, Ms Ashton worked for Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) where she was responsible for access and mobility planning for employees, patients and visitors; development of appropriate survey instruments to assess congestion, transportation and parking demand, including the design of a Patient Focused Parking Plan for MGH’s 3000 parking spaces distributed through out 13 lots and garages; preparation of reports, policy statements, position papers and all marketing materials; development of policies on access and mobility and curb space use. She was responsible for analysis, review and comment on public/governmental affairs relating to transportation issues with special emphasis on Public Mass Transit {PMT}, ISTEA, Clean Act of 1990, American Disabilities Act, Access Plans, Charles River Crossing, Urban Ring, among others as they affected the MGH area and commuters. Authored "Commuting Behaviors of and Incentives for Increasing the Use of Carpools", the "Integration of Mass Transit and Parking", and "The Environment Your Health and Your Commute."

While working for the City of Boston Transportation Department (1988 – 1990) Ms. Ashton evaluated and monitored Access Plans for 23 downtown businesses, and developed employer/ employee benefit and tenant amenities packages for developers. In addition, she designed and implemented several employer trip-reduction programs and was responsible for developing the survey methodology that the firms utilized, as well as the environmental compliance reports for a number of large employers, including the implementation of the Cooperative Agreement for the Implementation of Post Office Square Garage. She authored and published the COMMUTER MOBILITY MANUAL: A Guide to the Design and Implementation of On-Site Commuter Services Programs, and the VANPOOL BOARDING PROGRAM: A Report and Evaluation of the City of Boston's Vanpool Boarding Zone Program.

Sandra P. Hickey

Sandra Hickey has extensive business experience in the biotech and health care industry including establishing and maintaining vendor accounts and databases, processing data, and providing customer services. She has expertise and skills in research, editing, proofing and preparing reports for full production, and survey/database preparation directly related to tracking systems and market research.

From 2006 to present Ms. Hickey is the project assistant and office manager for Ashton Associates responsible for scanning and processing data, data entry for all optical and web based surveys, providing customer service and book keeping. She is trained in all aspects of Principia Products division of Gravic Inc. Software and Documentation for web-based surveying and optical scanning.

Prior to 2006, Ms. Hickey worked for Partners HealthCare where she was responsible for processing and preparing daily deposits, disbursement of petty cash to employees while following specific procedural guidelines, and providing customer service to internal and external customers.

Ms. Hickey worked for Immerge BioTherapeutics, Inc. from 2003-2005 and she was responsible for all aspects of accounts payable as well as establishing and maintaining new vendor accounts and relations for a start-up company, and for administration of requisitions and purchase orders, including purchasing. She assisted with administration and financial tasks, and organized corporate events.

During her long term with BioTransplant Incorporated (1992-2003) she  provided them with a smooth transition, in all aspects of accounts payable and purchasing for two existing companies. She also assisted in the merger of a third company and established the necessary requirements needed, due to experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals. Her experiance there included coding and processing vendor invoices, expense reports, check processing; producing weekly accounts payable reports; maintaining a vendor database and administration of a PO system; establishing excellent relationships with outside service providers; responsibility for non-reoccurring and annual projects; and corporate credit card administration and 1099 reporting.
Ms. Hickey is a graduate of Training Inc. of Boston and attended Bunker Hill Community College majoring in Human Services. Other training includes: MSWord, Excel, Lotus Notes, PeopleSoft, Great Plains (E-Enterprise) purchasing software, and Quick Books.