2023 Southern Vermont Emerging Leaders Honored
Above: Windham County Senator Wendy Harrison joins BDCC in honoring the 2023 Emerging Leaders at the 6th Annual Southern Vermont Economy Summit at the Hermitage Club at Haystack Mountain, Wilmington VT | Photo: Kelly Fletcher Photography
May 26, 2023 – Southern Vermont – 18 Southern Vermont Emerging Leaders were recognized on May 23 during the Southern Vermont Economy Summit. The Southern Vermont Young Professionals and the Shires Young Professionals conducted the annual recognition event, with sponsorship from the Community College of Vermont. The Emerging Leaders Awards celebrate young people from the Bennington and Windham regions. Individuals were nominated based on their work as community leaders and volunteers, and for their professional accomplishments and commitment to serving the region.
Once nominated, each Emerging Leader was asked to submit an application describing their career and community service accomplishments. Many responses were characterized by a desire to cultivate healthier, more welcoming communities, recognizing the incremental nature of change. Rory Price, a public health specialist in Bennington said, “I’m fortunate that my role as a public health specialist allows me to focus attention on the systems and structures that create opportunity for some and disadvantage for others. The outcomes from these efforts can take months, years, or generations to manifest, but I am hopeful that the Vermont of the not-so-distant future will be a place where everyone has the opportunity to be healthy and thrive.”
Jess Bouchard, director of Queer Connect, wrote, “Our Queer Connect mission, and my heart mission, is to build resilient allies and to make healthy communities that are both inclusive and supportive. I believe the work I do every single day makes a difference, and I will continue to make my community a better place to live because I believe in this work, and I believe in the people around me.”
Melanie Lopez, owner of Mel’s Bookkeeping, said, “I moved to Vermont almost 10 years ago and have grown my own small bookkeeping business in the last few years. I hope my work helps to keep my clients in the community, in turn also keeping jobs and families in town.”
While many Emerging Leaders cited housing, childcare, labor shortages, and substance use as big challenges facing the region, they also feel optimistic about Southern Vermont. Ahmad Yassir, artists and marketing manager for VT News & Media, commented on the region’s “dynamic and exciting atmosphere,” saying that he has found Southern Vermont to be “an ideal location for young professionals who are interested in working collaboratively with other community members.”
“I admire native Vermonter’s can-do, self-reliant attitude and seek to embody that in all my business dealings,” said Celine Lacroix, managing director of Brattleboro Portable Storage. “My parents spent their lives building a deep foundation in Brattleboro, and I am fortunate enough to be able to spend my days evolving what they started.”
All of the 2023 Southern Vermont Emerging Leaders will be nominated for the Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Rising Star awards.
2023 Emerging Leaders of Southern Vermont
- Rory Price, Bennington
- Joy Auciello, Marlboro
- Callie Fishburn, Bennington
- Camille Kauffman, Bennington
- Eleni Maksakuli, Putney
- Megan Herrington, Bennington
- Kayla Bernier-Wright, Brattleboro
- Bethaney Laclair, Guilford
- Stephanie Muñoz Wells, Manchester Center
- Andie Fusco, Bondville
- Ahmad Yassir, North Bennington
- Daveq Anderson, Putney
- Daniel Chiaccio, Brattleboro
- Melanie Lopez, Wilmington
- Celine Lacroix, Brattleboro
- Alexandra Mushinski, Brattleboro
- Bethany Connelly, Wilmington
- Jess Bouchard, Bennington
For more information, visit https://brattleborodevelopment.com/sovtyps/emerging-leaders/ or email Jen Stromsten at jstromsten@brattleborodevelopment.com.
About the Southern Vermont Economy Summit
The Southern Vermont Economy Summit is an initiative of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation’s Southern Vermont Economy Project. SVEP works to stabilize, improve and expand the rural economic and workforce development network in Southern Vermont. Its goal is to increase capacity and collaboration among partnering organizations and communities. SVEP is funded by the USDA Rural Community Development Initiative, as a program of BDCC & SeVEDS. For more information on the summit, please visit www.SoVermontZone.com/summit.
About Southern Vermont Young Professionals
The Southern Vermont Young Professionals is a workforce initiative of Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) and the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC). Our mission is to attract, retain, and support Young Professionals in Southern Vermont by providing engaging opportunities and networking through social and educational events, and volunteer opportunities. The YP initiative is increasingly important to Southern Vermont’s businesses and communities as a strategic approach to growing the region’s workforce and increasing the number of younger households. For more information please visit brattleborodevelopment.com/southern-vermont-young-professionals/.
About Shires Young Professionals
The mission of the Shires Young Professional group is to help young professionals and families create deep roots in our community that encourage them to stay and build a prosperous life in the Shires of Vermont. The SYP looks to engage, emerge, and empower young professionals throughout the region. Our young professional’s events, programs and gatherings are open to all people, but we do focus on the 21 to 40-year old age range. More information at www.ShiresYP.com.
About BDCC and SeVEDS
The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) is a private, nonprofit economic development organization that serves as a catalyst for industrial and commercial growth throughout Southeastern Vermont, including Windham County and the towns of Readsboro, Searsburg, Winhall and Weston. BDCC serves as the State of Vermont’s certified Regional Development Corporation (RDC) for the greater Windham County area. BDCC is one of 12 RDCs throughout Vermont. This BDCC activity was made possible in part by a grant from the State of Vermont through the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. For more information visit https://brattleborodevelopment.com/.
Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategies (SeVEDS) is an affiliate of BDCC that grew from a 2008 grassroots effort, initiated by BDCC, to understand and create long term strategies needed to reverse the economic decline of the Windham Region and plan for the economic impacts from the closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. In 2014, after multiple years of regional input, education, and data gathering, SeVEDS received federal approval for the Windham Region’s federally recognized S.M.A.R.T. Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). SeVEDS partnered with Bennington’s Regional Economic Development Group in 2018 to develop the 2019 Southern Vermont Zone CEDS. For more information visit www.seveds.com.
