Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The State of Vermont is set to be the first in the nation to announce state-sponsored use of groundbreaking health information technology, PatientPing – taking historic action in remedying the trillion-dollar deficit caused partly by the fragmentation of the American health care system. On Tuesday, April 12, at Vermont Blueprint for Health 2016 in Burlington, PatientPing Founder & CEO Jay Desai, state officials and health care representatives will publicly announce the adoption of PatientPing across in-state health care providers to enhance medical information transparency between once disconnected health care providers.

Vermont Business Magazine Sodexo, which provides food service to institutional clients including the University of Vermont and nine other colleges here, spent $3.22 million with Vermont food purveyors for its Vermont clients last year. This is the result of the first full year for Vermont First, a program the company launched in 2014 with the governor and state officials to increase the amount of local food purchased by Sodexo.

Vermont Business Magazine Seventh Generation, a leading household and personal care products company based in Burlington, has launched its largest integrated marketing campaign ever. Titled "Come Clean", and featuring Maya Rudolph -- mother of four, SNL alum, actress, comedienne and long-time Seventh Generation devotee -- this one-of-a-kind campaign focuses on redefining what "clean" really means to consumers in order to help build healthy homes across the country.

Vermont Business Magazine Jeff Schulman '89, a member of the University of Vermont athletic department's central administration for more than two decades and a former Catamount student-athlete, has been named the University's next Director of Athletics. University President Tom Sullivan made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon at Patrick Gym.

Vermont Business Magazine Maybe because so many people travel to get married here, but the average cost of a wedding in Vermont is not cheap: $37,880, more than $5,000 above the national average. Vermont also has the second highest use of wedding registeries.

Vermont Business Magazine This summer, students are invited to immerse themselves in food systems programming at eight Vermont higher education colleges and universities with the Vermont Food Systems Summer Study Tour. An initiative of the Vermont Food Systems Higher Education Consortium (VHEFSC), the Summer Study Tour offers a “taste of Vermont” – for the intellect.

Vermont Business Magazine Representatives from Long Trail Brewing Company, Farrell Distributing, and Hannaford Supermarkets visited the Vermont Foodbank with a check for $18,566, monies raised from a recent promotion in Hannaford stores throughout New England. During November and December 2015, Long Trail Brewing Company donated $1 for every case of Long Trail sold at Hannaford Supermarkets.

Vermont Business Magazine Funding is now available from the Innovations and Collaborations grants program at the Vermont Community Foundation. One of a number of competitive grant programs at the Community Foundation, Innovations and Collaborations supports projects that help nonprofits collaborate across sectors and regions to develop common solutions to community needs. Typically, applications are accepted from one lead organization in association with one or more additional partner organizations. Grants range from $10,000 to $20,000 and multi-year funding is available but not guaranteed.

Letters of Interest for the second grant round of 2016 are due May 25, 2016. Visit www.vermontcf.org/IC to learn more or apply.

Vermont Business Magazine As part of an ongoing commitment to give consumers the confidence and tools they need to be fiscally healthy, Citizens Bank announced today that three nonprofit organizations across its footprint will receive $42,000 in contributions as part of the Citizens Helping Citizens Manage Money financial literacy initiative. Leveraging the financial expertise of its bankers and its partnerships with local nonprofits focused on financial education, the Citizens Helping Citizens Manage Money program this year includes $1.3 million in donations to 77 nonprofits and volunteer outreach by more than 400 trained Citizens colleagues.

Vermont Business Magazine The Burlington Business Association announced its winner for the Tim Halvorson Award for Business Person of the Year at its annual dinner Thursday night. This year’s winner is Brigitte Ritchie, Director of Public Affairs and Community Relations at KeyBank. Prior to rejoining KeyBank, Ritchie was director of Public Affairs and Community Investments for Citizen’s Financial Group. She also worked as vice president and commercial real estate lender for Citizen’s Financial Group. Ritchie originally joined KeyBank in 1991, serving as vice president and commercial real estate and small business lender.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims rose last week and are ahead of numbers from the same time last year. For the week of April 2, 2016, there were 738 claims, up 99 from the previous week's total and 137 more than they were a year ago. By industry, claims fell steeply for construction as that season is starting a little earlier than usual because of the warmer winter, in contrast to Services, which was up, likely due to the same reason, as the winter hospitality industry suffered and closed early.