Current News

Vermont Business Magazine National Life Group employees, retirees and board members donated a record $320,000 to nonprofits of their choice through the company’s Share the Good campaign. The National Life Group Foundation then matched those donations, for a total of $640,164. Employees are encouraged to donate to up to four nonprofits through the campaign. The company’s Foundation matches up to $2,000 of their donations. The nonprofits that will receive the most in donations are: Vermont Foodbank: $30,136; Central Vermont Humane Society: $15,274; St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital: $8,066.

Vermont Business Magazine Kingsbury Companies was recently awarded the Surry Mountain Lake Service Gate Replacement Project in Surry, NH. Surry Mountain Lake is an impoundment on the Ashuelot River in Surry, NH. It was built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1941 to protect downstream communities, such as Keene, from flooding. The work for this project at the Surry Mountain Lake Dam includes the in-kind furnishment and installation of two new service gates to replace the original gates which were manufactured in 1939.

Dartmouth College President Philip J Hanlon ’77 announced Tuesday that he will step down at the end of the next academic year in June 2023. President Hanlon, who assumed the presidency in 2013, announced his decision in a message to the Dartmouth community after informing the Board of Trustees at their meeting on Jan. 21. Elizabeth Cahill Lempres ’83, Thayer ’84, chair of the Board of Trustees, thanked President Hanlon for his tireless work in steering Dartmouth to ever greater academic excellence, inclusion, and impact in a separate message to the community.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington's Main Street Landing, home to Union Station, has hired a new CEO: Owiso Makuku. CEO Melinda Moulton announced the hiring on Facebook. On February 21st, 2022, Owiso Makuku will assume the leadership of Main Street Landing as their new Chief Executive Officer. Owiso graduated from Middlebury College and holds both a Master of Architecture and a Master in City Planning from MIT.

Vermont Business Magazine The Agency of Administration has formerly requested that the Senate Appropriations Committee address key issues and restore critical proposals in the Budget Adjustment Act (BAA), as passed by the House. The Administration raised specific concerns that changes to the BAA made by the House will use $90 million in ARPA funds for initiatives that – while they may be worthy efforts – do not maximize the return on investment or accelerate Vermont’s economic recovery. If passed as is, this bill would spend approximately 20% of the remaining ARPA money without considering the larger economic revitalization needs of the state or maximizing the value of this money. These changes could also significantly reduce proposed ARPA investments by Governor Scott in climate change mitigation and home weatherization, broadband, and water, sewer and wastewater infrastructure.

Vermont Business Magazine Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger announced today the appointment of Jon Murad as Police Chief. Chief Murad has served as Deputy Chief at the Burlington Police Department since October 2018 and has served as Acting Chief since the summer of 2020. Previous to joining the Burlington Police Department, Chief Murad served in the New York Police Department as an officer, Detective, Sergeant, and Assistant Commissioner.

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine UVM, the Vermont Department of Corrections, and the Urban Institute today released initial findings from the first phase of the Prison Research and Innovation Network (PRIN) in Vermont, one of five states participating in the five-year effort to build evidence and spur innovation to make prisons more humane, safe, and rehabilitative. Survey results from staff, incarcerated people at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield highlighted issues around correctional staffing, programming for incarcerated people, and high rates of mental health concerns. Serious suicidal thoughts were high for both inmates (36%) and staff (10%).

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 1,490 cases of COVID-19 for Wednesday. This was an increase of nearly a thousand from Tuesday. However, cases the last week were down 27 percent and for the last two weeks were down 37 percent. There were two additional deaths reported for 529. The deaths are attributed to the Delta variant, even as nearly all the new COVID cases are the result of exposure to the Omicron variant.

​Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Women’s Fund has announced a year-end goal to sign-up 10,000 women-owned businesses through its new initiative, This Way UP: there’s power in our numbers. This Way UP was launched in late 2021 to build a statewide database of women business owners and entrepreneurs—information that does not currently exist in Vermont. This Way UP: there’s power in our numbers was developed to fill this gap by mobilizing women business owners to take a short survey on its website, thiswayupvt.com, and be counted.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott, the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the Vermont Department of Health, the Vermont Community Foundation, and Patronicity announced today the launch of Better Places, a statewide program that empowers Vermonters to create and build vibrant and inclusive public places in the hearts of Vermont communities. This innovative partnership provides residents the opportunity to use crowdfunding to develop strategic, locally led projects in their communities and be supported with a 2:1 matching grant from the state.

​Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Mutual Insurance Group recently presented a check for $15,000 to the Vermont Foodbank as part of their partnership with UVM Athletics and the Cats Win, Community Wins initiative. The check was presented by Dan Bridge, President and CEO of Vermont Mutual and Mark McDonnell, Executive Vice President and COO. The Catamounts secured 95 wins in 2021, bringing the donation amount to $9,500. However, to further help the Vermont Foodbank efforts, Vermont Mutual “rounded up” and increased the total amount to $15,000.