Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Davis & Hodgdon Associates CPAs and the Center for Women and Enterprise (CWE) of Vermont have announced a multi-year sustainable partnership. Labeled as a “Signature Partnership” by Davis & Hodgdon, the relationship is created to develop deeper impacts within the community as it leverages the expertise of each organization, allowing for a concentrated sustainable social mission effort.

The partnership began with the firm’s sponsorship of CWE’s Reboot Rutland: What’s Your Business Telling You” course for early-stage business owners in Rutland, Vermont last fall. In the class, participants learned how to analyze their business and implement a system to regularly analyze their business’s operations.

Vermont Business Magazine Molly Gray, democratic candidate for Vermont Lieutenant Governor kicked off her campaign with a tour from Bradford to Burlington on Thursday. Gray started the day at Four Corners Farm in Newbury where she grew up. She greeted local supporters at the Space On Main in Bradford and continued on to meet with business owners, community leaders, and service providers at stops at Farm-Way in Bradford, Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond, and the King Street Center in Burlington, before ending with a campaign rally at the Queen City Brewery in South Burlington.

Molly Gray in Bradford Thursday. Gray Campaign photo.

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan kicks off Consumer Protection Week, March 1–7, with a focus on consumer issues facing older Vermonters. Older Vermonters are disproportionately impacted by consumer frauds and scams, because they are disproportionately targeted. Elders are the target of at least one very popular scam – the Social Security phishing scam was the most commonly reported scam of 2019.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced Monday that Shelburne Farms will receive $100,000 from the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of Community Food Systems to support the Northeast Farm to School Institute.

Vermont Research News Vermont’s foremost scholar and champion of town meeting is retired UVM professor Frank Bryan: “What town meeting says is that we trust ordinary people so much to govern themselves that we’ll let them make the laws rather than having them elect somebody to make the laws that govern them; Which is astounding when you think about it, and Vermont is a place where you still can do that.”

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) named Thaddeus Richardson as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective February 20, 2020. In this role, he has broad responsibility for the Authority's financial operations, including accounting, financial planning, forecasting and overall asset and liability management.

Richardson joins VEDA from Community National Bank, where he served for 15 years, first as VP of Commercial Lending, then as VP of Municipal Services & Asset Liability Management. He was responsible for the Bank's government banking operation as well as financial oversight of its investment portfolio, interest rate risk function, and overall balance sheet management.

Leonine Public Affairs A sense of urgency filled the statehouse last week as the legislature will not be in session this week, and the Friday of the following week, March 13, is the crossover deadline (the deadline by which bills must be voted out of the policy committees). As a result, the committees are beginning to get down to brass tacks in finalizing their bills. Lawmakers spent long hours on the floor debating significant legislation, sometimes going well into the evening.

University of Vermont After a five-year journey of recovery, University of Vermont men's basketball player Josh Speidel will join the starting line-up for Tuesday's Senior Night home game against the University of Albany. It will be Speidel's first game appearance since the Columbus, Indiana native suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 2015 car accident that occurred prior to his arrival at UVM.

Vermont Business Magazine Hill Farmstead of Greensboro, Vermont, for the fourth consecutive year, has been ranked as the world's best brewer by RateBeer.com. Lawson's Famous Liquids in Waitsfield came in at number 88. The rankings are compiled from thousands of voters around the globe. This is not a scientific survey, but RateBeer's list is widely considered the most authoritative available. RateBeer also produces a Best Beer list for 2019. This is not ranked, but offers what RateBeer has found to be the best and all beers on the list are tied as "Best Beers in the World."

Hill Farmstead also boasted a whopping five of the "best beers:"

​Vermont Business Magazine North Star Leasing Company announced that it achieved a 40% year-over-year increase in fundings in 2019, marking the largest year-over-year growth in their 40-year history. Fiscal year 2019 saw North Star Leasing fund just shy of $70 million with $12.7 million funded through longstanding syndication partners. This compares to North Star Leasing’s 2018 funding level of $49 million, with $7 million funded through syndication. People’s United Bank along with Rockland Trust provides a $60 million Senior Revolving Credit Facility to support continued growth.

Vermont Business Magazine It doesn’t take long for Brogan Morton to capture the attention of middle school students. After an energetic introduction, he dims the lights as images of flying bats appear on a screen behind him, while he makes a case for why the world’s only flying mammal is worth saving.

A mechanical engineer and founder of Wildlife Imaging Systems LLC – a leading provider of advanced machine vision solutions to further the conservation of wildlife – Morton speaks from experience. As senior product manager at NRG Systems in Hinesburg, VT, he guided the successful development and commercialization of their Bat Deterrent System using ultrasound to reduce bat mortality near wind turbines.

Brogan Morton. CFES photo.

Vermont Business Magazine New England’s clean-energy goals can be achieved by harnessing the same competitive market forces that have kept the region’s power system reliable for the past two decades, says ISO New England in its 2020 Regional Electricity Outlook (REO), released today. As the report explains, the power grid will be ready as New England moves away from fossil fuel resources to clean and renewable energy resources. While coal and oil have diminished greatly in recent years, renewables have grown slowly and natural gas and nuclear have held the largest shares. Meanwhile, imported energy, mostly Canadian hydropower, have made up most of the losses in coal and oil. As for energy use into the future, total consumption eventually is expected to grow slowly, but efficiency and renewables, especially solar, are expected to reduce generation requirements.