Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President and CEO Eric Rosengren, Vermont Governor Phil Scott, and public and private funders announced eight regional teams have been selected to receive $15,000 planning grants and move forward in Vermont’s Working Communities Challenge. The challenge, launched last May, is a grant competition that supports local collaborative efforts to build strong, healthy economies and communities in Vermont’s rural towns, regions and smaller cities.

Vermont Business Magazine The Bennington Regional Chamber of Commerce announced to a crowd of over 200 of its members and stakeholders on Friday night that the 109 year old organization would now be known as the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce. The name change comes as a final initiative of the 2020 Vision that the chamber board of directors laid out at their 2017 annual membership meeting. At the 2017 meeting Matt Harrington, executive director of the regional chamber of commerce, announced that the chamber organization would, “embrace a 2020 vision to become a regionally recognized Chamber for membership growth & assistance, operational & leadership excellence, and a catalyst for Southern Vermont economic development.”

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont held a ceremony on February 4 formally inaugurating a new Mamava lactation pod in UVM’s STEM complex, one of two new pods the university recently added to campus. The other is located in Patrick Gymnasium. Burlington-based Mamava is the country’s leading provider of lactation suites that enable parents to pump breast milk or breastfeed their infants in private, comfortably and with dignity.

Vermont Business Magazine Ledyard Financial Group, Inc (ticker symbol LFGP), the holding company for Ledyard National Bank, based in Hanover, NH, with a branch in Norwich, Vermont, is reporting record earnings for 2019 of $5,816,163, a 12.9% improvement over 2018. Key contributors to reaching this milestone were: total revenue grew by over $1.1 million for the year; net Interest Income was over $16 million for the first time; Ledyard Financial Advisors assets under management exceeded $1.7 billion; and the company completed a successful migration to a new core processing system during the second quarter of 2019.

Vermont Business Magazine Erica Havers has been promoted to President of Blodgett Oven Group, effective immediately. In her new role she will direct and oversee the Middleby brands Blodgett, Perfect Fry, Marsal and BKI, all of which are manufactured in Essex, Vermont. Under her leadership, the Blodgett engineering team has introduced and expanded the industry-leading Hoodini Ventless series of products ranging from combi to convection ovens solutions.

Vermont Business Magazine Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) has been named one of the 2020’s Best Places to Work for the sixth year in a row. SVHC received the honor for the first time in 2015. It remains the only hospital in the state of Vermont to be recognized by the awards program.

Vermont Business Magazine A new rating places the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business among the top nine business schools internationally and top three in the U.S. for social impact. The new ranking, called the Positive Impact Rating, was announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The new recognition joins other honors Grossman has recently received. Its Sustainable Innovation MBA (SI-MBA) program has been ranked the No. 1 “Best Green MBA” by Princeton Review for three consecutive years. In 2019, Corporate Knights, a leading sustainability magazine, rated SI-MBA No. 4 internationally in its Better World MBA rankings and No. 1 in the US.

Vermont Business Magazine More than 30 athletes who are blind or have visual impairments will learn to ski or learn to race with Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports this weekend at the 13th anniversary of the United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) Winter Ski Festival at Pico Mountain. The event is scheduled for all day on Saturday and Sunday, February 8-9.

Vermont Research Newsletter The transportation sector continues to be the primary contributor to GHG emissions in Vermont, according to the 2020 Annual Energy Report by the State Department of Public Service. In 2018, transportation accounted for 46.7% of Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions. Women are the primary earners in 47% of Vermont families, according to Change the Story VT’s updated report on “Women, Work, and Wages in Vermont.” The rate of vaping among Vermont youth continues to increase, according to The Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey. In 2019, half of Vermont youth said they had used an electronic vapor device, increasing from 34% in 2017. Additionally, vaping as the primary method of marijuana use increased from 2% in 2017 to 17% in 2019. Vaping also appears to be more popular with females, a switch from 2017.

Vermont Business Magazine Edge Pharma, a pharmaceutical company in Colchester, recently received over $62,000 in grant funding from the Vermont Training Program (VTP). With this funding, Edge Pharma will train employees in several departments vital to meeting increasing demand. Training includes prepping laboratory materials and devices, learning the drug compounding process and further STEM education. New employees will be better equipped to meet demand, allowing for research and development opportunities to expand without impeding production levels.

“Edge Pharma has recently expanded its laboratory, allowing for increased production of compounded medications,” said Edge Pharma Human Resource Generalist Skylar LeBlanc. “With the VTP Grant funds, Edge will be able to hire and train employees and grow our business at a much quicker pace than if we hadn’t received the grant.”

Vermont Business Magazine Community Health Chief Executive Officer Don Reuther gathered members of his leadership team on Friday, January 31st to guide Vermont Congressman Peter Welch through the health network’s primary care facility in Castleton, where he saw health care in action. Dr Julie Foster was using voice recognition software to transcribe patient notes when Welch stopped to observe time-saving software in use. Dr. Foster told Welch the technology was a “huge asset” to her work. Castleton Practice Leader Cathy Cota explained the facility’s color-coded tracking system that ensures efficient and timely care of patients.

Vermont Business Magazine Fab-Tech, Inc, a Critical Process Systems Group (CPS) company based in Colchester, recently received over $32,000 in grant funding from the Vermont Training Program (VTP). The funding from VTP will be used for Lean Manufacturing Principles 101 training as well as development and leadership training across the company. These trainings will help Fab-Tech remain up to date with evolving demands and best practices in the manufacturing industry.

"Fab-Tech is proud to participate in programs which support the professional development of our employees, particularly in Lean initiatives,” said Fab-Tech President Scott Fine. “These programs deliver return on investment in the form of employee skills, satisfaction and productivity, which is a value-add for the company.”