Current News

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC) has announced the results of its December 5, 2017, annual election of VMEC Advisory Board members. Lisa Groeneveld, COO/ Co-Owner, Logic Supply (South Burlington) was newly elected to the VMEC Advisory Board for a two-year term. The following existing Board members were unanimously re-elected to additional two-year terms: Dave Blittersdorf, CEO/ Founder, All Earth Renewables (Williston); Tommy Harmon, CEO/ Owner, Sonnax Industries (Bellows Falls); Ben Riehl, President & CEO, GW Plastics (Bethel) and Ed Townley, President and CEO, Agri-Mark / Cabot Creamery (Waitsfield).

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Federal Credit Union ranked highly in Callahan & Associates Return of the Member (ROM) Scoring in the 3^rd Quarter 2017. Callahan & Associates is a credit union research and consulting firm that supports credit unions by providing actionable data, fostering collaboration, and driving groundbreaking innovation. Callahan’s Return of the Member index quantifies the value that credit unions provide their member-owners in terms of savings, lending and product usage and how it funnels its profits back to its members.

In the third quarter of 2017, Vermont Federal Credit Union ranked 1st for Vermont credit unions and 5th amongst all credit unions in the country with assets from $500 million to $1 billion for this member value score. The credit union ranked 32nd amongst the roughly 5,761 credit unions in the country.

Vermont Business Magazine St Albans City School in Saint Albans has been named the Vermont state winner in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest, a program that encourages teachers and students to solve real-world issues in their community using classroom skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEAM).

Vermont Business Magazine Citizens Financial Group, Inc (NYSE: CFG) announced a year-end decision to make additional investments in its colleagues and the communities it serves following the new law on federal tax reform.

Vermont Business Magazine While Americans are moving westward, flocking to the Mountain and Pacific West and the Northeast and Midwest continue to lose residents, Vermont had the highest rate of in-migration in the nation and was the only state in the Northeast with a positive trend. In 2017, more residents moved out of Illinois than any other state with 63 percent of moves being outbound. Vermont had the highest percentage of inbound migration in 2017 with nearly 68 percent of moves to and from the state being inbound. Those are the results of the United Van Lines' 41st Annual National Movers Study, which tracks customers' state-to-state migration patterns over the past year.

Vermont Business Magazine The J Warren & Lois McClure Foundation has announced available funding for the 2018-19 school year for efforts that improve equitable access to the postsecondary and career education that leads to Vermont’s most promising jobs. A supporting organization of the Vermont Community Foundation, the McClure Foundation envisions a Vermont where no promising job goes unfilled for lack of a qualified applicant.

Vermont Business Magazine Generator, Burlington’s maker space, announced the four entrepreneurs chosen for its new twelve-week Jump/Start, residency program, and free public lecture series. Each Jump/Start Entrepreneur receives $1,000 in cash, and over $4,500 worth of in-kind services including 24/7 access to Generator’s high-tech fabrication facilities, classes and expert consultations. Chosen from 26 applications by the Jump/Start selection committee the goal of the Jump/Start program is to help them successfully bring their innovative product ideas to market.

Vermont Business Magazine Berkshire Bank, America's Most Exciting Bank is excited to announce that it will honor thirty-five high school seniors across Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey and Pennsylvania for their volunteer service with Berkshire Bank Scholarships. The scholarships recognize students who excel academically, have a financial need and share in Berkshire Bank’s commitment to community service. Additionally, students must attend a high school that is located in a county with a Berkshire Bank or Commerce Bank, a division of Berkshire Bank, office. The recipients will share in $52,500 of scholarship funds.

Public Assets Institute Even before Congressional Republicans passed the tax overhaul this month that promises to widen the worst income gap between rich and poor since before the Great Depression, there was ample evidence that the economy was leaving too many Vermonters behind. Now, as the president prepares to sign the bill, the task for Vermont’s leaders and policymakers grows urgently clear: They must focus on raising the incomes of low- and moderate-income Vermonters, challenging the message from Washington that wages will rise and prosperity will spread as soon as the economy improves.

State of Working Vermont 2017, a report released December 27, 2017, by Public Assets Institute in Montpelier, documents the reality confronting average Vermonters: While the economy grows, their paychecks do not.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) Board of Commissioners has approved plans to sell $37 million of bonds during the week of January 8, 2018, as the first Sustainability Bonds to be issued in the State of Vermont. Building upon the strength of the market in Green Bonds and the growing interest in socially responsible investments, the designation as “Sustainability Bonds” will enable VHFA to maximize funding for the “Housing for All” initiative enacted by the Vermont Legislature in 2017. Bond proceeds will be administered by the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board to create 550-650 homes statewide for low- and moderate-income Vermonters.

by John McClaughry The biennial session of the Legislature that convenes this week will face more than its share of hot button issues. Here’s a quick survey of the 2018 agenda. State finances: The legislature faces a FY2019 General Fund budget deficit projected to surpass $40 million. The bright side of this coin is that covering a deficit puts a strong damper on everpresent demands for new spending that would require tax increases.

Retirement Plans: The two state-managed retirement plans – for state employees and teachers – are now an astounding $3.8 billion out of actuarial balance. Treasurers Spaulding and Pearce have tried to make headway in bringing this number down, without much success. Vermont still has a AAA bond rating, but the rating services have pointedly noted that

“pension liabilities are growing and funding is not keeping pace.”

Vermont Business Magazine Rutland Regional Medical Center announced that it has achieved a 5 Star rating for its performance in Total Knee Replacement, Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and Gall Bladder Surgery from Healthgrades, the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals.