Current News

by Erica Houskeeper UVM The University of Vermont is offering a new Business of Craft Beer certificate program, which will focus on sales, digital marketing, and business operations. The 12-week online program, which starts in February, was developed in conjunction with the Vermont Brewer’s Association. The program will prepare participants with in-depth knowledge of the dynamics and trends within the U.S. craft beer market, its origins, key growth drivers, major players and steps for success.

(Photo: Ed Kohler/Flickr)

Vermont Business Magazine Addison County Transit Resources (ACTR) announces a major milestone in its service history. Ridership tracking indicates ACTR will deliver its two millionth ride on Tuesday, August 25, 2015. To thank riders, ACTR's buses will operate fare-free that day and each Bus System and Dial-A-Ride passenger will receive a gift, while supplies last.

Community transportation services have come far in the past twenty-three years. In the beginning ACTR had a handful of volunteer drivers who offered fee-based transportation services. Over time, ACTR expanded its volunteer workforce, began serving senior meal sites, made all services more accessible, created 6 public bus routes, grew to a fleet of 21 buses, created 32 jobs and built a Community Transportation Center.

Vermont Business Magazine And the winner is... But first a word about the organization. The Grand Isle Road Pitch was held on August 6th at the Snow Farm Vineyard and Winery in South Hero. The second annual Road Pitch, organized by Cairn Cross from FreshTracks Capital was a four day motorcycle ride throughout Vermont. The riders were made up of "business bikers" consisting of investors, business advisers, entrepreneurs and even Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott for part of the ride. At each stop during the week, several entrepreneurs and businesses pitched their ideas to the group of riders looking for investors. At the end of each stop they awarded a cash prize of $450 and a "Biker Bear," donated by Vermont Teddy Bear to the pitch they felt made the most compelling case for their proposed venture.

Vermont Business Magazine Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Thursday joined officials from the state of Vermont and the Waitsfield community to celebrate construction progress on Waitsfield’s new town office. The event marked a major milestone for the Waitsfield community, which recently broke ground on a new site to replace the town office building flooded by Tropical Storm Irene. A Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development largely supported the project, administered in Vermont by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.

Vermont Business Magazine Northern Power Systems Corp. (TSX: NPS), a next generation renewable energy technology company located in Barre, Vermont, announced Wednesday financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2015. Revenues for the three months ended June 30, 2015 were $12.5 million, compared to $13.8 million in the second quarter of 2014. GAAP net loss for the second quarter of 2015 was $3.3 million, compared to a net loss of $2.1 million in the prior year second quarter. Order backlog at June 30, 2015 was approximately $41 million as compared to $40 million at June 30, 2014. June 30, 2015 backlog in constant currency to the prior year period would increase by approximately 10 percent.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe has appointed Heather Bouchey, Ph.D., of Montpelier as her Deputy Secretary of Education, the Agency announced today. Holcombe noted: “Heather’s extensive experience in research, leadership and education is an ideal fit for the Agency. We are very fortunate to have found someone with her talent and commitment to the success of Vermont students on our team. As one of her former employers said, “She is smart, compassionate, strategic and humble. She is exactly what we need in government.”

by Olga Peters/The Commons As he opened a small ceremony to mark the awarding of federal brownfield funds to Vermont communities, Brattleboro Town Manager Peter Elwell stood on a lush green lawn bordering the Connecticut River. The green space under Elwell’s feet was once a brownfield, a contaminated area that can be expensive to clean and to rehabilitate for productive reuse. Remnants of the town’s industrial history still cling to its buildings, seen but not always noticed, such as the outlines of old loading bays in Main Street’s sidewalks or the shape of side doors large enough to swallow vehicles.

Vermont Business Magazine In the most recent episode of AM BestTV, which wrapped up the first day of the annual Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) conference on Tuesday, a captive insurance panel discussed the current state of captive insurance companies, including developments in regulation and tax considerations. The annual VCIA conference is being held through Thursday at the Sheraton Burlington. Vermont is the largest domicile in the US for captive insurance firms, with overall gross written premium for all of Vermont’s captives exceeding $25.5 billion, or over 60% of all RRG gross premiums. Vermont is now more than eight times larger than its next closest competitor.

In 2014, there were 14 new captive formations, and so far this year in Vermont, there have been 16, evidence of the growing interest in captives, which is coming from a lot of different areas.

Vermont Business Magazine The State of Vermont has again been awarded the top US Domicile for “an innovative and competitive environment for captives to flourish.” This is the third year that the State of Vermont, by far the largest domicile, has been honored with this award, which was presented by Captive Review Magazine during the US Captive Services Awards on August 10. The award describes Vermont as having a “depth of knowledge and expertise among Vermont’s vast team of regulators,” and stating “despite being an established jurisdiction, Vermont continues to review its statute on an annual basis to ensure it continues delivering efficiency and value.”

The annual Vermont Captive Insurance Association Conference concludes Thursday at the Sheraton in South Burlington.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of Vermont are holding a series of public meetings in August to discuss new pollution reduction targets -- often referred to as a TMDL -- to prevent pollution from flowing into Lake Champlain and its tributaries. The meetings will be moderated by the Lake Champlain Basin Program. All interested persons are encouraged to participate.

Lake Champlain Basin Phosphorus Clean Water Act TMDL Public Meetings

St. Albans: August 26, 2015, 6:00 to 8:00 PM, Bliss Room, St. Albans Historical Society, 9 Church Street, St Albans

South Burlington: August 27, 2015, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, Burlington Doubletree, 1117 Williston Road, South Burlington

Rutland: August 27, 2015, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, Fox Room, Rutland Free Library, 10 Court Street, Rutland

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine In a sweeping report released today on the EB-5 immigrant investor program, the US General Accounting Office found that the outcomes of the program were “valid and reliable” and the foreign investors were not always fully vetted, all of which could lead to fraud in the popular economic development program. The EB-5 program most notably has been used in Vermont at Jay Peak Resort and related developments in Newport and Burke Mountain, at Trapp Family Lodge, Sugarbush and Mount Snow. The Securities & Exchange Commission is also looking into the Jay Peak developments (which include a hotel and the AnC Bio projects in Newport). Neither the Vermont regional office nor any of the projects located here was named in the GAO report.

by Timothy McQuiston Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees approved at its meeting in July its support for a focused and ongoing effort that will allow the Vermont State Colleges to become a more “comprehensive, cohesive, and interconnected” system, with multiple distinct institutions within it. The goal is to provide students access not only to the resources of their particular college or university, but to the resources of the system as a whole, and enabling the most cost effective operation of the individual institutions and system.

The Board also approved the name change of Castleton State College to Castleton University.