Current News

Rick John, Principal Broker/Owner, R. JOHN & CO. Real Estate announced that Suzanne King has joined the firm as a REALTOR Associate and will concentrate on residential properties in Windham County, VT and later plans to get her NH license as well.
Suzanne has been in the mental health field for many years and most recently was Community Director with the March of Dimes in Brattleboro, Bellows Falls & Springfield Area. Suzanne lives in Vernon VT with her husband and two children. Rick John also has been hired as an instructor with Around VT & NH, a real estate education company in MT Holly, VT and is teaching the pre-licensing course in SVT & SNH.
John is currently serving as President –elect of VREIN in Williston,VT. VREIN is the organization that operates the MLS function for most of the REALTORS in VT. Mr. John has been a Director at VREIN for the past two years.

The Vermont Chamber of Commerce presents the 2003 Vermont Business and Industry Exposition (EXPO) on May 21 and 22 at the Burlington Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center. With over 20 seminars, nearly 200 booths, and 3,000 attendees, EXPO 2003 is proud to be the largest business trade show in northern New England.
This year the EXPO theme is “Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Excellence: Survive and Thrive in the Vermont Economy.” Curtis Picard, EXPO Director, stated, “EXPO is built around keeping Vermont competitive in a rapidly changing global economy. Do businesses have the tools to compete and raise the bar for excellence? How do we keep our companies fresh and our ideas on the cutting edge?” From the sole proprietor to the larger ventures, Vermont has long planted the seeds of future growth with our entrepreneurs. The new EXPO seminar lineup reflects these themes and more.

Starting this September, Saint Joseph’s College of Maine will offer a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a specialization in Resort Management. In the two-year, full-time program, students will complete courses at Saint Joseph’s College in Maine, and, during the winter ski season, at Killington Resort in Vermont.
“This degree will prepare students to provide leadership in resort business organizations – not simply provide administrative oversight,” said Dr. Gregory Gull, Director of Business Administration Programs for the Division of Graduate & Professional Studies.

Mad River Snow, Inc an affiliate of Mad
River Lifts, has joined forces with Maurer Construction, Ltd of
Penticton, British Columbia to provide design/build services for log, post
and beam, and timber frame structures to mountain resorts throughout North
America. The new venture is offering turnkey construction services,
including design, construction, general contracting, site work, and finish
work. The announcement was made jointly by Jeff Robinson, Principal
of Mad River Snow and Fred Maurer, President of Maurer Construction.
Maurer will design, fabricate, transport, and construct base lodges,
ancillary buildings (like ski school and rental shops), condominiums and
single-family homes of all sizes. The quality log, post and beam, and
timber frame resort structures are designed with the aesthetic and
functional requirements that are unique to mountain resorts. The log

May 10 - 18, 2003 is the 20th Annual National Tourism
Week. Tourism contributes approximately $4.2 billion and 35,000 jobs to
the Vermont economy annually. Tourism supports and promotes such diverse
elements within Vermont as agriculture, outdoor recreation, natural
heritage, cultural heritage and Vermont-made products.
Vermont has long held a reputation for the finest in products and life
experiences. Sharing our way of life through tourism enhances Vermont's
image as a great place to visit. This awareness, accomplished through
effective marketing, keeps Vermont a top global destination.
National Tourism Week was developed to acknowledge the economic benefits
that tourism brings to the United States and to educate the public about
the tourism opportunities that are available locally. In a spot to be
broadcast on Vermont's radio and television stations, Vermont's Governor

Every year, 450 babies arrive at the Children's Hospital at
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD) for state-of-the-art care.
Irving Oil and CHaD are pleased to announce that their first ever
"Mork the Stork" fundraising partnership has raised $90,000 for infants in
Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
The funds, donated by Mainway customers and Irving Oil, will support
neonatal intensive care units and neonatal care facilities in the Pine
Tree and Granite states.
As part of Irving Oil's "Mork the Stork" Campaign, customers donated $1
for a feather to help cover up "Mork the Stork," a giant stork without
wings. Feathers were affixed to "Mork the Stork" displays at more than
120 Mainway and Big Stop locations over a period of five weeks. With each
feather, "Mork the Stork" was able to fly higher and higher, exceeding
fundraising goals set by Irving and CHaD.

Saint Michael's College received a grant for $116,640 from the Davis
Educational Foundation on May 5 for a program focused on helping integrate
new faculty into teaching in a liberal arts college, President Marc
vanderHeyden announced.
The grant will support a New Instructors Program, which will include a
series of one-hour seminars addressing student learning styles, classroom
management, effective pedagogy and understanding of the Saint Michael's
Liberal Studies requirement. It will also support a program linking a
faculty-teaching mentor with each new faculty member to help him or her
develop an effective teaching style.
"What's exciting is that this grant allows the college to work with
incoming faculty members as they make the complicated transition from
graduate programs at large universities to teaching at an undergraduate

Sugarbush Resort has announced that it has retained two firms to assist in the development and management of the soon-to-be constructed Lodge at Lincoln Peak.
Boston-based Leggat McCall Properties will assume management responsibilities for the financing, design, construction, and legal aspects of the development of the new Lodge. With more than 35 years of experience, the firm has a vast list of commercial and mix-use properties to their name totaling more than $1.5 billion in value.

Pomerleau Real Estate is pleased to announce that Ed Helmer has joined their Commercial Real Estate Division.
Helmer is a native Vermonter currently living in Colchester. In 2002, Ed graduated from Phillips-Exeter Academy and in 2002, graduated from Bates College as an English major. His current focus is on getting his real estate license and becoming a member of the Burlington community.

2much Media of Burlington accompanied their client, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, on a recent trip to Mexico and Guatemala. The goal was to come back with footage that GMCR could use in a variety of ways to raise awareness about the growing Coffee Crisis.
If you’re not already familiar with the Coffee Crisis, it won’t be long before you are. After all, coffee, preceded by oil, is the world’s most traded commodity. The issue isn’t about a shortage in quantity, it’s quality that’s at stake. The small, multi-generation arabica coffee farms of Central America and other traditional coffee producing regions are struggling due to the increasing availability of lower quality and less expensive robusta beans from coffee sources such as Vietnam.
"There are social, agricultural, political and economic angles to this story," says Bill Kinzie of 2much Media. "It’s not all that different from what the dairy farmers here in Vermont have been dealing with."

I AM Presentations is proud to announce the recent web mastering outsourcing agreement reached with Best Breed of Findlay, Ohio. Best
Breed is a national premium dog food manufacturer and has brought its web requests to Vermont's I AM Presentations, owned by Michael
LaRocque of Swanton, who has developed interactive websites for numerous Vermont companies including Vantage Press, Burnt Mountain Designs, Pastore Financial Group, to name a few.

The Vermont Mentoring Partnership (VMP) is hosting the sixth annual “Mentors Make A Difference” conference on Monday, May 5, from 8:30-4:00 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel in Burlington. The Conference is open to adults and youth 13 years of age or older.
The Conference attracts 400 to 500 youth and adult participants, offering over 30 workshops serving Vermont youth and service providers from the mentoring community. Through a dynamic program designed for youth and adults alike, Vermont’s mentoring community will attend workshops to share ideas and strategies, improve and promote mentor programs, and strengthen team-building skills while exploring life principles.