Current News

The Lake Champlain Islands Chamber of Commerce has a new Executive Director. The Chamber Board appointed Ruth Wallman, a resident of Burlington, effective immediately. The Islands Chamber of Commerce, located in North Hero, also serves as Grand Isle County’s Regional Planning Corporation and Small Business Development Center, and is the home base for the Regional Marketing Organization for Grand Isle and Franklin Counties.

Johnson Woolen Mills of Johnson, VT has announced the addition of several new products to its line of famous outdoor clothing. In combination with the announcement, the company has developed a new marketing focus to compliment its current concentration on rugged outerwear for the outdoor enthusiast. According to Johnson's Steve Salls, "for 161 years Johnson Woolen Mills has been renowned for its line of rugged, durable and functional clothing for the outdoors. Certainly, that tradition will continue. In addition, however, we have determined that this fabulous line of Vermont made clothing has remarkable appeal to fashion conscious consumers as well, and not just for men. Many of our newest products are for women and children and we see that as a significant growth area for the company. We are now seeing our products sold in fine, up-scale ladies', men's and children's stores as well as our traditional outdoor retailers. We are also in the process of working with the overseas

Altum, Inc. announces the release of AltumQR™, a web-based ad-hoc query and reporting tool that provides users a simple, yet powerful, interface to extract information from corporate databases and translate it into meaningful spreadsheets and reports.
"Unlike many product releases, AltumQR™ is the result of over six years of production use and continual enhancement at various Federal agencies." remarks Ken Fang, CEO of Altum, Inc. "AltumQR™ is proven technology that is in use at many organizations both large and small. It provides users reliable and accurate information quickly. At the NIH, ten Institutes, Centers, and Offices are using AltumQR™ as a part of their grants reporting systems to respond to congressional requests and budget justifications everyday."
As a Government-Off-The-Shelf (GOTS) product, AltumQR™ is available to federal agencies with no license fee. We also have flexible license policies for commercial use.

“I am delighted to announce that John-Michael Girald has recently joined our firm,” said Peter R. Worrell, Managing Director of The Bigelow Company LLC. “Girald's unique experience in having worked with both large corporate and entrepreneurial investment banking firms means that he will be able to bring a broad perspective of value-adding strategies to Bigelow’s clients. This meaningful addition to our professional staff further demonstrates Bigelow’s continuing commitment to bring the best industry talent to bear on our client opportunities.”

The challenge facing Rhino Foods' was how to insure continuous employment for its
valued people in a business that is seasonal. The solution that Rhino has
adapted and made part of its business practice is to exchange its
employees with companies whose business cycles and seasonal fluctuations
are opposite to that of Rhino's. Rather than placing people on layoff,
these employees work temporarily at the other employers (usually about two
months) and come back to Rhino when they are needed.
Rhino Foods designed
this innovation with the help of those directly affected by the situation.
A survey of participants indicated that they gained new skills and
increased trust in Rhino's communication and commitment to the employees.
The expense reduction results show ongoing trends of improvement. The
Employee Exchange Program aligns with Category 5 - Human Resource Focus of

The Vermont Student Assistance Corp Board of Directors has
re-elected three of its members to six-year terms. They are Joseph L.
Boutin of Burlington, president of Merchants Bank; David W. Ginevan of
Middlebury, executive vice president of Facilities Planning at Middlebury
College; and Dorothy R. Mitchell of Worcester, who is active in a variety
of higher education and community endeavors.
Joining the VSAC staff as the
new director of Claims, Collections and Compliance is Gregg Mousley of
Cornwall. Mousley previously worked for the Counseling Service of Addison
County in Middlebury. Among his responsibilities at VSAC, Mousley oversees
default aversion and servicing of defaulted loans and ensures that
services for students and families are in compliance with state and
federal regulations.
Two Vermont Student Assistance Corp. executives have been

William E. Boyle, Jr, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics and of Community and Family Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) was recently honored with the 2003 Pediatrician of the Year award
presented by the New Hampshire Pediatric Society.
Since 1970, Boyle has been practicing his brand of family-centered,
community-centered care at DHMC's Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD).
As both a general pediatrician and a subspecialist in long-term and
chronic illnesses-like cancer, diabetes, and cystic fibrosis-he has seen a
spectrum of conditions far beyond those of the average pediatric practice.
In July of 1997, Dr. Boyle began a community pediatrics program which
teaches doctors in training about community care and the need for child
advocacy. The William E. Boyle, Jr., M.D., Community Pediatrics Program
helps young doctors connect on a compassionate level with children and

To assist collectors, Auction Fire has added Want Lists to its' free online auction service offerings.
A Want List enables a registered user to set up keywords whereby they will
receive email notification should a new auction listing match their specified criteria.
So for instance, if someone collects Harry Potter trading cards, they can set up a keyword phrase: "Harry Potter Card"
so that they are notified every time one goes up for auction.
The keywords can be as specific or as general as the user desires. The Want List may be viewed manually for matches in real time at the Auction Fire website.
Email notification can be turned on or off for any of the keyword phrases independently.
Another nice Want List feature is the fact that the email notification includes the item description and the photo (if available) so that the shopper
need not visit the Auction Fire website unnecessarily unless the auction is of interest to them.

Hypervivid Solutions is pleased to announce that has Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) to be one of the many businesses to assist in the creation of this country's first "Directory and Report on the Advanced Security Industry in Canada." The goal of the project is to help raise awareness of security's important role in the economic sector of Canadian and foreign markets.
In recent years, information security has become a key industry in Canada's economic development. To help this important sector, CATA and the Canadian Government has requested assistance from (700+) companies; including manufacturers, systems integrators, specialized service providers, and security consulting firms.

As part of the largest real
estate sale in transportation history – 220 total properties with an
appraised value over $400 million – Consolidated Freightways announced
that it is placing its Rutland distribution facility located at 7 Randbury
Rd. for sale to the highest bidder, through an open auction process
scheduled for July 17, 2003.
The Rutland property is an 11-door cross-dock distribution
facility situated on 5.0 acres and has been closed to operations since
September 3, 2002 when the 74-year-old company filed for bankruptcy
protection. Since then CF has been liquidating the assets of the
corporation under orders of the bankruptcy court. Eight CF employees
formerly worked at the Rutland terminal.
A contract price of $235,100 has been established for the CF
property. Interested parties who would like to participate in the July 17

The City of Burlington Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO) announces the release of the Chittenden County Resource Guide for Employers & Employees and the 2nd edition of the Guide to Doing Business in Burlington. The publication of both these guides is in coordination with Vermont’s Small Business Week. Both of these publications are invaluable tools for entrepreneurs, business owners, job seekers and employees in the greater Burlington area to find what they need to start a business, expand a business, find funding, meet other business owners, get training, organize labor unions and take advantage of the resources that Chittenden County offers the business community and it’s employees.

Birkenstock Footprint Sandals Inc., the 100 percent employee-owned company and U.S. importer and distributor of Birkenstock footwear from Germany, will shorten special-order handling time by weeks and increase its product offering in U.S. retail stores through an agreement with UPS Supply Chain Solutions.
A new distribution program developed by UPS will manage special orders to the U.S. fulfilled by Birkenstock manufacturing centers in Germany. Special orders that once took months to ship to the U.S. now will take days.
“UPS Supply Chain Solutions will help us bring additional new styles, colors and sizes of Birkenstock footwear to American consumers much faster than we have been able to do in the past,” said Birkenstock Chief Operating Officer Gene Kunde.