Montpelier - The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (www.vsjf.org) announced today that Janice St. Onge has been named its new Deputy Director.
Ms. St. Onge replaces Ed Delhagen who served as the organization's Deputy Director for 7 years and who recently joined the staff of the Asia Foundation to work on a special project in Mongolia. Ms. St. Onge will begin her duties on Monday, March 19.
"We are very pleased that Janice will be joining our team at the Sustainable Jobs Fund. She has strong and deep networks statewide, within the economic development community, within the investor community, and within the UVM community," said Ellen Kahler, Executive Director of the Fund.
Established in 1995 by the Vermont Legislature, the Sustainable Jobs Fund promotes natural resource based market development and job creation and provides technical assistance to growing companies.
Their current funding and programmatic foci are in the biofuels, sustainable forestry, and sustainable agriculture sectors.
Janice St. Onge will leave the Vermont Business Center (VBC) at the University of Vermont where she has been the Director since its launch in 2004.
Over her three year tenure, she was responsible for business outreach, and the sales, development and delivery of the VBC's management development and customer training programs for Vermonts leaders and decision makers.
"I'm really looking forward to being part of the VSJF team and helping Vermont businesses grow in a globally competitive marketplace," said St. Onge.
"I understand the challenges businesses face in bringing new products to market, and have an in-depth knowledge of the resources available to businesses here in the State.
The VSJF's approach to increasing demand and supply for sustainable products that help solve complex problems such as climate change and peak oil is very appealing to me.
The VSJF's work is not only helping Vermont innovators take a leadership role in natural resource based market development, but is helping innovators grow quality jobs in Vermont that are sustainable and build on Vermont's entrepreneurial heritage.
I can't wait to get out of the gate running!"
Prior to joining the University, Janice served as Technology Business Development Director for the Vermont Department of Economic Development.
She was responsible for helping to create and manage Vermont's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Outreach Program.
In October 2001, Janice was a recipient of the National Tibbetts Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration. This award was given in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the promotion of the SBIR program and technology business development in Vermont.
In 2002, Janice received the Outstanding State Employee award from Vermont Governor James Douglas.
Prior to her work at the State of Vermont, Janice was the Director of Human Resources and Senior Manager of Customer Service for Kea Technologies, an e-commerce fulfillment business in Williston, where she directed human resource strategic planning and policies, employee relations, performance management, employment law issues and company-wide recruiting efforts.
In addition to other senior level roles at Kea, Ms. St. Onge has nine (9) years experience in the financial services industry, in retail management, commercial real estate lending and organizational development.
As a Business Partner within the Organizational Development Department of Peoples Bank, an $8.0 billion publicly held financial institution, Janice integrated human resource and business planning for the retail and finance divisions of the Bank.
Janice served as the Co-chair for the Advisory Council of the Vermont Tech Enterprise Center at Vermont Technical College in Randolph and is a Board of Trustee member for the Killington Mountain School, a fully accredited State of Vermont independent school and ski academy.
She is also a board member of the Vermont Investors Forum and is on the client selection committee for the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies, a technology incubator initiative affiliated with the University of Vermont.
Janice graduated in 1986 from the University of Utah with a bachelor's degree in Marketing and minor in French.
She is a graduate of the 2004 Vermont Leadership Institute program, a Snelling Center for Government initiative promoting citizen enthusiasm for and participation in public service.
An avid skier, Janice is an FIS Freestyle Skiing Judge and was the first woman in the United States to be licensed to judge Olympic and World Cup level Freestyle Skiing events.
Janice resides in Stowe, Vermont with her husband Lee, children Mackenzie and Austin, and border collie Nikki.
Montpelier - The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (www.vsjf.org) announced today that Janice St. Onge has been named its new Deputy Director.
Ms. St. Onge replaces Ed Delhagen who served as the organization's Deputy Director for 7 years and who recently joined the staff of the Asia Foundation to work on a special project in Mongolia. Ms. St. Onge will begin her duties on Monday, March 19.
"We are very pleased that Janice will be joining our team at the Sustainable Jobs Fund. She has strong and deep networks statewide, within the economic development community, within the investor community, and within the UVM community," said Ellen Kahler, Executive Director of the Fund.
Established in 1995 by the Vermont Legislature, the Sustainable Jobs Fund promotes natural resource based market development and job creation and provides technical assistance to growing companies.