Vermont Business Magazine Vermont Works Management Company LLC, a new investment firm planning to invest millions of dollars in Vermont companies, has announced two major appointments to its team. South Hero attorney Mark Naud will become the Executive Director of the firm’s Vermont Innovation Commons, a planned purpose-built co-living/working space in downtown Burlington. Elisabeth (Liz) Robert, the CEO of Terry Bicycles and the former CEO of Vermont Teddy Bear, has joined the firm’s Board of Directors.
Naud will join Vermont Works in August as Executive Director of the Vermont Innovation Commons project, championing the development of a new real estate project to house a business accelerator with education, co-working and co-living space; and providing facilities, services, and guidance to nurture startup and growth companies with sustainable business practices that will support their operating, economic and social success. In addition to his environmental law practice, Naud was until recently the Executive Director at the Community Sailing Center on Lake Champlain.
“I am looking forward to working with the best business minds in Vermont and elsewhere to foster increased innovative thinking right here at home,” Naud said. “The combination of sustainable business practices and the innovative spirit of Vermonters is a powerful asset, and I am eager to help our entrepreneurs find new avenues towards success.”
“We are excited to have Mark at the helm of the Vermont Innovation Commons,” said Robert Zulkoski, CEO of Vermont Works Management Company LLC. “With The Commons, Vermont Works aims to develop an innovation hub for the state that will leverage Vermont’s human capital, including educators and innovators from around the world, to foster a nurturing environment for startup and growth firms, with the goal of creating living-wage jobs, and attracting and retaining youth and innovation to the state. Mark’s proven track record of leadership, evidenced by the successful development of the new Community Sailing Center, will make The Commons a new and important landmark in the business community.”
Liz Robert brings considerable leadership and community experience to the company’s board of directors. In addition to her remarkable business achievements at Terry Bicycles, Vermont Teddy Bear, and elsewhere, she is a member of the Middlebury College Board of Trustees, where she currently chairs the Vermont Relations Committee.
"I think it is so important in Vermont's lethargic economic environment to see another serious, fundable capital resource for Vermont's developing businesses emerge from the private sector,” Liz Robert said. “Both Robert [Zulkoski] and [CEO] Frank [Koster] bring weighty experience in fundraising and capital management, and though still in in their own start-up mode, demonstrate an ability to make things happen deliberately. Not only will Vermont Works provide capital, but the model also includes an operational support component. This is where I can fit in. I hope to bring my hands-on experience managing very different Vermont businesses to contribute individualized marketing, operations and financial insights, strategies and discipline to our partner companies from start-ups to growth-stage enterprises."
"We’re pleased to say that Liz has agreed to join the Board of Directors of Vermont Works Management Company LLC,” said Zulkoski. “Liz is a rock star addition to our team. Business ‘start-up,’ ‘going-private,’ ‘turn-around,’ ‘relocation-preneur’ and real estate developer –there are very few Vermont business challenges Liz has taken on and not mastered. A graduate of both UVM’s Grossman School of Business and Middlebury College, Liz is a singular individual within the Vermont Business Community; uniquely positioned to help create value within our portfolio of companies,” said Zulkoski.
Robert will be the Vermont Entrepreneurship Director on the firm’s Board.
About Vermont Works Management Company LLC:
Vermont Works is an independent alternative investment firm, focusing on delivering both competitive financial returns and social impact in support of Vermont’s job and enterprise development. Vermont Works is unique in its focus on Vermont social impact. No other organized, professionally managed fund which focuses solely on investing in Vermont is measured on a “double bottom line” basis. The Fund will be comprised of a diversified investment portfolio, carefully selected by professional investors with established histories of generating attractive returns and risk control. Both senior partners have over 30 years of comprehensive investment management experience. Recently, the firm has announced partnerships with the University of Vermont School of Business, the Vermont State Employees Credit Union, and several investments in the sustainable business future of Vermont. For more information, visitvermontworks.org.
About The Vermont Innovation Commons:
The Vermont Innovation Commons is a newly established Vermont Benefit Corporation.The Commons will be an exciting new mixed-use, curated community combining business and education components using the principle of the sharing economy for co-working and co-living, optimizing the cohesive relationship between the 4-spheres of activities of Work-Learn-Live-Play. It will be a facility that will be owned and managed as a creative commons; a resource accessible to the entire Vermont innovation eco-system, including its universities, colleges, hospitals, a K-12 STEM program, existing businesses, and the community of incubators, accelerators, maker-space providers, innovators, entrepreneurs and business startups. VBM vermontbiz.com
Source:Vermont Works Management Company 6.12.2017