Vermont Business Magazine The Business of the Year for 2023 was voted by the CVEDC Board of Directors as Kingsbury Companies of Middlesex. Kingsbury Companies was recognized at the CVEDC Annual Meeting October 19 at Sugarbush for its growth and innovation. Director Gunner McCain delivered the award along with a heartfelt speech on his own decades of overlap with Kingsbury. The Directors also noted Kingsbury Companies’ pivots into renewable energy spaces, citing their role in developing the largest anaerobic compost digester in the Northeast.
CVEDC has awarded the Business of the Year over 30 times since 1976, with recipients including L&D Safety Markings, Capitol Plaza Hotel & Conference Center, Granite Industries of Vermont, Connor Contracting, Small Dog Electronics, Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks, Onion River Sports, Vermont Butter & Cheese, American Flatbread, L. Brown & Sons Printing, Red Hen Bakery, Wilkins Harley Davidson, Fire 1 Ladder House Bar & Grill, Local 64, The Alchemist, the Cornerstone Pub & Brewery, and the Three Penny Taproom.
CVEDC Board of Directors also awarded “Innovator of the Year” to Shanda Williams of SD Communications. Director of Community Resiliency Organizations Jess Laporte made the presentation of this award to Shanda.
Jess described Shanda’s passion for creating groundbreaking and illuminating community programming on financial literacy and other community development topics. Shanda has brought together individuals in our community with great untapped wisdom to connect and collaborate on the ideas and challenges that impact us all.
In addition to the traditional Business of the Year, five “community flood heroes” were recognized for their individual or organizational response to the July 2023 floods. CVEDC received over 40 nominations for the flood heroes awards, with the Board of Directors voting on the five who they felt had made the most significant contributions to the recovery and resilience response.
These flood heroes include:
Tracie Lewis, The Barre Partnership
Shawna Trader, The Rainbow Bridge Community Center, Barre
Skinny Pancake, Montpelier
Tim Heney, Montpelier
Montpelier Youth Conservation Corps.
The annual meeting also included remarks from Commissioner of Economic Development Joan Goldstein. Three of the flood hero awards were presented on behalf of the offices of Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Peter Welch, and Congresswoman Becca Balint.
About CVEDC:
Organized in 1976 to provide impetus for the region’s economic development, CVEDC maintains a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of local business owners, State representatives, lenders, and municipal officials. Our funding primarily comes from the State of Vermont, our municipalities, and dues-paying members of CVEDC. https://www.cvedc.org/
Source: Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation. Montpelier, VT
