Robert Hofmann, Pamela Mackenzie and Scott Milne have been elected to the board of directors of Vermont Public Television, Vermont's statewide public television network.
Hofmann, of Waterbury Center, Vt., has been Vermont’s secretary of human services since 2008. Before that, he was the state’s commissioner of finance and management, then commissioner of corrections.
Active in professional organizations, Hofmann is a past director of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. He has served on government boards and task forces and was recently appointed to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. In his local community, he has participated in school, church and children’s sports activities.
Hofmann is a graduate of SUNY College of Cortland and received an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
Mackenzie, of S. Burlington, Vt., is the area vice president for Comcast in Vermont and western Massachusetts.
Active in industry organizations, Mackenzie serves on the executive committee for the national board of directors for Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WICT).
In the local community, she is on the board of directors of the Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce and volunteers on the United Way of Chittenden County’s communications committee.
Milne, of N. Pomfret, Vt., is president of Milne Travel American Express, a Vermont business and the largest American Express Travel management company in the northeastern United States. The company has been a program underwriter of Vermont Public Television for more than 12 years.
Milne is a former president of the Vermont Association of Private and Non-profit Organizations, current president of the Vermont Society of Travel Agents, a board member of American Express TRS's Business Travel Advisory Board and member of Travcorp of Australia's USA advisory board.
Of his service to the community, Milne said, “I take great pride in Milne Travel's ability to assist nearly 100 regional non-profits each year through our non-profit fundraising endeavors.”
Milne is a graduate of Spaulding High School in Barre and the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif.
Patricia M. Sears of Lowell, Vt., has been elected to Vermont Public Television's Community Council, an advisory group that helps the statewide public television network respond to the needs and interests of Vermonters.
Sears is executive director of the Newport City Renaissance Corporation. She is active in professional organizations, serving as president of the Northeast Kingdom Travel & Tourism Association and as a board member of the Vermont North Country Chamber of Commerce. She was president of the Northeast Kingdom Collaborative.
In 2006, she led the effort to bring wireless broadband Internet service to Lowell.
Working on behalf of community non-profit organizations, Sears was secretary of the Lowell Historical Society and led the re-establishment of the Friends of Lowell’s Kids. She served for six years as a council member of The Vermont Women’s Fund.
