The Vermont Land Trust announced the appointment of Eliot Orton of Weston as the new chair of its board of trustees. Orton succeeds Mary Powell of South Hero, a trustee for 10 years.
Powell, the, President and CEO of Green Mountain Power Corp, brought many talents to the Board: her experience at the executive level in both the public and private sectors, her leadership and passion for VLT’s conservation work, and an ardent interest in the future of Vermont and its economic viability. She helped the organization navigate through the challenging economic climate and a period of programmatic creativity and growth.
“Eliot has been a powerful and thoughtful contributor while we served on the board together,” offered Mary Powell. “He couples his rooted sense of Vermont’s conservation history with the necessity to look forward in a manner which is flexible, observes new opportunities as they arise and always honors the strong connection between our work and Vermont’s socio-economic development.”
Eliot Orton joined the board in 2006. He is the third generation of his family to own and operate The Vermont Country Store, the 65-year-old retail, web, and mail-order business.
Eliot graduated from the University of Denver in 1996 and worked in Manhattan and Connecticut before returning to the family business in 2003. Eliot and his brothers, Cabot and Gardner, also own Vermont Common Foods, a specialty food manufacturer producing Orton Bros. Cookie Buttons and the Vermont Common Cracker, the oldest commercially baked cracker in America. Eliot is married to Julie and they have a son, Leo Paul Orton and are expecting another child in April, 2011.
In assuming the Chairmanship, Orton said: “We often do not appreciate something until it is gone. As far as I know they are not making any more land. When you look around Vermont and see undeveloped forests and open fields and realize that half a million acres were conserved by land-owners working with the Vermont Land Trust, it’s truly an impressive achievement. Vermont is not a product of being lost in time or forgotten, it is the outcome of great foresight and interest to protect part of what we value most about Vermont, our working landscape. To serve as the chair of the Vermont land Trust is an honor, and I intend to lead with the single resolve of protecting Vermont's finest asset for future generations to come.”
“Eliot has the respect of each of our talented board members,” said Gil Livingston, President of VLT. “Eliot also has both the vision and the skills to help VLT tackle key issues such as our role in climate change abatement, and the evolving role of land conservation in a changing farm and forest economy.”
The other Vermont Land Trust Board members include: Sally Dodge Mole of Arlington, Deb Brighton of Salisbury, Virginia Barlow of Corinth, Heather Darby of Alburgh, Sarah Muyskens of Burlington, Peter Hayden of Tunbridge, Pete Land of Burlington, Walter Poleman of Richmond, Charlie Sincerbeaux of Hartland, Molly Lebowitz of South Hero, and John Roberts of Shoreham
The Vermont Land Trust is a statewide, member-supported, nonprofit land conservation organization. Since 1977, the Vermont Land Trust has permanently conserved more than 1,600 parcels of land covering 506,000 acres, or about eight percent of the private, undeveloped land in the state. The conserved land includes more than 700 working farms,hundreds of thousands of acres of productive forestland, and numerous parcels of community lands. This conservation work changes the lives of families, invigorates farms, launches new businesses, maintains scenic vistas, encourages recreational opportunity, and fosters a renewed sense of community. For more information or to become a member, contact: Vermont Land Trust, 8 Bailey Avenue, Montpelier, VT 05602, (802) 223-5234.
