Presiding over his first Board of Director's meeting in March, Vermont Young Professionals' newly elected President, Paul Dame officially took over for Mark Hall, the organization's founding President since 2010.
Hall announced that he planned to step down back in December: "I have seen VYP grow from a new organization to one with over 500 members statewide. I have every confidence that Paul will carry on the vision of VYP to become Vermont's young professional organization and continue reaching individuals in the far corners of the state."
At the February Board of Directors meeting both Dame, and fellow board member Chris Vintinner, a Sales Rep for Control Technologies, gave presentations to the board, laying out their visions for the future direction of VYP, resulting in a 3-2 vote in Dame's favor.
"While the rest of the board deliberated, Chris & I got a chance to talk about each other's presentation, and the great thing was, there were a lot of similarities. But Chris also brought up a lot of great ideas that I want to incorporate moving forward," said Dame. Vintinner's strong presentation landed him the honor of being the organization's first ever Vice President.
Dame first joined VYP's Board of Directors in December of 2011, and has shifted positions since then, with his most recent role being the primary coordinator for some of the group's signature events, including a three part series on Entrepreneurship, and the upcoming Vermonter's Ball, on April 19th at the Hilton hotel. When not working on VYP's volunteer Board of Directors, Dame owns and operates his own financial services practice in Essex Junction, where he and his wife live with their 7-month-old daughter.
"Over the next two years of my term I hope to really make VYP become a farther-reaching statewide organization. We recently helped launch a chapter in Franklin County last fall, and I'd like to see 2 or 3 more groups get started. Our goal is for young Vermonters throughout the state to be within an hour's drive of one of our events, to help them build their social and professional network, and pick up some of the skills that will be able to help their career launch and thrive here in Vermont."