Al Claussen and Karren Meyer have joined the Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital Board of Trustees. Claussen holds an MBA in Business Administration from Norwich University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Maine – Orono. He is Project Manager for Noho Health Inc. dba Care/of in Brattleboro, and previously, he was Branch Officer for Berkshire Bank (Manchester, VT) and Store Manager and Category Sales Manager for Yankee Candle (S. Deerfield, MA).
He is Chair of the West River Education District board and Clerk for the Windham Central Supervisory Union, where he is responsible for fiscal controls and governance.
A resident of Townshend, Claussen lives with his wife Tammy and four sons.
Meyer earned a Master of Education from Cambridge College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education from University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. She is currently pursuing a second Master’s from Castleton University.
She teaches driver education at Leland and Gray High School and was named the 2019 Southern Vermont Driver Educator of the Year and the 2020 Vermont Driver Educator of the Year. Recently, she also received a National Teacher of Excellence Award. She is Leland and Gray’s “Refuse to Use” Coordinator, working to discourage teens’ use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco, and she is President-Elect for the Vermont Driver Traffic Safety Education Association.
Meyer grew up in Falmouth, MA, and has lived in Vermont’s West River Valley area for 23 years. A resident of Newfane with her husband Steven and their son and daughter, she has volunteered for many civic endeavors, including West River Valley Thrives, the Moore Free Library, Timpson Hill Preschool, and Grace Cottage Hospital Fair Day.