Carmen Derby, director of the Windham County Dental Center in Brattleboro, has been unanimously elected chair of the Brattleboro Savings & Loan Board of Directors. She succeeds Tom Wallin, who has retired from the board after 22 years of service. Derby has served on the BS&K board since 2014 — the past four years as chair of the Audit Committee.
Prior to joining Windham County Dental last year, Derby was executive director of United Way, where she worked to create new services for underserved populations, including free tax-return preparation, the Kids in Coats program and building the dental center.
Brattleboro Savings & Loan has been intentionally increasing its focus on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, for which Derby, as benefit director for the bank, has worked tirelessly. Her continued drive and leadership has directly led to her appointment as board chair, making her the first woman and the first person of color to hold this position in the bank’s 100-plus-year history, as well as the first person of color to hold this post in the state of Vermont.
“Carmen has been a leader for the bank, but more importantly for our community as a whole,” said bank President and Chief Executive Officer Dan Yates.