Joyce Marcel with a few of her favorite interviews of the nearly 300 she conducted for Vermont Business Magazine/VermontBiz, including Patrick Leahy, Paul Bruhn and Bill McKibben. Her very last one was with Corrine Prevot of Skida in February 2025. Photo: Baldwin Photography.
by Joyce Marcel, Vermont Business Magazine
I’ve been called “Vermont’s biographer.“ Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of writing about a diverse range of subjects. From the unexpected success of croutons to the cutting-edge technology of electric airplanes, I’ve explored the breadth of Vermont’s ingenuity. I’ve interviewed generals, jigsaw puzzle creators, doctors who make house calls and countless other Vermont legends. I’ve learned their stories, written about them honestly and then had the honor of seeing their pictures grace the cover of this magazine.
Now that I’m 83, I’m retiring after writing more than 270 cover stories and being named three times as the best business profile writer in the country by the Alliance of Area Business Publishers.
When I look back at the work I’ve done, I feel something quite close to awe. And I realize I’ve been writing the history of Vermont and its living economy for the first quarter of the 21st century.
It all started back in 2000, when I took on VermontBiz, then Vermont Business Magazine, as one of my first clients. While I initially wrote economic roundups for the publication, editor Tim McQuiston soon proposed the idea of in-depth profiles. He wanted to explore both the challenges and successes of business leaders. However, we doubted that many executives would be willing to share their failures, so we shelved the idea.
Then, one day I was interviewing a CEO who was more than happy to explain all the mistakes he had made on the way to owning and operating an extremely successful business. After the interview I called Tim and said, “I think we’ve got it!“
That first story appeared in the November 2002 issue, teased on the cover with “New Feature: Profiles in Business“ and introduced inside with: “A new feature in which a person’s business life is examined. We’ve chosen people who have seen the ups and downs of their professional life.“
The first subjects were Bill Wolfe and Bud McLaughlin, brothers-in-law, friends and business partners who owned American Resources Corp., a real estate company that owned, among other things, the Holiday Inn in Rutland, a 501-room hotel and conference center.
Once we started, we never looked back.
For 23 years, I’ve been fortunate to delve into the lives of those who shape Vermont. I’ve written about their diverse businesses — from bonds to paintings to educational institutions — but also about the individuals: their character, their journey and the lessons learned on their path to success.
This assignment has suited me perfectly. As a writer, my focus has always been on how people live their lives. If I could soar above the world, lift every rooftop and observe the lives within, I would be content — albeit perhaps overly inquisitive.
We began with profiles of Vermont business leaders running established, sometimes generational, companies like Poulin Grain, Pomerleau Real Estate and Johnson Woolen Mills. However, Vermont boasts a wealth of diverse success stories, and I soon expanded into education, medicine, music, painting, commerce and politics.
After a few years of writing about men, I started making an effort to put more women on the cover. More people of color. A transgendered person or two for a change. Vermonters of accomplishment come of every color, gender and sexual persuasion, and we should celebrate them all.
Many of the individuals I profiled early on have since passed away. Several of these stories have served as the basis for obituaries. David Coates, the founder of KPMG in Vermont and economic adviser to several governors, shared that he used my profile of Fred Hackett, another influential Vermonter, at his memorial service.
“Some of these people have passed into legend,“ Tim told me. “But having this piece about them has sort of secured their part in history. What you’ve done, Joyce, has been part of history, Vermont history.“
Melinda Moulton, the developer of Burlington’s waterfront Main Street Landing, recognized this immediately. She was suspicious of me at first, but she relaxed when, at the start of our interview, I mentioned in passing that I’d been a topless dancer in San Francisco in the ’60s. After I wrote about her, she turned the tables and wrote about me.
Photo: Melinda Moulton on the cover of VBM November 2019.
Photo: Melinda Moulton's profile of Joyce April 2020.
A few of my profile subjects later became my guides. Coates was one. Fresh Tracks co-founder and managing director Cairn Cross was another. A third was Frank Cioffi of Greater Burlington Industrial Corp. How lucky was I to be offered their invaluable advice as I wrote my way across the Vermont economic landscape?
I must admit, a few notable figures eluded me. Sadly, Jake Burton Carpenter of Burton Snowboards was one. I never managed to connect with him for a profile. I did profile Ben Cohen, but never met Jerry. And U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a personal hero of mine, has avoided an interview with me for 23 years and counting.
One time, back before Sanders entered presidential politics, his staff and I, after maybe a thousand emails and phone calls between us, arranged for me to interview the senator on the Brattleboro Common on Strolling of the Heifers day.
After Bernie participated in a milking contest, he was scheduled to speak with me. I waited with my notebook and recorder, watching as he milked the cow, won the contest, then ducked behind the animal and disappeared into the crowd.
Most recently, I attempted to interview the senator a few months ago. We had the February 2025 cover prepared for him. His wife, Jane, agreed to arrange the interview. Bernie also agreed. However, over Christmas, they ceased communication. Despite this, he remains my hero.
“Bernie might be too big for Vermont journalists,“ Tim told me. “But I don’t think he’d even do a profile for The New York Times. Maybe he would for them, but he wants to control the information. If he’s holding a press conference, he’ll stick to that topic. He’s not going off message. Or if he does a quick interview, it’ll be on his terms and about what he wants to discuss.“
Fortunately, most people agreed when I cold-called them, introduced myself and asked if they would like to be featured on the cover of VermontBiz. After all, who wouldn’t?
To test that statement, I jokingly suggested to Tim that he put me on the cover of my final issue. Having featured over 270 individuals, I thought I should experience it myself. Sauce for the goose, or the gander, as they say.
Well, I quickly learned. Three days before the photographer arrived, I was panicking about needing a haircut. The next day, I was frantically trying on everything in my closet. Should I go for a glamorous look? (Who, me?) Should I dress as I usually do while working — yoga pants and one of my husband’s oversized T-shirts? Or should I aim for professional, if I could even recall what that looked like after years of Zoom interviews?
The day before the shoot, I experimented with makeup for the first time in 40 years. The result? I looked like a clown. I’ll let others be the judge of how the photos turned out.
I must say, most of the people I profiled were very happy with the stories. Many graciously sent me a follow-up email note. I printed them out and kept them in a file to use as encouragement whenever I faltered
“We very much appreciate the coverage and also your consideration...“
“It really read so wonderfully and was so engaging...“
“You were able to capture the breadth and depth of the business and the energy and entrepreneurial spirit...“
“Thank you for taking the time to understand...“
“Your profiles move me to laughter, to tears, to new learning...“
And the most common one, “I have gotten so many comments from many friends and colleagues across the state.“
One surprising thing, at least to me, is the number of fans the profiles have garnered. We live in a digital age where attention spans seem short, and the acronym TL;DR, or “too long; didn’t read,“ is common. Yet, I regularly wrote 7,000-word stories that VermontBiz readily printed and readers happily consumed. I frequently encounter people throughout Vermont who tell me they read them thoroughly.
Eventually, I developed a template for the interviews. I began with basic questions: age, parents’ occupations, childhood jobs, lessons learned from parents, and education. Only then did I delve into their careers and the process of building their businesses. I consistently concluded each interview with a quote from Henry Ford: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.“
No one achieves success without making mistakes, and the profile would be incomplete without those stories. I used the Henry Ford quote as a way to encourage subjects to share their missteps. Some were hesitant initially, but I am a persistent interviewer, and most eventually shared a mistake or two.
If there was a common denominator among subjects, it was that every single one had started working early. They babysat, mowed lawns, worked in retail or spent their summers in construction. Many grew up on farms, even if they were hobby farms, learning how to mow hay, milk cows, grow vegetables and assist with lambing at a young age.
After the interview, I would request the names and contact information of at least five people who knew them well and could offer insights. Their banker, board chair, lifelong friend, senator, agent — anyone except a direct report who might feel hesitant to speak candidly to a reporter. I often jokingly suggested they provide the name of their worst enemy, though no one ever did.
The best interview I ever conducted? Without a doubt, it was with then-U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy for the May 2009 cover. This incredibly busy, gracious, charming and influential man happened to be in Brattleboro and dedicated two hours of his schedule to speak with me in a hotel conference room. A member of his staff stood behind him as we spoke, but never interrupted.
Photo: Joyce Marcel holds the profile of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy. Photo: Baldwin Photography.
As we all know, Leahy was an avid photographer and had been taking pictures since childhood. He was preparing to exhibit his work in Vermont and D.C. He wanted to share the stories behind photographing figures such as Yo-Yo Ma, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and a wide range of American politicians being sworn in, sleeping on planes, signing bills or playfully wearing Donald Duck masks (including President George H.W. Bush).
Leahy was spellbinding; I could have listened to him forever.
And speaking of Saint Patrick, one of the most moving interviews I conducted was with another Vermont “saint,“ the late Paul Bruhn. During his lifetime, he saved many historic downtowns from destruction and ensured Vermont retained its distinctive character.
He was then the esteemed head of the Preservation Trust of Vermont, but I learned he had also been the campaign manager for Leahy’s first successful Senate run. I sat in his house, captivated by stories of the memorable parties he and Leahy had hosted there. Today, the National Park Service honors his legacy with the annual Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant.
The funniest interview — ever — was with Christine Hallquist, who was then the head of the Vermont Electric Cooperative. She had recently transitioned publicly, all while leading the company, and she was don’t-give-a-dam hilarious. When she later ran for governor, I followed her campaign closely. Had she won and become the first transgender governor in the country, I likely would have secured a book deal. Instead, I have a collection of wonderful stories and gained valuable insights into trans life from her and her close friend, the late Brenda Churchill.
Besides the certified (not only by me) saints, there were heroes like Lauren-Glenn Davitian, a champion of the (once again endangered) public service television, and affordable housing champions such as Gus Seelig of the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, Michael Monte of the Champlain Housing Trust and Maura Collins of the Vermont Housing Finance Agency.
Remarkably, I wrote a few generational profiles. For example, late in his career, I profiled Al Moulton, or “Mr. Vermont,“ a leader in the state’s early economic development initiatives (Act 250, the billboard law, captive insurance, etc.). Later, I profiled his daughter Pat Moulton during her own successful economic development career.
Interviews work best when one has the interviewee’s undivided attention and can engage with them directly. Therefore, the worst interview, and by extension, the worst profile I ever wrote, was of former University of Vermont President Tom Sullivan. I’m unsure what he was hesitant to discuss, but not only was his security personnel present, but also his communications staff (who I believe was recording alongside me) and several others whose presence I never fully understood. Even Tim was there, also recording. The room was crowded.
Sullivan never looked me in the eye, was extremely uncomfortable with personal questions and ended the interview abruptly long before I was finished. Tim believed it had something to do with Sullivan not wanting to say anything that might diminish his chances of raising funds for the university.
Later, I interviewed Sullivan again, this time by phone, after his successor was announced. And he was open, chatty and charming. Go figure.
One of the most remarkable aspects of this work has been the surprisingly low number of difficult interview subjects I’ve encountered. “Maybe that not only tells you something about Vermont,“ Tim observed, “but it tells you that people who are successful tend not to be assholes.“
I can recall only two individuals I genuinely disliked. Both were men, both were arrogant medical doctors and both (consecutively) led the same major medical center. Apart from them, whose names I’ve happily forgotten, I’ve truly enjoyed the people I’ve profiled.
Tim disagrees with me.
“Some of the best profiles were of people you didn’t like,“ he said. “It required forcing yourself, and maybe forcing them, to talk about things they didn’t want to. Or for you to write about these people you might not have liked, particularly in a way that was still compelling to the reader and really brought out who they were.“
Certainly, difficult behavior isn’t a requirement for working in the medical field. Thomas Dee, who runs the excellent Southwestern Vermont Health Care, was a lively and funny interview. Similarly, the gracious and accessible pediatric hospitalist Dr. Lewis First delighted children with puppet shows.
Another medical “saint“ in Vermont was Dr. Robert Backus, one of the last of the old-time country doctors, now retired. He was essential to the early growth and success of Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend and a long-time advocate of single-payer health care. He was the doctor who still made house calls.
When I profiled former Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Roger Allbee in his new role as head of Grace Cottage Hospital, his wife, Ann, shared a poignant story. When Allbee’s father passed away at Grace Cottage, she said, “Dr. Backus came at about 4 in the morning to tell the family. He didn’t call. He came.“ Incidentally, Allbee has recently published an intriguing book on the history of Vermont agriculture.
Quite a few exceptional people have made Vermont their home. Bill McKibben, the writer, internationally known climate activist, founder of Third Act and a professor at Middlebury College, is one of them. He gave me a wonderful interview in his book-lined office at Middlebury. He humbly and gently answered questions and told me personal stories he must have told a hundred times before.
He gave me all the time I needed and responded almost instantly to follow-up questions I sent by email. And since I had his email address, for years afterward I could get him to comment on other people for my stories.
Middlebury is also where I interviewed former four-term governor (2002-2011) Jim Douglas, who is a very nice man. But once he had been in office for a while, Douglas did what many Republicans do: he found himself an untrue statement and flogged it to frighten people into voting for him. (Ask Donald Trump or Phil Scott about this technique.) Douglas’s issue was “Vermont is bad for business.“ And he said it over and over again.
By that time, I had been writing profiles for quite a few years, including many stories about members of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, a nonprofit whose mission is to leverage the power of business for positive social and environmental impact. So I knew without question that Vermont was absolutely great for business. I spent the rest of Douglas’ governorship proving him wrong, one story after another.
One of the most lovely and impressive women I’ve ever met was Mary Powell, whose career I traced as she led Green Mountain Power and started guiding Vermonters into the electronic age. First I wrote a standard profile, then wrote another when she went public with her breast cancer. I think we became friends during the years she remained at GMP, and when I wrote about her successor, Mari McClure, I think the thread of friendship remained. And by the way, I won another national award for that story.
Photo: Mary Powell on the cover of VBM September 2012.
I had a great interview with entrepreneur and surfer Russ Scully, the guy who created Hula out of the old Blodgett Oven building on the Burlington lakefront. Hula is a gorgeous meeting and networking space, a business incubator, and a growth capital fund, while Scully has now expanded into housing. Scully, an admitted adventure junkie, tapped into the future and chose to bring it to Burlington, which helped attract Kyle Clark and his thrilling BETA Technologies, successfully building electric aircraft that really fly.
Like electric airplanes, creative Vermont is accustomed to unexpected products. Take Francie Caccavo’s Olivia’s Croutons, for example. She started making them in 1991, and the company is still going strong today. Croutons? Who knew they could be so successful? Or consider the popular Bee’s Wrap reusable sandwich wrappers.
Some of the best and freshest tilapia in the nation once came from Rutland-based company Tropical Aquaculture Products. The fish were farmed in Ecuador and could be shipped fresh to your doorstep the next morning. The company founder, Jon Schramm, told me that the Chinese competition exported frozen tilapia cured with carbon monoxide. The industry calls it “tailpipe tilapia,“ he said, and I’ve never looked at frozen tilapia the same way since. According to Google, Schramm’s company was sold in 2020 and later filed for bankruptcy.
Or how about Flashbags, now defunct, which reproduced images onto plastic and made handbags out of them? I treasure the one they made for me featuring four VermontBiz covers: Pat Leahy, Small Dog Electronics founder Don Mayer, David Coates and folk artist Warren Kimble, who was astonished that his rustic images had made him more than a million dollars. I will carry their pictures on my bag for the rest of my life.
Similarly, Darn Tough socks, so damn good that I did the story in 2009 and the sample socks they gave me still haven’t worn out.
There’s also Skida ski hats and accessories, an idea whose time has come, and whose owner, Corinne Prevot, has created a booming international company at the impressively young age of 35.
And let’s not forget the gorgeous and luxurious bed linen by Anichini or the top-of-the-line cookie cutters by Ann Clark. No, Vermonters are nothing if not inventive.
COVID changed many things, including the way I approached these profiles. One minute (March 2020) I was sitting outside in the wintry Burlington sun, chatting easily with Robert Miller, the president and chief operating officer at VSECU (now EastRise Credit Union), and the very next day everything, including the credit union, closed down.
Oddly, COVID made my work life easier. Instead of driving up to Burlington, I could sit at my computer in Dummerston and Zoom the interviews. If one-on-one engagement is the name of my game, nothing really changed except the two-hour commute and my ability to bring home a car full of Myer’s bagels.
Some of the people I profiled were moving toward the end of their careers, while others were just hitting their stride. Beth Pearce was at the height of her powers as state treasurer when I profiled her, and later, Mike Pieciak was just about ready to take her place.
Vermont has many trailblazers, and Becca Balint is one of the most recent. She is the first woman, first openly gay person and first Jewish person Vermont has ever sent to the U.S. House of Representatives. While the current political climate in Washington is challenging, Balint has been an outstanding representative of Vermont values.
I also interviewed (and fell in love with) HB Lozito, executive director of Out in the Open, a social justice organization in southern Vermont and Maine. As a nonbinary leader, HB is working to build rural LGBTQ+ community and power, and I spoke with them right after they won the Con Hogan Award.
Then there was the very impressive U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Martha Rainville was the first woman in the 367-year history of the National Guard to serve as a state adjutant general. It was an emotional interview, because the Guard had just come back from active duty in Iraq. Once Rainville left the military, she ran as the Republican candidate for Vermont’s congressional seat in 2006. She lost to now-U.S. Sen. Peter Welch. She later left the state, took on a major role with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and then opened her own consulting firm.
Photo: Joyce Marcel holds her first and last profile. Photo: Baldwin Photography.
I did a long interview with Curtiss Reed Jr., president of CRJ Consulting Group and executive director at the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity. He persuasively argues that Vermont should actively attract people of color because it is beneficial for business. “Black people ski too,“ he often points out. Curtiss has also trained police departments on how to address and eliminate implicit bias.
We’ve had some internationally famous men and women who have graciously sat for interviews. Ed Koren, the New Yorker cartoonist, was one. Katherine Paterson, the children’s novelist who won two Newbery Medals and two National Book Awards, was another. And then there was Rick Veitch, the revered cartoonist who drew Superman for a while and went on to work on Swamp Thing.
Despite starting my freelance career writing about music, I’ve never profiled a musician. I wrote about artist and sign designer Sparky Potter, but not his successful rock ’n’ roll daughter Grace (though I did talk to Grace on her tour bus for that story). I never interviewed the members of Phish. And if Noah Kahan wants to talk to me, I’ll happily come out of retirement.
Over the years, I’ve written extensively about beer. During my time writing these profiles, Vermont was at the forefront of the craft beer movement. I’ve covered serial entrepreneur Alan Newman and the phenomenon that was Magic Hat; John and Jen Kimmich and the impressive Alchemist Brewery; and the remote Hill Farmstead, where Shaun Hill creates his renowned brews, consistently voted “Best in the World.“ His brewery is so deep in Greensboro that, until you arrive and see the lines out the door, you’re convinced your GPS is wrong and you’re hopelessly lost.
Photo: Shaun Hill on the cover of VBM April 2013.
This list could go on. I must express my gratitude to Tim McQuiston and publisher John Boutin for sustaining this magazine and providing me the platform to write these profiles. (Despite being excellent cover story subjects, they consistently declined to be profiled themselves.)
If you’ve reached the end of this roughly 4,000-word article — short by my standards — thank you. My intention is not solely to entertain, but to suggest what might be done with 270-plus in-depth interviews. These interviews collectively tell the story of Vermont: its people, places, issues, successes, economy, strong sense of community, creativity and immense heart in the first quarter of the 21st century.
I firmly believe these profiles, or at least a significant portion of them, should be compiled and preserved as a vital part of Vermont’s history. My sincere hope is that a generous donor, or perhaps an organization like the Vermont Historical Society or the state archives, will step forward to fund the collection, research, follow-ups, and publication of these stories in print or digital format. This would ensure that future generations can learn about the brilliance and creativity of our small state.
Joyce Marcel is a journalist in southern Vermont. In 2017, she was named the best business magazine profile writer in the country by the Alliance of Area Business Publishers. She is married to Randy Holhut, the news editor and acting operations manager at The Commons, a weekly newspaper in Brattleboro.
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