Sarah Kearns, a long-time consultant on a part-time basis for the Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC), recently joined the organization as their business advisor of strategic projects. Sarah comes to VtSBDC with two decades of experience working with small businesses. After completing her MBA at Babson College in 2001, Sarah worked for a number of startups in the Boston area, with a focus on marketing and business development.

Kristi Cross, DNP, RN, community health team leader for the Vermont Blueprint for Health and Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC), was named a Vermont Rising Star on Thursday, November 8 at an awards ceremony in South Burlington.

“This is an amazing honor,” Cross said “To be recognized for doing work that I love and to be included among the other truly incredible honorees from Bennington and around the state is deeply humbling.”

Simha Ravven, MD, Interim Chief Medical Officer at the Brattleboro Retreat, was elected Vice President of the Vermont Medical Society (VMS) at the organization’s 205th annual meeting on October 27 in Stowe, Vermont.

Dr Ravven is a graduate of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. She completed her psychiatric residency at Cambridge Health Alliance in Cambridge, Mass., and served as a Clinical Fellow at Harvard Medical School. She completed her Fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.