Ruth Smith, National Life Group executive vice president, has been tapped to lead the company’s new Customer Innovation Group, an innovative initiative that unifies the company’s life insurance and annuity operations.

National Life President and CEO Mehran Assadi, in announcing the appointment, praised Smith for her 17-year tenure record of creativity and accomplishment at National Life as one of the company’s most thoughtful leaders.

Greentree Real Estate welcomes Orion Lazo as their newest licensed Real Estate Agent. Lazo joined Greentree at the end of 2015 and has been a licensed Realtor for a year.

Two GLOBALFOUNDRIES engineers, one in New York and one in Vermont, have been designated as IEEE Fellows by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. This prestigious honor is the highest grade of IEEE membership in one of the world’s leading professional organizations for the advancement of technology.

The local honorees are Mukta G. Farooq from the GLOBALFOUNDRIES East Fishkill, New York, site and Alvin J. Joseph from the Essex Junction, Vermont facility. Both joined GLOBALFOUNDRIES last year when the company acquired IBM’s microelectronics business.

SymQuest Group, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc., has recently announced the addition of Courtney Murtha, Gerry Fay, and Tony Cacciatore to its growing operations team in South Burlington, VT. Murtha joins SymQuest as a Technical Assistance Coordinator, Fay as a Purchasing Agent, and Cacciatore as a Field Service Technician.

Opera North has announced that Lisa Morrison has joined the organization as their new marketing manager, with responsibility for all marketing, communications and social media activities. In addition, William Koppenheffer recently joined Opera North’s board of trustees.

Over the years, Inntopia has invested millions of dollars to develop, and support the most robust reservation software for the travel industry. Based in Stowe, Vermont, the company is now kicking off 2016 with a focus on building the most talented and experienced support and account management teams as possible.

John Kitonis, Vice President of Software Development

Vermont Community Foundation has announced that the search for a new president has begun. The board of directors has appointed Felipe Rivera, who has been serving as the Foundation's vice president for strategy and communications, as interim president and CEO. Felipe joined the Community Foundation staff in 2004 and has been an integral part of developing long-term plans in ways that meet the needs of constituents while raising the organization's visibility throughout the state.

US Sen. Bernie Sanders has announced 20 finalists in his annual State of the Union essay contest for Vermont high school students. A record number of Vermont high schools and students participated in Sanders’ contest this year.

This year, 799 students from 39 Vermont high schools wrote essays of 250 words to 500 words detailing their own view of the state of the union. That is a substantial increase from last year when 454 students from 27 schools wrote essays for the senator’s contest.