Melanie Paukner has joined Davis & Hodgdon Associates CPAs as a Senior Accountant. Melanie graduated from the University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. She joins the firm with prior accounting experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Melanie specializes in attestation services and financial review and compilation services for non-profits and pension clients. Melanie is originally from Connecticut and currently resides in Burlington.

Seth Blanchard has become an Ameriprise Financial Private Wealth Advisor. Blanchard, with an office in Colchester, VT, is one of approximately 6 percent of the 10,000 Ameriprise financial advisors to achieve this status.

Ameriprise Private Wealth Advisors provide personalized client service and are dedicated to meeting the complex and unique financial needs of their clients. To achieve this status, advisors must be experienced in serving affluent clients, achieve high client satisfaction scores, complete specialized training and achieve superior business results.

Claire Anderson Greene has joined the Vermont Commission on Women as Executive Staff Assistant. Ms. Greene holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from U.V.M. in Human Geography and Geospatial Technologies. She’s a former human rights advocate at La Fundacion Arcoiris in Ecuador through the School for International Training. Ms.

Daniel B. Walsh, MD was named president of the Vermont Medical Society (VMS) during its 200th annual meeting held Oct. 19, at the Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes, Vt.

DominionTech Inc., Vermont’s premier IT and computer services company, announced the promotion of Jeremy Wandasiewicz to the position of Network Engineer. He joins a highly skilled team of Network Engineers that maintains and implements computer systems for their Fixed Fee clients.

DominionTech Inc., Vermont’s premier IT and computer services company announced today that Troy Forcier has joined their team as Network Engineer. Troy was hired to increase DominionTech’s wealth of knowledge and to provide Network Engineering services to their ever growing list of clients. Troy comes with over 10 years in the IT field most recently working at Galen Healthcare Solutions as a Senior EHR Upgrade Technician.

The Vermont Humanities Council has named Wayne Bell, a teacher at Mount Anthony Union Middle School in Bennington, as its 2013 humanities educator of the year. The eleventh recipient of the Victor R. Swenson Humanities Educator Award and the first middle school teacher to be honored, Bell will be presented the award on November 16 at VHC’s fall conference, “Music and the Human Experience,” at the University of Vermont’s Dudley H. Davis Center.

VHC Board Chair James Wilbur will present the award at 8:30 a.m. in the Grand Maple Ballroom, along with a $1,000 check to Bell.

Carolyn Roesler and Jonna Jermyn joined the growing staff of Front Porch Forum (FPF) as online community managers. The two joined FPF to meet the increased demand triggered by the recent major expansion of this free digital service. Described as a modern-day cross between community bulletin boards and virtual town greens, FPF helps neighbors share hyper-local information.

Burlington-based Patient Engagement Systems (PES) announced today the appointment of Thomas H. Peterson as senior software engineer. With more than a dozen years of experience, Peterson adds depth to the growing company’s software engineering and data analysis team.

VHB, a planning, transportation, land development, and environmental services firm, welcomes Tim McGuire, PE, as Senior Project Manager for Land Development Services in its North Ferrisburg office. McGuire’s 20 years of planning, design, entitlement, and construction management experience, will advance VHB’s land development practice in Vermont, providing clients with a broader array of services.