Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB) announces that James Westcott has joined the firm as a Structural Engineer in the Transportation Engineering group.

National Life Group announced today that Thomas H. Brownell, CFA, has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Sentinel Asset Management, Inc.

Mehran Assadi, the president and chief executive officer of National Life Group, said that Brownell “is the right person to lead Sentinel at this critical point in its history.”

“His credentials as an investment professional give him a unique perspective on how we can best position Sentinel to succeed in today’s competitive environment,” said Assadi.

The Vermont State Dental Society (VSDS) is pleased to announce that Diane Dumas of Williston has been promoted to manager of finance and events. She has been with VSDS for the past five years when she started as assistant to the executive director and expanded her responsibilities to bookkeeping and event planning for the Society. Her background in oral healthcare includes working as a dental assistant and accounting coordinator for 13 years at Vermont Endodontics in Williston.

“MorrisSwitzer believes in recognizing talent and promoting from within the organization,” says Dan Morris, managing partner. “These outstanding individuals are completely committed to MorrisSwitzer’s mission of creating environments that promote and enhance the well-being of patients, staff & families through inspired, thoughtful design. We applaud their hard work and professional growth.”

Ahmed Mahious – Promoted to Sr. Associate

USDA Rural Development (RD) employees serve the communities of Vermont by delivering business, community, energy, housing and utility programs as well as volunteering their personal time to the communities in which they live.

Deborah Boyd works in the USDA RD Brattleboro Area Office as a Housing Program Loan Officer and has served Southern Vermont for 34 years. Through her work in assisting rural homeowners, Deborah’s awareness of hunger and food insecurity in the community was kindled. Deborah was approached by the Deerfield Valley Food Pantry (DVFP) to join their board.

Dr. Mahlon Bradley will be joining Central Vermont Medical Orthopaedics at Central Vermont Medical Center in September. He is Board-certified in both General Orthopaedics and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine and comes to CVMC with extensive experience caring for active people of all ages.

Dr. Bradley provides orthopaedic care for athletes of all levels. He does arthroscopic procedures and joint replacement of the shoulder, hip and knee and reconstruction of the shoulder, elbow, knee and ankle.

Champlain Community Services, Inc. (CCS) in Colchester announces that Jill Shumway has joined its Board of Directors. Shumway serves as a mainstream teaching assistant in the Special Education department at Essex High School.

CCS offers one-to-one employment, home and shared living, school and transition, and community supports to children and adults with intellectual disabilities in Chittenden County and throughout northern Vermont. The agency’s supported employment program, Way2Work has received national recognition.

NG Advantage LLC announces that Steve Palmer of Shelburne, VT has been promoted to Director of Construction and Maintenance. In his new position Steve will be responsible for all construction and maintenance at the Company’s growing list of compressor stations and the Company’s equipment at customer sites in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

In addition, Steve is responsible for managing relationships with customer engineering and operations teams as well as supervising his Maintenance Team.

Manchester-based real estate sales company, AB Real Estate announced today that it has merged with resort real estate service company, TPW of Bondville, Vermont. Annie Bessette, Owner of AB Real Estate and TPW CEO, Paul W. Carroccio, expressed mutual enthusiasm in today's announcement of the merger. Bessette will join TPW as the Principal Broker for all of TPW's Real Estate Sales operations in Vermont.