The Agency of Commerce and Community Development today announced that Dave Hakins has been named Publisher of Vermont Life magazine.

The Board of Directors of the Champlain Valley Exposition, Inc. today named Tim Shea of Williston as the organization’s new Executive Director. Shea will assume his new position in February 2012. In making the announcement, Matthew Stevens, President of the CVE Board, noted that Shea will have the benefit of working with longtime General Manager David Grimm for approximately eight months. Grimm announced in March 2011 that he would step down as General Manager following the Champlain Valley Fair in September 2012, concluding a 23-year career at CVE.

The Board of Trustees at Southern Vermont College appointed Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Oncology and Director of the Johns Hopkins Pituitary Tumor Center, to its Board, effective immediately. A migrant farmer from Mexico who spent his days in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley and went to community college at night, Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa later graduated with honors from Harvard Medical School and has become a leader in the field of neurosurgery, oncology and stem cell research.

Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports, the largest year-round disabled sports non-profit organization in Vermont, recently announced that Tom Alcorn, of Rutland, Vt., is the 2011 recipient of the organization's annual Jim Hutchinson Volunteer of the Year Award.

The Agency of Commerce and Community Development today announced that Joe Bookchin has been named the new director of the Office of the Creative Economy.

The OCE was created this year by Gov. Peter Shumlin and the Vermont Legislature in recognition of this growing sector of the Vermont economy. Creative enterprises—from web designers and software game programmers to architecture, e-commerce, graphic design, publishing and film and new media companies, among others—provide high-paying, skilled jobs that are critical to the state’s economic future.

Dr. Philip Conroy, President of Vermont Technical College, announces Carol Chase, a dedicated college employee of 20 years, as the new Executive Assistant to the President. Reporting directly to Dr. Conroy, Chase will be responsible for coordinating and executing administrative functions for the President of the College and overseeing functions and projects related to college operations.

The Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC) has announced the election of Brenan S. Riehl to its Advisory Board. Brenan (Ben) Riehl is the President and CEO of GW Plastics headquartered in Bethel, VT. GW Plastics is a highly respected global manufacturer of very close tolerance plastic components and assemblies for Fortune 500 companies in the medical device market and the automotive safety market. The company employs about 800 people, with 300 in Vermont.

At the third annual B Corp Champions Retreat which was held recently at Independence Hall, Ken Merritt, Managing Director of Merritt & Merritt & Moulton received a B Corp Champion award for his work in assisting with the passage of the Vermont Benefit Corporation law which became effective on July 1, 2011. Benefit corporations are corporations formed to a general or special public purpose and are required to consider the interests of a broad range of stakeholder in connection with corporation actions.