Organizing for America (OFA), a project of the Democratic National Committee committed to building on and strengthening the historic grassroots network created during the Obama campaign and helping advance the president's agenda, today announced Jesse Bragg as the Vermont State Director.

Larry Sudbay, President and Chief Executive Officer of SymQuest Group, Inc. has announced that Erik Murphy, Director of Business Development has achieved the Hewlett-Packard (HP) Certification for Enterprise Solutions as part of the HP Certified Professional Program. With this certification, Erik Murphy joins a worldwide team of highly skilled IT professionals who display an ongoing commitment to professionalism, quality and excellence.

Executive Director Sarah Carpenter announced that Sara Hoehn of Colchester has joined Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) as Staff Accountant. Hoehn is responsible for the Agency's accounts payable and daily cash receipts functions. A native Vermonter, she was most recently Staff Accountant at Anderson, Johns & Yao CPAs PC in San Antonio, Texas. Before that she spent time as a Collector at Bank of America in Orono, Maine.

Geoffrey R. Hesslink, Senior Vice President for Merchants Bank has announced that Jeanie Kelly was appointed Vice President of Government Banking as of September 15, 2009. Kelly was formerly employed at TD Bank in the Government Banking Division. She has 29 years of banking experience with 15 of those years in government banking. Kelly earned a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership from the College of St. Joseph in Rutland.

Shawn P. Kelley, Ph.D., an associate with GeoDesign Inc., has been named a Governor of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Region 1. GeoDesign is headquartered in Middlebury, CT, with regional offices in Windsor, VT and New York City. Region 1 covers all of New England, New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico. Founded in 1852, ASCE represents more than 146,000 members of the civil engineering profession worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society.

Rutland High School teacher John Peterson has been named the 2009 humanities educator of the year by the Vermont Humanities Council. A Social Studies teacher at Rutland, Peterson is the seventh recipient of VHC's annual Victor R. Swenson Humanities Educator Award, first awarded in 2003. Peterson was nominated by fellow Rutland teacher (and former student of Peterson's) Jennie Gartner, who highlighted the respect shared by students and colleagues for his consistently fresh approaches to teaching, the interactive structure of his courses, his enthusiasm, and his humor.