Mission
History
Board
Staff
Major Supporters

The Board of Directors

Officers of the Board

CHAIR   Albin Voegele, Town Manager of Colchester since 2001.  Prior to this municipal service, Mr. Voegele worked in the private sector for twenty eight years and has held a number of senior management positions in not-for-profit corporations.  He also has a history of entrepreneurship having developed the first commercial process for recycling polyvinyl chloride plastic for the pipe industry, the first in Vermont to use de-ionized water to decontaminate clean room utensils as a commercial service, and developed a process to clean and reuse bulk food containers for non-food packaging applications.  Mr. Voegele has also served on a number of boards including the State Board of Education, the Vermont Business Roundtable, the Society of the Plastics Industry Northeast Region, and the National Recycling Coalition.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master’s degree in Education.

VICE CHAIR   Marilyn Cormier

The Director of Community Relations at Saint Michael’s College, where she serves as the liaison between the President of the College and a wide range of external organizations, including various professional, government, charitable, business, arts, health care and religious groups at the local, regional and national levels.  She is the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the College where she has worked since 1982. She is a native of Sri Lanka and a naturalized American citizen.

TREASURER   Gail Stevenson

Director of International Programs at Champlain College. She is the former Director of the American Collegiate Consortium and a consultant to the Salzburg Seminar.  Previously, she was a consultant with the World Bank, and has traveled extensively in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  She was an AFS student in Norway and spent a year of college in Russia.

SECRETARY  Peter Regan, semi-retired Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Hazelett Strip-Casting Corporation.  In this capacity he has traveled extensively to approximately 30 countries throughout Europe and Asia, making over 20 visits to China, where he continues consulting for Hazelett.  Upon receiving his Bachelors of Mechanical Engineering degree from Cornell University, he worked briefly at Bechtel Corporation before coming to Vermont and joining Hazelett in 1966.   

Linda Aines, an international development consultant  who provides business services to organizations doing business in developing countries. She is an Extension Associate Professor Emerita at the University of Vermont where she served nineteen years as a Business and Export Specialist and Community Resource Development Specialist in Vermont's Extension System. In recent years, she has worked in Afghanistan, Russia, Ukraine, Bosnia, Jamaica, Honduras, and the Caucasus as well as other Eastern- European countries.

Theresa Alberghini DiPalma, Senior Vice President for Government and External Relations and Senior Advisor to the CEO of Fletcher Allen Health Care.  Ms. Alberghini DiPalma has worked in health care policy at the federal and state levels for twenty years, including serving as the Senior Legislative Assistant for Health and then Legislative Director for U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy from 1992 to 1994. Ms. Alberghini DiPalma was educated at Vassar College.  She is involved in numerous state and local activities and serves on several boards.  She is a member of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors.  She serves on the board of the United Way of Chittenden County and is a founding member of Mobius, a new non-profit organization committed to increasing the number of adult to child mentoring relationships in Chittenden County, Vermont.

Taylor Bates, Taylor is currently a senior at CVU. Taylor’s interest in world affairs comes from his love of politics and history .

Dr. Frances E. Carr, Dean of Graduate Studies and Vice President for Research at the University of Vermont.  Prior to coming to Vermont, Dr. Carr was the Vice President for Research and Economic Development at Binghamton University as well as Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies at the same institution.  She was a senior science advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development and is the former Director of their Office of Policy Development and Coordination.  She holds a Ph.D. in Endocrine Physiology and Molecular Biology from the University of Illinois Medical Center and a B.A. in Biology and Psychology from Boston College.

Eric Hanson, President of Hanson Investment Management, an Investment Counsel firm founded in 1995. Eric has been a Financial Advisor and Portfolio Manager in Burlington for over 30 years and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). He has been a columnist for the Burlington Free Press, writing on personal finance and has also taught courses in the School of Business at the University of Vermont and at Saint Michael's College. Eric presently serves on the boards of the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, the Humane Society of Chittenden County and the Vermont Chinese School.

Harold Kearsley, joins the Council as Norwich University’s Representative. Hal is a professor of Politics and the Director of the Master of Arts in Diplomacy Program at Norwich.  He received his BA and MA from the University of Southern California and his Ph.D. in International Relations and Political Science from the University of Aberdeen.

Claudia Lovell, PAR Springer Miller. Prior to coming to Vermont, Ms. Lovell worked as an Equity Research Analyst for the Bank of New England Trust and held other positions in international sales, food services, and investor relations. She is a member of Adjunct Faculty of Woodbury College and serves on the Export Council of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce.She holds a B.A. from McGill University where she majored in Modern Language and also attended the Smith-Tuck Global Business Leaders Program for Women at Dartmouth College. Ms. Lovell is fluent in French, Italian, and Spanish.

Paul Madden is from Sheldon, Vermont, and is owner of Missisquoi

Construction Company.  He is active in community affairs, dangerously

close to becoming an antique member (his words) of the Sheldon School Board and very involved with clean water issues in northern Lake Champlain watersheds. Paul received his BA in history from Duke University.

William N. Ryerson, founder and President of Population Media Center, a non-profit organization carrying out comprehensive broadcast media programs in developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America designed to encourage avoidance of HIV/AIDS, use of family planning, and elevation of women’s status.  A graduate of Amherst College and Yale University, Bill has had a 35-year career in the field of family planning and population.  During the 1970s, he worked as Director of the Youth and Student Division of The Population Institute.  He has also served as Director of Development of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Associate Director of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, and Executive Vice-President of Population Communications International.

Katherine Stone, Kit attended Rice High School and graduated from UVM with a BA in Political Science.  Kit worked for a Scholarship Foundation in Boston and also taught 3rd grade in Billerica, MA.  She worked in the Middle School office for many years and also as a volunteered at the Center for International Visitors in Boston from 1980 to 1988 programming the international visitors.

 Andrew Tangalos, retired U.S. Foreign Service officer and consultant to American businesses operating abroad.  During his career, he served as an economic and commercial officer with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Commerce in American Embassies and Consulates in Algeria, Canada, Greece, Haiti, and Nigeria. He holds a B.A. from Colgate University, was a National Honor Scholar at the University of Chicago School of Law, and has a Masters in Public & International Affairs from The Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

Bonnie Tangalos, served as the Dean of the School of International Studies, Saint Michael’s College, for 10 years before retiring at the end of 2004. She also chaired the International Business Council of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce and was a member of the board of the Vermont World Trade Office. Prior to coming to Vermont, Bonnie and her husband Andrew, a United States diplomat, lived and worked abroad for 10 years in Greece, West Africa, North Africa and Canada.

Charlotte Tate, Assistant Director of the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs at Middlebury College.  She is also a Trip Director for Music Contact International, and since 1995 has accompanied numerous youth and adult groups to Austria, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain to participate in international choral festivals and custom tours. Her prior professional experience includes Development Director at the College of St. Joseph, International Sales Associate for the Cannondale Corporation, and Director of Catering and Convention Services for the Sheraton Hotel in Steamboat Springs.  Ms. Tate earned a Master's degree in Administration from Saint. Michael's College and a Bachelor's degree in Economics and German from Bowdoin College.

Thomas Torti, President of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce since October of 2006.  Previously, Tom served sixteen years for two governors of different parties in senior cabinet positions within state government. He was Commissioner of Personnel; Commissioner of Buildings and General Services; Deputy Secretary of Administration and Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources. Prior to these appointments, Tom spent 11 years working in various capacities for the state. He was Executive Director of the State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs Department and worked for human services where he received national recognition for his work in applying empirically validated risk assessment to intervention in child abuse and neglect cases.  Tom is actively involved in his community and the region serving over the years on the Essex Select Board; Planning Commission; Chittenden County Transportation Authority; the Maple Leaf Farms Board of Directors; little league and soccer boards and coaching youth sports.

Earl Wertheim, Earl graduated from Northeastern University in engineering and spent the next three years during the Vietnam era in the U.S. Army.  Earl has owned his own businesses his entire working career covering the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Florida, and California.  In 1993 Earl purchased the area franchise for Vermont and now is the area developer for The UPS Store for Vermont, New Hampshire and upstate New York. He is a past president of the Colchester-Milton Rotary club and is the national Chairman of the Area Franchise Association of The UPS Store.

Honorary Advisory Board

Governor Jim Douglas

President David Finney, Champlain College

President Daniel Fogel, University of Vermont

Ambassador Madeleine Kunin

Senator Patrick Leahy

Dr. George Little, co-founder VCWA

Dr. Olin Robison, President Emeritus, Middlebury College

Senator Bernard Sanders

President Jane O'Meara Sanders, Burlington College

President Richard Schneider, Norwich University

Congressman Peter Welch

Dr. John J. Neuhauser, President Saint Michael's College

Dr. Richard Schneider, President, Norwich University