
20th Annual VBSR Awards Ceremony
SOLD OUT!
VBSR is pleased to honor three outstanding individuals and organizations who are pushing new ideas and initiatives forward, leading by outstanding example, and developing successful socially responsible business models.
Join us at our 20th Annual Award Ceremony on Tuesday, October 12th at Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes where we will recognize:
VBSR Terry Ehrich Award for Lifetime Achievement:
Cindy Turcot
CEO and President of Gardener’s Supply
VBSR Innovation and Inspiration Award:
HELM Construction Solutions
VBSR Young Changemaker Award:
Ashley Reynolds
President and Co-Founder of Elmore Mountain Therapeutics
This year’s event will take place lakefront under a tent on Basin Harbor Club’s North Dock. The Awards Ceremony will be a buffet-style standing reception, completely outdoors. Experience a lakefront sunset view of the Adirondacks, historic resort buildings and gardens, environmentally-focused operations and a chef-designed menu featuring Vermont producers (including many VBSR members!). Join us for a night to remember as we celebrate this year’s outstanding VBSR awardees. Guests will have the chance to network while enjoying a cocktail hour, heavy hors d’ouevers, speaking remarks, dessert and a cash bar. Don’t miss this unique gathering of entrepreneurial, mission-driven business professionals.
- 5:30 pm -7:00 pm Networking, Hors D’oeuvres & Cash Bar
- 7:00 pm -7:30 pm Award Ceremony
- 7:30 pm -8:30 pm Networking & Dessert
Food will be served buffet-style and there will be vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan options available.
This event will be for vaccinated individuals only. VBSR will follow COVID-19 guidance from the State of Vermont at the time of this event. The capacity of this event will be 100 people. At this time we will not be requiring masks at this all-outdoor event. However masks are welcome for anyone who would like to wear them.
Questions? Please reach out to VBSR Education & Events Manager, Carra Cheslin, at carrac@vbsr.org
Meet Our 2021 Awardees:
VBSR Terry Ehrich Award for Lifetime Achievement:
Cindy Turcot – CEO and President of Gardener’s Supply
Cindy Turcot is the CEO and President of Gardener’s Supply Company. Cindy has been with Gardener’s since its inception in 1983. She started in data entry and has had many roles including Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. She has played a key role in creating the company’s unique and innovative management style that reinforces the emphasis on a triple bottom line – people, profit and planet.
Gardener’s Supply is 100% employee owned through an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). Cindy was a key player in the transition from the founder to the ESOP and is a driving force for a strong employee ownership culture. Nationally, she is well known for her commitment to employee ownership, empowerment and wealth equality. She is a sought-after speaker on ownership culture, corporate governance and open book and participatory management practices.
Cindy is currently Chair of the Employee Ownership Foundation located in Washington DC whose mission is to promote employee ownership. She is past Chair and current Board member of the national ESOP Association and past President of the New England Chapter of the ESOP Association. In addition, she was the founding Chair of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center (VEOC) at its inception in 2002. She continues to serve on the Board of the VEOC as Treasurer. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Employee Expansion Network (EOX), a non-profit whose mission is to create state centers for employee ownership in all states. Cindy also serves on the Board of Directors of several ESOP owned companies.
VBSR Innovation and Inspiration Award:
HELM Construction Solutions
HELM Construction Solutions is an innovative Vermont-based firm providing business consulting, coaching, estimating, project management, and specialized training to high-performance design and build companies across the U.S. and Canada. HELM’s purpose is to “revolutionize the construction industry, centering the triple bottom line principles of planet, people, and prosperity to become a catalyst for climate justice.” HELM is a majority woman, trans, and non-binary owned and operated company. They work to disrupt toxic masculinity and advocate for the participation of women and LGBTQIA people in the trades. HELM leaders are active members of their communities, engaged in social, environmental, and racial justice struggles locally and within their professional networks. With remote offices in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and Chicago, HELM’s growing team has a vision of transforming the built environment one company and one project at a time. Where some view the construction industry as a major contributor to global warming, violators of worker’s rights, a driving force in gentrification, with a culture of entrenched racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism, we see an undeniable opportunity to support our industry (and our clients) to become leaders and participants in the movements for climate justice.
VBSR Young Changemaker Award:
Ashley Reynolds – President and Co-Founder of Elmore Mountain Therapeutics
Ashley Reynolds is the President and Co-Founder of Elmore Mountain Therapeutics. Ashley and her husband Colin established EMT in May of 2017 after Ashley’s personal struggle with postpartum anxiety. Finding relief through the use of CBD, Ashley saw a need for cannabis advocation to all. Reynolds believes the strong household decision makers of the world stand to benefit the most from the use of cannabis and has worked tirelessly empowering women to make smart, safe decisions around cannabis use. By providing science backed education and high quality lab tested CBD products, Ashley and the EMT Team have created a loyal following of canna-experts. Ask any customer why they choose EMT over other CBD brands and they will passionately tell you EMT is more than product, it’s a way of life, it’s culture. Ashley is also a TEDtalk presenter “Cannabis a Future without stigma” and has recently been appointed by the Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski to the Vermont Cannabis Control Advisory Committee.
Thank You To Our Sponsors!
Sunrise Sponsor:
Luminary Sponsors:




Supporting Sponsors:
Awards Sponsor:
Event Photography Provided By:
Sponsorship opportunities are available for this event.
Opportunities are limited and first-come, first-served. Contact VBSR Membership Manager, Toby Aronson, at TobyA@vbsr.org or (802) 862-8347 to reserve your spot!
About Basin Harbor
This year’s event will take place at the Basin Harbor Resort and Boat Club, stewards of the land since 1803. A fifth-generation family-owned business, this lakeside resort on Lake Champlain is an outstanding example of Vermont’s working lands. Thanks to a multigenerational commitment to preservation and sustainability, the 700-acre estate remains as beautiful today as it did over a century ago while employing 300 people each year. A dedication to improving their carbon footprint on a local and global level has earned them the designation of “Green Hotel” by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, and the first golf course in Vermont to become a member of the prestigious Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program. Their beautiful location – together with their robust environmental efforts, including composting all food waste; electric, fuel and water efficiency; land conservation; capturing waste heat, generating electricity from an on-site solar array, and sourcing from local farmers and food purveyors – make this a perfect venue for this annual event.