On Balance: Land Use and Economic Development in Vermont
Tuesday, October 29th from 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
39 College St, Montpelier, VT 05602
Join VBSR and Vermont leaders to discuss balanced approaches to land use and economic development at the Greenway campus.
Most Vermonters share a vision for land use in our state that is environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and resilient. And in many ways we’ve been successful in achieving that vision: conserving large tracts of land, building a strong outdoor recreation sector, and fostering a working landscape. Yet access to land – for housing, clean energy production, recreation, and other economic drivers – can be cumbersome.
Join experts from across Vermont who are working toward equitable, environmentally sustainable, and economically sound land use practices that bring a balanced approach to development.
- Chad Farrell, Founder & Co-CEO of Encore Renewable Energy
- Rebecca Holcombe, Co-Founder & Director of the Greenway Institute
- Beth Boutin, Vice President - Community Investments of Evernorth
- Kelly Ault, Executive Director of Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance
Hosting us for the evening will be VBSR Gold Member Norwich Solar. Norwich Solar is a leading EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) provider of commercial, distributed generation & utility scale PV solar and battery energy storage solutions. Recently, Norwich Solar and the Greenway Institute purchased several former buildings of the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier to revitalize and repurpose for education, workforce development, and sustainability.
This is a great opportunity to catch up with colleagues, make new connections, gain new ideas and inspiration, and have some fun! This event is open to everyone interested in working toward a just, thriving, and transformative economy that works for all people and the planet.
Food & Drinks
Our hosts will provide free appetizers for attendees, including gluten free and vegan options. We will also have a cash bar with offerings from Caledonia Spirits!
Thank you to our panel!
Kelly Ault, Executive Director, Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance
Co-Founder and Executive Director for the Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance (VOBA) leading the statewide organization since 2019 in strengthening the state’s outdoor economy. Prior to working for VOBA, a Masters in Environmental Policy led her to Vermont as Project Director on land conservation, sustainable forestry, and nature- and culture-based tourism with the Northern Forest Alliance (Appalachian Mountain Club). Additionally, Kelly was the Public Engagement Director on early childhood policy for the Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance. In her free time, she finds adventure and camaraderie with friends and family mountain biking and skiing in Vermont’s Green Mountains and faraway places.
Beth Boutin, Vice President Community Investments, Evernorth
As Vice President of Community Investments, Beth is responsible for broadening and maintaining strong alliances with Evernorth investment and business partners, directing affordable housing and community economic development tax credit financing opportunities across northern New England. Beth oversees community investments and department staff across Evernorth’s multi-state service area and Burlington Vermont and Portland Maine offices.
Beth started her affordable housing, economic, and community development financing career 27 years ago in Washington state as an AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer, evaluating bank Community Reinvestment Act investment performance, and then as a credit analyst at Evergreen Community Development Association. Following a move home to Vermont in 2000, Beth oversaw small business agritourism lending and fund development at Vermont Community Loan Fund. Prior to her start at Evernorth in 2012, Beth was a Community Development Specialist for the State of Vermont’s Community Development Block Grant Program. She is a graduate of the University of Vermont and currently serves on loan committees for Community Capital of Vermont and the City of Montpelier.
Chad Farrell, Founder and co-CEO, Encore Renewable Energy
Chad Farrell is Founder and co-CEO of Encore Renewable Energy, a national leader in community scale renewable energy project development services. He has over 25 years of professional experience in the fields of brownfield redevelopment and renewable energy project finance, development and construction. At Encore, Chad has led the team’s innovative and collaborative efforts to design, permit, finance and construct nearly 100 community scale solar PV and energy storage projects, representing more than $150M in total investment value, while concurrently overseeing the establishment of a pipeline of more than 500MW of future projects worth nearly $1B. Many of these projects involve reclaiming undervalued, contaminated real estate for clean energy generation and storage, helping to revitalize communities and create a cleaner, brighter future for all.
Rebecca Holcombe, Ed.D., M.B.A., Co-Founder & Director, Greenway Institute
Rebecca Holcombe is a long-time educator of students, of teachers, and of administrators. She served as Director of the Dartmouth Teacher Education Program and as Secretary of Education for the State of Vermont. During her tenure as Secretary of Education, the Agency she led innovative statewide initiatives related to career pathways, proficiency-based learning, and nationally-recognized work on school quality reviews. Rebecca is passionate about equity, sustainability and our green energy transition. For her, Greenway is an opportunity to help students build the confidence, capability and networks they need to thrive in engineering, while they build a more just and sustainable future.
Thank you to our hosts!
Our team of experts specializes in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of solar projects from 500kW to 5 MW. The work we do directly benefits New England towns, businesses, affordable housing providers, and nonprofits. We have a deep understanding of the local regulatory environment, and our trusted relationships with utilities, agencies, and reliable subcontractors enable us to deliver projects on time and on budget. We take pride in being a reliable partner in building solar projects for our valued clients.
Thank you to our sponsors!
We are a leader in full-service community-scale renewable energy development, with a proven track record in project development from concept to completion and long term ownership. As a values-led company, we specialize in redeveloping undervalued land like brownfields and landfills with solar and energy storage, giving these properties "a second act or encore" by delivering clean, reliable and local power to the communities we serve.
Evernorth is a nonprofit organization serving the low and moderate income people of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont with affordable housing and community investments. Evernorth has raised and deployed over $1.6B in equity capital for affordable housing and built more than 17,000 affordable homes and apartments for low and moderate income people across northern New England.
New Frameworks is a multi-racial, queer, trans, and women-owned cooperative dedicated to delivering natural, high-performance structures using sustainable, locally sourced materials and socially responsible practices. Our vision is to create thoughtfully designed, exceptionally efficient, and health-conscious homes for all!
We specialize in high-performance, carbon-storing building solutions that support regenerative agriculture and net-negative carbon emissions. We strive to create healthy and inclusive workspaces while providing financially accessible, high-quality housing that reflects Vermont’s values of economic resilience, land stewardship, and social justice. We practice these values both within our cooperative as well as through our company’s products and services.
VEDA is Vermont’s statewide economic development lender with a mission to contribute to Vermont’s economic vitality by providing a broad array of financing programs to businesses that create jobs and help advance Vermont’s public policy goals. Since 1974 VEDA has provided over $2.6 billion in financing assistance to thousands of eligible Vermont entrepreneurs, manufacturers, small businesses, agricultural and forest economy enterprises, and clean energy producers.
Helping Communities Thrive – White + Burke Real Estate Advisors has decades of experience making private projects and community development happen. By offering a comprehensive range of services in both development and commercial brokerage, White + Burke acts as a client’s outsourced real estate department. Working for municipalities, private companies, and institutions, we negotiate public-private partnerships, structure financing, leverage state and federal programs, manage entire development projects, and solve the inevitable challenges that come with real estate development. Pragmatic, creative, effective. We get projects built.
Attendee Experience
This event is family-friendly and caretakers of any kind are welcome to attend with your dependents!
All members of New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility are welcome to attend for free.
Free parking is available on site.
Please make note of any accommodation requests when you register.
Are you interested in sponsoring this event? If so, please contact Jeremy Gerber at jeremyg@vbsr.org for details.
Questions? If so, please contact to Molly Rand at mollyr@vbsr.org.