Reconciling Vermont: State Impacts from Recent Federal Decisions
Join VBSR for this free webinar exploring how federal decisions are shaping Vermont’s future. From changes in federal rulemaking to the OBBBA (One Big Beautiful Bill Act), Vermont advocates and business leaders will share insights on what’s happening in Washington, and what it means for our state.
VBSR Public Policy Manager, Johanna de Graffenreid, will facilitate a conversation on how these decisions will impact Vermont businesses, VBSR’s 2025-2026 Advocacy Agenda — and key priorities for Vermont including early childhood education funding, new challenges for the renewable energy industry, and changes for healthcare access.
Thanks for saving the date for our September 10th policy discussion!
We’ll kick off with a panel discussion followed by a Q&A with our experts! Don’t miss this opportunity to stay informed and help shape Vermont’s response to federal policy shifts.
Thank You to Our Panel!
Paola Andujar, Senior Policy Specialist, National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
Paola Andujar is the Senior Policy Specialist with NAEYC's Policy and Professional Advancement team. In this role, she is responsible for providing capacity-building support, resources and policy guidance to key decision-makers and advocacy leaders at the state and federal levels to advance the early childhood education profession. Paola has dedicated her career to advancing early childhood policy by collaborating with stakeholders and policymakers at the local, state, and national levels.
Jessica Barquist (she/her), Vice President of Public Affairs, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England
Jessica is a lifelong, passionate catalyst for change. She started her professional career as a clinician working with children and adolescents after receiving her MA in clinical psychology from Columbia University. Jessica found her voice advocating for public policy change to support early childhood development with Let's Grow Kids and then continued to advocate for systemic prevention and those who have been impacted by violence and trauma with the Vermont Network. She is proud to have designed and implemented the Vermont Network's Uplift campaign to engage Vermonters in working together towards a violence-free future. She is most energized when she can support and empower others to use their voices and power for positive social change. Jessica lives in Colchester with her pup and three kids.
Chad Farrell, Founder and co-CEO, Encore Renewable Energy
Chad is the Founder and co-CEO of Encore Renewable Energy, a leader in community scale renewable energy project development services. He has over 25 years of professional experience in the fields of brownfields redevelopment and renewable energy project finance, development and construction. At Encore, Chad leads the team’s innovative and collaborative efforts to design, permit, finance and construct over 80 different commercial scale solar PV projects throughout the State of Vermont and beyond, representing more than $100M in total investment value. Many of these projects involve reclaiming undervalued real estate for clean energy generation and storage, helping to revitalize communities and create a cleaner, brighter future for all.
He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University and earned a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Vermont. Chad served on the Board of Directors of the Vermont Natural Resources Council and Renewable Energy Vermont. Following appointment by the Vermont Senate to represent the clean energy sector, he is currently serving on the Vermont Climate Council.
Meet Your Facilitator!
Johanna de Graffenreid, Public Policy Manager at VBSR
de Graffenreid has nearly 20 years of experience as a community organizer, advocate, lobbyist, campaign director, and trainer – including with businesses and economic development entities. She has a dual degree in Political Science and Women’s & Gender Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a master’s degree from Vermont Law and Graduate School.
She has worked on issues ranging from resource extraction to climate justice, the rights of women and girls to rural economic and workforce development. Most recently she managed the Vermont Arts Council’s economic development network, the Vermont Creative Network. Her efforts have taken her across the Southeastern U.S., Gulf Region, Appalachia, New England and the Hudson Valley.
Thank you to our sponsor!
Encore Renewable Energy is a leading integrated clean energy services company focused on community-scale solar PV systems and innovative solutions for the redevelopment of underutilized property. Founded in 2007 as Encore Redevelopment and renamed Encore Renewable Energy in 2015, our philosophy, since inception, has been to create harmony between the natural and built environments that foster sustainable economic growth, environmental awareness, and community enrichment.
As a certified B Corp, we align our business practices with these values every day as we focus on clean, renewable energy and the development of undervalued land, including landfills, brownfields, parking lots and rooftops. Encore specializes in the development, financing, permitting, construction management and O&M of renewable energy projects.
Encore has significant experience in reclaiming undervalued real estate and incorporating integrated clean energy services solar projects, and deploying creative and groundbreaking approaches to bring ideas from concept to commissioning. Encore has an unparalleled development record of complex projects across our home state of Vermont and along the Eastern seaboard, making the Company one of the leading clean energy companies in the Northeast.
Since inception, Encore has provided turnkey renewable energy development, construction and financing services to distributed generation project owners and investors in a time-and cost-efficient manner. Encore manages all aspects of these complicated projects including design, engineering, permitting, financing, construction and asset management.
Questions? If so, please contact to Johanna de Graffenreid, Public Policy Manager, at johannad@vbsr.org.
Are you interested in sponsoring this event? Questions? If so, please contact to Jeremy Gerber at jeremyg@vbsr.org