VBSR Welcomes Johanna de Graffenreid as Public Policy Manager
Burlington, Vt. (July 31, 2024) – Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) is pleased to announce that Johanna de Graffenreid has joined the organization as Public Policy Manager. In this role, de Graffenreid supports VBSR’s efforts to advance the organization’s policy goals, working closely with VBSR members.
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. Starting as an organizer in North Carolina working for the rights of women and girls, she transitioned to focus on rural environmental justice campaigns after obtaining a dual degree in Political Science and Women’s & Gender Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
She then worked on issues ranging from resource extraction to climate justice for nearly a decade across the Southeastern U.S., Gulf Region and Appalachia before moving to Vermont for graduate school in 2014.
de Graffenreid earned her master’s degree from Vermont Law and Graduate School in 2015 and relocated to Vermont permanently in 2017 to work in the Vermont Legislature on environmental justice-based policy. After supporting rural economic development efforts as a consultant throughout her career, in 2019 she shifted her work to focus on rural economic and workforce development endeavors full-time, launching the Agricultural Viability Alliance, a coalition of over 37 organizations supporting small farmers across New England and the Hudson Valley.
Most recently she managed the Vermont Arts Council’s economic development network, the Vermont Creative Network, supporting hundreds of arts and cultural small businesses and nonprofits in the creative economy across the state. Her passion for championing rural communities as places of powerful change and opportunity for all is now focused on VBSR members and their communities.
Committed to creating a sustainable future, de Graffenreid is energized by Vermont’s unique opportunity to accomplish impactful change that can help Vermonters while raising expectations nationally. VBSR has been advocating on behalf of the people, environments, and businesses of Vermont for 34 years and has been a leader on legislative successes such as farm to plate, child care solutions, marriage equality, ban the box, clean water investment, earned paid sick leave, increasing the minimum wage, climate action, and more.
“Over VBSR’s history, we have proven that business can collectively bring their voices to support policies that sustain our communities, our employees, and our planet. While voluntary changes inside Vermont businesses are key to creating more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous communities, only public policy can deliver the pace and scale of change needed to tackle our most pressing societal challenges,” said Roxanne Vought, executive director of VBSR. “Johanna has the knowledge, skills and expertise to move these important policies forward on behalf of our members, grounding leading-edge thinking in practical application.”
About VBSR
VBSR is a statewide, non-profit business association with a mission to leverage the power of business for positive social and environmental impact. VBSR’s 700 member businesses and organizations strive toward a just, thriving, and transformative economy that works for all people and the planet through shared learning, community building, and collective action. Learn more or join the cause at www.vbsr.org.
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