Meet Our Conference Underwriters
Thank you to the following companies who have made this conference possible.
Interested in Sponsoring? Contact Jeremy Gerber at jeremyg@vbsr.org.
Champion Underwriter
In addition to crafting delicious, world-renowned beer, The Alchemist is committed to the environment, its employees and the community at large. As a certified B Corporation, The Alchemist is a recognized leader in waste reduction, responsible water use, and innovative technologies that minimize their environmental impact. The Alchemist is committed to their employees’ health & wellbeing, and this is demonstrated through their benefits program, which includes employer-paid health insurance, paid parental leave, child-care subsidies, a 10% 401k match and a wellness program that includes fitness, stretching and meditation classes. The Alchemist takes pride in being an inclusive workplace, employing Vermonters with intellectual and physical disabilities, and demonstrating a commitment to gender equity at all levels of the organization. Through the youth-focused Alchemist Foundation, they invest in long-term partnerships with many community organizations.
In 2020, The Alchemist released a plan to dismantle racism in their community by focusing on three areas of strategic interest –- working to ensure anti-racist education in public schools, strengthening their brand position within the multicultural marketplace, and establishing Vermont as a welcoming place for Black, Indigenous and people of color. “We are so proud to have been able to build this business in Vermont, and to use our voice to advocate for policies that help Vermont’s people and environment. Our employees, our customers and our neighbors all benefit from our triple bottom line commitments.” –- Jen Kimmich, co-founder and CEO of the Alchemist Brewery and board chair of the Alchemist Foundation. In 2018, VBSR awarded Jen Kimmich the Terry Ehrich Award for Lifetime Achievement
Champion Underwriter
Ben & Jerry’s was a founding member of VBSR and has remained a member since 1991. The company operates on a three-part mission that puts product, economic, and social goals on equal standing. Social mission campaigns focus on fighting for environmental and social justice, with the sweet spot landing where those areas overlap, such as climate change.
The company knows it’s going to take more than just the actions of individual businesses and people to fight climate change. Ben & Jerry’s Climate Change campaigns urge people to collectively call on elected leaders to support a rapid transition to the clean energy economy of the future. Because if it’s melted, it’s ruined.
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Champion Underwriter
Casella Waste Systems is a waste management company based in Rutland, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1975 with a single truck, Casella is a regional, vertically integrated solid waste services company. Casella provides resource management expertise and services to residential, commercial, municipal and industrial customers in the areas of solid waste resource collection, recycling, organics, energy recovery and disposal.
Champion Underwriter
Ceres Collaborative has achieved a number of distinctions in its ten-plus years of operations—including its title as Vermont’s oldest cannabis operator and the first vertically-integrated business unit of SLANG Worldwide. With an emphasis on community, true to its name, Ceres Collaborative has partnered with local growers and producers to curate a Vermont-forward product selection. As Ceres has grown, so have its regional partnerships, from advocacy groups and tourism boards to health care providers. The company has also expanded into outdoor cultivation and established a full on-site commercial kitchen headed by a classically trained chef. Ceres is a unique model for how cannabis operators can grow cooperatively while staying true to their values—in this case, to provide robust support for local agriculture, create quality local jobs, and set the tone for patient satisfaction.
Underwriter
The Champlain Housing Trust is a Community Land Trust that supports the people of Northwest Vermont and strengthens their communities through the development and stewardship of permanently affordable homes and related community assets.
Champion Underwriter
Champlain Investment Partners is an independent, employee-owned asset management firm headquartered in Burlington, Vermont – with our emerging markets team located in Irvine, California. Our investment strategies are designed to focus on providing absolute returns while also managing risk. We strive to create wealth through the consistent execution of our investment processes; we are equally committed to delivering outstanding client service, and pride ourselves on the many long-standing relationships we have been able to cultivate since opening our doors in 2004. Our partners bring a wealth of experience, averaging over 21 years in asset management, and as of 12.31.21 the firm had approximately $22.50 billion in assets under management.
Champion Underwriter
The Bellows Falls based Chroma Technology Corp. is not just a leading manufacturer and supplier of components for the photonics industry but has an almost 30 year legacy of living and breathing VBSR’s mission through their commitment to social justice, employee ownership, serving their communities and cultivation of a people-first workplace. Paul Millman, who co-founded Chroma in 1991 and recently retired, received VBSR’s Terry Ehrich Award for Excellence in Socially Responsible Business in 2016 to honor his commitment to sustainable businesses practices and vision for sharing equity & profits among employees.
Chroma believes that a strong socially responsible company can only be built on the foundation of a successful, profitable business. Chroma has developed a strong and loyal customer base by providing exceptional customer service and using cutting edge technology to manufacture some of the most advanced optical filters in the world. Consistent profitability has been the return on the investment in their workforce and dedication to meeting the needs of the scientific and technical communities they serve.
Underwriter
Delta Dental is the region’s most trusted name in dental insurance for companies of all sizes, individuals, and families in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, administering dental benefits for more than 1,055,677 people. To learn more about their products and how they can keep you smiling, visit nedelta.com.
Champion Underwriter
We believe that our responsibility to do good work extends beyond our office walls, and this value permeates our office culture. As a firm, we are proud to run a successful corporate fundraising campaign each year for the United Way, an initiative that our whole firm rallies enthusiastically behind. Our internal Committee for Social Responsibility helps ensure our firm’s positive environmental and social impact; as a result of their efforts, our office is solar powered, composts organic waste, and we make contributions to some 50 community sponsorships each year. In addition, many of our attorneys hold board leadership positions with organizations throughout the state. We deeply believe in the important roles that our professionals play outside the office and encourage their participation in broader community conversations.
Networking Underwriter
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 EncoreRenewable 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.
Reef Room Underwriter
At Gordon's Window Decor, we have been designing, manufacturing, and installing custom window shades since 1986. We are a woman-owned, 2nd Generation family business and we pride ourselves on our creativity and drive to find the RIGHT solutions for our customers’ window treatment needs. EcoSmart Insulating Shades and EcoSmart Roller Shades are our exclusive brands built right here in Williston, Vermont. At Gordon’s, a commitment to domestic manufacturing with a focus on products that save energy is core to who we are. We are so proud to be a sponsor of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility as we believe that businesses have a fundamental responsibility to help build and strengthen the communities that build and strengthen them.
Champion Underwriter
Powering Vermont homes and businesses with energy that’s 90% carbon free and 60% renewable, Green Mountain Power is focused on providing clean, reliable, cost-effective power, while also offering the latest in innovations like battery storage to help customers cut carbon and costs. GMP is committed to having a 100% renewable energy supply by 2030, and using energy as a force for good. In 2014, GMP was the first utility in the world to become a B Corp and continues its commitment to the community, employees, and the planet by helping to grow local renewable generation, offering convenient programs that help cut costs for all customers, and partnering with communities to make the grid more resilient in the face of more severe storms due to climate change.
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Sunset Room Underwriter
The roots of the Hickok and Boardman HR Intelligence company trace back to 1821 and the company has prospered for more than 200 years on the reputation of providing unsurpassed client service, industry knowledge, integrity, and a special focus on giving back to the communities that we work and live in. Today, Hickok and Boardman HR Intelligence is part of Acrisure. We are a community of agencies – united by our shared passion for growth and excellence.
Acrisure is the industry’s fastest-growing global fin-tech leader, delivering high quality human resources, insurance, and risk management services and solutions through our network of Agency Partners. Whether it is in the area of Employee Benefits, Employee Compensation Services, HR Compliance, HR Technology, Wellness & Cost Containment, Retirement Solutions, Strategic HR Services, or Training & Development, we follow a common strategic process to make sure we are performing to your satisfaction.
Champion Underwriter
Hula is a technology-driven coworking campus, business incubator, and venture capital fund focused on elevating vermont-based start-ups and entrepreneurs from its fourteen acre parcel along the shores of Lake Champlain.
Champion Underwriter
Since 1970, King Arthur Baking Company has been sharing the joy of baking. A certified B Corp headquartered in Vermont, King Arthur is the ultimate baking resource, providing the highest quality ingredients for the most delicious baked goods, while inspiring connections through baking. As a 100% employee-owned company, we believe in the power of baking to make a difference for our employee-owners, the larger baking community, and the planet. From cultivating a workplace that embraces differences and prioritizes trust to teaching children across the country how to bake bread from scratch to partnering with farmers and suppliers who share our vision for a greener planet, we strive to be a force for good in all that we do.
Champion Underwriter
Waitsfield, Vermont's Lawson’s Finest not only aims for the highest quality standards in their beer production but achieves this goal by leading with their values and by building genuine personal interactions. Lawson’s Finest embodies what it means to use business as a platform for good and a generator of social change by valuing their employees, customers, community, and environment. The Lawson’s Finest Social Impact Program (SIP) works to support thriving communities where people take good care of each other, protect and enjoy the natural world, and bring more fun to life. The program features six initiatives focused on cultivating a people-first work place, supporting local communities, greening the planet, and bringing people together to play and innovate.
The Lawson’s Finest commitment to making a difference in Vermont begins at home, where they strive to be an employer of choice by providing generous livable wages and comprehensive paid benefits to their staff. The brewery boosts economic vitality in Vermont by generating year-round tourism, sourcing from local businesses, and through guest donations to their Sunshine Fund, which supports non-profit organizations focused on healthy communities and natural resource protection. In addition to charitable giving, the brewery puts their money where their values are. They are committed to continual innovation and investment in efficiency, taking steps to minimize their impact in a resource-intensive manufacturing business. Lawson’s Finest is proud to be a founding partner of the VT Brewshed Alliance and a member of the pioneer VT Green Brewery Cohort. From the planning and building their Waitsfield, Vermont taproom to selecting the most efficient brewing, packaging, and process equipment available (even when it requires more investment), Lawson’s Finest continues its deep commitment to people, planet and prosperity.
Underwriter
Let’s Grow Kids is a nonprofit organization on a mission to ensure affordable access to high-quality child care for all Vermont families by 2025. With nearly 40,000 supporters from all walks of life, Let’s Grow Kids, in partnership with Let’s Grow Kids Action Network, is empowering Vermonters to advocate for sustainable child care policy change. Working together, we can build a child care system that meets the needs of Vermont children and families and supports a brighter future for us all.
Champion Underwriter
Mamava's mission is to create a healthier society through infrastructure and support for breastfeeding. We offer a full line of lactation space solutions designed to fit every space and situation. Mamava pods are designed, engineered, and assembled at Mamava Manufacturing, our production facility in Springfield Vermont. We also provide breastfeeding resources for employers, organizations, and people who are pumping and nursing—including a free app that helps folks find thousands of lactation spaces wherever they go.
Keynote Underwriter
Mascoma Bank was founded in 1899 by community members seeking ways to establish a healthy local economy. For over 120 years, Mascoma Bank’s foundation of mutuality has continued to be a force for positive change supporting communities to reach thriving sustainability. As a Certified B Corporation® we continue on our mission to be Best for the World®, a company where we don’t answer to stockholders, but respond to the needs of our communities, where we also live, work, and play.
Champion Underwriter
National Life Group is a mission-driven, purpose-filled company that has been keeping its promises since 1848. But it’s not your grandfather’s insurance company. It’s dedicated to a cause bigger than itself: To do good in the communities where it does business.
From hosting a music festival on its back lawn to benefit cancer patients, making donations through the National Life Group Foundation, encouraging its employees to take 40 hours of paid volunteer time annually, and more, National Life strives to put its values of Do good. Be good. Make good. into practice every day.
Underwriter
Norwich Solar is a leading EPC provider of commercial, distributed energy & utility scale solar and energy storage solutions throughout the Northeast. As a public benefit corporation, we are driven to support the region’s transition to a robust clean energy future. Our extensive experience and community-based approach have helped us successfully complete hundreds of solar projects projects for renewable energy developers that directly benefit communities, local businesses, affordable housing providers, and nonprofits.
Isthmus Underwriter
Open Approach, Inc. (OA), is a technology systems integrator with a progressive philosophy. As a managed services provider, we develop opportunity for our clients by transforming powerful, cost-effective technologies into integrated, pre-engineered business technology products. Our products are developed with a focused, streamlined, and standardized methodology that enables us to bring high quality infrastructure and applications support to businesses of all sizes—all with rapid return on investment. We embrace the power and stability of modern technology and extend it to bring reliability, opportunity and cost savings to business. We succeed when our clients can employ the immense opportunity technology offers to propel growth in the core of their business.
Champion Underwriter
PF+C has a 50+ year tradition of employees serving our community through volunteering, charitable work, and service on local non-profit boards. PF+C also remains dedicated to the environment and lessening its ecological footprint. For example, PF+C became Vermont’s first law firm to join the American Bar Association’s Law Office Climate Challenge. We continually strive to improve our internal processes and raise awareness of the simple things that can reduce our environmental impact, whether installing modern energy-efficient lighting, composting, recycling, and purchasing more environmentally friendly office supplies. We also serve numerous clients focused on the environment, community, renewable energy, and climate policy. While we serve clients in these areas, we also assist other businesses with any legal challenge, from employment and labor, taxes, property, commercial leases, and commercial transactions, to litigation, captive insurance, and business immigration. We are proud of our unique workplace where we continue to evolve as a supportive, family friendly, inclusive, and environmentally focused community.
Champion Underwriter
For more than 25 years we’ve been formulating plant-based products that are safe and that work. Really well. Based in Vermont, we’re proud to be a B Corporation. B Corps are certified to be better for workers, better for communities and better for the environment. Join us in nurturing the health of the next seven generations.
We believe our products are healthy solutions for the air, surfaces, fabrics, pets and people within your home–and for the community and environment outside of it. As a pioneer in corporate responsibility, we want our products to make a difference—from their development through to their production, purchase, use, and disposal. We are always evaluating how to reduce their environmental impact, increase performance and safety, and create a more sustainable supply chain. We believe it is our responsibility to set a course for a more mindful way of doing business, where companies act as partners with other stakeholders to create a brighter future for the whole planet.
Underwriter
SRH Law was founded by lawyers with a commitment to improve the world around us, and that commitment remains at the core of our practice today. Over the years we’ve built a national reputation for skillfully handling a wide variety of legal matters. Our practice focuses primarily on environmental, energy, affordable housing, nonprofit, and business law, and we also provide legal services in a range of other related practice areas.
Champion Underwriter
Our culture is intentional, and we value it deeply. We celebrate open and honest communication, hard work, creativity, cross-functional collaboration, high energy, good play, deep networking and acknowledging that we’ll each make mistakes and learn from them. We’re a local company made up of individuals who care about the people and places that surround us.
We feel a huge responsibility to succeed – in order to honor our triple bottom line commitments to people (our co-owners/employees and their families, our customers and residents of the communities where we do business), planet (our proud roots and local stomping grounds in both Vermont and the Hudson Valley, and the broader globe, given climate change) and profit (providing capital to grow, revenue to empower and share among our employees and a reasonable return to our investors).
Underwriter
The Richards Group has provided Insurance, Employee Benefits, and Retirement Plan solutions to clients throughout Vermont & New Hampshire since 1867. The firm has 160 employees in 12 locations and has earned recognition both for contributions to our local communities and as one of the best places to work in the region. The Richards Group is committed to helping employers with their workplace safety, employee retention, and wellness. We recognize that while we help employers manage the cost and complexity of their insurance and employee benefits, we use our expertise, technology, and resources for the betterment of their workforce. For more information about the firm and its capabilities, please visit www.therichardsgrp.com.
Champion Underwriter
Union Mutual is a proud Champion member of VBSR – the Company’s corporate values align with VBSR’s commitment to the triple-bottom line of people, planet and prosperity. Union Mutual has supported small-t0-medium sized businesses with quality, innovative property & casualty insurance products for nearly 150 years – the Company understands the importance of a thriving businesses within communities, both as employers and drivers of economic vitality. Union Mutual is committed to fostering an innovative work environment, and has been thrilled to work with UVM SI-MBA students through the VBSR ESG Learning Cohort – these discussions will directly inform Company strategic planning as part of the Company’s overall ESG decision-making and execution. Combining the entrepreneurial spirit of Vermonters with the Sustainable Innovation MBA program is a natural fit – we hope you enjoy the workshop, are inspired by these talented students, and continue to make Vermont a great place to work and live.
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United Way of Northwest Vermont (UWNWVT) unites our whole community to solve complex problems and harness the power of people to create a stronger region. We proudly serve Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties of Vermont. United Way convenes advocates, organizations and institutions to address the community's most pressing issues. The problems facing our region are complex; they are issues that no single organization or individual alone can solve – real change is possible when nonprofit, public and private sectors work together. United Way has the networks, partnerships and strategic initiatives to improve the lives of our family, friends and neighbors. For more information or to get involved, visit unitedwaynwvt.org.
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Underwriter
The University of Vermont Health Network is an integrated academic health system serving more than one million residents of Vermont and northern New York with a shared mission: working together, we improve people’s lives. Our 15,000 employees are driven to provide high-quality, cost-efficient care as close to home as possible. Strengthened by our academic connection to the University of Vermont, each of our affiliates remains committed to its local community by providing compassionate, personal care shaped by the latest medical advances and delivered by highly skilled experts. We are working to preserve access to care for our families, friends and communities while also innovating to change the way that care is delivered to focus on wellness as much as illness and to control costs.
Underwriter
Ursa Major makes clean, powerful skincare essentials infused with forest-found goodness for skin and spirit.
Champion Underwriter
VEIC is a sustainable energy company on a mission to generate the energy solutions the world needs. For over 30 years VEIC has been working with governments, utilities, foundations and businesses across North America to develop and deploy clean-energy services that provide immediate and lasting change. VEIC has expertise in energy efficiency, building decarbonization, transportation electrification, and breakthrough methods for a clean and flexible grid. We design innovative solutions that meet clients’ goals, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. VEIC is nationally recognized for originating programs that optimize energy use, reduce energy burdens for low-income customers, and advance emerging technologies. In addition to its full-service consulting business, VEIC administers three large-scale sustainable energy programs: Efficiency Vermont, Efficiency Smart, and the DC Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU).
Underwriter
VELCO is the nation’s first statewide, transmission-only company, created in 1956 to build and operate an interconnected electric transmission grid in order to deliver and share access in Vermont to clean power, including hydro. VELCO remains unique in two important ways: our ownership comprises the state’s 17 distribution utilities and a public benefits corporation and our for-profit status is structured to return value to our owners, their customers, and every Vermonter. Our Company works to ensure a reliable, affordable, safe, secure and sustainable high-voltage grid, and a strong unified voice on regional energy issues.
Underwriter
VermontBiz - your go-to resource for local business news! We're Vermont's only statewide business news publication and in 2022 we are celebrating 50 years of bringing you all the content you need to have your finger on the pulse of the state's business sector! We offer monthly print issues which are hosted digitally on our website as well, special annual issues, a free daily eNews, events, and much more! To learn more about our subscription options, advertising with us to connect to other Vermont business decision makers, or to catch up on today's news stories, visit us at vermontbiz.com
Champion Underwriter
Consciously crafted in Vermont’s green mountains, Vermont Creamery’s line of fresh and aged goat cheeses, cultured butter, and culinary creams have won hundreds of national and international awards. In their 36th year of business, Vermont Creamery supports a network of family farms, promoting sustainable agriculture in the region. Their pledged obligation to positively affecting their employees and families is put into action by providing a strong starting wage and benefit package including production wages starting at $17/hr. The company is 100% cow-powered through Green Mountain Power. B Corp Certified in 2014, Vermont Creamery is part of a community of businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability.
Champion Underwriter
The small Vermont company Vermont Family Farms, founded in 2018, is an aggregator of pasture-raised and antibiotic-free meat grown on Vermont family farms. The company is committed to making local and sustainable beef available to all Vermonters. They are also working with Vermont hog farmers on a premium line of pork products that will include specialty smoked sausage and other offerings. Their innovative meat production model promotes humane treatment of animals, respect for the environment, and support of the local agricultural food economy. On top of that commitment, the company uses solar and local hydro power for its production facility to further reduce its carbon footprint. Vermont Family Farms strives to ensure that workers at all levels of the food chain are paid a livable wage by paying above the national average per pound of meat and by committing to purchase their animals up to a year in advance. Vermont Family Farms utilizes 40 years of experience in specialty foods to help keep Vermont’s landscape open and productive and support the local agricultural ecosystem.
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VGS is northwest Vermont’s integrated energy services company. We offer customers clean, affordable, and reliable thermal energy service, award-winning energy efficiency programs, equipment service and maintenance, heat-pump water heating for customers both on and off the pipeline, and a first-in-the-nation renewable option for families and businesses. We serve more than 55,000 families and businesses in Franklin, Chittenden, and Addison Counties and are a strong partner in Vermont’s clean energy future. Every customer who converts their home to natural gas from oil reduces home heating carbon by 23 percent. Our award-winning efficiency programs further reduce energy use and emissions and save our customers $14 million per year – that’s real money that can be invested in jobs, education, health care, families, and communities. Our dedicated team of 130+ Vermonters is committed to our customers, our communities, our culture, and our climate.
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Vermont Public seeks to create an expanding, open community for all Vermonters, broadening access and opportunity for all voices to participate from every corner of our unique state.
Over the last 50 years, VPR and Vermont PBS’ audiences and supporters helped create two of the strongest statewide public media organizations in America. Together as Vermont Public we will build on that foundation of trusted information, high-quality education, and thoughtful programming to build the future of public media in Vermont.
Vermont Public remains Vermont’s unified public media source for programs from NPR and PBS and for locally produced, award-winning news, video and music content. We also host community events, both virtual and in-person, throughout the broadcast region.
Vermont Public is about bringing people and communities together. We want to give everyone a chance to participate – from every corner of our state and region.
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The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) provides tailored business management coaching, entrepreneurial support, and training to position Vermont entrepreneurs for growth and long-term success. Our clients include Vermont-based, value-added food and agricultural, forest-related, renewable energy, waste management, and environmental/clean technology enterprises that are supplying products and services to a diverse marketplace. Express your values and see around corners while building a stronger company. Access new networks of professionals and capital. Navigate critical transition periods successfully with the help of our team of successful entrepreneurial coaches who have been in your shoes.
Champion Underwriter
VSECU is a member-owned cooperative and not for profit credit union for everybody who lives or works in Vermont, offering a full range of affordable financial products and services to its member-owners. VSECU is committed to improving the lives of Vermonters by empowering the possibilities for greater social, environmental, and financial prosperity.
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VTDigger is a statewide news organization that publishes in-depth news reports on matters of public interest, and the only daily news organization in Vermont that publishes exclusively online. We reach 700,000 readers a month and post daily news stories about state government, politics, consumer affairs, business and public policy. Our work has been recognized by the American Journalism Project as a national model for independent journalism.