Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin named four members of his cabinet Monday. He made the announcements at the UVM Davis Center.
Lawrence Miller, founder of Otter Creek Brewery and currently CEO of Danforth Pewter, will be secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. Patricia Moulton Powden, former commissioner of the Department of Labor, will serve as his deputy. Annie Noonan, former executive director of the Vermont State Employees Association, will head the Department of Labor, and Chuck Ross Jr., a longtime aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy, will be the new secretary of agriculture.
Shumlin said the new agency chiefs would be focused on creating new jobs for Vermonters through integrated economic development initiatives.
“I am thrilled that each of these talented individuals has agreed to join our job creation team,” Shumlin said in a statement.
“Agriculture is a critical engine of economic growth and there is a direct connection between our farms, our vibrant communities and a strong economy,” Shumlin said. “The Agency of Commerce will work closely with the Agency of Agriculture to seize the job creation opportunities that sustainable and conventional agriculture represent. The Agency of Labor will play a critical role in developing workforce training initiatives that support small businesses and create good jobs. Lawrence, Pat, Chuck and Annie will make a great team, and I am grateful to them for accepting this challenge.”
The new administration has received hundreds of resumes, sources say, and must fill 84 positions, according to a report from the Associated Press. Shumlin said he would name more members of his cabinet after the Thanksgiving holiday.
David Dill, secretary of the Agency of Transportation, told his staff in an e-mail on Monday that he would leave state government as of Jan. 1. Dill recommended that Shumlin retain the remainder of the VTrans executive staff.
Last week, Steve Dale, the commissioner of the Department of Children and Families announced that he was also leaving the state to take a job as executive director of the Vermont School Boards Association.
Shumlin named his transition team two weeks ago and five top staffers last week.
Over the weekend, Shumlin attended a National Governor’s Association meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he met with 29 other newly elected governors. It is the first time since 1920, when 27 new governors beat out incumbents for their seats, that so many new candidates have been elected to gubernatorial office.
“The interesting thing for me was regardless of political party how much we have in common in terms of the challenge we’re facing and the need for information to meet those challenges,” Shumlin said. “I was sitting next to the governor-elect of Connecticut. On a per capita basis he has to cut the biggest amount of any other governor in the country. We have challenges in Vermont but some of these other governors have even bigger challenges.”
What follows is a rundown of Shumlin’s latest appointments.
Lawrence Miller, Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development
Miller, 44, who describes himself as a dilettante, singlehandedly started Otter Creek Brewery in 1989 straight out of college (he graduated from Reed College in Portland, Ore.). His company was the third major brewery to launch in Vermont, after Catamount Brewery and Long Trail Ale. Miller sold the business in 2002 to Wolaver’s Certified Organic Ales and began working as a business consultant for small businesses and nonprofit organizations. In 2007, he became CEO of Danforth Pewter. He will leave
that position to become secretary.
In an interview, Miller said he was surprised to be tapped for the position. So, why did he take the job?
“When I thought about it, I thought about all the people who helped me along the way,” Miller said. “What I’ve been about is growing jobs and making things happen with brands, and this agency has been tremendously supportive of my work over the years. It was a compelling argument that it was a good time to give back. It’s gonna be a chunk of work.”
Miller has previously served in important, if peripheral, roles in state government. He was the chair of the Vermont Economic Progress Council for two years and served on the council for nine years in all. VEPC overseas the Vermont Employment Growth Initiative, and under Miller’s tenure, the program changed its tax credit program for businesses. Instead of tax credits, the state now gives incentives to businesses once they have met employment targets.
Miller’s own business, Otter Creek, was a recipient of VEPC incentives.
“I think we need to look at the data and understand how it’s performing every few years,” Miller said. “It’s important to have the tools; it’s important for our people talking to businesses looking to come to Vermont for that site selector to be able to check the box yes, there is a program. We are never going to be able to compete with other states for the giveaways they provide.”
Miller is also serving as a director of The National Bank of Middlebury, Community Financial Services Group and Bridge School and is an advisory board member for several businesses. He is a former chair of the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund.
Patricia Moulton Powden, deputy secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development
Powden, 51, was commissioner of the Department of Labor from 2007 through 2010. Last spring, Powden was instrumental in an extensive and controversial overhaul of the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund system. In the summer, she took a job with the Vermont Chamber of Commerce as communications director.
One reporter noted that she was the only “carryover” so far from the Douglas administration, and Shumlin quipped that Powden is “more than a carryover.”
Powden was a deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Economic Development under Gov. Richard Snelling. Douglas named her to the full-time chair of the Vermont Natural Resources Board. Early in her career, she was the executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corporation. She is the daughter of Al Moulton, who was a pioneer of economic development in Vermont. Powden is a graduate of the University of Vermont.
Why did she take the job?
“I didn’t know this was coming, but I was honored to be asked,” Powden said. “This is my passion; I love economic development work, and Lawrence will be great to work with.”
She said they will form a team with a total of five to six exempt positions, and then “we’ll be going out and talking to businesses and finding out what do you need, making sure they know about tools already in place, breaking down those (departmental) silos, figuring out how we can collaborate on value-added agriculture and manufacturing and innovation and entrepreneurism, as well as the whole renewable field.”
“Those are areas we’re going to have to get cracking on right away,” Powden said. “We’ve got some ideas, and we’ll be putting together a plan and make sure the vision is clear, and work with our Regional Development Corp. and Regional Planning Commission team members to get the plan out to them and help them be part of the team again.”
The relationship between the agency and the RDCs and the RPCs, which provide economic and environmental planning services for businesses, became frayed in the last legislative session. The Douglas administration sought to consolidate the several dozen separate regional groups into nine
entities under the Challenges for Change government restructuring plan. In the end, the RDCs and RPCs were cut by roughly $1 million and were not forced to consolidate, though they have to submit requests for proposals for funding instead of receiving automatic funding for programs. The agency itself has lost 22 staff positions since the beginning of the recession.
Powden said she anticipates more changes to economic development programs next year. “That’s going to be one of the first things — where are we at with that progression, what more do we need to do, and what does the 2012 budget look like – because it’s not going to be pretty,” Powden said.
Annie Noonan, commissioner of the Department of Labor
Noonan spent most of her career working for the Vermont State Employees Association. She started working for the union in 1980, and she left in 2005 after serving as executive director of the organization for eight years. She is a graduate of the University of Vermont.
Why did she take the job?
“I think that I have an ability to bring workers to the table on the tough issue, whether it’s because they trust me,” Noonan said. “I think working families will work with me. I think I tap into three decades’ worth of knowledge around worker training needs and how people feel when they get unemployed.”
She said inadequate transportation and child care continue to be barriers for Vermont workers. She said too few young Vermonters are coming up through the apprenticeship programs in the building trades.
“We need to catch kids early, so they can find rewarding careers in Vermont, so that the kids stay here,” Noonan said. “That’s really the economic future – a young workforce.”
Noonan said she has experience running a small business – VSEA, which has 25 employees.
Chuck Ross Jr., secretary of the Agency of Agriculture
Ross has served as a congressional staffer for Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., for 16 years. He is director of the senator’s Vermont office, and he previously served in the Vermont Legislature. “There’s some sadness because I’ve worked for him (Sen. Leahy) for a long time.”
Leahy congratulated Ross on his new position. Leahy said Ross is “steeped in issues, from the big picture to the nuts and bolts.”
“Along with his mastery of policy, Chuck has a keen political sense and a wonderful sense of humor,” Leahy said. He was talking about and working for sustainable agriculture long before it became the rage. He is skilled in bringing people together to find common ground and the way forward.
Ross represented Hinesburg for six years in the Legislature and served as chair of the House Natural Resource and Energy Committee before he went to work for Leahy. Ross has served on the boards of Shelburne Farms, the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University
of Vermont, the Vermont Council on Rural Development, Fletcher Allen Health Care, the University of Vermont and the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. He is a graduate of the University of Vermont.
Ross said he signed onto Shumlin’s cabinet because “it’s just a first-rate team.”
“I’ve been able to be involved in a lot of fun stuff, but this is the essence of Vermont, the world of agriculture,” Ross said. “I really appreciate Gov.-elect Shumlin’s vision, which is really looking at
agriculture as an integral part of the economy. If you look at how the tentacles of the agricultural economy stretch into the Vermont economy, I’ve heard anywhere from 40 percent to 50 percent of our economic base is connected to agriculture. So that’s really exciting to me to see it recognized in that way.”
The current secretary of agriculture, Roger Allbee, had high praise for his replacement. “Chuck has exhibited a commitment to agriculture in the state and nationally,” Allbee wrote in a statement. “This appointment shows further commitment to the work that the agency does to support our producers and the open, working landscape so important to our state. Mr. Ross has the background, experience, knowledge, vision and connections to work aggressively to move Vermont agriculture forward on every level.”
Ross said the agency, like others in state government, has been hit hard by recent budget cuts.
“What’s clear is that there has been an enormous erosion of personnel in state government, and it’s clear to me I’m going to be confronted with that the minute I walk in the door, and that’s probably been necessary because of our budgets,” Ross said. “We’re going to have to figure out a new way of
doing business. We may need to be more innovative and creative in response to a need for support. I look at that as a challenge.”
Though the dairy industry – the mainstay of farming in Vermont — has been decimated by low milk prices, he said farmers have reason for hope.
“You go around to the dairy farmers, and that’s an innovative group of people,” Ross said. “They didn’t’ survive this long without being really good business people and without being able to solve problems creatively. I hope to tap into that kind of entrepreneurship. I think they’re seeing themselves differently than they have in the past. It’s less about making sure the milking is done and a truck is there to pick it up when we’re done.
“There’s a conversation happening today that wasn’t happening 10 years ago,” Ross said. “To have the dairy community come around to supply management, that’s enormous, and …we may be able to pursue success. Maybe not in the next month or the next year, but we’re moving in that direction.”