A former international development expert will take over as the Vermont Afghan Alliance’s new executive director, the organization announced Monday.
Ellen Yount, of Starksboro, will succeed Molly Gray, who announced last month that she will run for lieutenant governor.
“We are excited to welcome her as our new leader, and she is eager to continue the Alliance’s growth — supporting Afghan refugees in Vermont and demonstrating the economic and cultural benefits Afghans bring to our state,” Jim Gelber, president of the Vermont Afghan Alliance’s board of directors, said in a press release.
Yount’s experience includes time working at the U.S. Agency for International Development, and at Management Systems International, a Tetra Tech company, which consults on international development projects.
“Clearly, it is a very critical time for Afghan refugees here in Vermont and across the United States,” Yount said in an interview, emphasizing the challenges that changes to federal funding and the escalation of ICE activity pose for the Vermont Afghan Alliance.
“I am proud to be part of a community of Vermonters who have opened their hearts and homes to families who have faced hardship and upheaval,” Yount said in a press release.
Prior to Gray’s leadership of the Vermont Afghan Alliance, she was lieutenant governor from 2021 to 2023. She then became the first executive director of the alliance. Under Gray’s leadership, it has expanded from a small, local program into a statewide organization that aims to serve about 650 Afghan community members living in Vermont.
“Molly has been the guiding light of the Alliance during a period of extraordinary growth,” Gelber said in the press release. “She helped build this organization from the ground up — transforming it from a small, volunteer effort into a trusted statewide nonprofit serving hundreds of Afghan families.”
Yount will start her new position March 4.
