My Story

I moved to Vermont in 1987, just before I married my love, Mary Ready, in the Old Round Church in Richmond.  After starting a family in West Bolton — these 3 wonderful children — we moved to St. Johnsbury in 2005. We both felt at home in St. J immediately.

Being a parent has been the most rewarding experience imaginable. I have always been active in their lives, from diaper-changing, to stories at bedtime, to coaching little league teams, to high school math homework, to college applications. While Mary was in medical residency in Maine, and then getting her feet on the ground here in St. Johnsbury, I was the primary at-home parent. I will forever cherish that time.

Noah graduated from University of Pennsylvania and has started a company in San Francisco, BuiltRobotics. Anna graduated from Middlebury College, received a BS Nursing from University of Southern Maine, and is in a nurse-residency program at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Cyrus graduated from Stanford University, worked in San Francisco for several years, and has just moved back to St. Johnsbury where he is working remotely.  

Track Record

NONPROFIT SERVICE

My background is construction: carpenter, contractor, building designer. But 30 years ago, I sought a way to offer building services to folks who needed it the most but were least able to afford it, and to combine it with  environmental responsibility. I accepted a position directing the Weatherization Assistance Program for Chittenden, Addison, Franklin, and Grand Isle Counties. 

Weatherization is a housing and energy program that helps lower-income homeowners and renters make their homes safer and more comfortable, while at the same time reducing their energy bills.

Since 2009 I have directed another efficiency program, 3E Thermal, which provides consulting, support and cash incentives for efficiency retrofit projects in apartment buildings statewide. We partner with Weatherization, Efficiency Vermont, renewable energy programs, housing agencies and private owners. 3E is based at Capstone Community Action in Barre.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

I have served on the Board of Catamount Film & Arts since 2010. In that time Catamount has emerged as a true community arts center offering: arts education; performing arts, including daytime presentations for area school children, regular bluegrass and folk shows, and KCP Presents concert series; First Night St. Johnsbury; as well as gallery presentations and two film theaters. 

I joined the Board of Rural Edge in January 2017. Under the direction of our interim Executive Director, Patrick Flood, and, as of January 2019, permanent E.D., Patrick Shattuck, Rural Edge has stabilized its finances and greatly improved property management. Recent developments include completion of the beautiful new Olivia Place in Lyndonville; massive rehabilitation of St. Johnsbury’s Depot Square, due to open as New Avenue House in fall 2021; and receipt of grants to rehab under-used housing on Pearl Street, St. J, as transitional housing for the homeless.

I serve as an alternate representative for St. Johnsbury to the newly formed NEK Community Broadband communications union district (CUD). Formation of CUDs was facilitated by Act 79 (2019), a bill drafted by House Energy & Technology, on which I serve.

I am an active member of St. J’s Energy Committee, which has recently been revitalized under the leadership of Pam Parker. (Other members include Steve Isham, Lynn Wurzburg, John Ajamie, Brandon Fowler, John Unger Murphy, Keith Whitemore, and St. J Academy students Elmore Dickstein and David Zajko.)

I am also actively involved in the revitalization effort spearheaded by the Vermont Council on Rural Development 'community visit' in spring 2015, specifically on the Economic Restructuring Committee seeking to revitalize downtown buildings, and on the Housing Committee.

In the past I have served on the School Board and Town Library Board in China, Maine, and Recycling Committee and Planning Commission in Bolton, Vermont. 

EDUCATION

I am a graduate of Cornell University, Bachelor of Arts, Government.

I have attended numerous building science training sessions -- as well as presented many -- since 1991.

I attended high school at Gilman School in Baltimore, Maryland.