Marian Burros has been writing about the politics of food, food safety, health and agriculture for newspapers in Washington and New York for more than 40 years. She spent 27 years at the New York Times, retiring two years ago, and continues to write for the Times and other publications, particularly about sustainable agriculture and, most recently, about Michelle Obama’s childhood obesity initiative, Let’s Move. In 2008, Marian’s feature article about agricultural innovation in the Hardwick area set off a wave of publicity about food systems in the Northeast Kingdom.
Marian has maintained a long association with Vermont, and lives part-time in Craftsbury Common. In her time on the Board, Marian has provided invaluable assistance in planning and promoting Vermont’s Table, Sterling’s new summer farm-to-table program.
Peter Chehayl, Alumni Parent ’06, M.B.A., graduated from Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University) with a BS in Management Science in 1970. After receiving his MBA from the University of Michigan, he enjoyed a thirty-year career in financial positions, culminating as chief financial officer of Centennial Communications, a $700 million company. He has also worked at Coopers & Lybrand, The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company and Sprint. He is a CPA.
Pete served on the board of directors of Madison River Communications, a $200 million rural local telephone company until its acquisition by Century Tel in April 2007. He has also served on the boards of the National Hemophilia Foundation and the Kansas City Institute of Art. While Naples, FL. is their primary residence, Pete and his wife Liz have a home in Albany, Vermont. Their son, Daniel, graduated from Sterling.
Matthew Allen Derr is the 11th President of the College. Prior to taking up his new role at Sterling, President Derr served as visiting fellow with the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA), an alliance of 13 selective, independent, colleges that works to strengthen learning in the tradition of the liberal arts. President Derr came to the GLCA from his post as Interim President of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, having led an alumni effort to revitalize and reopen the college, an effort that raised more than $20 million in giving and transferred assets of over $50 million.
In 2011 President Derr was awarded the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Chief Executive of the Year award for the Midwest for his work on behalf of Antioch and the GLCA.
Earlier in his career, President Derr served in fundraising and enrollment roles at Earlham College, Connecticut College, The Boston Conservatory, and for twelve years at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. The Sterling College Board of Trustees appointed Mr. Derr from a large pool of highly qualified applicants because of his demonstrated expertise in institutional advancement, enrollment planning, and most significantly his background in institutional planning at similar institutions.
President Derr holds a Bachelor of Art in History from Antioch College, an M.S.W. in Community Organizing from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and has further studies at the George Heyman Center for Philanthropy at New York University.
Matthew and his partner Julian Sharp moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Craftsbury Common in August 2012.
Richard Detweiler, Ph.D. is the president of the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA), an alliance of thirteen selective, independent, colleges and universities that works to strengthen learning in the tradition of the liberal arts: creating analytic thinkers and engaged citizens. He also holds an appointment as a foundation fellow at Oxford University’s Harris Manchester College. Rick is a social psychologist specializing in intercultural relations with advanced degrees from Princeton University (M.A., 1972 and Ph.D. 1973).
Previously Rick was a distinguished fellow and interim president of the Council on Library and Information Resources in Washington, DC; president and professor of psychology at Hartwick College in New York where he is president emeritus); and vice president and professor of psychology at Drew University in New Jersey. He served as Peace Corps volunteer in the Eastern Caroline Islands from 1968-70, and subsequently as a Peace Corps trainer. Professionally he has been an active researcher, consultant, and author in higher education, institutional planning and research, intercultural relations, international education, and psychology. He has published dozens of articles related to higher education, psychology, and intercultural relations, and speaks frequently on issues related to the future of higher education and the values of the liberal arts. He was a founding dean of the higher education Frye Leadership Institute, and has served as a board member of many higher education organizations.
Catherine Donnelly, Ph.D. is a Professor of Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Vermont. She currently serves as the Associate Director for the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese and previously served as the Associate Director for the Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship, a research consortium between Cornell University and the University of Vermont.
Cathy and her husband, Scott, own The Lakeview Inn, on Caspian Lake in Greensboro. The Lakeview Inn supports Vermont’s working landscape by providing a study center to promote local and regional food products produced by small-scale food entrepreneurs. Sterling hold a Senior Dinner on the beautiful grounds of the Inn each spring.
John Elder, Ph.D. holds a doctorate and M.Phil. from Yale University, and a B.A. from Pomona College. He is a faculty member of Middlebury and Bread Loaf School of English and has taught English and Environmental Studies at Middlebury College since 1973. John’s main areas of interest as a teacher include American nature writing, romantic and modern poetry, Basho and the haiku tradition, and the history of conservation in America. His three most recent books (Reading the Mountains of Home, The Frog Run, and Pilgrimage to Vallombrosa) form a sequence combining discussion of literature, description of the Vermont landscape, and personal memoir. He is presently completing a book on Hurricane Katrina and the future of the environmental movement.
John and his wife Rita live in the village of Bristol, Vermont. They are active in local conservation initiatives and also operate a sugaring operation with their grown children in the hills of Starksboro. Sterling College is thus highly attractive to them, both because of its interdisciplinary curriculum and because of the emphasis placed on the practical skills of stewardship.
Melissa Fisher '00 is the outgoing Chief Operating Officer for Friends of the High Line – the non-profit conservancy group dedicated to preserving and maintaining the High Line as an innovative public park visited by millions of New Yorkers and tourists each year.
Melissa discovered what she calls “the profound connection between people and plants” as an undergraduate at Dartmouth, where she helped found the Dartmouth Organic Farm. She made the inspired decision to transfer in her senior year to Sterling College in order to further focus on sustainability and place through the context of experiential education. Melissa is fluent in Swahili, rides a motorcycle, and spent four years fixing up a Brooklyn brownstone with her husband, Thabo, and their friends. She and Thabo are now bound for Virginia, where they plan to begin work on an exciting land development project on Thabo’s grandfather’s farm.
Rian Fried is co-founder of Clean Yield Asset Management, and president of Clean Yield Group, Inc. Prior to founding Clean Yield in 1984, Rian directed the Brockton Regional Economic Development Corporation, an organization that coordinated and funded economic data research projects. He holds a Master's degree from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan.
Rian has served as a selectman in Stannard, Vermont, and on the Planning Commission. Statewide he has served on the board of the Vermont Community Loan Fund and the advisory board of Chittenden Bank's Socially Responsible Banking Fund, and several other boards. His columns on financial affairs have appeared in local and national newsletters.
Stephanie George '06 is a nursing student at the University of Vermont. After Phillips Exeter Academy, she began her undergraduate education at Bowdoin College as a pre-med major. During her sophomore year, she participated in a semester abroad program in Australia with NOLS, the National Outdoor Leadership School. Stephanie credits that experience with her discovery that health goes beyond the human body to encompass the food that we eat and the environment in which we live. After the NOLS semester, Stephanie transferred to Sterling. Stephanie lives in Burlington, VT with her fiancé, Brandon Angrisani - the former Livestock & Pasture Manager at Sterling.
Kenneth Gibbons is the former President and CEO of Union Bank and the chairman of Union Bankshares, the parent company of Union Bank. He began his banking career in 1965 in Massachusetts and has worked in all areas of banking over the years. In 1975 Ken moved to Vermont, and joined Union Bank in 1984 as Vice President of Commercial Lending. He has served on many committees of the Vermont Bankers Association and is a past Chair of the Association’s Board of Directors. He has also been actively involved with the American Bankers Association and in 2011 he received the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vermont Small Business Administration.
Ken and his wife, Janet, reside in Hyde Park, enjoy boating on Lake Champlain, and keep busy by volunteering in the Morrisville area. Some of the non-profit groups Ken has donated his time and expertise towards include the Craftsbury Community Care Center, the Johnson Friends of the Arts, the Hyde Park Improvement Association, the Bliss Library Fund, The Village of Hyde Park, the Hyde Park Water & Light Department and the Lamoille Business and Educational Training Alliance. He also has a thirty-plus year association with Copley Hospital and has served on the Boards of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce and the Vermont Education and Health Buildings Finance Agency.
Thaddeus Guldbrandsen, Ph.D. is the founding director of the Center for Rural Partnerships and a member of the faculty of Social Science and Environmental Science & Policy at Plymouth State University. He is co-author of the award winning book Local Democracy Under Siege: Activism, Public Interests, and Private Politics (NYU Press 2007) and several other articles and book chapters on topics related to globalization, local democracy, regionalism, sustainable development, and social inequality.
Thad has been instrumental in helping to develop the Northern Forest Higher Education Resource Network (NFHERN). Formed in 2009, NFHERN is “a diverse group of college faculty, administrators and community advocates committed to strengthening the ties between rural universities and the communities we serve.” Sterling is a member of NFHERN’s steering committee, and Dean Pavel Cenkl has worked closely with Thad to build up the organization. President Will Wootton recently attended NFHERN’s second annual meeting, and participated in a roundtable of college and university presidents from across the region.
Ann Guyer has recently retired from thirty years as CEO and president of Professional Communication Systems, Inc., a national direct marketing firm serving the top publishing, nonprofit, educational, legal and healthcare organizations. Currently, Ann is a senior volunteer consultant to the Center for Women & Enterprise in Boston, helping developing, changing and emerging businesses. A lifelong artist, collector of art, supporter of several arts organizations, AIDS concerns, political initiatives and athletic organizations, she is a former trustee of Montserrat College of Art, active in governance, finance, and development committees. She has been a member of the Arts and Business Council of Boston auction committee, a participant in the Gifted Women's Initiative of Ambassador Swanee Hunt, and a seven-time award recipient of Top 100 Women Owned Businesses by Babson College and The Commonwealth Institute. Ann's ongoing affection for Vermont began over 20 years ago when she commenced a decade of autumns studying and painting its landscape.
Christina Hayward '05, is a certified equine nutrition specialist. Her practical skills, learned at Sterling, are often applied on the family farm in Middlesex, which she runs with her husband, Zachary Hayward, '04, and their children Kaelyn and Gregory. They have numerous farm animals, a garden, and raise poultry and beef. Her interests include art, photography and biological illustrations for publications.
Christina graduated from Sterling with a B.A. in Wildlands Ecology and Management and was a plant science teaching assistant at Sterling, where she found her passion focusing on invasive aquatic plant species in the waterways of Vermont and Maine. She worked with the Maine Center for Invasive Aquatic Species and the Lake Eligo Milfoil Removal Project. She has also worked extensively with Shire draft horses and as a verterinary assistant.
Wendy Koenig, J.D., has a broad range of experience relating to higher education, politics and business. She entered the lobbying realm as an associate with The Direct Impact Company, a grass-roots lobbying firm in Virginia. While there, she tracked and monitored legislation and gathered support for defense appropriation issues. Wendy later joined R.H. Perry & Associates, a higher education executive search & consulting firm based in Washington, DC. There she engaged in all aspects of the search process, including proposal research and candidate interviewing. Before joining the Association of Vermont Independent Colleges, she served as Director of the Manhattan office of Brain Trust, an innovative staffing agency for the IT and new media fields. Currently, Wendy is the Federal Relations Officer for the University of Vermont.
Wendy graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Foreign Language (Spanish) and received her J.D. from Catholic University of America.
Jonathan Larsen holds a B.A. and an M.A.T from Harvard, and worked for several years as a correspondent and editor at Time Magazine. In the early 1970s, he served as Saigon bureau chief, covering among other things the disintegration of the U.S. Army and the corruption of the South Vietnamese government. From 1974 through 1978, Jon edited the national biweekly, New Times. When it folded in 1979, he was named a Nieman Fellow at Harvard and followed that up with the editor’s position at Village Voice in the early ‘90s. Since then, Jon has kept busy freelancing for such publications as the Columbia Journalism Review and Amicus Journal.
Jon has extensive board experience. He served on the Natural Resources Defense Council for over 20 years, and was conferred with honorary trustee status. On the Cambridge College Board, in Massachusetts, he has served six years as chairman. For many years, Jon judged for the John Oakes Award, a recognition given for environmental journalism. He lives in New York City and Moretown, Vermont.
Penny Schmitt worked in the New York City advertising world, first at J. Walter Thompson, then at Medical News, and then with Geer, Dubois. She was an account supervisor on New England Life Foster Grant, American Petrofina, and Teacher’s Scotch. Her community work extended to the Community Planning Board 8, representing the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Eventually she specialized in institutional expansion within the district, working with hospitals and their impacts on their surroundings. She also headed communications for the Rat Control Project for the City of New York, working with the NYC Health and Police Departments. She says she “learned a lot, and not just about rats.” In 1973, she bought, with her husband Michael, the Inn on the Common in Craftsbury Common. After a long, mostly enjoyable run, they sold the Inn in 2003. Penny holds a B.A. from Bryn Mawr, and attended high school at Miss Porter’s in Farmington, CT.
Robert Shelton, J.D., is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oberlin College and of Harvard Law School. He was a senior partner in the law firm of Venable LLP, practicing in its Baltimore and Washington offices. In the course of his career Bob has represented banks, hospitals, electric utilities, various corporate entities and a number of educational institutions, including Johns Hopkins University. He was a reserve officer in the United States Naval Reserve and in 1974 he served as Associate Special Counsel, House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Impeachment Inquiry, regarding the impeachment of Richard M. Nixon. Bob currently is a partner in the firm Shelton and Carey.
Bob is a long time trustee and former Chair of The Maryland Institute College of Art and serves as a trustee of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and Hospital. For many years he was a trustee of the Dome Corporation, the for-profit affiliate of The Johns Hopkins Institutions. At Sterling, he is the Chair of the Board. Bob owns a home in Craftsbury Common where he is very pleased to be a part time resident.
Tom Stearns began gardening at an early age at his family home in CT. Prior to completing a degree in Sustainable Agriculture from Prescott College in AZ, he began saving seeds. A hobby was born in 1996 in Vermont, when Tom began sharing these seeds with others through a small seed flyer. High Mowing Organic Seeds has since expanded into one of the leading organic seed companies in the U.S., supplying both home gardeners and commercial growers.
Tom’s vision has always been to create a company that would help support the re-building of healthy food systems, first in Vermont, followed by the rest of the U.S. He has also taught numerous workshops since 1996 on many topics such as ag. education, economics, community supported agriculture, genetic engineering, plant breeding, local food systems, sustainable business, investing and more. His informal, personal style, ability to explain complex issues and infectious enthusiasm makes him a popular and inspiring speaker.
In addition, he has served on the board of several agricultural organizations, most notably as the current President of The Center for an Agricultural Economy since 2008. He lives on 50 acres in Vermont, with his wife Heather, and their two girls, Ruby and Cora.
Dave Stoner, M.B.A, earned his B.S. from Indiana University and his Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He has enjoyed multiple careers: 27 years with Towers Perrin, concentrating on international consulting assignments in the area of human resource management; 5 years with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), serving as Executive Director of the General Assembly Council; and 10 years of volunteer work as a Partnership Consultant of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan.
Dave chaired the very successful capital campaign for the Craftsbury Public Library's new building. He is involved in local civic activities and serves on a number of local and regional boards for non-profit organizations. He lives in Craftsbury Common with his wife, Jenny. They enjoy three married children and seven grandchildren, who live in Maryland, New Hampshire, and Brazil.
Julie Wormser '86 – Julie is the Executive Director of the Boston Harbor Association, a non-profit organization that focuses on promoting a clean, alive and accessible Boston Harbor. She was born in Salem, MA, and grew up three blocks from the ocean.
After studying forestry and agriculture at Sterling College, Julie finished up her bachelor's degree in biology at Swarthmore College. She later received a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. For a brief period in the early 1990s Julie served on the Sterling College faculty, teaching a range of subjects and leading an Expedition group before returning to Massachusetts to work in land conservation.
Julie's career is devoted to environmental stewardship, with a focus on activism and policy. Prior to her position with the Boston Harbor Association, Julie managed the Environmental Defense Fund's Oceans program for the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions, leading a team of people with backgrounds in marine biology, public policy, law, business and communications.
Julie and her husband, a Unitarian minister, now live in Cambridge, MA, with their young daughter and a flock of backyard chickens. Although she claims to have no depth perception, Julie regularly uses a kick scooter to zip around the Boston waterfront.
Trustees Emeriti
David Behrend '60, is one of the original Sterling School students from 1958. He served on the Sterling Board of Trustees from 1969 to 1998 and helped build the bridges between Sterling School alumni and Sterling College. Dave was instrumental in planning many of the School’s reunions, starting with its 20th reunion and was co-chair of the 50th Sterling reunion held in October 2008. He is the Director of Career Planning Services for Lawyers, in Ardmore, Pa., serving the needs of lawyers who are going through employment and career transitions. His wife, Dona has a Ph.D. from Penn, and is a public historian and museum curator. They live in Bryn Mawr, Pa. and between them have five adult children. They summer in Ludlow, VT.
Susan C. Bryant recently retired as Head of School for the Chestnut Hill School in Massachusetts. At Sterling, she served as chair of the board of trustees. Sue’s professional education, which began with a B.S. in child development and early childhood education from Wheelock College, culminated in 1996 with a M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she concentrated in teaching and learning. She has filled many roles over her 25 years in education, including those in admissions, development, academic advising, guidance counseling, and teaching classes from kindergarten through twelfth grade. In 1994, Sue served as Acting Head of Tenacre Country Day School in Wellesley. She has also been active in the Association of Independent Schools in New England and “A Better Chance,” a nonprofit school placement service for minority students. She is currently a member of the Corporation of Tenacre School. She and her husband Carl have two children, Sarah and Reid (Sterling Class of ’00).
Marvin Brown, Alumni Parent ’85 is retired from an investment career in New York City. He served as Chair of the Sterling Board of Trustees and during his tenure, the Brown Library was constructed. He and his wife Linda live in Craftsbury Common. Their daughter Farley Brown (Sterling Class of ’85) is on the faculty of Sterling College.
Lewis Cohen is the President/CEO of an industrial security firm in the Boston area, with additional business interests in California, Israel and Vermont. He is a 1969 graduate of Babson College and a 1974 graduate of Vanderbilt University Owen School of Management, majoring in Corporate Social Responsibility. He and his wife, Phyllis, are involved in many philanthropic and charitable organizations, including: The Fund for Philanthropy & Education, Close to Home, Social Innovation Forum, The Institute for Jewish and Community Research, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center. Their son, Ben, is an alumnus of Sterling College (1996) and Norwich University (1998), where he graduated magna cum laude. Their daughter Liza graduated from Barnard, May 1995.
George J. Hill, M.D., D.Litt., Alumni Parent ’85, father of Helena (Sterling Class of '85), served as Professor of Surgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, Marshall University School of Medicine, and the New Jersey Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Dr. Hill was a member of the Board of Trustees of Sterling College from 1990 to 2002, and he was Interim President of the College in 1996. Dr. Hill and his wife, Dr. Helene Hill, live in West Orange, N.J. Dr. Hill is the author of several books, the latest of which is Edison's Environment: Invention and Pollution in the Career of Thomas Edison, published in 2007. The Hill family owns and operates a nationally-certified tree farm in Eaton, N.H.
Jackson Kytle, Ph.D., graduated from Middlebury College and earned a doctorate in Social Psychology at Columbia University (attending during the time of the campus uprising in the 60’s). He left Manhattan to work for Antioch University in different roles including Provost and Vice President before coming back to Vermont as President of Goddard College from 1990-94. Following his job as Dean and Vice President at Vermont College in Montpelier, he served as Deputy Provost for The New School in NYC and is now the HealthCare Chaplaincy, which educates chaplains for area hospitals. He lives in New York and Stowe, VT, with his wife Tari Prinster.
Peter Albert McKay, J.D. '63 is a lawyer in New York City. He is a former Sterling Chairman of the Board of Trustees and has helped Dave Behrend build the bridges between Sterling School and Sterling College. Peter notes that, thanks to many Sundays watching Italian television, an Italian friend at the office, and an excellent, dog-eared, manhandled dictionary, his Italian is as good as his Spanish and he now has the good fortune to be able to follow the Italian dialogue at the Opera House.
Virginia de Ganahl Russell is the owner of Natural Elegance, Inc., a marble products company based in Brandon, VT, with international connections in Asia. Her abiding interests include Vermont politics and world travel. Virginia is authoring a book; the working title is At My Mother’s Knee, “dedicated to manners in the business world which were taught by our mothers when we were young.” She was first elected to the Board in 1987 and served as Chair from 1991 to 1994. She then was elected to Emeritus status and in 1999 was reelected to the Board. Virginia also served as chair of the College’s recent, successful Capital Campaign. Virginia and her husband Charles Kimmel reside in Vero Beach, FL during winter. Four of her seven children live in Vermont; she has 13 grandchildren.
Mark Schroeder, Ph.D. earned a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science from the University of Vermont in 1958. After working on a beef and poultry farm, and in an orchard, he operated a small dairy farm. In 1962 he joined the first Peace Corps group to Nepal where he helped set up a Government Experimental Farm. He then went to Cornell where he received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics in 1968. Mark was the economist on the team that produced the first draft of the Vermont State Land Use Plan in 1971, and was on the joint FAO/World Bank/UNDP team evaluating the Community Forestry Program in Nepal. Mark was also a partner in a successful seed, feed and fertilizer business. He and his wife, Sukey, live in Belvidere, Vermont where they raised their three children on their farm.
