Paul Costello

Paul Costello has served as the Executive Director of the Vermont Council on Rural Development since 2000. VCRD runs an annual Rural Summit, and conducts “Community Visits” that help rural communities build priorities, set action plans, and build connections to resources. It also provides customized facilitation on rural development policy at the local, regional and state level. Costello is a native Vermonter who attended UVM before earning a PhD in intellectual history at McGill. He has served on boards ranging from corrections education to cooperatives and libraries, and is currently committed to the boards of Vermont Rural Ventures, the Center for an Agricultural Economy, Partners for Rural America and co-chairs the Governor’s Climate Action Commission.