BRATTLEBORO — BRATTLEBORO - The Windham & Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT) held its 24th annual meeting on June 9 and elected five new board members to its expanded organization, as well as two new advisory members.
WWHT serves both Windham and southern Windsor County out of its offices in Brattleboro and Springfield.
“The addition of these members will help ensure representation for our entire service area,” said Connie Snow, executive director of WWHT. “We are so fortunate to have with us people who are so well known in their communities, and who can bring a breadth of experience and expertise to the work that we do. All seven new members believe in and support our mission.”
New board members include:
• Dan Yates, president of Brattleboro Savings & Loan (BS&L), and a longtime supporter of the Windham Housing Trust, is one of the new southern members of WWHT. BS&L serves the Brattleboro community and operates The Springfield Savings & Loan, which is located directly across the street from WWHT's new Springfield Office.
• Teta Hilsdon, operations manager of the Brattleboro Museum and Arts Center. She is a self-employed potter, and adds both to the Brattleboro representation and to the development committee.
• Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield. She has served in the Vermont House of Representatives since 1983 and, as a native of Springfield, she brings a lifetime of knowledge of the Springfield area.
• Barbara Ternes, director of Parks Place in Rockingham, an organization with a long-standing history and reputation for serving the community of Rockingham.
• Jeanette Staley, who has served on the boards of Westminster Cares and the Village of North Westminster. She currently works at the Harlow Farm Kitchen in Westminster.
In addition, two advisory members will serve on the board:
• Richard Crocker, a contractor from Chester who currently serves on the Board of Vermont Legal Aid and the Vestry of St. Luke's Episcopal Church. He has served on the Rockingham Area Land Trust Board for the past 17 years, many of those years as board chair. He is the current 2011 recipient of the Thomas C. Yahn Housing Leadership Award for his work on behalf of affordable housing.
• Ron Theissen, a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Financial Planner from Chester. He is the owner of Skygate Financial Group, LLC, and Ronald J. Theissen, CPA, CFP, and brings his many years of experience working on affordable housing.
These seven members join the existing WWHT board, which includes Bruce Abrams, Larry Cassidy, Elizabeth Fisher, Claudette Hollenbeck, Mary Houghton, Andrew Jacobek, Sherri Keefe, Drew Richards, Jeff Shumlin, and Whit Wheeler.
For more information on the programs and work of the Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, visit www.w-wht.org.