Board Members
In addition to providing strategic direction, the VYCC Board of Trustees is the backbone to developing community relations and partnerships by volunteering their time, knowledge, and expertise. Meet our Board of Directors.
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Richard W. Darby, Board Chair
Richard W. Darby has been on the VYCC board since 2003 and is serving as the current chair. An avid outdoorsman, Rick brings an adventurous spirit, a genuine appreciation for the natural world, and a thoughtful decisiveness to his leadership role on behalf of the VYCC. When not playing or serving as an effective ambassador for VYCC, Rick is a founding partner of and practices law in the firm of Darby Stearns Thorndike Kolter & Ware, LLP with offices in Waterbury and Stowe. Rick graduated from the United States Military Academy (B.S., 1966), and the University of Minnesota Law School (J.D., 1973). Rick was a Captain in the U.S. Army, serving from 1966-1970. He is past chair of the Waterbury Planning Commission, and is currently a director of the Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation. He has also served as director and officer of the following Waterbury community organizations: Revitalizing Waterbury, Waterbury Rotary Club, Waterbury Area Senior Citizens Association, and Harwood Youth Hockey Association.
David Conard, Vice Chair
David grew up in Vershire, Vermont, where his parents founded and ran The Mountain School, a rigorous college-preparatory boarding and day school emphasizing environmentalism and sustainability. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and his law degree from the University of Colorado.
After graduating from law school in 1986, David returned to Vermont and has practiced real estate and construction law in Burlington since then. He is currently a partner in the Burlington office of Langrock Sperry & Wool, where he represents clients in all aspects of real estate law including acquisition and financing, permitting, and land title litigation. He represents contractors, architects and owners in negotiating and administering construction contracts, as well as resolving construction disputes, whether through litigation or arbitration. David regularly represents commercial lenders in financing real estate development and construction projects. He also provides mediation and arbitration services in construction and real estate matters.
In addition to being a trustee of the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, David is a board member and past president of the Committee on Temporary Shelter, a Burlington based non-profit organization which provides services to the homeless and those at risk of homelessness. He has also served on committees of the Vermont Bar Association and is a past president of the Chittenden County Bar Association.
David indulges his passion for wooden boats on Lake Champlain and, more often, in his woodworking shop. He actively enjoys Vermont's outdoors on bicycles and skis. He lives in Shelburne with his wife and three children.
Rich McGarry, Treasurer
Rich McGarry lives in Chittenden Vermont with his wife Jay and 14 year old son Braeden. A 28 year ski industry veteran, Rich left Killington in 2008 after nine years as VP and General Manager, and purchased a Tack shop in Shaftsbury Vermont with his wife Jay which specializes in providing handmade saddles for hard to fit horses. Rich has been on the board of the VYCC since 1996 and has served as treasurer since 1999.
Matt Fargo, Secretary
Matt is a telecommunications specialist. His company, The Final Connection, serves the Vermont business community by providing analysis, equipment, and implementation services to improve and support voice and data communication systems. Over 50% of The Final Connection’s work focuses on supporting nonprofit organizations. Prior to starting The Final Connection 13 yrs ago, Matt worked for AT&T and Lucent Technologies.
In the spring of 1992, Matt was introduced to Thomas Hark and the mission of “personal responsibility” taught by the VYCC. Tom's plans for the future engaged Matt's enthusiastic support from the start. Participating in and supporting the evolution of the VYCC and the establishment of its permanent home at The Monitor Barn in Richmond has been one of Matt’s greatest joys. Observing the increasing demand for VYCC programs throughout Vermont is yet another realization of the VYCC’s vision that had so excited Matt back in 1992. Matt also serves on the board of the Hart Foundation, a small foundation which supports environmental and social initiatives.
Matt lives in Westford, Vermont with his wife Lisa and their son Griffen and daughter Taylor (VYCC '04). Depending on the season, when it is time to play, you can find Matt either Ski Patrolling at Smuggs or riding his mountain bike.
Caroline Wadhams Bennett, Immediate Past Board Chair and Founding Trustee
Caroline grew up in Burlington, Vermont where her family moved in 1948 when her father bought the Lake Champlain Transportation Company with his long-time friend, Lew Evans, husband of VYCC Founder, Dot Evans. Caroline is the oldest of six siblings and is childfree with two cats. Her alma mater is Wellesley College where in 1962 she received a B.A. in History. After graduation, Caroline spent a year in London on an exchange program with the BBC. From London she went to Rome where she lived and worked for two more years, learning Italian in the process. In 1965, Caroline moved to Cambridge, Mass. to work at Arthur D. Little, a management-consulting firm. In 1970, she started a small production business with a partner in Harvard Square. She and her husband Peter, who also grew up in Burlington, returned to Vermont in 1989.
Upon her return, she was asked by Dot Evans to join the VYCC board. Caroline has also been a board member and past chair of the UVM Lane Series. She is the past chair and presently serving her ninth year on the board of the Northern Vermont Chapter of the American Red Cross. She loves animals. Caroline's other interests include skiing and hiking, gardening and birding, singing and music from Blue Grass to Bach, and reading everything from mysteries to history.
Caroline has served on the Board in a number of leadership roles since 1989, including the Campaign Committee Member, Chair of the Nominations Committee, and Board Vice-Chair. In 2009 she transitioned into her new role, as Chair of the Board! Her infectious enthusiasm, creative problem solving, and rock solid belief in the mission and day to day work of the VYCC has inspired all of us who have worked and laughed with her over the years!
Tom Johnson
Long ago I attended Williams College in Massachusetts where I discovered the great New England outdoors. I discovered the Sierras during graduate work at Stanford University. After stints as a freelance journalist, filmmaker, media consultant, and a teaching position as Director of Media Studies at Antioch College-Baltimore, I settled down in New York City and co-Produced and Directed a series of documentary films for theatrical and television release.
In 2001 I finally became a full-time Vermonter. In this most recent and very fulfilling chapter of my life, I am involved in philanthropy, civic engagement, and environmental health projects here in Vermont, and in the other places I call home.
Currently, I serve on the board of two foundations active in the fields of environmental health, youth and community development, and social change media. I am Clerk of the Board of the Robert Flaherty International Film Seminars and was twice President. I have served on the Board of Trustees of Bethany College in Bethany West Virginia since 1991 where I am on the Executive Committee. In September 2006 I joined the Board of Green Mountain College in my hometown of Poultney where I live with my partner Ina Smith and two cats. I have one son, Asa, who has a guest room for me in New York City.
Denise Barnard
Profile coming soon!
Liz Foster
Liz, born and raised in upstate New York, became a Vermonter in the same way as many in Chittenden County: she came to UVM and realized after graduating that she wanted to stay. She married Jim Foster, a Vermont native, and they settled in Hinesburg, where they raised a family (two children and a passel of dogs). Now in Charlotte, with grown children living in Colorado, Liz spends her time volunteering for several non-profits, running marathons and traveling as much as possible.
Her business life started at the Chittenden Bank followed by Rossignol Ski Company. After the kids went away to school, she operated a home-based stationery and gift company, using the business to generate income to support her favorite causes. In addition to having been District Commissioner of the local Pony Club and a mentor at King Street Youth Center, she has been actively involved with the Humane Society for many years, where she was instrumental in the successful fundraising campaign to build a new shelter. She has volunteered in a Guatemalan orphanage, and has recently returned from her third annual trip to Honduras where she volunteers with Hands to Honduras, a Shelburne/Charlotte Rotary project. Kids and animals are her passions.
Paul Haskell
Paul Haskell is an organizational transformation consultant and an advocate for justice and opportunity for Vermont youth. His career includes a decade with several local United Ways where he was a persistent pain in the side of those more interested in personal gain than making communities better. He left United Way shortly before William Aramony was charged with 25 counts of fraud and tax evasion. He spent the next dozen years converting a small town shelter into a multifaceted national model serving homeless adults, families, and youth in Southern Maine. During this period he served on the board of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, DC where he was a vociferous advocate for expanded healthcare for the homeless.
Most recently Paul transformed the Windsor County Court Diversion program into a comprehensive community-based justice organization emphasizing therapeutic and developmental interventions. Recognizing the importance of personal responsibility, social capital and skill building, Paul and his staff worked closely with the VYCC to engage youthful offenders in the summer program. In less than four years, he cut offender recidivism by seventy percent.
Paul is currently the chair of the Council on Youth of the Vermont Human Resources Investment Council. On a local level he serves on the Town of Sharon's Planning Commission and the town's representative to the Vermont State Police's Community Policing Initiative. He also serves on a variety of non-profit organization boards in Vermont and New Hampshire.
He lives in Sharon, where he is restoring an 1840s farmhouse.
Stacy Fender
Stacy works as a Fundraising consultant for IDC, an annual consulting firm that represents the University of Vermont and other organizations nationwide. Stacy grew up in Washington state, attended and graduated from the University of Idaho-Moscow, and has also lived in Hawaii and Indiana. Although she has tested out several areas of the country, she fell in love with Vermont and has called Burlington home for the last two years.
Stacy is currently pursuing a Master’s in Philanthropy and Development from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in a distance learning and summer residency program. Her passion for education and fostering personal responsibility among youth, paired with her desire to make a difference through fundraising, led her to meet with Tom Hark in early 2008; by the end of the year, Stacy had joined the board at the VYCC.
In her spare time Stacy enjoys indoor and outdoor, summer and winter sports, especially ones that she can do with her dog, Maggie.
Nicole Gorman
Profile coming soon!
Kris Roomet
Kris is an attorney at Paul Frank + Collins in Burlington, where she focuses her practice in the areas of environmental law, land use, property and development, and litigation. Kris grew up in Hinesburg and spent much of her childhood working on sheep and horse farms. Prior to attending law school, Kris worked with several non-profit organizations, including the Hinesburg Land Trust and a bicycling non-profit in Oregon. After attending school in New York and Boston, she has returned to Vermont to make it her home.
In 2010, Kris’ commitment to conservation and belief in development of youth through hands-on work steered her to become involved with the VYCC. In addition to her involvement with the VYCC, Kris serves on the board of the Catamount Trail Association.
Linda McGinnis
Linda McGinnis is the newest member of the VYCC board who recently moved to Burlington from New Delhi, India (2010). She is a development economist and an advocate for children and youth around the world. For the past 25 years, she has been working in the field of international development, with a particular focus on issues of education, youth development, environment and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Her early years in the Peace Corps (way back when Burkina Faso was Upper Volta) inspired her to continue in that vein for her graduate studies and career. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, a Masters in Economic Policy from Paris, and a Masters in Public Administration from Princeton University. She worked for the US Agency for International Development in Kenya, then with the World Bank in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and South Asia. Her positions in the World Bank ranged from Country Director for Mali to Lead Economist on Children and Youth for all regions. She has authored a number of papers and articles on a range of sustainable development topics. She is also the co-founder of a global education NGO, called World Links, assisting underprivileged schools in low-income countries to use technology to improve teaching, education and mutual understanding among youth around the world. She is married to Sam Carlson, and is the proud mother of three children, Maya, Misha and Sean.
Linda is thrilled to become a part of VYCC at a time when youth leadership, education, and the environment are key to defining the future of her new home here in Vermont. She has also recently become a family sponsor for the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, and loves yoga, pottery, reading, skiing, good (local!) food, travel, singing, theater, languages, and most of all, watching her family enjoy all the wonderful things that Vermont has to offer.