Vermont Public Radio has elected four new members to its Board of Directors to serve three-year terms:
Charlie Browne of Barnet is director emeritus of the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium in St. Johnsbury, following a 35-year career at the museum, including 21 years as executive director until his retirement in 2013. He served as a founding board member of the Vermont Museum and Gallery Alliance and was its president from 1987-1991. He also served as a director of the New England Museum Association (NEMA), including service as treasurer (1994-1996) and president (1996-1998); on the American Association of Museums as an accreditation peer reviewer (received Excellence in Peer Review Award, 2006); and as a member of the National Program Committee (2007-2009). Browne’s initiatives at the Fairbanks Museum included the popular Eye on the Sky weather program, installation of the new digital Lyman Spitzer Jr. Planetarium, the creation of the Balch Nature School for preschoolers and the Museum’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Dr. Peggy Williams of Johnson served for 11 years as the first female president of Ithaca College. Prior to that she was president of Lyndon State College for eight years. Williams is a citizen of both the U.S. and Canada, having lived in the United States since 1968. She began her career as a social worker, and upon entering the field of higher education she held various faculty and administrative positions within the Vermont State College system and at Trinity College in Burlington. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from St. Michael’s College of the University of Toronto, master of education degree from the University of Vermont, and a doctorate in administration, planning and social policy from Harvard University.
Nancy Rowden Brock of Waterbury has diverse leadership, management and business experience, having held financial leadership positions with responsibility for accounting, treasury, capital structuring, cash management and investment portfolio management in various industries and organizations. She has served as chief financial officer of three publicly-traded companies and on the boards of directors of several not-for-profit organizations. She began her career in the finance department of the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, having received her B.A. from Dartmouth College. She earned an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan while working at Ford. A native of Vermont, Brock returned to her home state to join Chittenden Corporation. More recently, she served as chief financial officer of St. Michael’s College and of World Learning, an accredited educational institution and grant-funded NGO that provides education, exchange and development programs in over 70 countries. She was a director of Vermont Teddy Bear where she chaired the audit committee and served on the sales committee. She is a former director of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation and she served on the committee overseeing sale of the plant and negotiation of a long-term power supply contract from the buyer.
Wayne Granquist of Weston is a consultant to non-profit organizations on strategic planning, governance and management-board relations. A graduate of Tufts University and Harvard Law School, his career in government included posts as chief of staff to U.S. Senator Abraham Ribicoff and as associate director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in the Carter White House. He was president of the Fairfield County National Bank of Connecticut, and after moving to Vermont in 1983, was co-owner and president of Stratton Mountain. After the sale of Stratton in 1990, he joined Manchester Capital Management as a partner and managing director. Granquist has been chair of the board of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and is chair emeritus of the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, where he chairs the company’s capital campaign. He was the founding chair of the Vermont Economic Progress Commission (VEPC), chaired a commission on efficiency in government for Gov. Madeleine Kunin, was a member of Gov. Howard Dean’s Council of Economic Advisers and a senior staff member of Gov. Dean’s Presidential campaign.
The Vermont Public Radio Board of Directors is the entity legally responsible for the governance of VPR as a nonprofit corporation. It also holds the FCC broadcast licenses for the radio stations operating as VPR.
Board members are selected for their commitment to the mission and goals of VPR, and for their expertise in various fields. The individual directors serve as volunteers, and they meet in formal session each year at various locations around the region.
