Vermont Public Chief Operating Officer Brendan Kinney has been hired as the new CEO of VTDigger’s parent organization.
Kinney is among Vermont Public’s most experienced leaders. He spent 16 years at the merged Vermont Public and one of its predecessors, Vermont Public Radio. Most of that time was spent supervising the organizations’ development efforts.
Kinney served as interim CEO for one year, and was named COO shortly after Vermont Public’s Board of Directors hired Vijay Singh as permanent CEO in August 2024.
“Vermont Public has given me 16 amazing years, and I have incredible gratitude for all of the opportunities that Vermont Public has given me,” Kinney said in an interview. “I don’t feel like I’m leaving as much as I’m starting the next chapter of the same story, which is serving Vermonters through media that matters. I feel like I’ve given [Vermont Public] everything I’ve got, and knowing that I’ve got maybe 10 good years left in my professional career, I want to put that experience and expertise to good use.”
Kinney grew up in Randolph, graduated from Saint Michael’s College, and lives in Essex.
He takes over as CEO of the Vermont Journalism Trust, VTDigger’s parent organization, after a period of turmoil for the digital news operation.
Editor-in-Chief Geeta Arnand is departing after less than a year in the role, the latest in a string of newsroom departures in recent years. Veteran Vermont journalist Susan Allen is scheduled to serve as interim editor-in-chief for a year starting this summer.
Contract negotiations between the organization and the union representing newsroom employees became publicly testy before a four-year agreement was announced in April.
And the organization has lost money in recent years, though its losses narrowed in 2024, the last year for which tax filings have been made public.
Kinney said that recent conversations with Digger staff and board members have given him “great confidence” in the organization’s future.
“I’ve gotten used to navigating existential challenges. That’s my day job,” he said. Kinney has served in leadership capacity at Vermont Public as the organization has gone through a merger, suffered its own financial losses, and laid off 14% of its workforce last year.
“I can’t think of any media organization that hasn’t gone through some turmoil in the last few years,” Kinney said. “I think that local journalism is really the connective tissue of a healthy democracy, and I think Vermont Public and VTDigger are critical pieces of that infrastructure for Vermont. We have the awesome responsibility to figure it out.”
Gaye Symington, president of the Vermont Journalism Trust Board of Trustees, praised Kinney in a prepared statement.
“Brendan has impressed us as a people-focused leader, who brings out the best in the people who work with and for him and builds trusting relationships with audiences throughout Vermont and beyond, as well as donors and community leaders,” Symington said.
Outgoing Vermont Journalism Trust CEO Sky Barsch is stepping aside June 1 after three years on the job.
