Press Release: Introducing Chuck Ross, the Intervale Center's new Board Chair
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27th, 2024
Burlington, VT: The Intervale Center is thrilled to announce Chuck Ross as the organization’s new Board Chair.
Chuck is a Climate Catalyst for the Extension Foundation. He previously served as Director of UVM Extension and prior to that as the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets for the State of Vermont. During his six years in Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture, he focused on issues including water quality, food safety, agricultural literacy, and agricultural development.
Prior to his role as Vermont’s Secretary of Agriculture, Chuck worked as the State Director for United States Senator Patrick Leahy. He has also served as a Vermont State Representative, a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Vermont, and on the Board of Directors at Shelburne Farms. Chuck has helped manage his family’s farming businesses throughout his life, using his direct farming experience to inform each of his roles, including on the board of the Intervale Center.
His breadth of knowledge and years of experience working across Vermont’s agricultural economy will be invaluable to the Intervale Center’s decades-long work to strengthen our food system. Chuck is excited to help advance the Intervale Center’s vision of a future where diverse farms and food producers thrive, the natural environment is healthy, and all people are nourished. He remarked that “our ability to integrate the food system into our community, while improving the quality of life of those people in the community, is both an important responsibility and an opportunity to help our neighbors not only in Burlington but around the state.”
For more than 35 years the Intervale Center has supported farming and food production across Vermont. Chuck noted that “in all my experience with agriculture across the country, the Intervale Center stands out as a truly unique example of an organization really solving problems facing our food system” Adding that he is “really excited to continue to engage with new and existing partnerships, as well as the broader community of people we interact with.” With Chuck leading the Board, the Intervale Center will continue to innovate and adapt as they advance their mission to strengthen community food systems that sustain farms, land, and people.
Chuck is joined on the Intervale Center’s Board of Directors by Peter Asch, Amy Bacon, Roy Beckford, Alyson Chalnick, Mark Curran, Katelyn Ellermann, Marcella Gange, Katharine Montstream, FM Muñoz, Sarah Muyskens, Lori Rowe, and Lynn Ellen Schimoler. Additionally, Jessica Sanford will join the Board of Directors in October of 2024.
Our mission is to strengthen community food systems that sustain farms, land, and people.
For 35 years, the Intervale Center has led a community food revolution that sustains farms, land, and people. We work in Vermont to address massive challenges, including food security, farm viability, water quality, and climate change. We have pioneered farm and food innovations in local food development, commercial composting, land access ecosystem restoration, farm business development, food access, and food hub development. Learn more about Intervale Center programs.
For media inquiries please contact Maddy Traynor, Communications Manager: (802) 660-0440 ext. 103 or maddy@intervale.org