Vermont Development Conference

Sarah Bartlett
Brownfields Program Manager | Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation

Sarah is the Brownfields Program Coordinator for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, where she works with the Vermont development community to balance project partner needs and the protection of Vermont’s natural resources.  Sarah has nearly two decades of environmental regulatory experience and has worked extensively with property owners, developers, RPCs and RDC, municipalities, lending, and real estate professionals to help ensure the successful cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields across the state.  Prior to her work in the public sector, Sarah started her career in environmental consulting, where her focus was GIS based mapping.  Sarah has previously served as the Region 1 representative on the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO) Brownfields Focus Group and has served on the Board of Directors for the Vermont Environmental Consortium since 2017.  She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Vermont.

Kathy Beyer
Senior Vice President Real Estate Development | Evernorth

Over the past 30 years, Ms. Beyer has been directly involved in affordable housing development, including new construction, historic rehabilitation, and preservation of at-risk housing. She directs real estate development activities at Evernorth, a nonprofit development corporation working to serve communities in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.  Kathy currently chairs the Energy Justice in Housing Working Group and is active in energy policy.  

Kathy holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Economics from the University of Minnesota.  Kathy is passionate about civic duty and has served in the Vermont legislature, on the local school board, and on several nonprofit boards.

Ted Brady
Executive Director | Vermont League of Cities and Towns

Ted Brady is the Executive Director of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT). Brady served as Deputy Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development in Governor Scott’s Administration for three years, was appointed by President Obama as the Vermont and New Hampshire State Director for USDA Rural Development, and spent more than a decade working as a community and economic development liaison in U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy’s office, both in Washington, D.C. and in Vermont. He lives in Williston with his wife Erin and their two children.

Stephanie Clarke
Vice President | White + Burke, Real Estate Advisors

A member of the White + Burke team since 2006, Stephanie Clarke brings a strategic and collaborative approach lens to her work with public-private partnerships and land use. Her notable projects at White + Burke include the development of seven TIF Districts around the State of Vermont, the Radiation Oncology facility at UVM Medical Center, and the permitting of Healthy Living in South Burlington.

Beyond her project work, Stephanie collaborates with the company president on business planning and relationship-building for White + Burke’s role in the State. Dedicated to her community, she works on initiatives supporting equity, financial literacy, and diversity and inclusion. Stephanie holds a B.A. from the University of Vermont and an M.B.A. from Champlain College. A proud “chosen Vermonter” — someone who chooses to live and work in the State — she enjoys cooking, reading, hiking, and doing anything to elicit giggles from her two small children.

Chris Cochran
Commissioner of Housing + Community Development | VT Department of Housing and Community Development 

Chris Cochran leads a talented, multi-disciplinary team in the Community Planning + Revitalization Division at the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. Together, they oversee a $40M budget and take a place-based approach to community development, aligning land use policies, programs, and funding to support state and local leaders in creating prosperous, inclusive, and resilient downtowns, villages, and neighborhoods. Chris earned a Master’s in Historic Preservation from the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design and previously contributed to projects at UGA’s Center for Community Design and Preservation. He lives in the old North Calais village store with his wife, Stephanie, and their cat Eloise.

Catherine Dimitruk
Executive Director | Northwest Regional Planning Commission

Catherine Dimitruk has been Executive Director of the Northwest Regional Planning Commission in St. Albans, Vermont, for 25+ years. She works with communities and regional organizations on comprehensive planning and project implementation. She serves on several boards and commissions and is the current chair of the VT Association of Planning and Development Agencies.

John Dunbar
President | Whitaker Properties

John is a community-minded, small-scale developer, housing provider, planning commissioner, and select board member in Rockingham, Vermont. John co-owns and manages Whitaker Properties, Inc. with his twin brother, Jeff, whose passion has been improving the housing stock within their community, enhancing landlord-tenant relations, and refining the local multi-unit housing narrative. ‘Doing well by doing good’ in their community has been their mantra. John holds a B.A. from Colby College and lives in Saxtons River, VT (a village within the Town of Rockingham) with his wife and three children. A former elite Ironman triathlete, John enjoys running or biking many of Vermont’s beautiful backroads.

Pete Gill, Esq.
Executive Director | State of Vermont Natural Resources

Gill is the Executive Director of the Natural Resources Board (NRB) – the State entity that oversees the administration of Act 250- Vermont’s state land use law. The statutory changes discussed in this session will transition the Board from the NRB to the Land Use Review Board and usher in a new location-based jurisdiction model. With an able team, Gill is leading that transition. Prior to his work at the Board, Gill served as a law clerk for a superior court judge in Alaska, provided legal representation for the state’s Water Resources Panel and the Land Use Panel, and managed legal compliance for Norwich University. Gill lives in East Montpelier with his family, dog, and chickens, where he skis, bikes, and enjoys carpentry.

Megan Grove
Associate Attorney | SRH Law

Megan supports SRH Law’s transactional, regulatory, and environmental practice areas.  Her practice includes nonprofit governance, community development, and affordable housing, and land use. Prior to her work at SRH Law, Megan served as a law clerk for the Vermont Supreme Court and published an article exploring medical monitoring remedies for those exposed to PFAS contamination in Vermont and New York.  She holds a J.D. from Vermont Law and Graduate School and a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Political Science from the University of Vermont.

Alex Halpern, AIA NCARB
President | Freeman French Freeman

Alex is a talented architect who is passionate about helping clients achieve their architectural goals. Over his 30-year career he has helped design many of Vermont’s most prominent buildings including the UVM STEM Complex, the Pomerleau Family YMCA, and the FRAME at Waterfront Park. Alex plays an active role in the Vermont development community as a member of the Executive Committee of the Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce and the Vermont Business Roundtable. Alex was named President of Freeman French Freeman in 2022.

Geoff Hand
Environmental Attorney | SRH Law

Geoff Hand is a partner at SRH Law, where his practice focuses primarily on land use and real estate development issues, environmental law, and energy regulation.  Over the past 20+ years, Geoff has worked with a wide range of clients, including landowners, developers, utilities, non-profits, and municipalities, helping them to evaluate, understand, and successfully navigate complex legal and regulatory compliance issues.  He regularly appears before local and state regulatory bodies and represents clients in state and federal court.  Geoff received his B.A. from Wesleyan University and his JD and Masters in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School.

Chris Kilmurry
Executive Director | Lewiston Housing

Chris Kilmurry joined Lewiston Housing in 2019 and has over 20 years of affordable housing experience. He is responsible for the strategic direction of the organization as well as overall agency operations, which includes a range of responsibilities from the development of new affordable housing, administration of the Section 8 voucher program, and oversight of the property management and maintenance for Lewiston Housing’s owned and third party managed portfolios. Chris has held leadership positions with two national nonprofit developers and owners of affordable housing, The Community Builders, Inc. and POAH Communities, both located in Boston, Massachusetts, and one regional organization, Avesta Housing, located in Portland, Maine. Chris earned a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in International Business Management from the University of Vermont, and he sits on the Board of Directors for Community Concepts.

Brian Leet
Senior Project Manager | Freeman French Freeman

Brian Leet has over 25 years of design and project management experience in Vermont and Pennsylvania. During his 12 years with Freeman French Freeman, Brian has helped lead many of the firm’s flagship projects, including the Waterbury State Office Complex, City Market South End, the Pomerleau Family YMCA, and Burlington High School and Technical Center. Brian brings a deep understanding of building science and sustainable design to every project. 

Shannon Lenzini
Director, Business Law | DRM 

Shannon is an experienced business attorney who helps clients achieve their business growth and expansion goals. Shannon’s wealth of experience navigating complex tax-credit financing projects, including New Markets Tax Credit and state and federal historic tax credit projects, enables her to counsel clients to effectively utilize available tax credits and other incentives, ensuring successful project funding and closing.

In addition to her tax credit expertise, Shannon provides valuable guidance to clients on various corporate and commercial matters. From entity formation to mergers and acquisitions and at every stage in between, Shannon offers comprehensive advice tailored to clients’ unique needs.

Dylan Lozier 
Project Manager | The Whiting-Turner Company 

Dylan Lozier is a civil engineer with nearly two decades of experience as a project manager at Whiting-Turner. He has worked on complex projects around the country, managing construction throughout the entire life cycle of a project, from conception to close out. A proud graduate of Clarkson University, Dylan is the Co-President of the Clarkson Alumni Association’s Vermont Chapter.

Ricky McLain, PE, SE
Principal, Mass Timber Advisors

Ricky has a decade of hands-on experience in mass timber building design, structural engineering, cost optimization, code consulting, supply chain navigation, team development, and real estate development strategies. Recognized as a go-to expert in all things mass timber, he thrives on combining experience-informed systems design with an open mind to critically assess and develop each project’s optimal mass timber solution, including hybrid options. A licensed professional structural engineer with over 16 years of experience in structural engineering and code-compliant building design, Ricky has specialized in mass timber for the past 10 years.

Craig Miskovich 
Director, DRM

As a Director at DRM, Craig provides advice to lenders, investors and project companies regarding tax credit financings, including New Markets Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and other state and Federal tax credit programs. Craig is also the founding member of the Brooks House Development Group, a collection of civically-minded entrepreneurs who redeveloped an 87,000-square-foot commercial building downtown.

Christina Mortensen
Choice Neighborhoods Deputy Director | US Dept of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Christina Mortensen is a Deputy Director of the Choice Neighborhoods program at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Christina oversees the competitive selection of grant awards, leading to an investment of $2 billion nationwide. Prior to joining Choice Neighborhoods in 2013, Christina was appointed to HUD as a Presidential Management Fellow with the Federal Housing Administration. She also worked for the National Association of Social Workers and provided mental health services as a licensed social worker. Christina earned advanced degrees in Community & Regional Planning and Social Work from Temple University.

Kurt Muller
Director of Site Investigation | VHB

Kurt’s twenty years of engineering experience encompasses project management, complex environmental site assessment, PCB investigation and remediation design, site clean-up management, and stakeholder coordination and outreach. Kurt’s focus is on brownfield environmental consulting work, managing large site characterization efforts, and designing remedial strategies that can cost effectively be implemented during construction. He has acted as lead project manager on more than 100 EPA-funded brownfield site investigations and dozens of successful municipal and private redevelopment projects. His experience working in Vermont’s regulatory environment for over two decades has resulted in trusted professional relationships and an understanding of what it takes to successfully navigate complex redevelopment projects to completion that are complicated by the presence of contamination.  Kurt holds a B.A. Environmental Biology and B.S. Environmental Engineering from the University of Vermont.

Kurt Naser 
Director of Pre-construction | PC Construction

As Director of Pre-construction, Kurt leads PC’s pre-construction and cost estimating services for projects across the Northeast. He manages a team of estimators and pre-construction managers who are responsible for detailed cost modeling ranging from conceptual estimates through guaranteed maximum price (GMP) proposals. Kurt has extensive experience in value engineering, constructability reviews, and construction system analyses backed by years as a project manager and project engineer. Kurt holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University. He is an avid skier and resides with his wife and two sons in Essex Junction.  In his free time, he can be found on the field or mountain coaching youth soccer, baseball, and skiing.

Jesse Robbins
Senior Project Manager | Freeman French Freeman

Jesse Robbins is a Senior Project Manager at Freeman French Freeman, Architects in Burlington, with 25 years of experience focused on large, complex projects and specializing in sustainable design and building envelopes. Jesse has played a leadership role in designing commercial, healthcare, higher education, and government buildings across Vermont. He especially values the collaborative nature of design, bringing together diverse teams to deliver successful projects. Jesse is also active in several professional and community organizations, including the Burlington Rotary Club.

Josh Robinson 
Project Manager & Business Line Manager | Fuss & O’Neill

Josh Robinson is a Project Manager and Business Line Manager at Fuss & O’Neill in the Environment and Facilities Services business line. Josh’s involvement with planning and regulatory agency coordination activities began in 2019 during the Burlington High School renovation project, and he continues to manage remedial action implementation at the site. At Fuss & O’Neill, Josh manages multi-disciplinary environmental project teams, leads business development, and coordinates with clients. He has extensive experience with assessment and remediation, soil management, and management of hazardous materials activities on a wide range of both private and public development projects throughout the Northeast.

Chris Roy
Director, DRM

Chris Roy is the Chair of DRM’s Litigation Group. He is also a member of the firm’s Complex Land Use & Development Group, which brings together practitioners from multiple disciplines to provide tailored support and guidance to clients with complex land use and development needs. Chris works closely with clients to create customized plans for commercial and real property litigation, including environmental and land use permitting. As a seasoned commercial litigator, he represents clients across Vermont — from individuals to businesses, both large and small — in a variety of business disputes. Chris devotes much of his practice to permit litigation and resolving the full spectrum of real property-related disputes. 

A former member of the Williston Selectboard and Vermont Environmental Board, as well as past Chair of the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission, Chris brings a valuable perspective to his representation in land use and other matters, informed by his years of public service. In addition to regularly appearing before the Environmental Division and trying cases in Superior Courts across Vermont, Chris is an active appellate litigator, having represented clients in over 50 appeals before the Vermont Supreme Court and other appellate courts.

Kelsey Schweister
Associate | DRM

Kelsey is an associate in DRM’s Litigation Group and a member of the firm’s Complex Land Use and Development Group. Kelsey collaborates with the firm’s experienced litigators to help achieve her client’s goals.  Building on the skills she developed through her clerkships with the Vermont Superior Court, Kelsey provides thorough legal research and thoughtful analysis to achieve the best possible outcomes.  Prior to joining DRM, Kelsey clerked for the Vermont Superior Court in Franklin and Grand Isle Counties and for the Environmental Division statewide.  Kelsey graduated magna cum laude from Vermont Law School, where she served as a symposium editor in the Law Review, a student advocate in the Environmental Advocacy Clinic, and the treasurer of the Women’s Law Society.

Kevin Stapleton
Economic & Labor Market Information Division Assistant Director | Vermont Department of Labor

Kevin is a labor market economist and the Assistant Director of Economic & Labor Market Information at the Vermont Department of Labor. In this role he oversees a variety of labor market data programs, analyzes economic trends, and travels the state to discuss the Vermont economy. In addition to his work with VDoL, he is a faculty member at The University of Vermont where he teaches economics and international development.

Kevin holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and an MS in Applied Economics from the University of Vermont. When he’s not working, you can find Kevin riding his bike, running in the woods, or sitting in ice-cold arenas watching his 12-year-old daughter play hockey. 

Kevin’s penchant for economics started in the fifth grade when he forgot his lunch money.

Craig Steigerwalt
Managing Engineer | Freeman French Freeman 

Craig Steigerwalt is a Managing Engineering Consultant in Exponent’s Construction Practice. He collaborates with owners to ensure program success and mitigate risk, while also supporting owners and contractors in resolving claims and litigation on troubled projects by providing expert witness services. His expertise includes construction project management, risk management, scheduling and productivity analysis, cost estimating and damage analysis, engineering design, productivity analyses, cost estimating and damage analyses, and engineering design.

Jason Van Nest
Founder, Logic Building Systems

Jason Van Nest is a licensed architect in New England, founder of Logic Building Systems, and an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and Design. He currently serves as President of the New York Institute of Technology Academic Senate and Executive Director of the Center for Offsite Construction.

Van Nest has contributed to multiple award-winning projects, including the NYC Pier A renovation with H3, which earned the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award, and the Hillside House with David Weiner Architects, an AIANY Oculus Award recipient.

As a building information modeling and virtual design and construction (BIM/VDC) consultant, he has helped launch modular production facilities and advanced project delivery workflows for renowned firms, including SHoP Architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Cooper Robertson Partners, HWKN, Deborah Berke Partners, CookFox, and GLUCK+.

A 2008 MacDowell Colony Fellow and 2015 Byrdcliffe Arts Colony Fellow, Van Nest served on the MacDowell Colony Board of Directors for six years after his election as Fellows Executive Committee President in 2012.

He holds a Master of Architecture from Yale School of Architecture and a B.S. in Architecture from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Steve Weikal
Industry Chair | Real Estate Transformation Lab
MIT Center for Real Estate & Managing Partner | MET Fund II

Steve Weikal is a lecturer, researcher, and thought leader focused on innovative technologies and business models that are reinventing traditional methods of developing, transacting, and managing real estate. He is the Industry Chair of the Real Estate Transformation Lab at the MIT Center for Real Estate, teaches MIT’s Proptech Ventures course, and is the Managing Partner of MET Fund II, which invests in early-stage, MIT-connected startups that focus on solutions for the Built Environment Transition™ (BET). Previously, Steve was the Head of Industry Relations at the MIT Center for Real Estate, where he managed the Center’s relationships with its global network of corporate partners and over 1,300 alumni from 48 countries. He was also the executive producer of the Center’s signature event, the MIT World Real Estate Forum.

Steve is a member of the Global Insights Panel for MIT Technology Review, the CREtech Climate Leadership Board, and the review committee for the CoreNet Global Innovator Awards. He serves on the boards of eight real estate technology companies and was the founder of MIT Real Disruption, a successful series of conferences discussing the impact of emerging technologies on the real estate industry, which is now part of the global CREtech media platform. As an ardent industry advocate, Steve frequently speaks on real estate technology to corporate clients worldwide and has presented at conferences for AFIRE, AsRES, BOMA, CCIM, CoreNet, CREtech, CREW, ICSC, IREM, NAIOP, PERE, SIOR, and ULI. His insights have been quoted in numerous media outlets, including BuzzFeed, Tech Insider, Medium, USA Today, CP Executive, Harvard Real Estate Review, the Boston Globe, GlobeSt., Travel Weekly, IPE Real Assets Europe, and Anuario Inmobiliario LatinoAmerica.

Steve holds a Master of Science in Real Estate Development (MSRED) and a Master in City Planning (MCP) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a law degree (JD) from Suffolk University Law School.

Gary Winslett
Professor | Middlebury College

Gary Winslett is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the Director of the International Politics and Economics Program at Middlebury College, where he has taught since 2018. He studies the intersection of regulation and commerce and teaches courses on International Political Economy, the Politics of Money and Finance, and the Politics of Taxes. He has written about Vermont’s housing shortage and has been an outspoken advocate for reforming Vermont’s land use policies.

Kevin Worden
President, Engineering Ventures

Kevin is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he earned Bachelor of Science degrees in both Civil Engineering and Humanities. In 2001, he was recognized as Vermont’s Young Engineer of the Year. As a LEED and Sustainability Specialist at Engineering Ventures, Kevin brings over 30 years of expertise in permitting, civil, and structural engineering design. His approach is both holistic and innovative, deeply rooted in the fundamentals of engineering. Kevin values building long-lasting connections through collaborative project work. His recent projects featuring advanced stormwater systems include Burlington Co-housing (Centennial Brook Watershed), the Champlain College Stormwater Master Plan, and Dartmouth College’s Class of 1978 Life Science Center, which will store and reuse roof water.