Board of Trustees

Thomas A. Little, Esq. Chair

Town of Residence: Shelburne, Vermont

Thomas Little joined VSAC in 2002 as vice president and general counsel after serving for many years as outside counsel. He was an attorney with the Burlington firm Little & Cicchetti from 1980-2002 and remains of counsel. Mr. Little was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1992-2002 and has chaired the District 4 Environmental Commission (Vermont's Act 250 land-use permit commission for Chittenden County) since 2003. He has served on the following Boards: University of Vermont (2001-2007), Shelburne Zoning (1986-1996), ECHO at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain (2003-2010; 2013-present), Visiting Nurse Association (1994-2001), Converse Home (1983-2014), Cathedral Square Housing Corporation, Vermont Center for the Book and Snelling Center for Government. Mr. Little is a member of the Vermont Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont and was a member of the Commission on the Future of Vermont's Justice System in 1999. In Shelburne, where he resides, he serves as town meeting moderator, justice of the peace and Board of Civil Authority chair. He received a bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College and a law degree from Cornell University.

Noma Anderson, PhD

Town of Residence: Hinesburg, Vermont

Dr. Noma Anderson became Dean of the UVM College of Nursing & Health Sciences on February 1, 2021, joining UVM from the University of Tennessee Health Center where she served as Dean and was appointed special advisor to the president on diversity and inclusion. Dr. Anderson is a past professor and chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Florida International University, where she also served as Dean in the School of Health Sciences. Prior to that, Anderson was a chair for 10 years and on the faculty for 16 years in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Howard University in Washington. She is an expert in communication sciences and disorders and a leader in inclusive education and cultural and linguistic diversity. Dr. Anderson received her doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, a master’s degree from Emerson College in Boston, and a bachelor’s degree from Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia.

Jesse Bridges, MPA

Vice Chair
Town of Residence: Burlington, Vermont

Jesse Bridges is chief executive officer for the United Way of Northwest Vermont, the leading organization in convening advocates, leaders and volunteers to address complex social problems and secure the resources to support change. Under his leadership since 2017, the organization achieved recognition as one of the best places to work in Vermont, created a continuous dynamic strategic planning process and shifted the organization's business model to a more sustainable vision for the future. He previously served as the City of Burlington's director of the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department. Under his leadership, the department finished the city's first-ever comprehensive parks master plan. He helped found the Parks Foundation, a separate 501c3 to raise private dollars to support the ongoing park rehabilitation efforts. Mr. Bridges received his bachelor’s degree in history in 2002 and a master's in public administration in 2008, both from the University of Vermont. A graduate of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce Leadership Champlain program class of 2011, he joined the board of directors in 2012 and chaired the board from 2015-2017. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce and as an alternate to the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission.

Kevin Chu

Town of Residence: South Burlington, Vermont

Kevin Chu is executive director of Vermont Futures Project and co-founder and president of Sprinticity Athletics. A graduate of Middlebury College, Kevin spent more than six years working for the University of Vermont in a variety of roles. He served as managing director of the office of engagement, strategic innovations and communications lead for the Rubenstein School, professional advisor for the university’s environmental program and assistant director of admissions for diversity. A resident of South Burlington, Kevin is pursuing his master’s degree in education from the University of Vermont. He is the director of youth track and field for Burlington Parks and Recreation.

Anne W. Doremus, CFA

Town of Residence: Shelburne, Vermont

Anne Doremus is managing partner of Hanson & Doremus Investment Management, where she is responsible for firm strategy, portfolio management, security analysis and client interaction. Before joining the firm in 1996, she spent five years with a major mutual fund company, Sentinel Advisors, in Montpelier, Vermont, and three years with Fraser Management Associates in Burlington. She is a founding member and past president of the Vermont CFA Society. She has taught investment management courses at Saint Michael's College and The University of Vermont. Doremus holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from The University of Vermont and an master’s of business administration from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College. She is also a CFA Charterholder. Ms. Doremus has served on a number of nonprofit boards and currently sits on the Investment Committee for the Society of St. Edmund and the UVM Health Network Home Health & Hospice. She lives in Shelburne with her husband. Her interests include hiking, Nordic skiing and golf.

Sunil "Sunny" Eappen, MD, MBA

Town of Residence: South Burlington, Vermont

As chief executive officer of the UVM Health Network, Sunny Eappen oversees an integrated rural health network that includes an academic medical center, a children’s hospital, five community hospitals, a multi-specialty medical group, a home health and hospice agency and several skilled nursing facilities. The network serves more than 1 million residents of northern New York and Vermont, employs 15,000 people and has annual operating revenue of $3 billion.  

Dr. Eappen served previously as chief medical officer and senior vice president of medical affairs at Brigham & Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, where he led key initiatives in physician recruitment and retention, medical affairs, patient care and diversity, equity and inclusion. He also served previously as interim CEO of BWH. Dr. Eappen joined BWH in 2018 from Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, where he served as the chief of anesthesiology and the chief medical officer and previously as the medical director of the operating rooms (ORs). In these roles, he managed the medical staff office and the pharmacy, in addition to leading the quality and patient experience programs. 

Sunny earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, his doctorate from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine and a master’s in business administration from the Yale University School of Management. He completed his residency in anesthesiology at BWH.  

Dr. Eappen is the author of numerous published articles and a national speaker on topics including optimizing OR efficiency, surgical checklist implementation and change management. He also was an Associate Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. He serves on the boards of the Matty Eappen Foundation, Controlled Risk Insurance Company Patient Safety Organization of Harvard Medical School and New England Donor Services/New England Organ Bank. 

John N. Evans, PhD

Town of Residence: South Burlington, Vermont

Dr. Evans is currently senior advisor to the president and provost of The University of Vermont and a Professor Emeritus in the UVM Larner College of Medicine. He also serves as president of the Vermont Technology Council, an organization that fosters technology-enabled companies in the state by integrating the efforts of the private, public and academic sectors. The Council is also the statewide board for the Vermont EPSCoR Program.  Dr. Evans earned his PhD in 1976 from the University of Florida College of Medicine and has had a distinguished career as a biomedical researcher, with numerous publications and honors, including being named an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association. He was Executive Dean or Dean of the UVM Larner College of Medicine from 1992-2001 and 2003-2006. He currently serves on the boards of the Vermont Mutual Insurance Company, Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies, Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation, Vermont PBS, UVM Medical Center and Vermont Technology Council.

James B. Foster

Town of Residence: Charlotte, Vermont

James Foster attended Burlington schools and graduated from Colorado College. After college, eager to return to Burlington, he pursued parallel careers as co-owner of the Edlund Company, a global manufacturer of commercial kitchen equipment, and as a real estate developer and investor in Vermont and New Hampshire. He has been an active participant in a number of community organizations, having served as board chair of GBIC, The Flynn Theatre, Housing Vermont, COTS and Champlain College. He resides in Charlotte with his wife. 

Joseph F. Hagan, Jr., MD, FAAP

Town of Residence: Burlington, Vermont

Joseph Hagan, Jr., is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the UVM Larner College of Medicine and UVM Children's Hospital. He is co-editor of The Bright Futures Guidelines (3rd and 4th editions), the standard of preventive care for infants, children, adolescents and young adults. Dr. Hagan served as American Academy of Pediatrics - Vermont Chapter vice president and president, and he chaired the Academy's national Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, Task Force on Terrorism and the Neurobehavioral Disorder Associated with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Workgroup. His commitment to the care of vulnerable children led Dr. Hagan to chair the Citizens Advisory Board for the Vermont Department for Children and Families (DCH). He consults for the DCH commissioner on complex child protection cases and is a consulting physician at the UVM Children's Hospital ChildSafe Clinic. He practices and teaches primary care pediatrics in Burlington, Vermont.

Churchill Hindes, PhD

Town of Residence: Colchester, Vermont

Churchill Hindes recently finished his career as a health care administrator and educator with 51 years in health services, higher education, nonprofit leadership and public policy. He retired as a consultant to the UVM Health Network and a vice president of the UVM Medical Center. He previously served as chief operating officer of the OneCare Vermont health care payment reform initiative, chief executive officer of the Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties, financial vice president of Fletcher Allen Health Care, chief financial officer of the University Health Center and administrative director of the Vermont Lung Center. He began his health care career in 1966 while in college when he was hired as a groundskeeper for the Mary Fletcher Hospital.  

Church served on the cabinets of Governors Richard Snelling and Madeleine May Kunin as commissioner of budget and management/state budget director and as deputy secretary of administration. Dr. Hindes served as Board Chair for the Vermont State Colleges System from 2017 to 2020 and he retired from that board after 19 years as a gubernatorially-appointed trustee.    His academic career began in 1972 as an Instructor at the University of Iowa and concluded in 2019 as a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine/Public Policy at the University of Vermont.  He also held a faculty appointment at Saint Michael’s College.   

He holds a doctorate in health administration and policy from the University of Iowa and is a graduate of Saint Michael's College. A seventh generation Vermonter, Church lives in Colchester with his wife, Marilyn Lanou Hindes. They have three sons and four grandchildren. 

Virginia Hood, MB, BS, MPH

Town of Residence: Burlington, Vermont

Dr. Hood is a Professor of Medicine at UVM Larner College of Medicine and a specialist in kidney disease at the UVM Medical Center, with expertise in chronic kidney disease, blood pressure control, kidney stones, fluid/electrolyte balance and high-value care quality improvement activities. Dr. Hood is a Master of the American College of Physicians, the nation's largest medical specialty organization. She served as president of the organization from 2011 to 2012.

Stephen Leffler, MD

Town of Residence: Hinesburg, Vermont

Stephen Leffler was named president and chief operating officer of UVM Medical Center on January 1, 2020. He has worked at the UVM Medical Center as an emergency room physician for more than 25 years, and is a Professor of Surgery at the UVM Larner College of Medicine. Dr. Leffler has worn many hats at UVM Medical Center and UVM Health Network during his career. He served as chief population health and quality officer for UVM Health Network from 2017-2019; chief medical officer at UVM Medical Center from 2011-2017; prior to that, he served as medical director of the Emergency Department at the UVM Medical Center for several years. He also has served as president of the medical staff at UVM Medical Center, president of the Vermont Medical Society, and he currently serves as chair of the ONE Care Board. He received his medical degree from the UVM Larner College of Medicine and completed residency training in emergency medicine at the University of New Mexico before joining the UVM faculty in 1993. He completed his master's in health care delivery science at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in 2016.

 

Meg H. O’Donnell, Esq.

Secretary
Town of Residence: Shelburne, Vermont

Meg O’Donnell is a retired attorney specializing in health care law and health care policy. A magna cum laude graduate of New York Law School, Meg spent the bulk of her career working in Vermont, including clerking for the Vermont Supreme Court; working for the Vermont Health Care Authority and its successor, the Division of Health Care Administration; serving as the director of government & community relations and assistant general counsel for UVM Medical Center; and teaching health policy as an adjunct professor at the University of Vermont. A resident of Shelburne, she has been active in the local community for decades, serving on multiple community boards, and serving as a facilitator for the Snelling Center for Government’s Vermont Leadership Institute. In addition to her law degree, Meg holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and a master’s degree from Columbia University.

Richard L. Page, M.D.,

Town of Residence: Shelburne, Vermont

Dr. Richard Page became Dean of the UVM Larner College of Medicine in October 2018, joining UVM from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, where he was the George R. and Elaine Love Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine. He received his medical degree from Duke University and completed his specialty training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Duke University Medical Center. He is a nationally recognized specialist in cardiac arrhythmias, serving on the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines Task Force; and as chair of the Circulatory Devices Panel of the US Food and Drug Administration.

Alyson "Aly" Richards

Town of Residence: Montpelier, Vermont

Aly Richards of Montpelier is currently chief executive offiver of Let's Grow Kids, a statewide movement to make Vermont the best place to raise a family with a mission to ensure affordable access to high-quality child care for all Vermont families by 2025. Prior to this role, she served as the deputy chief of staff and director of intergovernmental affairs for Governor Peter Shumlin. In this position, Ms. Richards had leading roles in several of the Shumlin administration's efforts to support early childhood—including winning competitive federal Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge and Preschool Expansion grants and supporting the passage of universal pre-K. Prior to joining the governor's office, Ms. Richards served on the 2008 Obama campaign and worked as the mid-Atlantic deputy finance director at the Democratic National Committee. She received her bachelor’s degree with honors in international relations from Brown University.

Heather Stein, MD

Town of Residence: Essex Junction, Vermont

Dr. Heather Stein is the current president of the medical staff of the UVM Medical Center, and the chief medical officer for the Community Health Centers of Burlington. A seasoned family medicine practitioner who is board-certified in addiction medicine, Dr. Stein is a native of West Virginia and graduated from Virginia Tech with bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and classical studies. She returned to West Virginia University for medical school before moving to Vermont for her family medicine residency at UVM Medical Center, where she was introduced to the Community Health Centers of Burlington community. As the president of the medical staff, she is responsible for overseeing matters of physician enrollment, credentialing and privileging. 

Betsy Sussman, MD

Town of Residence: Burlington, Vermont

Dr. Betsy Sussman is a diagnostic radiology specialist in Burlington with more than 41 years of experience in the medical field. She was an attending radiologist at the UVM Medical Center for more than 30 years, where she still works as a per diem radiologist. 

The author of numerous peer reviewed publications, Dr. Sussman is Professor of Radiology Emerita at the UVM Larner College of Medicine, where she has taught since the late 1980s. She is a fellow of the American College of Radiology and the recipient of the A. Bradley Soule Award, the top annual award given by the Larner College of Medicine Medical Alumni Committee. She contributes to clinical research projects in Imaging the World and has also worked with UVM Medical Center oncology on breast density projects. She is involved with a national level project on breast complexity based at the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Betsy received her medical degree from the UVM Larner College of Medicine and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado

Weiwei Wang

Town of Residence: Burlington, Vermont

Weiwei Wang is a co-founder and the director of operations and development of the Vermont Professionals of Color Network, founded in 2019 and dedicated to advancing the prosperity of all professionals of color throughout Vermont by "building from within". Additionally, she is a founding member of and director of operations for the Vermont Health Equity Initiative, focused on providing accessible, human-centered healthcare and health education to all BIPOC Vermonters. Previously, she worked at the University of Vermont's Center for Rural Studies managing and conducting research for multi-state USDA funded projects, and in Boston and Shanghai as a project manager for companies ranging from regional to international in scale. In both her personal and professional life, Weiwei brings a passion for community connection and development, and redefining accessibility for historically excluded communities, by changing systems of oppression.  

Currently, Weiwei serves as the vice chair for Public Assets Institute, and serves on the Champlain College Stiller School of Business Dean's Advisory Committee, the UVM Cancer Center Community Advisory Council, the Racial Equity Advisory Panel for the State of Vermont, and the Governor's Institute of Vermont Board of Directors. Her past board experience includes the Peace and Justice Center and the Board for Registration of Voters for the City of Burlington. She is an alum of Vermont Changemakers Table, New Leaders Council – Vermont Chapter, and Leadership Champlain. She received the 2022 Distinguished Citizen Award from Champlain College for her work with the Vermont Professionals of Color Network. 
 
When not working, Weiwei loves to work. For “fun” she likes to give herself anxiety by performing stand-up at the Vermont Comedy Club.

Deborah Winters

Town of Residence: Swanton, Vermont

Deborah Winters is the owner and president of Firetech Sprinkler Corp., a specialty contractor that designs, installs, services and maintains fire sprinkler systems throughout Vermont, northern New Hampshire and northeastern New York. Prior to joining Firetech in 2004, she was a project director for Corcoran Jennison Company, a Boston real estate developer, and served as a project engineer for Turner Construction Company in its Boston office. She graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and operations research and received her master’s of business administration degree from Boston University. Ms. Winters has served on several boards, including the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation, Champlain Valley Exposition and the UVM Medical Center Foundation Board, where she was involved with the Mother Baby Unit campaign. She currently serves on the board of the Vermont Bond Bank and co-chairs the Swanton Enhancement Project, an active group of municipal and community members working to create a vibrant Swanton where people want to live, work, learn and play. She resides in Swanton with her husband, Gordon, and their two children.

Glen A. Wright, CPA

Town of Residence: Dunnellon, Florida

Glen Wright was the office managing partner at KPMG, an accounting firm, from 1993 to 2002. He currently serves on the UVM Medical Center Foundation Board and is an advisory board member for the Cardiovascular Research Institute of Vermont. He formerly served as a board member on the Vermont Economic Progress Council (former chair), chair of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation, board member of Cynosure, Inc., chair of the Town of South Hero Select Board, Board of the Flynn Theatre for the Performing Arts, Vermont Business Roundtable and Burlington YMCA. Mr. Wright graduated from Bentley College in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.