|
Paul Burns,
Executive Director
(802) 223-5221
Paul Burns is VPIRG’s Executive Director. He has been working as an organizer, advocate and attorney for PIRGs in New York, Massachusetts and now Vermont since 1986. As Toxics Program Director for MassPIRG, Paul was instrumental in the passage of major environmental legislation aimed at rivers protection, brownfields cleanup, beach water testing and pesticide use reduction and disclosure. He earned his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York College at Oswego, and his law degree from the Syracuse University College of Law. At VPIRG, Paul serves as the senior advocate for all programs and lead advocate for our democracy program, represents the organization with the media and state leaders, heads our fundraising efforts and provides overall vision, direction and leadership for the organization.
|
|
Colleen Thomas, Associate Director
(802) 223-8421 ext. 2138
Colleen Thomas is VPIRG’s Associate Director. Colleen has worked as a senior non-profit manager for over a decade in Vermont and overseas.For the past ten years she served as the Director of Development for Project Harmony where she designed and supported international community-based development projects. Colleen has extensive experience in local grassroots organizing and issue-based advocacy from her 20 years of volunteer leadership with Amnesty International USA, first as a local group coordinator and regional organizer and more recently as country specialist. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Writing and History from Loyola College and a Master of Arts in International Studies/Russian Area Studies from the University of Washington. At VPIRG Colleen manages day-to-day operations, handles staff recruitment, training and management, facilitates annual and strategic planning, and assists with development and fundraising activities. |
|
| |
|
James Moore,
Clean Energy Advocate
(802) 223-8421 ext. 4077
James Moore is the Clean Energy Advocate for VPIRG. James brings to this work an extensive background of field organizing and environmental advocacy, including two years experience as a campaigner with Greenpeace USA focusing on global warming and clean energy issues. As part of this work he spearheaded a project to highlight clean energy solutions to climate change at the 2002 Winter Olympics. James also worked as a field organizer for the Dean for America Campaign in New Hampshire and Maine, and later became the State Director for the New Mexico New Voters Project working through the 2004 election to register 40,000 voters in that state. He graduated from Tufts University in 2000 and from Green Corps in 2001. With VPIRG, James leads our energy-related advocacy efforts in the State House and represents VPIRG on a number of state and regional leadership committees, where he crafts and advances policy solutions to the energy and climate change crisis facing Vermont. |
|
| |
|
Stefanie Sidortsova, Health Care Advocate
(802) 223-8421 ext. 4097
Stefanie Sidortsova is VPIRG’s health care advocate. Prior to joining VPIRG, Stefanie spent two years in the corporate law field, working as an associate attorney for firms in Phoenix, Arizona and Montpelier. While in Arizona, she volunteered for a successful candidate’s campaign for state office, gaining experience in get out the vote efforts, campaign finance issues, and media relations. Stefanie currently serves as president for the Jirani Project, a non-profit organization that provides funding to AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya for their education, health care, and general well-being. She also serves on the board of New Earth, a foundation that designs and implements creative expression programs for at-risk youth. Stefanie received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and her law degree from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. At VPIRG, Stefanie heads up our health care advocacy efforts at the State House and represents VPIRG on the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security, which seeks to ensure the successful implementation of Catamount Health. |
|
Charity Carbine, Environmental Health Advocate
(802) 223-8421
Charity Carbine is VPIRG’s Environmental Health Advocate. Before joining the VPIRG team, Charity spent four years as an organizer for the New York Public Interest Research Group. As a Project Coordinator at Hunter College, she recruited and trained students. Charity then went on to join NYPIRG’s Straphangers Campaign – a mass transit advocacy group that represents and protects the interests of New York’s riding public. As a Field Organizer for the Straphangers Campaign, Charity worked on a variety of successful campaigns including the Transportation Bond Act and the Campaign for New York’s Future. Before joining the world of PIRG, Charity graduated with a degree in International Relations from Eckerd College and was actively involved in social just issues both in Florida and her home state of Maryland. At VPIRG, Charity leads our efforts to reduce toxins in the environment and promote the precautionary approach to chemical exposure. She also coordinates field organizing efforts to close down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
|
|
Sean Sarah, Field Associate
(802) 223-8421 ext. 6383
Sean Sarah is the Field Associate for VPIRG. Sean has spent the past two years engaged in grassroots political organizing in Ohio, working on both state and congressional campaigns. He has served as a field organizer and communications director, providing him with experience in getting out the vote, fundraising, managing volunteers and working with the media. Sean has also interned in Washington DC with the Woodrow Wilson Center. He graduated from Kent State University with a BA in International Relations. At VPIRG, Sean helps to coordinate field activities across Vermont that engage our activist membership base in taking action on our issues, as well as helping to maintian the website, blog and online action center.. |
|
Andrea Stander, Development Associate
(802) 223-8421 ext. 8418
Andrea Stander is the Development Associate for VPIRG. Andrea comes to VPIRG after serving as a Regional Field Coordinator for Bernie Sanders’ successful campaign for the US Senate in 2006 and six years as the Communications Director for the Vermont Arts Council. Andrea came to Vermont in 1997 to work as the Media Coordinator with the Northern Forest Alliance after spending five years in Montana as a community organizer for the Northern Plains Resource Council. At VPIRG, Andrea uses her extensive experience in communications, media relations and event production to inform her work in coordinating the organization’s fundraising and development efforts. She received a BA in Liberal Arts from Hampshire College and was a 2004 graduate of the Vermont Leadership Institute of the Snelling Center for Government at UVM.
|
 |
Natalia Fajardo, Membership Coordinator
(802) 223-8421 ext. 4098
Natalia Fajardo is the Membership Coordinator for VPIRG. Natalia received her BS in Environmental Science from the University of Vermont in May of 2006. While there, Natalia organized the student community around social justice issues, such as corporate ethics, livable wages, and fair trade. As part of her work she actively lobbied around U.S. policy towards Latin America. She also worked with the school’s administration to enact a policy on the purchase of recycled paper, and investigated composting techniques in her native Colombia. At VPIRG, Natalia handles membership services and supports fundraising and development activities. |
 |
|
