Jill has nearly thirty years of non-profit management and sustainable development experience, mostly overseas. She lived and worked in Thailand and Cambodia for eleven years, managing relief and development programs for several organizations, including the American Friends Service Committee and Oxfam. She returned to the US to attend graduate school, where she earned two masters degrees – one in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, and the other in Economics from Boston University. After graduate school, Jill moved to one of her favorite places – Vermont – where she worked for eleven years at the Institute for Sustainable Communities managing civic participation and sustainable development programs in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, including community-based environmental action planning, school-based conservation education, environmental management training, watershed planning, solid waste management, energy efficiency, sustainable forestry, agricultural production, food security, and grassroots citizen initiatives. After she stopped traveling around the world, Jill began learning more about conservation and community development in Vermont and in the beautiful Mad River Valley, where she lives and facilitates sustainable agriculture initiatives. Jill is particularly interested in supporting local food production and building bridges between different segments of the community. When she's not busy organizing something, you may find Jill digging in her garden, walking the back roads of Vermont, practicing energy healing, or singing in a chorus.

Jeff has had a long and varied career of non-profit administration, project management, and conservation activities. He has served on the Middlesex Planning Commission for the past five years, is restoring a forgotten farm apple orchard, raising organic fruits and vegetables and managing the woodlot on his 10 acres. Before coming to VACD in 2008, Jeff served on the staff of UVM's Division of Continuing Education, where he designed and managed distance learning programs for post-graduate professionals. Jeff is also a self-employed media producer developing award-winning documentary films and projects focusing on conservation and social change issues. He brings a wide range of managerial experiences and a strong commitment to conservation work to his position as VACD's Technical Programs Manager.

The manager and bookkeeper of our virtual office is the current business office manager of Black River Design Architects. Carrie Youngblood is a graduate of the University of Michigan and has lived in Vermont for more than 30 years. Her previous office/financial positions have included the non-profits Downstreet Housing, VPIRG, Heaton Woods Assisted Living Facility, and Turtle Island Children's Center, as well as four years at Solar Works (now Real Good Solar). Carrie lives in Montpelier and is active in the United Church of Christ, currently a member of Bethany Church, Montpelier, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Vermont Conference where she was Moderator of the 2011 Annual Meeting. She is also the Treasurer of the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra and sings in the Vermont Philharmonic Chorus.

Luke Rackers loves to help people solve problems, tell stories, inspire action, and build community. His primary passions are the arts and the environment, the importance of both having been instilled at a young age. As a two-time Goddard graduate (BA ‘09 & MFA ‘12), Luke fell in love with the Vermont landscape and culture, inspiring a move to the state in the fall of 2016. He is the founder and Executive Director of a nonprofit arts organization that is dedicated to supporting the work of living composers and encouraging creativity in the 21st Century. Luke grew up on a family farm in central Missouri and designed a small urban farm in Denver, CO. He is very excited to build on his agricultural and environmental roots through his new position as Communications Coordinator for the VACD. Luke and his spouse, Tonya, live in Montpelier with their spry hound dog, Sprocket. Most of his free time is spent teaching piano and composition lessons, performing new music, keeping Sprocket out of trouble, container gardening, and enjoying the beautiful Vermont outdoors and local food scene.

Born and raised in Rockland, Maine, Troy grew up enjoying life on the ocean as a Rockland High School Tiger dabbling in cross country, track, drama and other theater groups. He also developed a strong passion for guitar and music. After high school he attended Vermont Technical College majoring in Civil Engineering Technology. In the summer months he worked as a Stern-man on a few lobster boats and played guitar in a few professional rock bands. During his senior year at VTC, Troy did work-study for the Vermont Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Councils Vermont Rural Fire Protection Task Force on the Rural Fire Protection initiative. In the spring of 1998 the VT Legislature started funding the Dry Hydrant Grant Program and Troy has worked as the Engineering Technician for that program for 15 years until the RC&D's closed their doors in 2013. Troy has now moved on to become the Rural Fire Protection Program Manager for the VACD to continue the Dry Hydrant Grant Program and help evolve the Rural Fire Protection Program to another level of service & support for Vermont communities & Fire Departments.

Susie has been immersed in agriculture and education since she graduated from Oberlin College in 2000. She has managed a diverse set of farm-based projects from a large vegetable CSA to a university-based farmer training program. At The Food Project in Boston, The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley and at various projects in between, Susie worked to connect people to their food, the land and the endlessly complex world of food systems. As the founding Director of UVM Continuing Education’s Farmer Training Program, Susie thrived on supporting aspiring farmers in building knowledge and skills for a career in sustainable agriculture. In her work at the Institute for Social and Economic Development, she brought her program management and farmer training experience to support and enhance refugee farmer incubator projects across the country. She loves the sight of steam rising from the compost pile, the satisfaction of getting hay in before it rains, the taste of over-wintered spinach in early spring and the humbling feeling that there is always more to learn about farming. Susie lives in Middlesex with her husband, two daughters and five lucky chickens.