Casey Haynes
30 | Talent Specialist, Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation
Residence: Brattleboro
Career highlight(s) you are most proud of:
Having stumbled upon a strategy for helping a special needs teen 
more effectively self-regulate. I’m told that, years later, it’s still helpful for him, and I don’t know if I’ve ever had more impact than that.
Your community involvement:
Some part of me, despite my introversion, always wanted to be a connector. Vermont runs on coffee dates and serendipitous supermarket run-ins, and I’m grateful that my job and interests often intersect in helping develop the kinds of networks that drive positive change.
Inspiration for living and working in Vermont:
Came for the gorgeous scenery and funky art; stayed for the vibrant, passionate community.
Favorite part of your job:
Helping connect people to opportunities.
Most inspiring mentor:
Jamie Hodgson. In my time working under her, she taught me how to show (not just tell) people that they matter.
Best career advice you have received:
The most surprising source of career advice came from the end-credits sequence of “Human Resources, Episode 4,” where a character describes the Inbox Zero method of email management. Sometimes you get productivity tips from raunchy cartoons?
Something fun about yourself that few people know:
A lot of folks know that I have a side gig as a professional acrobat, but what they don’t know is that I’m an exceedingly mediocre juggler too.
Three words that best describe you:
Unpretentious, optimistic and tall.
Favorite Vermont escape:
That one swimming hole you should probably keep close to the chest but can’t help dragging everyone to.
Favorite Vermont season:
I live for summer in Vermont and strive to go whole days without wearing shoes.
Favorite downtime activities:
Playing board games or a good Dungeons & Dragons session with friends.
Favorite social media:
I don’t have a favorite, but I definitely spend too much time on Reddit and subsequently stumble through explanations of half-remembered articles to people who are too nice to put a stop to it.
Person you would most like to share a Vermont beverage with:
How about you? You got plans next Tuesday evening?
Cause(s) you would support if you had unlimited funds:
Education and opportunities in science, technology and exploration. Big sci-fi nerd.
A song on your playlist you are embarrassed to admit to your best friend:
None, my music taste is impeccable.
Where you see yourself professionally in the next five to 10 years:
I’d like to be mostly content with the list of things I can do and much more closely aligned with the things I like doing.
Goal(s) you’d like to accomplish in the next five to 10 years:
I would like to have developed the infrastructure for a program that can outlive my management of it and then to pivot into learning more about designing user-friendly systems that solve social problems.
How your community service has changed since the pandemic:
My community involvement has been less so changed due to the pandemic and more attributable to the transience of my 20s winding to a close. Or maybe I found a place that was just too cool to move on from. Who can say?
How your job has changed since the pandemic:
Economic development is, by necessity, an ever-changing set of problems and opportunities, and the pandemic didn’t change that. I feel lucky to work for an organization with the acuity and nimbleness to address some of the biggest challenges facing our state.
