Dan Smith named 2020 Rising Stars Alumnus of the Year
Dan Smith, President and CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation, the state’s largest philanthropic organization has been awarded the Rising Stars Alumni of the Year Award. The Alumni Award was started in 2019 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the VBM Rising Stars Award which began in 2010.
Dan is an outstanding choice for this award according to John Boutin, Publisher of Vermont Business Magazine. When we started this awards program back in 2010, we wanted to highlight the great young leaders we have here in Vermont and to date we have honored over 441 individuals, said Boutin. These young people are recognized each year for what they bring to their places of employment as well as their communities and Dan has gone above and beyond since first receiving this award, said Boutin.
Dan was recognized as a Rising Star the very first year of the program back in 2010. At the time he was working in the Chancellor’s office as director of community relations and public policy. Shortly after that Smith served as the president of Vermont Technical College, where he strengthened the college’s financial picture and led a reorganization of college curriculum while deepening partnerships with employers in key state industries.
In 2016, Smith Joined the Vermont Community Foundation as President and CEO. Under his leadership, the Foundation has focused its efforts on closing Vermont’s “opportunity gap”—the circumstances that disrupt communities because of differential access to child care, postsecondary education and career training, good jobs and careers, health, and economic security based on factors like socio-economic status, race, ethnicity and zip code. To support this work, the Foundation has aligned its philanthropic resources around a commitment to community engagement, innovative grantmaking, and putting foundation assets to work in Vermont through place-based mission investments.
On March 13, 2020, the Foundation launched the VT Covid-19 Response Fund to help marshal a coordinated philanthropic response to the emerging pandemic. To date, the fund has raised $7.6 million. Working with state, federal, municipal, public health, and nonprofit leadership, those funds have provided flexible resources to nonprofits working to address the most immediate public health and economic impacts of the disease, focusing on vulnerable populations and the organizations that support them.
In September, the Foundation announced five initiatives that focus on seeding an economic recovery that builds greater resilience across Vermont communities. Those initiatives explore the role of community philanthropy in the following areas:
Rural Entrepreneurship: Creating strong rural communities by supporting infrastructure for entrepreneurship, small businesses, and vibrant downtowns.
Food System Resilience: Strengthening local food systems by investing in farm viability and connections between local food, food insecurity, and food access.
Rural Connectivity: Establishing equitable internet access for communities by exploring and expanding existing models.
Learning in Transition: Developing cradle-to-career infrastructure by identifying the best career pathways and supporting service and skill-building for youth and adults.
Welcoming, Equitable, Anti-Racist Communities: Setting the stage for a more inclusive Vermont by building community capacity to engage and address racial equity, diversity, and systemic racism.
There are two criteria that the Rising Stars judges look for each year when selecting the 40 winners, commitment to business growth and professional excellence as well as involvement in their communities. That was why Dan Smith was chosen to be in the Rising Stars Class of 2010 and why he has been chosen as this year's Alumni of the year. The professional criteria is well documented above and you would think that would be more than enough to cover his community involvement as well, but Smith also serves on the boards of Grow Kids, the Curtis Fund, the J Warren and Lois McClure Foundation, the Vermont Council of Rural Development and Cynosure, Inc.
Dan and his wife Lindsay live in Burlington with their three young sons. How he has time to do all he does is beyond me, says Boutin. All I know is we need more Dan Smith’s in Vermont!
Nicole Ravlin, president of Junapr was the first recipient of the Rising Stars Alumni Award in 2019.