Beth Mintz – Board President
Beth Mintz is a retired University of Vermont sociology professor who spent over 40 years working for gender and racial equality on campus. She is a founding member of the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies program and a long-time leader of the Faculty Women’s Caucus. Prior to the right to marry in Vermont, she organized a successful effort to secure domestic partner benefits for LGBTQ faculty and staff. Her work has been recognized by a number of awards including the University of Vermont, President’s Distinguished Citizenship and Service Award; the University of Vermont, L/G,/B/T/Q/A Services, Diversity & Equity Unit, Faculty Award; and the Vermont Women in Higher Education, Jackie Gribbons Leadership Award.
In retirement she continues her research agenda, currently studying the crisis in higher education. In her career, she has written on a number of topics including corporate structure, health care policy formation, and occupational gender and race segregation.
Beth lives in Burlington with Deborah Kutzko, her partner of over 40 years; their daughter, Rebecca, is currently in Maryland. She plays racquetball, pickleball, and golf and is always eager for a good bridge game.
Roland Palmer – Board Secretary
Brookfield, VT
Roland (pictured right with his husband Mark) joined the board in March 2013. He is a native Vermonter and a graduate of Champlain College where he now works as their Director of Advancement Services.
Roland has extensive experience in Vermont’s LGBT non-profit community, including service to Mountain Pride Media, the publisher of Out in the Mountains, where he served various board roles including President and the Samara Foundation of Vermont (now known as the Samara Fund) where he served on the their Scholarship Committee for many years.
Bennett Law – Board Treasurer
Bethel, Vermont
Bennett Law earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics, cum laude, from the University of Vermont (1980), where he was inducted into the national honor society Phi Beta Kappa, and a Master of Science degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Nebraska (1982). He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (1988) and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries (1989), and is employed by National Life Insurance Company, headquartered in Montpelier, Vermont.
Bennett has been a member of the Chandler Pride Advisory Committee since 2011. He served on the Board of Directors of the Vermont Freedom To Marry Task Force from 2005 to 2011, and on the Board of Trustees of the Gifford Medical Center in Randolph in 2002 and 2003. In 2001 Bennett was named a member of the Advisory Committee to the Vermont Unity Project, a collaboration between the Vermont Community Foundation and the Samara Foundation of Vermont. Bennett served as chair of the Board of Directors of Vermont CARES, a Burlington-based AIDS service organization, from 1995 through 1997, served as President of the Board of Directors of Mountain Pride Media, publisher of Out in the Mountains, from 1998 through 2001, and served as board member of the Granite Hills Credit Union from 1998 to 2001.
Tom Bivins
Bethel, Vermont
Tom Bivins graduated from Louisiana State University in 1988 with a BA in Communications, and in 1991 was awarded an AOS (Associate of Occupational Studies) from the New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont. After an impressive career as Executive Chef at three of Vermont’s premier dining establishments – Shelburne Farms, the Pitcher Inn, and the Old Tavern at Grafton, as well as at the prestigious James Beard House in New York City, Tom joined the teaching staff at the New England Culinary Institute in 2003, where he
served as Executive Chef until 2012. In 2014, Tom became the Executive Director of the Vermont Cheese Council where he promotes quality Vermont cheese.
Sherry Corbin
South Hero, VT
Sherry Corbin graduated from University of Vermont in 1984 with a degree in Geography and went into the family business insulating wire. She now serves as Chief Operating Officer at Phoenix Wire Inc and sole proprietor of Across the Grain Pottery Studio.
Sherry was one of the early members of Vermont Therapy Dogs, served as chair of the South Hero Planning Commission, Zoning Administrator, and a member of the Lake Champlain Housing advisory board for Franklin and Grand Isle Counties during the 1990’s. Sherry was a founding member in the creation of Champlain Islander’s Developing Essential Resources (CIDER), an independent living organization, presiding as a board chair for over 10 years.
In 1999, Sherry joined the VT Freedom to Marry Task Force as a Regional Coordinator, serving as Board Chair or Treasurer from 2001- 2011 through the passage of Marriage Equality and continues to Chair the VT Freedom to Marry Action Committee. Sherry worked with RU12 and V-TRANS to add Transgender language to Vermont’s anti-discrimination law which lead to being awarded the RU12 volunteer of the year award. Currently, Sherry volunteers at UVM teaching in the Pottery Co-op.
Lynn B. Goyette
Lynn graduated from SUNY Cortland with a B.S.ed. at a time when her first year of schooling cost under $1000. She loved learning and took additional classes at Ithaca College and Cornell University, and earned an M.S.ed. from Elmira College and a M.A.C.P. from Antioch New England University. After teaching Physical Education in Grades 1-12 for 6 years, she taught Health for 7 years to 10th and 12th graders, all in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. She coached most girls sports and taught coeducational gymnastics and dance with the boy’s P.E. Instructor and coach. But at heart, she was an entrepreneur so she left education to start a Picture Framing business and Art Gallery with a partner which they ran for several years. Lynn moved to Vermont in 1987 and upon graduation from Antioch, she opened her Counseling Psychology practice on Church Street in Burlington, from which she retired in 2014. Lynn lives in Burlington with her spouse Eileen Blackwood and their two cats. She still does picture framing, collects and researches Vermont women artists, is an “Everybody Wins” reading mentor at Edmunds Elementary, and plays Pickleball. Lynn and Eileen also owned an antiques business for several years and love attending auctions. Currently they are both auctioneers and call auctions for several area nonprofits.
Former Board Members:
Jan Blanchard
Daniel Blankenship
Denis Boucher
Philip Bushey
Barbara Dozetos
Tina Giangrande
David Hooks
Susan Murray
Carrie Rampp
Kip Roberson
Heidi Schuerger
Nancy Peck
Joe Nusbaum