Our Board

Arwen Turner

Arwen Turner is the Executive Director of Come Alive Outside, a Vermont-based nonprofit that builds collaborative community systems to connect individuals, families, and entire communities to the health and wellness benefits of outdoor spaces. A passionate advocate for outdoor equity and inclusion, Arwen is also the co-founder of Thicket Adventure, an outdoor apparel company creating high-quality, true plus-size gear for larger-bodied adventurers. Arwen brings over 20 years of experience in nonprofit leadership and fund development, having led initiatives across the U.S. and abroad. Her work is rooted in the belief that everyone deserves access and invitation to enjoy the outdoors. Arwen loves swimming in lakes, spooky things, woodsy walks, and chocolate cupcakes.

Carolyn Gilbert

Dawn Morgan

Dawn and her husband Rick returned to Vermont in 2014 to join the family consulting business, which provides forestry, ecology, mapping, and land management services to Vermont landowners, many of whom are enrolled in the State’s Current Use Program. Her role in the business focuses on GIS mapping, forest inventory, ecological assessments, and communications with landowners. Dawn has an undergraduate degree in Geology from Beloit College in Wisconsin and a Master’s in Wetland Ecology and Conservation Planning from the University of Maine. Her other interests include growing food, creating art inspired by the natural world, exploring far northern landscapes, nordic skiing, and long-distance hiking.

Fred Nelson

Fred has worked for 25 years to develop lasting conservation solutions rooted in community rights and interests. His career has focused on eastern and southern Africa, including living in Tanzania for over a decade, where he worked with Maasai pastoralist communities, researched the politics of conservation in Africa, and played a leading role in global networks and collaborations that span land rights, wildlife conservation, and ecotourism. He founded Maliasili in 2010 to help leading local organizations build the organizations and networks they need to deliver on their mission and achieve their goals. He also edited Community Rights, Conservation and Contested Land: The Politics of Natural Resource Governance in Africa.

Hannah Sessions

Hannah was born and raised in Addison County, Vermont. She graduated from Bates College and returned to Vermont in 2000 to establish Blue Ledge Farm in Leicester with her husband, Greg. They conserved their farm with VLT and invested in an on-farm cheese enterprise in 2002. Today, Blue Ledge Farm is home to 150 dairy goats and produces artisanal goat and cow’s milk cheeses sold nationwide. Hannah is also a painter. Her muses are, of course, goats, cows, and the landscape of Vermont. She lives on the farm with her husband. They have two grown children.

Jess Phelps

Jess has been a VLT board member since 2019. He is an attorney working as the associate counsel for the Lyme Timber Company in Hanover, New Hampshire. Jess has been an adjunct professor at Vermont Law School and Maine Law School and writes on conservation law-related topics. His favorite Vermont spot is the Norwich Grange Hall (1892), where he is working with a group of neighbors to help restore the building as a community center.

Jessie Estes

Jessie joined VLT in January of 2022 as the Executive Assistant to the President and Corporate Secretary for the Board of Trustees. Before coming onboard at VLT, Jessie worked as Director of Operations for a small meadery in St. Albans, and previously as Manager of Youth & Family Initiatives at the Vermont Foodbank. She earned a Master’s Degree in Organizational Development from Prescott College in the Fall of 2021. In her spare time, Jessie is an enthusiastic home baker who is always planning her next baking project.

John Kassel

John has been a board member since 2023. A retired attorney, he has been a commercial and environmental litigator, criminal prosecutor, and cofounder of a mission-driven private law firm. He has also led nonprofit and government agencies and served on several boards in the environmental, healthcare, and social services fields. He now enjoys being a grandpa and doing almost anything outdoors, especially making maple syrup.

Karin Chamberlain

Karin’s career in sustainable investing has taken her from farming to finance to the financing of farming. She is an independent consultant on impact investment and sustainable enterprises. She has previously worked at Clean Yield Asset Management and at KLD Research & Analytics, and served as a livestock production volunteer with the U.S. Peace Corps in Ecuador. Karin holds a BA in international relations from Kenyon College and an MALD in economics and environmental policy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. She also serves on the boards of the Vermont Electric Power Company and the Upper Valley Agriculture Association, and is a guest lecturer on sustainable business and investing. Since moving to a 50-acre farm in the Upper Valley, she enjoys hiking and biking in the summer, telemark skiing and Nordic speed skating in the winter, and CrossFit year-round.

Lizah Makombore

Guided by the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu — “I am because we are” — Lizah brings over a decade of experience across NGOs, development agencies, public finance institutions, and academia. Her work centers on community-driven practice, sustainability, and collective wellbeing. While pursuing her PhD at UVM, Lizah’s research explores how ecological economics can inform policies that support diverse farmers and resilient agroecosystems.  

Lizah has contributed to climate policy design, water stewardship partnerships, and support for small- and medium-scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. She lives in Burlington, Vermont, with her husband, Ponciano, and their 11-year-old twins, Hannah and Izzy, and enjoys the region’s seasonal beauty and natural surroundings.

Luke Briccetti

Luke joined the board as a non-voting fellow in 2023 as part of a VLT partnership with UVM’s Rubenstein School of Natural Resources (RSENR). He is a PhD student at RSENR and the Gund Institute for Environment, where he studies how land management decision-making evolves in response to global climate change. Luke holds an MS in Natural Resources from SUNY Plattsburgh and previously worked in land use and water quality planning at the Northwest Regional Planning Commission in St. Albans. Luke’s favorite spot in Vermont, no matter the season, is the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, with either a paddle or a fishing rod in his hands.

Meriwether Hardie

Meriwether is in her second term on the VLT board and currently serves as its vice chair. Her background is in agriculture and sustainable rural community development. For the past nine years, she has served as the president of an organization that works across the US to design, implement, and manage regenerative land use projects, many of which focus on food systems and working agriculture landscapes. Meriwether grew up in Vermont and still has many family and friends in the farming and forestry communities in the Green Mountain State, although today she calls Boulder, Colorado home. This year (2025), she is currently taking a sabbatical to rest, get more time outside, and take on a writing project that has been gathering dust on the back shelf!

Mike Donohue

Mike is the chair of VLT’s board of trustees. He is an all-around outdoorsperson and employee owner at Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington. When not helping others get geared up or mentoring coworkers, he can be found outside hiking, biking, climbing, skiing, and paddling. He is also on the Board of Vermont Huts Association and Richmond Mountain Trails and is on the Richmond Trails Committee.

Paul Costello

Paul served as the executive director of the Vermont Council on Rural Development from 2000 to 2021, where he facilitated rural development policy at the local, regional, and state levels, including initiating and leading more than a dozen major rural policy council efforts. He has built significant programs to advance the digital economy, climate economy, working landscapes, and community leadership development in the state. Paul attended UVM before earning a PhD in intellectual history at McGill. He has served on boards ranging from corrections education to cooperatives, philanthropies, libraries, and Governor’s commissions, including co-chairing the Climate Action Team and chairing the Local Support and Community Action Team of the Vermont Covid-19 Recovery Task Force. He is the past president of the national community development association, Partners for Rural America.

Ramsey Luhr

Ramsey co-founded Maple Capital Management in 2004, a Registered Investment Advisory firm headquartered in Montpelier with over $2 billion in assets under management. Before this, he served as Vice President & Portfolio Manager for NL Capital Management’s Private Client Group. He has also held positions at Concord International Investments, Citibank, and Smith Barney in New York. Ramsey has a BA in International Relations from Trinity College. Before joining VLT’s board, he served on the board of directors of the Institute for Sustainable Communities and the Vermont River Conservancy.  An avid cyclist and skier, he is passionate about preserving the environment he has come to call home. He lives in Montpelier.

Sam Burr

Sam brings diverse agricultural experience to VLT. He has worked with polo ponies and show sheep, and raised a variety of crops and livestock from California to Tennessee. Since the late 1970s, Sam has lived and farmed in Vermont — first living on a livestock/goat dairy, and then later managing a cow dairy, before transitioning to diversified farming in the 1980s. In 1985, Sam and his wife, Eugenie Doyle, purchased and conserved Last Resort Farm in Monkton. They continue to run the farm with their son and his family, offering organic small fruits, vegetables, maple sap, and hay. After earning a law degree, Sam brought his years of agricultural experience to the Vermont State House, serving as legislative staff for several committees, including House and Senate Agriculture.