Scott Brooks

Scott grew up in Underhill, VT where his parents still live and after graduating from Norwich University in 1988, he worked in higher education for a number of years before entering the telecommunications Industry in 1995. Scott has worked in numerous facets of the industry including Sales, Operations, Field Services, Government Relations and as General Manager. Scott is past President of the Ludlow Rotary Club and the Technology Association of New England (TANE) and is the current Chair of the New York State Telecommunications Association (NYSTA). Scott has been married to his beautiful wife, Eileen for 28 years and they have two grown sons, Connor and Aidan. In his free time, Scott enjoys coaching youth sports teams, golf, gardening and spending time with his family. Scott looks forward to helping guide and grow Everybody Wins! Vermont into the future.

Dawn Ellen Carey

Dawn brings a deep love of reading, complimenting her focus on alleviating disparity worldwide. Her role in global health and development at Dartmouth serves to educate, convene, and empower students, faculty, and community to increase health equity worldwide. She works to transform learning for better learning and engagement, including generating resources to make it all work! Dawn received both her BA in Anthropology and her MPH at Dartmouth College. She is a mediocre-but avid-gardener, beginner watercolor painter, and home chef. She rows competitively, and lives in the woods of Norwich with her husband and her aging lab, Scout.

Susan Colgan (president)

Susan retired to the Mad River Valley in 2018, with her husband Peter, after a 40-year career as a Literary Coach. An alumna of Mount Holyoke College, she earned a Master of Education in Literacy degree from Wheelock College and spent her professional career with the City of Newton, Massachusetts Public Schools. She has been an Everybody Wins mentor at Waitsfield Elementary School since 2018 and is directing the establishment of the Mad River Valley Mentoring Program. She has two sons, is a voracious reader, and loves to cook, quilt, snowshoe and hike with her dogs.

Emma Kaas (secretary)

Emma Kaas is the co-owner of the Norwich Bookstore, an indie bookstore and community hub in Norwich, VT. Before moving to Vermont to pursue her dream of owning a bookstore, Emma was a manager at the Elliott Bay Book Co. in Seattle, WA. She has worked her entire life in the service of books, readers, and making a perfect match between the two. Emma also serves on the board of BINC, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation. When not at the bookstore, Emma can often be found tinkering with spreadsheets, covered in flour, or reading a good book.

Michelle Ollie

Michelle Ollie is co-founder and president of The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS). She teaches design and was previously a director and faculty at Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and faculty for New York Institute of Technology’s online graduate business program. Michelle has also worked as a development manager in the printing industry and she received her MBA from the University of St. Thomas. She serves on several nonprofit boards including the Vermont Higher Education Council.

Elizabeth Vessichio (treasurer)

Beth is a Commercial/Municipal Loan Officer with Mascoma Bank, having been with them since 2005. She’s been in banking since 1981 holding various positions, but also has had the opportunity to work in law offices and become a paralegal. Beth is a longtime fan of reading and originally desired to become an English teacher. She has been mentoring with Everybody Wins! Vermont for about 10 years. She’s also served on the board of Everybody Wins! Vermont in years passed and rejoined the board in 2022 after a hiatus. She served on the Finance Committee for many years. Beth lives with her husband and their two German Shepherds: Lady and The Tramp. Besides reading, she enjoys walking, cooking, gardening, traveling, and spending time with her three children, children-in-laws, and eight grandchildren.