Rod Butler, VTTA Board President and Director of Software Engineering for Dealer.com, a Cox Automotive Company, the leading provider of digital marketing solutions for the automotive industry. Rod has 15 years of management experience in Engineering and Operations at Dealer.com and previously with GE Healthcare.
Patrick Coughlin, Chief Development Officer of FirstLight Fiber, which provides fiber-optic data, Internet, data center, cloud and voice services to enterprise and carrier customers throughout the Northeast. Patrick is responsible for leading all aspects of corporate development, including M&A, business development, market expansion, corporate strategy and innovation, as well as marketing and product management.
Vijay Desai, Principal Consultant and Managing Partner of Desai Management Consulting, a Vermont-based, minority-owned small business serving customers throughout the US and Canada in all industry sectors, including the tech sector. Desai provides consulting services in areas that include Project and Business Process Management, Strategy Planning & Deployment, and Organizational Change Management.
Danielle Hazelton, Producer for Toolhouse , which helps healthcare brands use technology to build meaningful connections with their customers. She also is the founder of Hazelton Creative, which provides photography and filmmaking services throughout the U.S. Previous roles include Future of Work Research Associate for the Center on Rural Innovation
Barry Hulce, Executive Director of the Vermont Manufacturing Collaborative at Vermont Technical College. VT-MC was founded to help accelerate business adoption of Advanced Manufacturing technologies and to develop a highly capable manufacturing workforce within Vermont, the NE region, and the US. Barry also is the founder of Blue Vista Creations, which helps developers of accessibility devices that enrich people’s lives.
Kylie King, Director of Institutional Effectiveness, at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Previously, Kylie worked as a faculty member teaching in the areas of analytics and entrepreneurship. In addition to her work in institutional effectiveness, Kylie conducts research in the areas of social network analysis, organizational and team measurement, and entrepreneurship.
Justin McCabe, General Counsel for OnLogic, a privately held Vermont based company focused on providing high quality industrial and rugged PCs and servers. OnLogic’s products are sold worldwide from its divisions in the United States and Europe. His previous roles include partner at Dunkiel Saunders Elliott Raubvogel & Hand.
Maureen McElaney, Senior Manager, Open Source Developer Advocacy for IBM. Maureen leads a team of developer advocates focused on supporting open source projects around the world, with a special focus around operators and runtimes. Maureen also is a co-founder of Women in Machine Learning and Data Science, and the founder of Girl Develop It in Burlington.
Ric Schaaf, Senior Director of IT and Chief Information Security Officer for E Block/E Dealer, with responsibility for all of IT and Cyber Security across the US and Canada.E INC has created an automotive digital auction and retailing platform that connects the automotive wholesale and retail experiences that make it easy for a vehicle to move between buyers and sellers throughout its entire ownership lifecycle.
Nancy Shuttleworth, Business Advisor for the Vermont Small Business Development Center in Southwestern Vermont. Nancy works with clients to help them find solutions to business issues and provides guidance on starting a new business. Nancy also manages her own digital marketing business. Nancy was a Vermont SCORE Volunteer Business Mentor for over 10 years.
Kerry Swift , Technology Licensing Officer with UVM Innovations, which supports the commercialization of new technologies. At UVM Innovations, Kerry identifies new technologies from UVM researchers and facilitates their transfer to both established and new start-up companies for commercialization. Kerry also supports UVM’s industry-related research activities, including funding and research support agreements with both large and small companies.
Executive Director
Jeff Couture is the Executive Director of the Vermont Technology Alliance, and leads the organization’s mission to support, promote, and grow technology businesses and technology jobs in Vermont. Jeff believes that tech businesses and organizations represent Vermont’s greatest economic growth opportunity. Before joining the VTTA, Jeff had a long career with IBM, holding several leadership communications and public relations positions for IBM’s technology organizations, including communications leader and spokesperson for IBM in Vermont.