Tiffany Bluemle and Scudder Parker Join Public Assets Board

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 2, 2015

MONTPELIER – Larry Mandell, chair of the board of Public Assets Institute, announced that Tiffany Bluemle of Burlington and Scudder Parker of Middlesex have been elected to the board.

A non-partisan nonprofit with offices in Montpelier, Public Assets Institute is Vermont’s premier independent research organization on state budget, tax, and economic issues and the source for timely and in-depth state fiscal and policy analysis.

“As Public Assets Institute moves into its second decade, we are very fortunate to have the experience and insights that both of these accomplished individuals bring to the board,” said Mandell, who is also a consultant for New England colleges and nonprofits.

Bluemle served as Executive Director of Vermont Works for Women (VWW) for 17 years before stepping down in February 2015 to spearhead Change The Story—an independent partnership of VWW, the Vermont Commission on Women, and the Vermont Women’s Fund—established to advance the state’s economy by advancing women.

“The Vermont budget and taxes affect us all,” Bluemle noted. “Public Assets’ work is essential and easily understandable reading for anyone trying to make sense of state money issues.”

Prior to her work at VWW, she worked in the field of education: first as a middle and high school history teacher and high school administrator in New York City, then as director of development for New York City Outward Bound. Bluemle holds a master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton.

Parker served in the Vermont Senate from Caledonia County from 1981 to 1988, including four years as chair of the Finance Committee. He was Director of the Energy Efficiency Division of the Vermont Department of Public Service for 13 years beginning in 1990.

After an unsuccessful run for governor in 2006, he joined the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC) in 2008 where he was the Director of Policy when he stepped down in April of this year. He remains a senior policy advisor at VEIC. Parker grew up in the Northeast Kingdom, graduated from Williams College and Union Theological Seminary, and served for 20 years as an ordained minister.

More information about Public Assets Institute and reports based on its research and analysis are available on its website www.publicassets.org.

– 30 –