Albany Community Trust Board of Directors
Hannah Pearce – President
Hannah is a born and raised Albany resident. With her father, she owns and operates Hillside Farm in East Albany. Having moved back to Albany after many years in the Western U.S, she has come back to Albany to build a life in the Heart of the Kingdom. She is committed to supporting the Albany community and to help bring vitality back to the Village. She is eager to see the Albany General Store opens its doors to its glory days!
Kristin Urie – 1st Vice-President
Kristin lives in South Albany where she farms with her husband Neil and their four children. They milk sheep and raise lambs at Bonnieview Farm, where Neil’s father and grandfather were born. Kristin was born in New York City and slowly migrated north, landing in Vermont in 2000.
In addition to farming, Kristin is the librarian at the Albany Public Library. Kristin is excited to be working with the Albany Community Trust on the effort to revive the Albany General Store, and to bring back this vital community gathering place.
Kristen Fountain – Treasurer
My husband Dan Roock and I and our daughter Viola moved over the border to Albany from Craftsbury this fall. Dan is from upstate New York. I am originally from Indiana, but arrived in the NEK in 2013 after a decade in and around White River Junction and Stowe. We were married here. The baby was born here. We’ve put down roots, love this area and want to help it flourish.
Sonya Kitteridge – Secretary
Sonya Kittredge has lived her life in Albany Vermont. She and Paul, her husband of 38 years, live in the former Schuyler Chamberlin house. Schuyler is the son of Eli Chamberlin a founding father of Albany. The house, across from the Albany Community School, was dilapidated. Paul has continued to work to restore the house and barn since 1982. Here Sonya and Paul raised two sons, who are both Albany residents. They have two horses, Bonnie and Heidi, that enjoy their renovated barn.
The Albany Community Trust took on the store project with great determination. I am thrilled to step up to do what I can to help achieve goals Albany Community Trust sets for our community. It is not just vitality and community spirit that having a store will bring, it is the participation of all of us to restore and renovate the building that should be commended. Participation in this renovation, no matter how small, will be a treasure for us to take pride in together for many years to come!
Past Board of Directors Members
Larry Bohen
I was born and grew up in Springfield, VT and attended UVM. I worked for IBM in purchasing, management, contracts administration and product pricing. During my career at IBM Sally and I began investing in residential and commercial real estate in Chittenden County. Post-IBM I dabbled in futures trading, founded AudiobooksOnline.com, a web-based merchant of audio books, and became an EMT for Richmond Rescue and Fletcher Allen Coordinated Transport. My wife Sally, is from Ohio. In 2014 we bought the Weiss Farm on Creek Road and moved here the summer of 2015. Our plan is to “watch farming happen” with someone else like Pete’s Greens and our forester / logger doing the heavy lifting. We bought in Albany because of the area’s personality that supports eco-friendly businesses, organic, sustainable and regenerative methods of food production.
When I heard about the revival of the Albany General Store Peaceful Pantry & Deli I jumped at the opportunity to help out. Having a general store is central to a small town’s vibrancy.
Rob Dewees – 2nd Vice-President
My wife, Cheryl, and I have owned a house on the Creek Road in Albany for 29 years. In 2004, we purchased the old Roberts farm next to our house, restored the buildings and landscape, and it has been a working dairy farm since then. I mostly retired from business law practice in Boston in 2017 and Cheryl and I and our two sons moved permanently to Albany.
We want to support local agriculture and the Albany community with a renovated general store.
Danielle Coté Sukkaew
Danielle was born and raised in the Northeast Kingdom. After college in VT, she moved to Seattle WA for 25 years. In the summer of 2016, she and her family moved back home to the NEK, landing in Albany. She is very excited to be part of this community, and part of the Albany Community Trust, whose first project is to reopen the Albany General Store!