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The Vermont Women’s Fund Announces Three New Council Members

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The Vermont Women’s Fund has announced that three new female leaders have joined its governing Council. Council members of this statewide philanthropic resource are responsible for the strategic direction of the fund’s grantmaking on key economic issues impacting Vermont’s women and girls. The three new members are:

  • Sujata Moorti, Middlebury, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, Middlebury College
  • Helena Van Voorst, Vergennes, Executive Director, United Way of Addison County
  • Wangene Hall, Quechee, Director of Marketing, Global Village Foods

"We are honored to have the knowledge and expertise of our new council members,” says Meg Smith, Director of the Vermont Women’s Fund. “They join us in our vision to see Vermont as a place where all women and girls thrive.”

Full biographies of each new Council member are below. For a copy of headshots, please reach out to Nate Clark at nclark@vermontcf.org.

Sujata Moorti is the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty at Middlebury College. She is the Charles A. Dana Professor in Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies. Her scholarship and teaching have centered on key feminist concerns, addressing media representations, and the transnational circulation of ideas. She has published extensively on gender-based violence, particularly how the intersections of race and class complicate our understandings of the nature of crime, criminality, and victimization. In her teaching and scholarship, feminism has been the central pillar through which Sujata has considered how one could imagine a more just and equitable world. Prior to her work in the U.S. academy, she worked as a reporter in several Indian newspapers. This experience in the news media continues to animate her work in and out of the academy as well as her engagements with the broad field of development.

Helena D. Van Voorst began her nonprofit fundraising career at a small rural hospital in Northwest Iowa in 2002 when a letter from an angry funder was dropped on her desk and she was asked to "make it right." For 16 years, she managed all aspects of fundraising for a variety of different nonprofit organizations in Vermont (her home state!) ranging from a community coalition to a museum. In 2018 she began her current role as Executive Director of United Way of Addison County (UWAC). Helena has a lot of experience with grant writing and grant making, strategic planning, board development, public speaking, and nonprofit management, and holds a MA degree in Communication and Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University. Helena lives in Vergennes with her husband, Matthew, their two children, Isabelle (12) and Hendrik (9).

Wangene Hall is an entrepreneur and co-owner at Global Village Foods. Their allergy-friendly food with bold African flavor can be found in Whole Foods and natural co-ops across New England. Her focus is driving go-to-market strategy and scaling business growth. In her previous roles, she has led marketing strategy at South by Southwest and Beats by Dre. She currently serves as the Entrepreneurship Organizer for Vermont Releaf Collective, sits on the boards of several nonprofits, and is a passionate advocate of Black Entrepreneurship. She is a proud alumna of Amherst College and the Tuck School of Business.