In 1981, John Sortino was playing with his son Graham and his collection of teddy bears. Surprised to see that every one of his son’s bears was foreign made, Sortino was inspired to bring this American tradition back to its roots. Sortino handcrafted his first bears in his wife’s sewing room and by 1983, he began to sell his bears from a peddler’s cart at an open-air market in Burlington, VT. It took a year to sell through his first 200 bears. One day, a tourist visiting Burlington asked for a bear to be mailed to her home. This gave Sortino the idea to package a teddy bear and add delivery service. The Bear-Gram® concept was born. Shortly before Valentine’s Day in 1990, the Company took this concept to NYC. Advertisements featuring well-known local radio personalities endorsing Bear-Gram gifts were placed on Z-100. Calls flooded the Company’s three telephone lines and within the first two days, the Company reached its sales goal for the entire year! In 1992 Inc. Magazine recognized The Vermont Teddy Bear Co. as the 80th fastest growing private Company in the US. By 1993 the Company ranked 58th. In 1995, The Company moved into its new, 60,000 square foot home situated on 57 acres in Vermont’s picturesque Champlain Valley. Today, more than 150,000 people a year visit the Vermont Teddy Bear Co. to find out how teddy bears are made. The Company now handcrafts more than 150,000 Bears for its Bear-Gram gift delivery service and employs 162 year round staff.

Since 1972, iSun has accelerated the adoption of proven, life-improving innovations in electrification technology. iSun has been the trusted electrical contractor to Fortune 500 companies for decades and has installed clean rooms, fiber optic cables, flight simulators, and over 400 megawatts of solar systems. The Company currently provides a comprehensive suite of solar services across residential, commercial, industrial & municipal, and utility scale projects and provides solar electric vehicle charging solutions for both grid-tied and battery backed solar EV charging systems. iSun believes that the transition to clean, renewable solar energy is the most important investment to make today and is focused on profitable growth opportunities.

Pre-Tech Precision Machining was started in 1985. Since then, we have grown to an AS9100 certified company, that has manufacturing facilities in Williston, Vermont, and Mineville, New York, using state-of-the-art, computerized precision machinery. These facilities produce custom-made, close tolerance components that are used in bio-medical, environmental, aerospace, the semiconductor industry and high performance industrial applications.

Fuse is an independent, award-winning agency that creates authentic brand engagement for teens and young adults. We specialize in developing and executing sports, sampling, campus, culture, and customer marketing programs for some of the most innovative brands. Our services include: • Brand Strategy • Experiential • Social & Digital Media • PR • Creative Fuse has built a unique culture that attracts top talent from brands, agencies, and universities across North America and our work has received more than 50 regional, national, and international awards. Beyond being named as a best place to work by local and national media, Fuse is also consistently listed among the top marketing agencies in the country by a wide variety of industry media. For more information about Fuse, including case studies, staff bios, thought leadership and agency news, visit fusemarketing.com. Instagram @fuse_marketing | Facebook @Fuse_LLC

Pete's RV Center is an extraordinary recreational vehicle dealer with locations in VT, CT, MA, PA, SC, IN and ME. We also deliver new RVs to happy campers throughout the United States and Canada. An RV sales, parts and service provider since 1952, Pete's RV Center carries an extensive inventory of Jayco as well as Grand Design, Crossroads, Coachmen, Keystone, Forest River, and even Airstream RV-branded campers. Our success in RV sales and service is largely built on our rock solid employee base. With a very low-turnover rate, many of our employees have been with us for years (and years!). Whether part-time or full-time, in service or sales, when hiring new employees for our RV dealerships, we seek those who are motivated, team-oriented, and not afraid to roll up their sleeves when duty calls!

Vermont Railway, Inc. is a transportation/trucking/railroad company based out of One Railway Lane, Burlington, Vermont, United States.

The Stern Center for Language and Learning is a nationally recognized nonprofit dedicated to life-changing learning for all. For nearly 40 years, we have been committed to helping individuals identify their learning strengths as well as their needs and to finding solutions that allow everyone to learn. We support learners of all ages—including those with learning disabilities, dyslexia, autism, ADHD, and learning style differences—and transform lives through learning evaluations, customized instruction, and specialized courses and programs for teachers and schools. Woven through these services is a longstanding dedication to equity through learning.

www.mcneilvt.com

At Resonance, we help our clients unlock opportunity in frontier markets by designing action-based strategies, forging strategic partnerships, and executing across sector boundaries. Since 2005, we have built over 350+ partnerships and delivered solutions that enable businesses to achieve their growth objectives, NGOs to fulfill their missions, and development agencies to reach billions of individuals born into poverty. Our Services: Corporate Sustainability Scaling CSR programs, executing cause campaigns, or achieving a social license to operate. Resonance has the creative vision to tackle your sustainability challenges and the local knowledge to get it done. Impact Investing Serving individuals, companies, and donor institutions who are looking to deploy and mobilize impact capital in frontier markets. Resonance has the global networks to help clients uncover new and innovative impact investment opportunities. Unlocking Frontier Markets Unlocking value in even the most daunting of frontier markets. From innovative business model design to navigating complex local dynamics, Resonance has the creative vision to tackle your challenges and the local knowledge to get it done. Global Development Addressing the world’s toughest global development challenges with cross-sector solutions. We leverage our global expertise, local insight, and cross-sector experience to help clients build market-led solutions.

A 501(c) nonprofit organization dedicated to education for sustainability, integrated with a 1,400-acre working farm and National Historic Landmark on the shores of Lake Champlain. We advance education for sustainability and farm-to-school initiatives in Vermont, nationally, and internationally through our programs and partnerships, including our Sustainable Schools Project, partnership in Vermont FEED, Northeast Regional Lead for the National Farm to School Network, as backbone organization of the Farm-based Education Network, and more.

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