VINS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STEPS DOWN

Woodstock, VT ˆ VINS, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, announced today that Sherman Kent is stepping down as Executive Director at the end of the month. The VINS Board accepted Kent‚s resignation with sincerest gratitude for his leadership throughout the last four and half years and especially for his stewardship throughout Phase I of the new VINS Nature Center in Quechee, which opened on June 12th.

When hired in February of 2000, Kent advised the Board and staff at VINS that it was his intent to stay for only 4 or 5 years. With the wonderfully successful opening of the VINS Nature Center on June 12th, Kent feels a great sense of accomplishment and believes it‚s the right time for new leadership to take VINS through its next growth phase. „What a challenge, what a vision, what a product. It makes my heart proud to have been a part of this project.‰ says Kent of the VINS Nature Center.

The well-respected and well-loved leader intends to retire in Woodstock and to remain active in the community and with VINS. „Working with the VINS staff and board members has been an incredibly rich and rewarding experience for me. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have served VINS since early 2000. My greatest pleasure has been to serve under the Presidency of Deb Granquist and Jenepher Lingelbach, both of whom have made my stay infinitely enjoyable, educational, and satisfying. The staff at VINS is incredibly talented, dedicated, and hard working and it has been an honor to work along side them. I will miss working at VINS every day, however, I‚m looking forward to the future and spending more time with my family and my garden again.‰

An announcement will be released in a few weeks regarding VINS‚ new leadership.

The Vermont Institute of Natural Science is a non-profit, member-supported organization headquartered in Woodstock, Vermont, with regional offices in Montpelier, Manchester, and Quechee. VINS‚ educational programs serve more than 20,000 adults and 35,000 students each year. The organization has long been a leading research center for the study of migratory songbirds, common loons, peregrine falcons, and other threatened or endangered species. VINS‚ wildlife services department has treated and released thousands of injured wild birds of all species since their inception in 1972. For more information, please visit the website at www.vinsweb.org or contact them at (802) 457-2779.