June 6th, 2019
Article Written by: Vermont Business Magazine
Governor Phil Scott, public officials, business owners and guests participated in a June 5th Ribbon-Cutting ceremony at 296 Beanville Road in Randolph with LEDdynamics (LED) and Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation, in a sparkling new $5 million, 28,000-square-foot office, engineering and production facility.
GMEDC designed, permitted and built the state-of-the-art building for its tenant LED, a rapidly growing, Randolph based manufacturer of high efficiency lighting equipment which expects to employ 100 soon. State and local support included a $1M Community Development Block Grant, VEGI and Job Training Funding from the state, VEDA mortgage financing and local tax stabilization from the Town of Randolph. GMEDC is one of 12 Regional Development Corporations in Vermont and serves 30 towns in Orange and Windsor Counties.
Following the ribbon cutting (photo attached), Governor Scott spent 2 hours touring the building, viewing newly installed equipment and designs, meeting LED staff and mingling with over 100 guests, many of whom he knew. Previous visits with the company had been at its former location on Hull Street and a year-ago for the groundbreaking ceremony with Senator Leahy. This event also included a presentation by Ken Cadow, the Director of Career Pathways and Workforce Development at Randolph Union High School and two graduating seniors Aashish Sanyasi and John Blaisdell who demonstrated a project they designed and built with guidance and assistance from LED. This continued the theme of the night ie. the importance of Career and Technical Education and Vermont’s need for qualified employees with skills in design, engineering, applied manufacturing. The Governor, LED President Bill McGrath and Bob Haynes, GMEDC Executive Director all stressed this growing need in their remarks, as well as Randolph’s role in supporting innovative companies locally.
The evening also included GMEDC’s Annual Membership Meeting during which it elected new Board members Monique Priestly, founder of Space on Main, a shared work space in Bradford VT and Steve Reid, a founding owner of Fat Toad Farm in Braintree, the well-known purveyor of goat’s milk caramel. Sperry Wilson was thanked for her efforts as retiring Board Chair. The new Board officers elected were Chairman Joe Boyd of Woodstock, Vice Chair Lisa Henderson of Norwich, Secretary Ed Childs of Norwich and Treasurer Russ North of Hartford.
(photo by Stacey Bevins/DEW Construction)
Pictured (left to right): Lisa Henderson, VMEC; Julie Iffland, RACDC; Spencer Newman, LEDdynamics CFO; Sandy Croft, VEDA; Bill McGrath, LEDdynamics President; Gov. Phil Scott; Bob Haynes, GMEDC; Joan Goldstein, Commissioner ACCD; Don Wells, DEW Construction; Josh Hanford, Acting Commissioner DHCD; Sperry Wilson, GMEDC Board Chair.
