Chief Joanne Crawford, Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi

Joanne lives with her husband, one of her sons, and their two dogs outside of Burlington. She worked for the Burlington School District for 17 years before joining the Vermont Department of Mental Health where she has worked for the past 5 years. She is currently the Interim Chief of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi. Previously, she served on the Board of Directors for the tribe’s non-profit which is responsible for the health and wellness of the community. She is the Chair of the Vermont Agency of Human Services Abenaki Equity Workgroup, the Missisquoi tribal representative on the Health Equity Advisory Commission, and a member of the UVM Larner College of Medicine’s Health Disparities Cultural Competency Council. She is also a Schweitzer Mentor for students at the UVM Larner College of Medicine.

Kelly Danckert is a Program Manager with the Vermont HelpLink at HRiA. SMs. Danckert is an experienced trainer and facilitator, with additional expertise in web development and communication planning, substance use, addiction, harm reduction. She is passionate about creating a world that is more environmentally-sound.

Ricky Padgett, MBA, CPA, PCC, ICF Certified Executive Coach, Leadership and Team Coach

Ricky Padgett brings over thirty years of professional experience and passion to developing leaders and teams to reach their full potential, for themselves and their organizations. Ricky coaches in a variety of industries, including healthcare, health and human services, financial services, technology, start-ups, higher education, pharmaceuticals, and media services.  He offers a wealth of progressive leadership experience – from front-line manager to executive – and an experiential and evidence-based approach to his work. 

Ricky’s coaching approach focuses on improving leaders’ performance and strengthening the connection between their goals and those of their organizations.  He works to discover, clarify, and align with what leaders want to achieve, encourage self-discovery, elicit leader-generated possibilities and solutions, and provide a framework for accountability for leaders as they move their work forward.  His coaching may include MBTI®, Hogan®, Clifton Strengthfinder®, and MSCEIT® assessments, resonant leadership exercises, and 360º leadership self-studies.  Ricky’s work is grounded in the theories of intentional change, cycle of experience, self-determination, and emotional intelligence, as well as positive psychology concepts. 

Ricky holds a master’s in business administration with an emphasis in human resources from Florida State University and a B.A. in accounting and business administration from Troy State University. He is a certified public accountant (CPA) and is credentialed by the International Coaching Federation as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC).  He completed his coach training at Teleos Leadership Institute and holds certifications in MBTI®, Hogan®, MSCEIT®, and Conscious Business Coaching, and a European Mentoring and Coaching Council accreditation in Global Individual Team Coaching. In addition to his coaching practice, Ricky is part of the faculty of the THRIVE leadership development program and an adjunct faculty member at Champlain College in the Robert P. Stiller School of Business.

Learn more about Ricky and Padgett Coaching.

Tess Weinisch, Organization Development, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching Professional

Tess has extensive experience in Organization Development, Executive Coaching, Change Management, Design Thinking, Leadership Development, and Talent Management.  She has worked globally, giving her additional experience working with clients in Amsterdam, Budapest, South Africa, Italy, and Singapore. 

She has worked internally and externally in business unit integration, delivery, and monitoring of all organization development and change management services to the organization.  She designed and facilitated customized programs to increase organizational efficiency, productivity and support business unit profitability. Advised and designed interventions about impacts resulting from complete organization changes (leadership changes, rapid growth, downsizing). 

Tess is known for her design and delivery and believes that the two most essential things in leading others include staying true to yourself and being the presence that is missing for your team or organization.  It gives her great joy to help her clients transform and meet their goals. 

She manages her own consulting business, TBW Consulting, with clients worldwide.   She lives in South Burlington, VT, with her husband, son, and daughter and enjoys being outside, traveling, and being with her family. 

Certifications:

• iGOLD – International Gestalt Organization and Leadership Development
• HOGAN – Hogan Assessment Systems
• HBDI – Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument
• ICF-ACC – International Coach Federation Associate Certified Coach (ACC)
• TCDP – Teleos Coach Development Program
• WorkPlace Big 5 Profile™ – Paradigm Personality Labs

Learn more about Tess Weinisch and TBI Consulting.

Wichie Artu, Vital Partnerships Partner and Integrator for the Brattleboro/Windham County Health District

Born/raised in Puerto Rico and Boston by an Indigenous father, two mothers, and a sister – Wichie and his family faced many opportunity barriers: homelessness, mental institutionalization, poverty, and more. But community stepped in with food, housing, education, and hope. E.g. As a teen, I was given a college mentor – a lawyer, and my first representation of a successful gay person; not someone who ended up beaten to death (Matthew Shepard) or dead from AIDS (uncles). Today Wichie and his family thrives because community gave them tools to realize their potential and plan for their future.

For the past 17 years, Wichie has dedicated their life to working and volunteering in a myriad of social equity environments: public health, workforce development, public policy, youth services, performing arts, information technology, and more.

Currently, he works throughout Vermont as a Partner at Vital Partnerships – a VT consulting company focused on bridging resources and community. Recently, He has successfully:

• Worked on recommendations to the VT Governor as part of the Governor’s Racial Equity Task Force such as the request to provide undocumented folks COVID relief
• Worked with the VT Department of Health and over 30 organizations to coordinate VT BIPOC-specific vaccine clinics in Rutland, Bennington, and Brattleboro.
• Co-authored legislative recommendations to a people-first Criminal Justice Data Warehouse as a member of RDAP (Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice and Juvenile System Advisory Panel). This policy recommendation included the need for a governance from people whose data (which is collected and analyzed) it belongs to.

He aims to always to help empower others by making sure decisions are made for them WITH them, by creating opportunities of solidarity among different social equity initiatives and groups, and by fostering an environment of humility when speaking truth to power.