By David Delcore
Staff Writer
BARRE, Vt. — An organization committed to serving central Vermont’s oldest residents has just named a new leader, though Douglas Bouchard has some loose ends to tie up before settling in as the Central Vermont Council on Aging’s next executive director.
It won’t be long.
Bouchard is scheduled to complete the transition from private consultant to the new face of Central Vermont Council on Aging on May 17.
Emily McKenna, co-chair of the 11-member board Bouchard will answer to when he takes the helm, sounded confident about what was a carefully considered hire.
“Mr. Bouchard comes to us rich with experience in capacity building, a most important skill for the future of CVCOA” McKenna said in a prepared statement.
“We are well aware that CVCOA must be readied for a steadily increasing number of older Vermonters who will be seeking our services,” she added. “Planning for that future today will poise our agency to fully meet those needs.”
Strategic planning will be at the top of a to-do list that includes boosting revenue, building and sustaining relationships and recommending how the organization, which was founded in 1980, should adapt in a post-COVID world. Bouchard will be supported by a $4 million operating budget that allows the organization to cover a 54-town service area spanning three counties.
Bouchard emerged from a field of more than 120 applicants for the position Beth Stern held for the last 16 of the 30 years she worked for CVCOA before stepping down last October.
The board intentionally didn’t rush to replace Stern. Instead, it asked two in-house administrators — Davoren Carr and Jeanne Kern — to split those responsibilities on an interim basis, buying it time to consider the position, the needs of the organization and the attributes it was looking for in a new executive director.
The consultant-led search was about positioning CVCOA for the future and McKenna seems pleased with the result.
“Doug is the right person to take us there,” she said of Bouchard, who emerged from a field of more than 120 applicants for the job.
With the help of a consultant, Carr said Monday, that list was quickly trimmed to 75 candidates and then screened down to 25 semifinalists from across the country. Each participated in 30-minute virtual interviews, before seven finalists were chosen.
Carr said two withdrew and Bouchard was the only Vermont applicant of the five finalists who was invited in for a second interview.
Other finalists included one candidate from New York City, another for Portland, Ore., a third from North Carolina and one from Maine.
Bouchard got the job partly on the strength of his “award-winning tenure” at Northeast Kingdom Human Services, where he served as executive director from 2014 to 2017.
According to McKenna, Bouchard successfully oversaw several entrepreneurial initiatives and brought the $40 million agency to the strongest fiscal standing in its history while expanding services.
The CVCOA board has high hopes for Bouchard, who lives in Glover and has been working as an independent consultant since leaving Northeast Kingdom Human Services.
The feeling appears to be mutual.
“I truly feel that CVCOA is the perfect next step for me and my career,” Bouchard said in a prepared statement.
“I care deeply for our aging Vermonters and I have no doubt that CVCOA’s caring board and dedicated staff is more than ready for growth and change,” he added. “I am thrilled to bring my experience in those areas to benefit older Central Vermonters.”
Prior to moving to Vermont Bouchard worked for a broad range of organizations from Kentucky to Nova Scotia. Those agencies provided services in housing, homelessness, prenatal programs, programs for special needs children, community outreach, in-home visiting services, and mental health assistance.
Bouchard is poised to joins a staff of 32 employees committed to supporting central Vermonters so they can age with dignity and choice.
In addition to his diverse work background, Bouchard has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maine and a master’s degree from Rutgers University.
Carr, the agency’s director of case management, and Kern, its director of community development, will stop pulling double duty when Bouchard starts full time on May 17.
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