Leadership
Board of Directors
__________
NEFCU is governed by a volunteer board composed of members who serve three
classes of staggered terms and meet monthly with the CEO and Executive Team.
The responsibility of the Board of Directors is broad, requiring a prudent, responsible, and thoughtful commitment to
overseeing the safety and soundness, risk management, operations, performance, and strategic direction of the credit union.
Additional sub-committees focused on policy, community contributions, environmental concerns, and more also
give board members an opportunity to delve into their individual areas of expertise.
Arthur G. Woolf
Chair
Art Woolf received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1980. He was a member of the Economics Department faculty at UVM from 1980 until his retirement in 2019. In 1988 he was appointed state economist by Governor Madeleine Kunin, a position he held through the end of her term in 1991. He was the last person to hold that position in Vermont state government. He co-published The Vermont Economy Newsletter from 1991 through 2015 and wrote a weekly column on the Vermont economy for the Burlington Free Press from 2011 to 2018. In 2019 he began writing a regular column for VTDigger.org. In 1999 he founded The Vermont Council on Economic Education, an organization that helps Vermont teachers incorporate economics and personal finance into their classrooms and since 2002 he has been on the teaching faculty of the Foundation for Teaching Economics. Art enjoys life in his log house on 140 acres in Westford, where he has lived with his wife, Celeste Gaspari, since 1982. They have two grown children who, alas, do not live in Vermont.
Spencer Newman
1st Vice-Chair
Spencer Newman is president of Green Mountain Insight, a financial and strategic planning firm that helps mission-focused Vermont businesses grow and prosper in their communities. Several of Spencer’s clients have transformed from start-up businesses to employing hundreds of people, providing stable jobs and good wages for their employees. Spencer also serves on Governor Scott’s Strategic Planning Team and was chair of the Burlington Electric Board for five years, during which time the city became 100% powered by renewable energy. Spencer has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BA from Tufts University. He lives in Burlington with his wife and two teenage children, and enjoys skiing, hiking, and cooking and generally living in Vermont.
Kathleen S. Emery-Ginn
2nd Vice-Chair
Kathleen S. Emery-Ginn has served as a NEFCU board member for the last 11 years and currently is the Senior Warden at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Essex, New York. Her professional career was rooted at IBM where she began as a DRAM circuit designer in 1982 and held various roles throughout her career primarily in development, manufacturing, and business. She managed various business units and worked closely with clients such as Apple, Nintendo, and Sony as part of expanding networking applications into gaming and consumer segments. After working closely with the IBM CEO on various technology strategy decisions, she retired from IBM in 2011 as an IBM Vice President.
Frank G. Harris
Frank Harris is a retired professional in information technology (IT) management. During his career he served as Senior Director of IT Infrastructure for Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. (formerly Green Mountain Coffee Roasters). Prior to that he held a number of positions at Fletcher Allen Health Care (now UVM Medical Center), most recently as Vice President of Information Services. Frank was a member of the Vermont Healthcare Credit Union’s Board of Directors for seven years prior to its merger with NEFCU, including four years as Vice President of the Board. He has served as chair of the NEFCU IT Committee since 1996.
Michael Hogan
Mike Hogan recently retired from the State of Vermont, after 30 years of service. He served the last 17 years of his career as commissioner for the Department of Liquor Control. Mike has been a VSECU member for three decades and has found it easier to shoulder life’s demands with the help of the credit union’s services. Mike and his wife Mary Ellen live in rural Cabot and enjoy raising a few Black Angus cows, and biking and running the back roads of their community. Mike is currently a member of the Cabot Select Board and has served in various offices in his town. He is an avid reader of history and is active in his church.
Julie Lineberger
Julie Lineberger leads both Wheel Pad L3C, and LineSync Architecture LTD, in southern Vermont. Her focus is on social responsibility at all levels, gaining B Corp certification for her businesses. She presents and consults on various aspects of business management regularly. Julie’s previous career in International Development included managing and/or participating in projects for the United Nations Development Program, the International Rescue Committee, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees throughout the world. Hailing originally from California, Julie is bilingual (Spanish), and holds a Bachelor of Communications & Sociology from University of California, San Diego, and a Master of Education from Harvard University.
Stephanie Meunier
Stephanie Meunier currently serves on the NEFCU Board of Directors, after originally being elected to the VSECU Board in 2021. She is a seasoned human resource strategist with experience in performance improvement, growth, strategy, optimization, leadership development and employee engagement across different industries, both in large enterprises and mid- to late-startups. As the former Director of Human Resources with Generac, she managed organizational change and culture through several periods of transformative business growth. She is a Leadership Champlain Graduate and Alumni and has served as a volunteer Community Advisor and Panel Facilitator with Essex Restorative & Community Justice.
Margaret H. O'Donnell
Meg H. O’Donnell is an attorney by profession, and has lived and worked in Vermont since 1988, when she moved here from New York City to clerk for Justice Ernest W. Gibson III of the Vermont Supreme Court. She practiced law in Burlington for several years after her clerkship, leaving in late 1992 to become counsel to the Vermont Health Care Authority. Meg spent the next seven years working for the Authority and its successor, the Division of Health Care Administration (part of the former Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration), helping to develop health policies and oversight programs. Meg then served as Director of Government & Community Relations and Assistant General Counsel at the UVM Medical Center until her retirement in 2018.
George Sales
George Sales is a small-business and managing owner of Pica-pica Filipino Cuisine in St. Johnsbury. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) whose clients and work experiences include the University of Massachusetts Medical School, ACCD-State of Vermont, M&T Bank, Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, and the World Bank. He holds a Master of International Management (MIM) from Thunderbird School of Global Management, an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, and a BA from George Mason University.
Amy Vaughan
Amy Vaughan has served as a NEFCU board member for the last four years and previously served on the credit union’s Supervisory Committee from 2017 to 2022. She has worked at the University of Vermont Medical Center since 2001 and is currently the University of Vermont Health Network Vice President of Revenue Finance & Reimbursement. In this role, Amy leads a team of finance professionals responsible for various functions in healthcare finance and revenue cycle across the six-hospital system in Vermont and upstate New York.