NU Online News Service, April 9, 3:55 p.m. EDT
Vermont Captive Insurance Association President Molly Lambert announced today that she will be leaving VCIA to take a post as U.S. Department of Agriculture Vermont and New Hampshire state director for rural development.
U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a statement he is recommending Ms. Lambert to President Barack Obama to fill the position.
"It's pretty humbling and pretty wonderful and pretty sad all at the same time," Ms. Lambert told National Underwriter. She said she will be leaving VCIA May 14.
Ms. Lambert said that as rural development state director, she will be working with the Senator as part of a team, but that her direct report will be the undersecretary of Agriculture.
Her job, she said, will be to increase economic development opportunity and "improve the lives of people who live in rural communities in the states of Vermont and New Hampshire." She said the organization has five offices and a staff of 52 in Vermont and New Hampshire.
As president of VCIA, Ms. Lambert witnessed the further development of the captive insurance industry in Vermont, the largest captive domicile in the U.S. and one of the largest globally. The captive industry is recognized as an important source of revenue and jobs for the state.
Ms. Lambert said she informed the VCIA board yesterday of her departure. She noted that Diane Leach, director of education and meeting planning for the association, will be appointed interim director of VCIA and that the board will begin a search to fill the position.
USDA's Director for Rural Development each year oversees the investment of tens of millions of dollars in each state to promote and support rural economic development, through loans and grants to individuals, organizations, businesses and communities.
In 2008, Sen. Leahy said USDA Rural Development distributed almost $200 million in federal funding to Vermont and New Hampshire, with Vermont receiving $90 million and New Hampshire receiving $109 million.
The programs range from direct mortgage assistance to income-eligible homebuyers, energy efficiency grants to businesses making energy improvements, water and wastewater improvement grants, and loans to communities, and much more.
Ms. Lambert, who lives in Swanton, Vt., was Vermont's secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development from 1998 to 2002 under Governor Howard Dean. Before that she was executive director of the Church Street Marketplace from 1991 to 1998.
"Molly Lambert has been a pillar of economic development in Vermont for two decades, and now she will be able to turn her talents exclusively to the challenge of economic development in the rural communities of Vermont and New Hampshire," Sen. Leahy said in a statement.
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