Paul Costello accepts the Vermont Lifetime Leadership Award surrounded by past and current VCRD staff and board members at the Vermont Community Leadership Summit
The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2026 Vermont Leadership Awards. The awards were presented Tuesday at VCRD’s 7th Community Leadership Summit at VTSU Castleton, where more than 400 community leaders from across the state gathered to share skills, strengthen connections, and build a stronger Vermont together. Paul Costello, former Executive Director of VCRD, received the Vermont Lifetime Leadership Award, and Bill Moore, Deputy Town Manager and Recreation Director of Brandon, received the Vermont Community Leadership Award.
The Vermont Community Leadership Award is presented each year to celebrate Vermonters who exemplify dedication, integrity and honorable service to community and to rural Vermont, and who have had a transformational effect on their communities. VCRD presents this award to highlight the work of community heroes who epitomize the best spirit of local community service and whose work has made their community a better place.
VCRD’s Vermont Lifetime Leadership Award is presented to an individual whose decades of work have strengthened Vermont’s people and places; who embodies the values that make the state unique; who has provided more than twenty years of active leadership with enduring impact; who has mentored and inspired emerging leaders; and who is trusted and respected across backgrounds and sectors.
“Under Paul’s leadership, VCRD worked with communities in every corner of the state as they set priorities and connect to resources, and he led dozens of policy councils and statewide summits that brought people together, built lasting relationships, and strengthened shared purpose across Vermont,” said Denise Smith, VCRD Executive Director. “Bill has been a driving force behind community and economic development in Brandon expanding free and low-cost programs and events like the Brandon Carnival, supporting local businesses through the Route 7 reconstruction, and championing Brandon’s identity as the birthplace of the electric motor.”
Bill Moore accepts the Vermont Community Leadership Award with VCRD Executive Director Denise Smith, Julie Connell, Community Development Specialist of Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development, Jessica Brodie, Executive Director of Green Mountain Horse Association and VCRD Board of Directors Chair Shannon Barsotti at the Vermont Community Leadership Summit
For more highlights from this year’s leadership summit, visit www.vtrural.org/summit.
Vermont Council on Rural Development
The Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of the locally-defined progress of Vermont’s rural communities. VCRD is a dynamic partnership of federal, state, local, nonprofit and private partners. Actively non-partisan with an established reputation for community-based facilitation, VCRD is uniquely positioned to sponsor and coordinate collaborative efforts across governmental and organizational categories concerned with policy questions of rural import. The organization has facilitated over 100 Community Visit processes, resulting in hundreds of locally defined projects including new childcare centers, wastewater infrastructure, downtown redevelopments, and much more.