Northern Vermont University-Lyndon Names Entrepreneur for Coworking Initiative

Northern Vermont University-Lyndon has named Evan Carlson of Sutton entrepreneur-in-residence for Do North Coworking, a new NVU economic development initiative that provides office space and business services in downtown Lyndonville.

Carlson will launch “Move Back North,” a Do North Coworking event 4-7 p.m. Nov. 23, open to the public. The event is geared to people returning to the Lyndonville area for Thanksgiving to learn about resources available to work remotely or start businesses in Lyndonville. Information will be available for entrepreneurs, remote workers and visitors to the region about Do North Coworking membership, temporary office space, event hosting, and conference rooms.

Do North Coworking, which opened this month at 930 Broad St. in downtown Lyndonville, was developed to support business growth and the increasing number of remote workers in the region. The initiative emerged from the Vermont Council on Rural Development community meetings with Lyndon area residents in 2017. The coworking facility launches with the support of a U.S. Economic Development Administration Economic Adjustment Assistance Program grant, which will fund the entrepreneur-in-residence position in the project’s three-year startup phase.

Carlson will focus on developing a sustainable business model and establishing programs for NVU students, faculty and the coworking community “that empower local entrepreneurs and catalyze an innovation ecosystem,” he says.

A Lyndonville native, Carlson is chair of Lyndon’s Economic Development Task Force and a member of the Lyndon Planning Commission and the Vermont Changemakers Table, a network of young professionals. He earned a bachelor’s degree in interactive media design from the New England Institute of Art.

Carlson returned to Vermont after working as a product manager at Complex Media in New York, where he oversaw mobile and emerging platforms. As an independent design and product consultant in Vermont, he worked with media companies to develop new digital products to support business growth.

“His strengths in managing key performance indicators, short- and long-term planning and effective cross-team collaboration and communication, along with his creativity and entrepreneurial spirit, make him an asset for this coworking venture,” says Ann Nygard, director of NVU-Lyndon’s Center for Professional Studies. The center oversees the coworking initiative.

With the help of local community partners, Do North Coworking also received funding from a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Business Development Grant and the Northern Border Regional Commission to support economic development in the Lyndonville area.

For more information, email Evan.Carlson@NorthernVermont.edu, or visit NorthernVermont.edu/DoNorthCoworking.