Vermont’s Irene Recovery Officer to Present Johnson State’s Commencement Address on May 18

April 17, 2013

Sue Minter, Vermont deputy secretary of transportation and Tropical Storm Irene recovery officer, will be the featured speaker at Johnson State College’s 146th annual Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 18.

Gov. Peter Shumlin appointed Minter to the Irene recovery post in December 2011, noting that that she had been a pivotal player in recovery efforts, working with Transportation Secretary Brian Searles and the transportation crews to get 500 miles of damaged roads and 34 closed bridges re-opened before the brunt of winter hit Vermont. The storm struck Vermont on Aug. 28, 2011.

A longtime resident of Waterbury Center, Minter was a state representative from 2004 to 2011, stepping down when Gov. Shumlim appointed her to the transportation post. She previously was a planning coordinator with the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development.

Minter has worked as a professional planner in Vermont and overseas, addressing land use planning, transportation policy, downtown revitalization, community development, and public involvement. She was a member of Revitalizing Waterbury Economic Development, a past member of the Waterbury Planning Commission and Children’s Room, and a long-time Waterbury Youth Soccer coach.

Minter graduated from Harvard University in 1984 and went on to earn a master’s degree in urban and community planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1990). She and husband David Goodman and have a daughter, Ariel, a first-year college student, and a son, Jasper, who attends Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury.

Minter will present Johnson State’s Commencement address following opening remarks by President Barbara Murphy at 11 a.m. Three students representing the 2013 graduating class also will speak briefly from the podium.