RunVermont Staff
Anthea Dexter-Cooper (she/her)
Executive Director
Anthea became the Executive Director in November 2024 after spending more than 10 years as a practicing lawyer, most recently at Conservation Law Foundation and the Office of Legislative Counsel for the Vermont General Assembly. An avid runner over the years, Anthea has run multiple marathons and ultras, having set her personal record in the marathon at the People's United Bank Vermont City Marathon & Relay in 2015 and earning a sub-24 hour buckle at VT100 in 2017. Since the birth of her first child in 2019 (and a global pandemic and two more kids), Anthea has not run farther than 25k, but she did it pushing a jogging stroller for a turkey trot in a 40-degree downpour, an accomplishment that she is overly proud of. Anthea endeavors to fully embrace running as a lifelong activity by finding a place for people of all ages and abilities at RunVermont races, and that includes her own parents, who first exposed her to running; husband, who she met doing a relay race; and young children, who have never known a life without running (or skiing, this is Vermont after all).
Joe Connelly
Chief of Race Operations
Joe officially started on the RunVermont staff in 2001… but he’s truly been involved in some aspect with the Vermont City Marathon since the beginning. He's a native of Glenville, NY and 1987 graduate of Saint Michael's College with a BS in Accounting. He trained with the group who originally started VCM, and ran the original course with Gordon MacFarland (VCM's first Director) on November 6, 1988 to test it out. He ran the marathon in 1989 (2:54-pr) and worked registration and results in 1990. He volunteered as a Course Captain in 1992, ran again in 1993 (3:18), worked at Waterfront Park as set up volunteer in 1994, joined the Race Committee as Waterfront Park Coordinator 1995-2000, then served on the Staff as Technical Director-Parks starting in 2001. Technical Director evolved into Director of Race Operations sometime around 2012, where Joe was in charge of just about every aspect of the courses, from planning and permitting, to course layout, design, support services, aid stations & fluids, relay exchange zones, Invited Runners and our Preferred Corral program… you name it, Joe does it. He can tell at exactly what .001 degree of a mile the course changes even the slightest of elevation. He directs our medium-sized races - Half Marathon Unplugged and Island Vines. When he’s not working at RunVermont Joe enjoys outdoor sports such as cross country skiing, running, biking, hiking, pickleball and golf and indoor fun bowling, squash(ing?), pinball(ing?), crossword puzzles and Scrabble.
In summer 2022 Joe moved over from the Race Operations office to the Executive Director's office and kept our races on track as we rebounded coming out of the covid shutdown. As of November 2024 Joe moves back into operations in our newly created Chief of Race Operations position.
Moe Brown
Registration Director
Moe joined the RunVermont staff in December of 2022 as a member of the Race Operations team. Moe grew up in East Montpelier, VT and graduated from Lyndon State College in 1988 with a BS degree in Communications. He also holds certifications as a Personal Trainer and Medical Exercise Specialist. Since 2003 he has owned Your Personal Best Fitness Coaching, focusing on healthy lifestyle and sports performance coaching.
Moe discovered his love for running in high school and has been competing in races ever since. His first marathon experience was at the 1990 VT City Marathon. After finishing in a time of 3:18 he declared: “I’m not running another marathon!”. He soon realized that he couldn’t stay away and has returned to VCM almost annually as a marathon runner, a member of a relay team, or a spectator. Moe has also performed a variety of roles as a volunteer at numerous RunVermont events.
Besides running, Moe enjoys hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, and skiing (almost anything outdoors really). He also periodically partakes in the sport of obstacle racing, is an avid reader of non-fiction, and enjoys filmmaking and videography.
Lauren Miller
Director of Youth Programs/Marketing and Social Media Coordinator
Lauren joined the RunVermont staff in December of 2022 and coordinates our youth programs and race operations. Lauren grew up in Tampa, Florida and then attended the University of Georgia where she studied Psychology and Public Health. She moved to Vermont in 2019 to pursue a Masters degree in Physical Activity and Wellness Science from UVM. This program instilled a deeper understanding about why movement is critical and how to implement strategies that increase the overall health of an individual, as well as a community. She completed the program in May of 2020 and decided to stay in the Green Mountain State. She fell for Vermont’s beautiful scenery, strong community dynamics and the active, outdoor culture. Lauren is also a personal trainer at Fortify Fitness and class instructor at the GBYMCA. Her favorite activities are those in which her dog, George, can participate, such as running, camping, biking and hiking.
Event Staff
Liz Champagne
Volunteer Coordinator
Jon Floyd
VCM Course Director
Kim Lord
Sport & Fitness Expo Director
Emily Norris
Race Operations
RunVermont Board of Directors
Heather Hennessy (Chair), Founder of Hennessy Consulting
Beth Anderson (Past Chair), Managing Partner at Assembly Theory, LLC
Jamie Harnish (Treasurer), Partner at McSoley McCoy & Co.
Michell Langlais (Vice Chair), Director of Sales for Westport Hospitality
Will McNulty (Secretary), Software Project Manager at Dealer.com
Kelly Byers, Owner of Leonardo's Pizza and Realtor at Sotheby's International
Rob Goulding, Public Information Manager for the City of Burlington Department of Public Works
Seth Lasker, Retired Fire Chief, City of Burlington
Teage O'Connor, Executive Director, Crow's Path
Max Rooney, SVP, Senior Wealth Advisor at Wilmington Trust
Shannon Salembier, Counsel at National Life Group
Kathy Schirling, VP, Senior Regional Program Officer at M&T Bank
