Executive Director
Joe Connelly
Chief of Race Operations
Joe thinks he started on staff at RunVermont in 2004… 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 Race Committee/Staff as Technical Coordinator-Parks from 2001-2004. We’re pretty sure he was finally given a desk with an official title of Technical Director around 2004. Technical Director evolved into Director of Race Operations sometime around 2012, where Joe was in charge of just about every aspect of the course, 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. When he’s not working at RunVermont Joe enjoys outdoor sports such as cross country skiing, running, biking, hiking, pickleball and golf and indoor sports like bowling, squash, pinball, crossword puzzles and Scrabble.
In summer 2022 when Peter Delaney retired after 13 years as Executive Director of RunVermont, Joe moved over from the Race Operations office to the Executive Director's office where he aspires to live up to the high standards set by his predecessors.
Moe Brown
Race Operations
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
Youth Director/Race Operations
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
Kim Lord
Sport & Fitness EXPO Director
Jon Floyd
VCM Course Director
RunVermont Board of Directors
Beth Anderson
Beth joined the RunVermont Board in 2017. She has always been impressed by the events and programs that the organization delivers and was excited to work with that team as well as to give back to the organization and the running community.
Beth recently left her position at the City of Burlington to lead the local nonprofit Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc. (VITL). Outside of work, Beth is the Chair of the COTS Board, a runner with her dog and friends, she enjoys hiking, is training to become a Barre instructor, is an avid reader, and especially loves exploring the many small towns across the state.
Kelly Byers
Kelly joined the RunVermont Board in 2017. He joined because he was interested in becoming more involved as he had raced in many RunVermont races over the years.
Kelly helps run his second-generation family business, Leonardo’s Pizza, with locations in both Vermont and Maine. He enjoys spending time with his family as well. He likes being outside as much as possible regardless of the seasons. He enjoys running year round, but you will never find him on a treadmill….ever. Treadmills only exist indoors.
Sam Davis
Sam joined the RunVermont Board in 2016. He has been a marathon coach for RunVermont since 2005, so when approached to join the Board, it made sense!
Sam volunteers at many athletic events, including the Mini Marathon, serving also on the Youth Program Committee. As a USA Track & Field certified coach, Sam provides consultation for runners of all ages and ability, including his Marathon 201 and Half Marathon participants. His quiet enthusiasm is motivating to kids and adults alike. He also continues to run and race himself, just "at a much slower pace."
Heather Hennessy
Heather joined the RunVermont Board 2019. She joined because she loves running – it’s her stress relief and bonding time with friends. She also has a strong belief in the mission of Run Vermont. In addition, Heather has participated in the VT City Marathon (usually the half) for many years and her daughter loved the Mini Milers program.
Heather works at Fuse, a marketing agency focused on authentic brand experiences for teens and young adults and lead the digital communications team, which encompasses social media, digital, earned media and more traditional PR. In addition, she is an adjunct at Champlain College teaching in the Communications and Creative Media Department. Besides running, she also loves snowboarding, yoga and staying active. Heather’s fun is often family time as she has two young children.
Michael Jabour
Michael Jabour is the Director of Student Activities for the South Burlington High and Middle School. His role there is to oversee all athletic programs and co-curricular clubs at both the high and middle school. Michael is the Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity committee for the Vermont Principals Association.
Michael says, “I have to admit I am not a runner, but I enjoy being a member of RunVermont. My goal is to continue to grow the organization and use my influence to get high school aged students involved. In my free time I like to work out and be around my friends and family. I was born in Atlanta Georgia, but I grew up in South Burlington Vermont.”
While Michael claims to not be much of a runner now, his high school career paints a different picture. To this day, he holds the South Burlington High School Track Team record in the 100-meter dash.
Mike Kennedy
Mike joined the RunVermont Board in 2019 for two reasons: he loves to run. But, more importantly, he has long been a big fan of RunVermont and all that it does to promote running and support the local running community. He viewed it as an opportunity to give back or pay forward all that folks associated with RunVermont have done for him.
For work, Mike is a lawyer. His job is attorney ethics. He also just completed 11 years on the Vermont Bar Association's Board of Managers, including a term as president. In addition, he coaches middle school basketball in South Burlington. A few years ago, he retired after 16 years as the SBHS varsity coach. Apparently, he just couldn’t get enough! For fun, Mike enjoys lots of things, especially anything that includes travel and a race to run.
Michell Langlais
Michell joined the RunVermont Board in 2019, but her interest first piqued when she volunteered and experienced firsthand (cutting up hundreds of oranges and bananas) how many volunteers, staff, and community members it takes to host this large, community wide event. She found it mind-blowing to see all the moving pieces before, during and after the race. Additionally, she wanted to get involved because she believed our community needs events such as Vermont City Marathon and feel her talents and experiences can help keep it sustainable.
Michell is a native of Vermont and has been with Westport Hospitality since 2002, serving as Vice President of Sales for their portfolio of hotels. She is an active board member of the United Way of Northwest Vermont, co-founded Women’s United, and serves on the Board of Trustees for Mercy Connections. Michell is also an exercise enthusiast and works out and/or runs daily. Over the years, Michell has run in the Vermont City Marathon as both a marathon and half-marathon participant. She is a mother to two adult children, Connor and Stephanie, and resides in Colchester, Vermont with her two dogs, Eli and Zena.
Seth Lasker
Seth joined the RunVermont Board in 2015. He had been involved with the marathon since the early 1990's through his work at the Burlington Fire Dept. He wanted to be a resource for the Board and to be able to assist with future emergency planning.
Outside of Runvermont Seth works as an Emergency Management Coordinator for the Town of Colchester, for fun he and his wife travel and spend as much time as possible boating on Lake Champlain in the summer.
Will McNulty
Will joined the RunVermont Board in January 2017. Prior to joining the board he spent five years on the Youth Running Committee. Running is the simplest form of play and he was drawn to the idea of sharing his passion for play with the children of our community. Will was honored to be considered for the Board and joined because of the way that RunVermont and the Vermont City Marathon brings our amazing community together. Play and community are at the core of what it means to him to be human.
Will’s favorite thing to do is to spend time with his wife, Katrieva, and dog Ayla. In addition to running, he enjoys racing triathlons around New England. He is lucky to work at Dealer.com where he coaches software engineering teams on making values-based decisions while empowering them to challenge the status quo.
Max Rooney
Max joined the board of RunVermont in 2023. He works at Wilmington Trust, the Wealth Management division of M&T Bank, as a Senior Wealth Advisor. In his role, Max guides clients on financial strategies, retirement planning, private banking, and investment management. Max has been in the financial planning & wealth management industry since 2007, after his 2nd year at UVM. Max has enjoyed participating in several half marathons, albeit at a slow & steady pace, to include our Vermont City Marathon home course. Max enjoys running, hiking, walking, volleyball, tennis, snowboarding, biking, weight training, and the general practice of keeping active and not sitting still for too long. Outside of work and keeping active, Max enjoys volunteering for various M&T Bank & Wilmington Trust community service efforts, which are frequently available. He also spends time teaching financial literacy to those who need it most, volunteering as guest speaker for youngsters in the classroom.
Randy Sargent
Randy first joined the RunVermont Board in the fall of 1988. At that time, he had just moved back to Vermont and was looking for ways to connect with the community, both personally and professionally. He was running competitively at that time and wanted to see what was involved in producing a marathon, having done only some volunteering at local 5ks. He must have had a good first experience, as he has served as the dinosaur in the Board room for nearly all of the years since.
Randy is a CPA and is the Audit & Accounting partner at JMM & Associates in Colchester, Vermont where he specializes in providing services to nonprofit organizations. He was recently recycled to once again be the Board Treasurer and also serves as the Treasurer of his local church, is and as the Chair of the Ethics Committee of the Vermont Society of CPAs.
For fun, since he can’t run anymore, his hobbies include travel, golf in the summer and snowshoeing in the winter.
Kathy Schirling
Kathy joined the RunVermont Board in 2015. She works for M&T Bank as Vice President, Divisional Community Involvement Manager and, prior to that, had worked for People's United Bank for 30 years. Although she has not run the marathon, she and her team at M&T spend the entire weekend “running” around making the most of their title sponsorship. Kathy enjoys marathon weekend and working with the small, but very mighty team at RunVermont as well as the board, that put on such an incredible event.
Outside of work, Kathy does enjoy running with her husband and spending time with her children. Kathy is also on the board of Sara Holbrook Community Center and volunteers with the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington, Lund and the Humane Society of Chittenden County.
