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The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) announces the appointment of Diane Abruzzini Riggs of Underhill and Ken Linge of South Burlington to its Board of Directors. The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) is a nonprofit organization nurtures the economic prosperity, ecological health, and social connectivity of people, businesses, organizations and communities in Vermont for the benefit and well-being of all who live here by providing business assistance, value chain facilitation, network development, and strategic planning in agriculture and food systems, forest products, waste management, renewable energy, and environmental technology sectors.

Diane Abruzzini Riggs is the COO and co-founder of Rigorous Technology, an industrial robotics company based in Williston, VT. Rigorous was founded with a mission to increase access to automation for small to medium-sized manufacturers. Before founding Rigorous, Diane worked in sustainable agriculture and ran small food and farm businesses including a wood fired bakery. Diane volunteers on the finance committee of NAMI-VT and serves on the advisory board of VCET’s Vermont Seed Capital Fund. Diane holds an MBA in Sustainable Innovation from UVM and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Skidmore College.

Ken Linge is a Loan Officer at the Vermont Bond Bank where he helps municipalities and school districts across the state access affordable capital for projects large and small. Since graduating from Hamilton College and landing in Vermont in the late 1990s, Ken has lived and worked in Addison, Washington, Orange, and Chittenden Counties. During his eight-year tenure as Director of the Blake Memorial Library (a public library serving Corinth, Topsham, and neighboring towns) he became deeply interested in innovative approaches to fostering community vitality and resiliency. After earning his MBA through UVM’s Sustainable Innovation MBA program in 2017, Ken served as Executive Director of the National Coalition for Community Capital (NC3) where he worked with and learned from national leaders in innovative community-centered finance.

About The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund

The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) is a nonprofit organization committed to nurturing the sustainable development of Vermont’s economy. VSJF provides business assistance, network development, strategic planning, and value chain facilitation in agriculture and food system, forest product, waste management, renewable energy, and environmental technology sectors. The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund was created by the Vermont Legislature in 1995 to partner with state government, private sector businesses, and nonprofits to build a thriving economic, social, and ecological future for Vermont.