Lisa Lorimer - UI&U Alum & Board of Trustees Chair

In 1993 Vermont-native Lisa Lorimer was the owner and operator of the Vermont Bread Company, one of the largest woman-owned manufacturing firms in her home state. With nearly $20 million in sales per year, the Vermont Bread Company was the largest producer of all-natural, premium, and certified organic breads and muffins in the Northeast United States, and has been featured in magazines such as Inc., Baking Management, and Family Circle. Under her direction, the company won numerous awards, employed about 180 people (including drivers and bakery personnel), received lots of positive press coverage, and was listed continuously as one of the fastest growing woman-owned business in the State of Vermont. Lisa was even a Congressional appointee to the White House Conference on Small Business, and a popular speaker at conferences nationwide.

But one of her most important speeches didn’t happen in a boardroom or a conference hall.  It happened on a stage in 2003, behind a podium, as she addressed listeners - not as a savvy business owner - but as a fellow UI&U graduate.

Lorimer was in her 30s when she made the decision to go back to college. Up until then, she thought she had it pretty good – about as good as it gets considering the bread business she began in a Vermont barn in 1978 was now averaging about $20 million in sales per year.

But all that success – and the accolades that accompanied – didn’t much phase Lisa’s grandmother.

“I would send newspaper and magazine articles or clips of myself on TV or the radio. I’d mail them off to her and she would always say, ‘That’s nice dear, but really… when are you going to graduate from college?” Lisa said in her 2003 commencement address.

Lisa’s grandmother was born to Irish parents, and to her, the only way to get ahead in the world was through education. She frowned when Lisa dropped out of college as a teenager, and wasn’t much impress when her granddaughter met the leader of the free world. “That’s nice that you met the President of the United States,” Lisa’s grandmother said, “but… when are you going back to college?”

And so Lisa, a thirty-something entrepreneur made her grandmother proud. She enrolled in UI&U’s College of Undergraduate Studies, then called the Adult Degree Program, housed in a small farm on the outskirts of Brattleboro, Vermont.

After years of running a business, Lisa had developed the skills necessary to help it grow and thrive. But at UI&U, through working with her advisors, she found her voice as a writer. “My experience at UI&U was truly transformational,” said Lisa.

Today, Lisa is using her voice as the co-author of a book on how to run a business. In addition to her B.A. from the UI&U Vermont College ADP program, she completed the three-year Owner President Management Program at Harvard Business School. An alumna of the Vermont Leadership Institute’s inaugural class of 1996, she now serves as a faculty member. She is also a licensed respite foster care provider who extends her services voluntarily.

She had been a member of the board of trustees since 2003, and now replaces board chair Cheryl Foley, who calls Lisa a “leader for the future.” 

Lisa also attended Harvard, and she admits the name looks great on the resume. But UI&U is her true alma mater. And now she is emulating UI&U’s mission to give back in her role as board chairperson. UI&U helped her find her voice, and now she is helping UI&U do the same.