Julia Russell joins the newspaper’s board of directors

As the result of a recent unanimous vote, Julia Russell is the newest member of our board of directors.

Julia moved to Charlotte in 1995 with her husband Charles and their three kids, Amanda, Katharine and Michael, who all grew up in Charlotte, attended Charlotte Central School and graduated from Champlain Valley Union High. She enjoys living in Charlotte, especially for the beauty of the mountains and the lake, and the ability to get outside in all seasons.

After working at the University of Vermont for 27 years, Julia retired in early 2022 from her position as the associate chief information officer. She held this position for 10 years with responsibilities that included overseeing the University of Vermont’s Enterprise Technology Services group of 80 full-time staff and 20 part-time student workers. Julia had operational responsibility for the services provided by five IT departments and developed and managed annual budgets in the $15 million range. Scattered through her resume are references to a wide range of skills and experience including strategic planning, management, business process design, software evaluation and qualitative research methods such as focus groups, hardware and software support.

Julia holds an Ed.D. from UVM, an MBA from Boston University, and a BA from Dartmouth. Her work-related activities include the Anti-Racism in Academia Journey, Introduction to Courageous Conversations and Lean Train the Trainer. Over the years, she has volunteered at the Charlotte Library, with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, the Green Mountain Athletic Association and the Women in Science program at Dartmouth.

Julia has several hobbies and interests that have kept her busy for years, especially running, gym, reading, cooking and knitting. She has also spent several very rewarding years volunteering with Results, an anti-poverty advocacy group. She writes, “Since retiring last year, I’ve added spinning and pickleball to the fitness mix, which are both more fun than they have a right to be, and I’m learning to weave on a floor loom, which is more challenging than I expected. I’m also doing some gardening in the hopes of growing more than weeds and runaway tomatoes.” Whenever possible, Julia and Charlie travel to Baltimore and Syracuse to spend time with their kids and grandkids.

As our newest board member, Julia expects to work on expanding and improving the services we provide to our readers, with a focus on “all things digital.” She writes, “I’m excited to join the board to explore what I can contribute to all the good work they do. I’m especially looking forward to working on the website, the email newsletter and other electronic possibilities. The Charlotte News has a great team and I’m pleased to be joining the group.”

From everyone here at the paper, welcome aboard, Julia.