2010 Art Gibb Award for Individual Leadership

Gus was the founding Executive Director of Vermont Housing Conservation Board. With the help of a dedicated staff and a creative board, he took an idea and built it into a nationally recognized model for addressing the twin problems of affordable homes and conservation of open space. He helped bring together both the housing and conservation organizations to further the state’s smart growth goals of building in our centers and maintaining our working landscape.  He worked with Senator Leahy to implement the Farms for the Future program as a pilot project which led to the national Farm Protection Program.  As a direct result of Gus’ leadership, Vermont now has some 325,000 acres of conserved land, including over 500 conserved farms, 9,800 units of permanently affordable housing and the infrastructure policies in place for the future.