Governance Academy
Governance Academy
January 18 + 19 • Montpelier
We are pleased to announce that our 2025 Governance Academy will be held in-person on Saturday, January 18 and Sunday, January 19 at our offices in Montpelier.
At the beginning of each biennium, VCV offers this training opportunity to legislators to help develop and hone your leadership and governance skills at our Governance Academy, which we are offering in partnership with the national League of Conservation Voters. This training opportunity is offered to newly-elected leaders because we want you to be the most effective leader you can be in your new role. The training exists to offer you resources, assets, tools, and skills that are helpful in becoming powerful and impactful leaders. It’s also a great opportunity to connect more deeply and build relationships with legislative colleagues.
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The team who is offering this Academy has deep expertise in training and curriculum development, and extensive knowledge of the needs of elected officials. We will also be inviting current and former Vermont legislators to share their insights.
Participants will discuss and workshop:
- Navigating governing tensions as a values-based elected official.
- Power mapping and understanding power in your communities.
- Setting a bold and progressive agenda with priorities, policies, and realistic goals.
- Building and maintaining relationships with community activists and advocates.
- Staying connected to your constituents so they can help you advance your goals in office.
VCV’s Governance Academy was the best, most comprehensive training I attended as an incoming legislator. I received great strategies and skills on how best to utilize my strengths and build relationships and coalitions.
This training has helped ground me in my new role as a legislator. I am better poised to be intentional, effective, and reflective in the path I walk in the Statehouse and beyond.
The training offered was incredibly impactful. I so appreciated the intentional time spent on developing and fostering meaningful and authentic relationships. This work is imperative to being able to not only connect with our colleagues but also with the people who we are doing the work for.
Trainers & Staff
Toni Belknap-Brinegar
she/her
Leadership Development Contractor,
League of Conservation Voters
Toni grew up in the rural wilds of southwestern Idaho. She enjoyed the freedom that came from growing up with a father who was a beef farmer and mother and grandmother who were public educators. She participated in 4-H activities, sports, and music throughout high school, and graduated with honors as her school’s first Black Student Body President.
After high school, Toni went away to gain education and experience outside of Idaho in Tacoma, Washington, where she attended University of Puget Sound. There she grew in her leadership and boldness and graduated with a BA in Psychology and a healthy appreciation for what it means to live in a larger city.
After the birth of her first child, Toni and her small family moved back to Idaho and settled in Nampa. She worked in the field of disability advocacy for twenty years, which included on the ground advocacy, co-owning a service coordination business and working as a disability advocate at the state level. In 2020, she took a risk and jumped into the field of conservation advocacy and leadership development and began her journey with Conservation Voters for Idaho as the Boards and Commissions Coordinator. To date, she has trained over 80 Idahoans on what it means to serve on public boards and commissions – a difficult but necessary part of government. Her proudest moment came in January 2021, where she was appointed by her peers as the first Black woman to serve as a School Board Chair in Idaho. She has served her community as a school board member of the Vallivue School District since 2011, however, getting the nod to lead the district of over ten thousand students was a humbling moment for her. This November 2024, she received a high honor of being named Idaho School Boards Association Board Chair of the year.
In her free time, Toni likes to read, travel, quilt, crochet, and spend time with family. She still lives in Nampa with her husband of 27 years, David, her three children (Antahn, Imani, and Dante) cat (Uncle Rico) and dog (Inferno).
Dan Fingas
he/him
Executive Director,
Vermont Conservation Voters
Dan joined VNRC in 2023 and leads the organization’s grassroots climate organizing work and supports the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network. Dan will become executive director of Vermont Conservation Voters at the start of 2025. Before joining VNRC and VCV, Dan was the Movement Politics Director and Organizing Director for Rights and Democracy in Vermont. Dan served in various roles in community organizations and unions in Michigan and New York before moving to Vermont in 2019. Dan holds a B.A. in History and Communication from Albion College and lives in Plainfield with his wife Mo.
Shanthi Gonzales
she/her
Senior Manager,
Candidate Recruitment and Training,
League of Conservation Voters
Originally from Castro Valley, CA, Shanthi Gonzales started her career in the movement as a student leader with Californians for Justice, a racial justice organization. Her career started in the labor movement as a homecare worker organizer with SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, where she found that what she loved best about organizing was leadership development.
Today Shanthi is LCV’s Senior Manager of Candidate Recruitment and Training, and leads LCV’s work to recruit and train environmental champions to both run for office and serve on environmental boards and commissions in their communities. Shanthi served two terms on the Oakland Unified School District’s Board of Education, and prior to LCV, led the candidate recruitment and training work at Oakland Rising in Oakland, CA. In her spare time, she is involved in Humboldt County 4-H and she loves to travel.
She lives in Eureka, CA with her husband and dog Boli.
Emilie Kornheiser
she/her
State Representative,
D – Brattleboro
Emilie Kornheiser comes to her work in the legislature with a passion for supporting and amplifying community voices– asking communities to own and tell their own stories in order to facilitate shared visions and outcomes. For the last five years, she has focused on improving the functioning and accountability of community development and support systems in Vermont state government. Before transitioning to local service, she worked internationally as a consultant brokering and evaluating partnerships between corporations and national governments to meet community development goals.
She received her BA in Sociology from Marlboro College and attended the MS program in Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont. She has served overseas promoting democracy and supporting small business development, and she has held numerous positions at community-based organizations throughout Vermont. She also started her own small business in downtown Brattleboro. Emilie continues to work with organizations both public and private that put connection at the center of skills building, accountability, and economic justice.
She was first elected in 2018 and is the chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means. Emilie lives in Brattleboro in a converted barn with her family.
Justin Marsh
they/them
Political Director,
Vermont Conservation Voters
Justin Marsh joined VCV in 2022 as Political Director bringing a decade’s worth of communications, conservation, and campaign experience with them.
In 2012, they ran for the state legislature and have worked on several historic campaigns since. They are a published editor (Tasteful Traditions, Red Barn Books, 2014), and have held or currently serve in several positions on local non-profit and municipal boards. In 2016, they helped write the grant known as The Silo Project, which transformed two abandoned concrete silos on preserved land into the largest outdoor public art installment in the state of Vermont.
In 2020, as chair of Cambridge Conservation Commission, they were instrumental in the conservation of 51 acres of land now known as the Peter A. Krusch Nature Preserve. Prior to joining VCV, they were Director of Communications & Development at Pride Center of Vermont. They are an alum of Vermont State University and currently reside in Cambridge on their family’s farm and sugar bush.
Kesha Ram Hinsdale
she/her
State Senator,
D – Chittenden-SE
Kesha Ram Hinsdale is the first woman of color to serve in the State Senate, and is chair of the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee. She also sits on the Senate Finance Committee and the Joint Justice Oversight Committee. In November 2024, she was named Senate Majority Leader. She received a BS in natural resource planning and a BA in political science from the University of Vermont in 2008.
She served in the Vermont House of Representatives on behalf of Burlington, Chittenden District 6-4, from 2008 to 2016, where she sat on the House General, Housing and Military Affairs, and Ways and Means Committees, and served as vice chair of the House Natural Resources & Energy Committee. Kesha earned her Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2018. When not in the legislature, Kesha teaches Structural Inequality and Environmental Justice at Vermont Law & Graduate School. She has also served as co-chair of the Vermont Attorney General’s Immigration Task Force and as a member of the boards of Emerge Vermont, the Main Street Alliance of Vermont, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, the Regenerative Food Network, and the Vermont Natural Resources Council.
Kesha lives with her husband, Jacob Hinsdale, and their children Mira and Wesley in Shelburne.
Evelyn Seidner
she/her
Climate Action Organizer,
Vermont Conservation Voters
Evelyn joined the VCV team in August 2024 as the Climate Action Organizer. She graduated from the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources where she received a BS in Environmental Studies and a minor in Equine Studies. Born and bred in Vermont, Evelyn has a long-standing passion for the environment. She has been involved in climate action work in the state for a number of years, beginning with the Youth Lobby in high school. More recently she has worked for VPIRG and completed the EAN summer research internship before joining the team. In her free time, Evelyn competes in the equestrian discipline of dressage with her horse Don Quixote. She also enjoys spending time outdoors, especially when her corgi Arthur can come along.
Becca White
she/her
State Senator,
D – Windsor
Becca White is a lifelong Vermonter. She grew up in the village of Wilder, graduated from Hartford High School, and went on to earn a BA in history with a minor in speech and debate from the University of Vermont. Upon graduation, Becca began her career as an organizer for a local solar company, then worked as a community engagement manager for Efficiency Vermont. She is now a part-time cashier at the Upper Valley Food Coop. At the age of 20, she ran for a seat on her local selectboard and served two terms before being elected to the legislature as a State Representative in 2018. She served on House Transportation during her four years as State Representative before seeking election to the State Senate as one of the senators from the Windsor District. She began her term in 2023 and is co-chair of the Climate Solutions Caucus and the Future’s Caucus. She is a graduate of the Emerge Vermont program and has served on the board of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. She continues to be an active member of multiple local boards. Becca and her husband, Dylan, live in White River Junction with their cat, Ms. Kitty. Becca is fortunate to live close to her family and, when not attending meetings or working, she can be found spending time with them.