Kim Gleason for Vermont Senate, an engaged leader and a fresh perspective.
My Vision
I’m Kim Gleason, and I’m running for the State Senate to represent our Grand Isle District, which includes
Colchester, South Hero, Grand Isle,
North Hero and Isle La Motte.
I’m running because I share a deep commitment to our communities. I want to bring a fresh perspective and a strong engaged local voice to the decisions that are made in Montpelier. I’m concerned about affordability, accountability and transparency, and I believe in the power of cooperation, collaboration and relationships to move the work forward. I want to ensure that our laws reflect our communities’ values - informed by us, rather than imposed on us.
By listening, engaging, and working together, we can build solutions that strengthen our communities. I would be honored to represent our district as your Senator.
My professional background has been in finance, and my heart has been in education. For twelve years, I worked for TIAA, helping educators understand their retirement investments, and I worked alongside VSAC and former Governor Jim Douglas to launch the Vermont Higher Education Investment Plan/VT529. This provided me the opportunity to support families’ education goals, while helping them to address their affordability concerns. I worked with a consortium of small non-profit hospice organizations to find efficiencies in shared contracting and alignment of business practices, offering me valuable insight into the challenges of our eldercare system.
Over the last twenty years I’ve served on local school boards, the State Board of Education, the Vermont Pension Investment Commission and several other non-profit boards. Most recently, I served on the School District Redistricting Task Force, engaging with more than 5,000 Vermonters. Our final report offered a path forward for greater efficiency and capacity in our education system through cooperative services, and that plan was largely adopted this year by the legislature and the Governor. Forced mergers are not the answer. Our local elementary schools are critical to attracting families and sustaining strong communities.
I’ve delivered meals to our neighbors in Grand Isle county for the last six years and I’ve seen first hand the challenges of food insecurity. I’ve been a mentor, consultant, substitute teacher, and volunteer. As the Partnership and Outreach Specialist for MENTOR Vermont, I support youth and help build relationship-centered communities by forging meaningful connections through mentoring.
Affordability is front and center for all of us. We feel it at the grocery store, at the gas pump, in housing costs, healthcare bills, and property taxes. None of these challenges can be solved in isolation. We need to work together to improve access and affordability in healthcare and housing, while balancing our shared commitment to our environment and the beauty of Vermont. We need to support education in ways that prepare our students to be the thinkers, doers, and leaders that Vermont’s workforce so desperately needs, while making sure they and we can afford to stay in Vermont!