Melinda Moulton, CEO is Stepping away from Main Street Landing April 29th, 2022
My Repurposing: Stepping away from Main Street Landing April 29, 2022
Thirty-eight years ago, in 1983, I walked into my office on the Burlington Waterfront. There was only a phone on the floor. Much has changed.
Today I am announcing that in six months on Friday, April 29, 2022, I am stepping away from Main Street Landing. This company is like a child to me, and she will always live close to my heart. But I have other things to do for the few years I have left on this planet.
Over the past four decades my work has been devoted to the redevelopment of the Burlington Waterfront and the management of the company which I co-founded with Lisa Steele, she is the company President, and I am the Chief Executive Officer. We are two women with a vision who entered the scene when the Burlington Waterfront was littered with 15 rail lines, barbed wire fences, a metal salvage yard, a rat-infested granary, empty buildings, large oil tanks, and an environment that did not welcome humanity.
We created 250,000 square feet of built environment that was the catalyst for much of what you see today on the waterfront. And we grew a company that paved the way for a socially responsible and environmentally focused movement for human scale redevelopment, green construction, and progressive business practices.
This work has been a labor of love, sweat, tears — and an abundance of joy. My business card reads “Not Your Typical Developer” and indeed we are not. The focus has always been on people, planet, public access, visual and performing arts, affordable workspaces, and community service.
So, what’s next for me? I am working on a book of short stories, continuing to compose music on my piano, visioning a film about autism, and focusing on the fight for restorative and social justice. I will now have more time to devote to board and community work, and I will be serving in assorted capacities where my wisdom, business leadership skills, and social enterprise visions can help our planet and her inhabitants.
There will be a wide-reaching hiring search for an Executive Director to lead Main Street Landing into her next chapter. The search will be led by Etienne Morris, president of Morris Recruiting and Consulting. I will remain in my position, as CEO, until April 29th, 2022 helping to guide a smooth seamless transition for the new Executive Director and our team.
I would like to express my deep appreciation and unwavering gratitude to Lisa Steele, my dear friend and business partner because without her support, trust, strength, and love none of what we did would have been possible.
My admiration also goes to our remarkable staff: Joe Ryan, the Construction/Property Manager; Mariah Riggs, the Director of the Performing Arts Center; Owen Lapierre, Director of Buildings and Grounds; Jeff Covey, Assistant Director of Buildings and Grounds; Quincy Chandler, Repair & Maintenance Associate; and Katelyn Paddock, the Venue Operations Coordinator.
Thank you to my family, friends, colleagues, and associates whom over the years worked side-by-side with me to create our community — one that is bright with the light of love and caring, strong with the power of comradery and shared visions, enduring with the hope for a world that embraces the best of humanity, and a deep commitment to protect all that makes Vermont special for our children’s children.
-Melinda Moulton, CEO