Fran Stoddard

Co-Chair

Fran Stoddard has been involved in education, public relations, media production, facilitation, and strategy development for over 30 years. A national award-winning media producer, Fran is the current host of “Across the Fence,” America’s longest running daily community television program that airs on WCAX-TV in Burlington, Vermont. She has also served as producer/host of Vermont Public Television’s weekly “Profile,” an interview program, a health care series “Vital Signs,” and Vermont Public Radio’s call-in program, “Switchboard,” as well as other public broadcasting programs. Stoddard was an adjunct associate professor of media studies and production at Champlain College, where she developed and ran the media communications program. She frequently serves as moderator/host for community events, panels, and debates. Fran holds a master’s degree in psychology from Goddard College and a bachelor’s degree in communications from Northwestern University.

For six years, she worked extensively with the Orton Family Foundation and their Community Heart & Soul planning process that strengthens rural towns as a communications consultant. With a deep interest in helping organizations move forward, Fran has facilitated retreats and summits for nonprofit Boards and towns in strategic planning processes and has served on many non-profit boards. In 2010, she became a Quebec Labrador Foundation Fellow and traveled to the Middle East. Soon after, she co-founded the Vermont Global Exchange, a network of NGOs and businesses working internationally with a home base in Vermont.