Lifelong Vermonter Dawn Harrington Francis (RM ’80, NRP ’83), currently town manager of Colchester, has played a role in many planning initiatives and community development projects in several northwestern Vermont towns. She grew up in Burlington’s New North End and in Hinesburg, where she attended high school and still lives with her family today. She chose to attend college at the University of Vermont in the School of Natural Resources, now the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. 

“I wanted a major that built on my interests in the outdoors and sporting activities,” says Dawn, who majored in recreation management (now parks, recreation and tourism). As an undergraduate, she interned with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and worked with the recreation planner who was developing the State’s recreation plan. This experience, in addition to her major’s coursework that had practical application to real community issues, led to her passion for town planning. 

At that time in the early 1980s, she also witnessed growing controversy over land use in Chittenden County and surrounding areas. “The Burlington Beltline, now the Northern Connector; the Pyramid Mall, now Maple Tree Place in Williston; and the county’s Circ Highway were being debated and Vermont’s Act 250 was in its infancy,” explains Dawn. 

Eager to help balance the different interests involved, she went on to earn a Master’s degree in natural resource planning. For her thesis research, she examined impacts of the ski industry on Vermont communities. Dawn credits former faculty members William Hendrix, Robert Manning, Malcolm Bevins, the late Carl Reidel, and Fred Schmidt as mentors who inspired her to follow her career path, critically analyze data and information, and consider the impacts of decisions on all aspects of a community. 

After finishing her Master’s, she worked as a planner for the Franklin-Grand Isle Regional Planning Commission for two years. Then recruited by the Essex town manager, Dawn joined the office as a planner, then as a community development director focusing on planning, zoning, and economic development, and finally as assistant town manager. Her productive 19 years with the town of Essex included helping to obtain grants to restore and convert the abandoned Officer’s Row Houses in Fort Ethan Allen to affordable housing, constructing a bike path between village and town, transforming the State Tree Nursery into an athletic field complex, navigating the environmental impact statement process and mitigating community impacts for a portion of the Circ Highway, and master planning of the Essex Town Center area. 

In 2004, Dawn moved on to the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce as the government affairs director. She served as the business community’s advocate at the Vermont State House for issues relating to land use, permitting, economic development, and tax and fiscal policy.

“It’s easy to make a difference in Vermont because legislators and policy makers are so accessible and want to hear from all of their stakeholders,” says Dawn who helped to make progress on housing issues, refinements to Act 250, and smart growth legislation and economic incentives. 

After working at the local, regional, and state levels, she realized it was at the local level that she could have the most impact and see the most tangible results. In 2013, Dawn became the town manager for Colchester which includes 27 miles of Lake Champlain shoreline and 365 acres of parks, including the Colchester Causeway bike path. She is helping the town make progress on cleaning up the lake, revitalizing the commercial center in Malletts Bay, and improving buildings and infrastructure. 

“I enjoy the challenge of solving problems, building consensus around contentious issues, aligning people and resources to achieve goals, and helping Colchester define a vision for its future,” says Dawn. “It is satisfying to have worked with a lot of different talented people having totally opposite points of view, but seeking common ground, compromising, and getting some really important things done.” 

She would love to see more UVM students connect with communities in the region to assist with pressing issues related to recreation, natural resources, and land use management. She hopes to involve Rubenstein School students in Colchester town projects through a potential internship or other service-learning opportunities and has connected with the School’s Office of Experiential Learning. 

Dawn’s passion for helping communities goes beyond her job as Colchester town manager. She is on the board for the Champlain Housing Trust which provides affordable housing and other important social services and for the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations which assists with victims and crimes involving sexual and domestic abuse. 

She enjoys the close knit community of her hometown of Hinesburg where she lives with her husband Kevin. Their daughter Kaitlin (RM ’09), who briefly followed in her mother’s footsteps, is now pursuing a doctorate in physical therapy at Franklin-Pierce University. Their son Matt (UVM ’11), an economics major, is working for a tech startup business in Denver and playing mandolin for a local band. 

Avid hikers, bikers, campers, and sports enthusiasts, Dawn and Kevin are reading Professor Emeritus Bob Manning’s books on the national parks and hoping to explore them all when they retire.