Corinne Thompson arguably knows the University of Vermont better than anyone.
She has spent the past 39 years at UVM, beginning as an event planner in the President’s Office and transitioning to its Board of Trustees coordinator—a position she has held for the last 25 years, and a job very few people understand. But if you are one of UVM’s 25 trustees, you heavily rely on Thompson, because her job is to help the UVM board members do theirs.
“Corinne is directly—and in most ways solely—responsible for the operations of the university’s highest authority, a group of individuals who have the serious responsibility of ensuring the long-term health, viability, and integrity of the university,” Jonathan D’Amore, chief of staff for the UVM President’s Office, wrote in Thompson’s nomination letter for the 2024 Our Common Ground awards.
Since 2014, these awards have recognized six UVM staff members who exemplify the university’s community values. Thompson was selected for the respect, responsibility, and openness she brings to her role. It’s a job that can be underappreciated, because it’s easily misunderstood.
“It’s so nice to talk to someone about what I do,” she says from her office in the Waterman building. “The board has full legal responsibility and authority for the university and are the president’s boss.”
She works for the UVM President’s Office, but she doesn’t exactly work for the president. Instead, Thompson is the linchpin between the university and its governing board, an ever-changing body comprising UVM’s president, Vermont’s governor, legislative appointees, private individuals, and students who volunteer their time to oversee the fiscal and overall health of the institution. In this capacity, Thompson sees aspects of the university and university administration most people do not.
Thompson plans numerous university board and committee meetings throughout the year. She drafts preliminary agendas, resolutions and minutes, suggests talking points, handles logistics, plans detailed schedules for each trustee during their time on campus, and serves as the official record keeper for board decisions and communications, which she publishes for transparency purposes. But the information flows both ways through Thompson, too.
“Corinne serves as the eyes and ears of the governing body of the university and takes seriously her responsibility to ensure the Board is well informed about the climate and hallmark events occurring on campus,” says Trenten D. Klingerman, UVM’s former vice president for legal affairs and general counsel in a letter of support for Thompson. “In many ways, she serves as the voice of campus to the Trustees.”
Thompson tracks what topics come up in the meetings and the protocols and actions that need to be taken by the board. In some ways she serves as the memory for the institution—one that has spanned seven different UVM presidential administrations (more if you include interim presidents)—and that began with a routine babysitting job.
When Thompson was 18, she planned to study accounting at Champlain College. The summer before she started, Thompson began nannying for the family of then UVM President Lattie Coor. That was the unofficial start of her relationship with UVM. After the Coors left UVM in 1989, Thompson was hired to help with the presidential transition, because she was already familiar with the president’s house. That transformed into a job as an event coordinator for the President’s Office, and eventually, the job she holds now.
“When I came into this position there was a small team who managed the board and they all kind of retired at once,” Thompson says. “I just inherited files.”
Over the years she built a system to track all that needed to be done and built a “manual” for the job that she updates each summer. Thompson, a self-described “perfectionist,” is in constant planning mode.
“I don’t want to let anyone down,” she says.
She likens the job to conducting a train, knowing all the stops and how to get there on time. And once she has planned for the meeting, she starts planning for disruptions to it. Thompson stresses so no one else has to.
“The board really is what energizes me,” she says. “Even though I only see them periodically … they are appreciative, and they make me feel valued. I am a lifer.’”
But it hasn’t always been easy.
“The past five years have been extremely challenging because of Covid,” Thompson admits.
Initially, the difficulty involved adapting to online meetings and remains rekindling relationships that shifted when it seemed the whole world went online.
“I was feeling like I was floating on an island by myself,” Thompson says.
Even so, people noticed Thompson’s attention to detail and her kindness. In his letter of support for UVM’s Our Common Ground award, Ron Lumbra, former trustee chair, noted how she enabled the board to carry on during Covid and properly recognize Bernie Juskiewicz, a beloved trustee who died early in the pandemic.
Outside of work, Thompson loves being outdoors by the lake and in the mountains and taking hot air balloon rides, despite being afraid of heights.
“It’s so relaxing. It’s so peaceful,” she says. “You float up, you literally just go with the flow.”
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Nominations for the 2025 Our Common Ground Staff Award are currently open through May 2, 2025.
