Caledonia Spirits to Host Event Celebrating Innovator Cairn Cross&His Entrepreneurial Success in VT

SHELBURNE, Vt. - Sept. 23, 2022 - PRLog -- Contact:

Jeffrey Thomas

jthomas@leverinc.org

(413) 346-4840

Montpelier, VT— The work of economic development specialist Cairn Cross will be celebrated Friday, September 30 at Caledonia Spirits in Montpelier. Cairn's work has helped grow the entrepreneur ecosystem in Vermont. In turn, Vermont entrepreneurs have created thousands of jobs. The event is organized by Lever, a startup accelerator based in North Adams, Massachusetts.

Cairn has served on Lever's Board of Directors since 2017. For more information and to
purchase tickets, please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cairnival-tickets-386931962917.

Cross grew up in North Adams, Massachusetts,and now lives in northern Vermont. Best known as the co-founder and Managing Director of FreshTracks Capital, he and co-founder Charlie Kireker have helped foster an investment ecosystem in Vermont and Northern New England that has continued to grow, inspiring other firms, investors, and entrepreneurs in the process.

Since it was founded in 2000, FreshTracks has catalyzed more than $500 million in investments to high-growth Vermont companies, including the EatingWell Media Group, still based in Vermont and now a leading national source of diet and wellness information, and SunCommon, which has now helped 8,000 homeowners go solar and expanded to serve customers in New York's Hudson Valley.

Of the Vermont entrepreneur ecosystem, "There's so much more going on here than outsiders think," said Sam Roach-Gerber, vice president of VCET. "People like Cairn have seen it and believed it and made it happen for so many years. We have thriving cybersecurity and biotech and aerospace…we're finally getting a spotlight." To Cross and his partners, this kind of growth proves that strong companies—and strong
networks—can thrive in rural areas.

Cairn serves on the boards of FreshTracks portfolio companies NativeEnergy, Faraday, and Mamava, and is an observer to the ThinkMD and Caledonia Spirits boards. In addition to his work with FreshTracks Capital, Cairn is a lecturer at the UVM Grossman School of Business where he teaches Financing Sustainable Innovation for the award-winning SI-MBA program. He is a member of the Vermont Advisory Board of the Center for Women and Enterprise.

About Lever
Founded in 2014 and based in North Adams, Mass., Lever is an economic development
non-profit focused on innovation-driven job creation. Lever supports entrepreneurs with startup expertise, an investment fund, research, mentors, and access to talent. Lever has helped launch dozens of companies that have attracted more than $20M in equity investment and have created more than 250 jobs. Lever supports existing companies by helping their intrapreneurs "innovate from within" using proven entrepreneurial methods for top-line revenue growth and job creation. Learn more at www.leverinc.org.