The year just ended saw the departure of many local leaders serving in top positions in some of Addison County’s largest institutions and towns.

Middlebury College President Laurie Patton announced in May that she would step down from her post at the end of 2024 to lead the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in Cambridge, Mass. Patton had led Middlebury College for nearly a decade, taking office in July 2015 as the institution’s 17th president and the first woman to hold the position since its founding in 1800.

During her presidency, the college announced and made major progress on the four climate goals outlined in its Energy2028 initiative, renovated and constructed buildings on its Middlebury and Monterey campuses, and increased its financial aid offerings, among other accomplishments.

Middlebury College kicked off a national presidential search to find the institution’s next leader, an effort led by an 18-member committee and facilitated by executive search firm Isaacson, Miller.

College officials announced in September that Steve Snyder, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the Middlebury Language Schools, would take over as interim president in January and serve in the position until June 30, or until the next president is hired, depending on whichever happens first.

Meanwhile, longtime Middlebury Town Manager Kathleen Ramsay left her post in September to take a new job with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. She’d served as the shire town’s top administrator for 12 years, succeeding Bill Finger in 2012. Ramsay had previously served as Middlebury’s assistant town manager from 2000-2007.

Her time helming Middlebury’s municipal government overlapped with several major events, including the COVID pandemic, completion of a major downtown rail tunnel project and construction of new town offices and a new recreation center.

The Middlebury selectboard in October chose Mark A. Pruhenski, who most recently served as town manager of Great Barrington, Mass., to succeed Ramsay. He is slated to begin his new role on Jan. 15. Retired Police Chief Tom Hanley is serving as interim town manager until then.

Further up Route 116, another longtime town administrator confirmed news of her retirement in October when Bristol Town Administrator Valerie Capels announced she would step down in December.

She’d served as Bristol’s town administrator since 2017, helping the town navigate staff changes, natural disasters and several major capital projects, which she highlighted in her retirement announcement.

By early December, the town of Bristol had received eight responses to the town administrator job announcement from applicants in and outside of Vermont. Town officials were hoping to move quickly in their search for Bristol’s next town administrator and planned to review applications and rank candidates on a matrix before starting interviews.

Another important community leader took a bow this year when Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival founder and producer Lloyd Komesar announced that he would pare back his involvement in the annual event. The film festival in July hired Caitlin Boyle as its first-ever executive director to take on the bulk of the workload previously performed by Komesar.

The Addison Central School District’s top administrator left in 2023, but the district didn’t get a fulltime replacement until 2024. This past summer, Wendy Baker took over as ACSD superintendent, bringing with her years of experience in Vermont and New York schools.

Up in Lincoln, Principal Tory Riley retired after 35 years at the Lincoln Community School. Other long-time educators retiring in 2024 included Amy Johnston from Robinson Elementary in Starksboro, and Matt Schlein as founder of the Vergennes Union High School’s Walden Project.