MVSO Board

Darcie Fisher, Executive Director

Darcie is a two-time Emmy winning former news reporter who spent 13 years working in TV news in Boston.  Her involvement with the Miss America Opportunity began when she held the local title of Miss Taunton 1990.  Darcie is nearing 30 years of volunteering with MAO, having served as a local business manager, local executive director and state and local pageant emcee in Massachusetts before joining the Vermont board in 2021. She works in public relations and specializes in crisis communications and media training. Darcie’s daughter, Dr. Jillian Fisher, DVM was Miss Vermont 2019 and her daughter Carly was Miss Massachusetts’ Teen 2017. She and her husband Mike have been married for almost three decades and enjoy traveling with friends and family.

Carol Anderson, Board President

Carol retired from IBM after a 35 year career spanning positions in Engineering, Finance, Operations, Financial Management, and IT Management. She is a passionate believer in the power of education to change lives. Her daughter, Julia Crane, was Miss Vermont 2018. Through her daughter’s experience, Carol recognized the power of the MVSO organization to not only award scholarships for further education, but to also build confidence and poise, broaden horizons, engender lasting friendships, and develop articulate future leaders. Carol joined the MVSO Board in October 2019. She also serves as an elected Library Trustee and Justice of the Peace. She and her husband, Steve Crane, are avid boaters and alpine skiers.

Brittany Rhoads, Teen Director

Brittany Rhoads is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor serving underfunded rural communities in northern Vermont. She has served as the Union President of AFSCME Local 3977 for the last seven years. In 2020, she was awarded one of five Frontline Hero Grants by the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen organization for her dedication to healthcare. She was the very first Miss Vermont’s Outstanding Teen in 2005 and joined the Executive Board of Directors in 2014. She serves as the director for the Miss Vermont’s Teen competition and is the host of the Miss Vermont Competition Closet, a collection of items including evening gowns, interview attire, shoes, earrings, and appearance clothing used by our state contestants and titleholders to decrease the financial burden of preparing for and/or winning the state title. The closet is now approaching its tenth year of existence and has received donated items from over 35 former contestants and state titleholders. She and her husband David enjoy traveling in search of live music, cooking, and spending time with family and friends.

Barbara Wilkinson, Treasurer

Caroline Bright, Board Member

Caroline Bright, a lifelong Vermonter, is a proud alumna of the Miss Vermont Scholarship Organization. She served as Miss Vermont 2010, and prior to that as Miss Vermont’s Outstanding Teen 2007, earning the Non-Finalist Interview Award at Miss America’s Outstanding Teen. 

Today, Caroline balances her roles as a Unitarian Universalist minister, flight attendant for a major US Airline, and mom of three young children. Her husband, Joel, is an officer in the Vermont Army National Guard, part of the reason she is passionate about supporting military families and new parents. As a board member, Caroline is proud to give back to the organization that played a pivotal role in her personal growth. She looks forward to supporting this generation of young women as they find their voices, pursue their goals, and make meaningful impacts in their communities.

Sarah Butson, American Heart Association Coordinator

Sarah is an attorney with Downs Rachlin Martin LLC, where she focuses her practice on all avenues of employment and labor law. Sarah counsels employers on a myriad of employment law compliance and human resource issues including hiring, discipline, termination, reductions in force, wage and hour practices, investigations, and sexual harassment. She is an experienced litigator and has defended employers in complex class and collective actions and has represented employers in federal and state court and administrative tribunals in matters involving wrongful discharge, discrimination, and wage and hour disputes. Sarah is an active member of the Vermont Human Resources professional community and the Opera House at Enosburg Falls and previously served as the Secretary for Healing Winds Vermont.

While Sarah never participated in the Miss Vermont Scholarship Organization, despite continued encouragement, her sister Emily participated in the Miss Vermont’s Teen program, and Sarah is delighted to count former participants and titleholders among her friends. Those women and the women and girls participating in this program are proof of the organization’s transformative abilities to encourage, inspire, and support women to achieve their personal and professional goals and become leaders in their communities.

Julia Crane, Miss Delegate Coordinator

Julia, also known as Miss Vermont 2018, has been on the Miss Vermont Scholarship Organization Board in various roles since the day she crowned her successor. At Miss America, Julia was a STEM Scholarship Finalist and was voted Miss Congeniality by her fellow Miss America Sisters. Having competed for the title of Miss Vermont for 5 years, placing in the Top 5 each year, Julia strives to show the life lessons that you learn from this organization, even if you do not win the crown. Julia is still extremely passionate about her community service initiative, Be a Hero: Be an Organ Donor, inspired by her best friend Courtney, who needed and has since received a double lung transplant. 

Julia used her scholarship winnings to finance her MPH (Master of Public Health) at UVM. After four years as a Mental Health Crisis Clinician, Julia decided to return to school and attended Columbia University where she earned a Master of International Affairs. Julia now resides in Washington, DC where she works as a Program Analyst for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in the Office of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Arms Control and specializes in the security of U.S obligated nuclear material overseas, a congressionally mandated mission.

Debbie McNally, Secretary & Teen Delegate Coordinator

After competing with the Miss America Organization at the state level for the titles of Miss Vermont and Miss Massachusetts, Debbie moved behind the scenes and is currently on the Miss Vermont Scholarship Organization Board as the Teen Coordinator and Board Secretary.

She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Norwich University, and then earned her Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University. She is a patented inventor, and currently works as a Senior Systems Engineering support contractor for the United States Air Force. She has been on the MVSO board since 2020, and uses her personal story to mentor the next generation about the life skills and experiences gained from MAO that can lead to success in all other facets of life.

Ericka Salter, Little Sister Coordinator & Choreographer

Ericka, a native Vermonter, is a long-time early educator with a background in ballet, jazz and modern dance. She founded the VanDenCross Dance Company in 2015 after earning her BA from Johnson State College with a focus on education, music and dance. Ericka also danced with Ballet Vermont for three years as a Demi Soloist and corps de ballet member. She worked in the early education field for many years, primarily with infants and toddlers. Ericka now works in customer support for a Vermont-based Software Company.