Our Team

Peter is a retired architect and project manager with 30+ years experience organizing and managing complex building and facility projects for several private universities. He is a relative newcomer to Orwell but has jumped into this and several other community support activities, including being a member of the Wright Memorial Library board (V.P.) and the Orwell Artists Group. “It was a real disappointment when Buxton’s closed but I am optimistic about the town and its ability to make a new general store a reality.” 

Joseph is the former Representative for Orwell in the Vermont House of Representatives. During his legislative service, he worked with a broad coalition of stakeholders to facilitate the purchase of the former Boy Scout Camp, Camp Sunrise, by Outright Vermont, demonstrating his ability to bring complex community projects to completion. An attorney by training, Joseph has significant experience in cooperative grocery models, employee-owned businesses and community development—skills directly relevant to our effort to reopen the Orwell General Store as a sustainable, community supported enterprise. 

After a 44-year career in the financial industry — including senior roles at Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) — Tom retired in May 2025. Tom currently lives in Castleton with his wife, Beth; they have a daughter and a son and two grandchildren.

Tom currently serves on the Castleton Planning Commission board and as an alternate to Development Review Board (DRB) of Castleton.

Tim moved to Orwell with his wife, Wendy, in 2022, returning to Vermont after moving away after college in 1995. He grew up in Rutland and graduated from MSJ and then UVM. Tim worked in book publishing for most of his career, serving as editorial director of the Harvard Business Review and then director of the University of California Press. Tim has also co-authored two books, and now works in financial services.

Trish and her husband Jim moved to Orwell in 1996. Jim volunteered for twenty years with the fire department and first response in town while Trish served on the board of Otter Creek Child Center in Middlebury.

Their two sons grew up chatting with Sylvia and signing for milk (& sometimes ice cream) at the store, something that they would like to make possible again for future generations of Orwellians.

Laurel Calkins is an award-winning professional journalist who worked for Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Law, People Magazine and other publications before semi-retiring in 2022.

She moved from her native Texas to Vermont with husband, Charles, in 2017, and the couple purchased a home in Orwell in 2021. Laurel is also a member of the Wright Memorial Library board in Orwell and coordinates the college student mentoring program at Memorial Baptist Church in Middlebury. She is passionate about local farms, great food, cultural events and community involvement - all of which will be bolstered by the revival of Orwell’s General Store.

Janet has called Orwell home since 2003, giving her a deep connection to this community and a personal stake in seeing the store reopen. She brings a legal background and hands-on experience in municipal planning to the project. Having served as Chair of the Castleton Planning Commission and as a Commissioner on the Rutland Regional Planning Commission. Janet is focused on securing the funding that will make the store a reality, leading the trust's grant writing efforts and helping identify public and private funding opportunities that will carry this project forward.