Board

Suzanne Dirmaier served as a UniServ Director at VT-NEA for 31 years before retiring in January of 2022.  She received both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in education from the University of Vermont.  Prior to her work at VT-NEA she was a teacher at the Warren Elementary School.  She is most proud of her roots in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom dating back to the late 18th century.  She lives with her husband Greg, in Waterbury Center. 

Mike Fisher is a lifelong technologist and explorer. He currently works for ServiceNow (a cloud software company), partnering with hospitals in the Northeast. He previously held IT leadership positions at the University of Vermont Health Network, National Life Group and various other companies from startups to multinational corporations. He served on the Burlington School Board for four years, as well as the executive committees for two regional technology consortiums. He lives in Burlington with his wife and two daughters, and when not attending meetings he's likely in the woods or grooving to live music somewhere.

Lisa Grout is a retired high school social studies and French teacher. She graduated from UVM with a BA in History and in European Area Studies. She also received a Post Baccalaureate Certification from Lyndon State College. Lisa taught  social studies at North Country Union High School for 30 years. She served as president and negotiator of the North Country Union Education Association for 25 years.

Andrew (Andy) Haas joined the VEHI Board in 2024.  As of 2025, he is in his 7th school year at the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, where he has been the Superintendent since 2021, holding the position of Director of Student Support Services from 2018-2021. He is a member of the AASA (The School Superintendents Association), the Vermont Superintendents Association and is the president of the Southeast Vermont Regional Superintendents Association.   Andy also serves on the Board of Directors for the New England Association of School Superintendents and the Vermont Learning Collaborative and is on the Advisory Board for the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). Andy received a BA in English Literature in 1994 from California State University, Dominguez Hills, his MA in Special Education in 2000,  from California State University, Los Angeles, and his CAGS from Plymouth State University in 2022. He is currently enrolled in an Educational Leadership Doctoral Program at Southern New Hampshire University.

Lance Mills is a retired English and Construction Technology teacher who lives with his wife in Fairlee. Lance was a carpenter for over twenty years before embarking upon a twenty-two year teaching career. He earned a BA from Vermont College of Norwich University in 2003 and a MA from the Union Institute & University in 2010. Lance was a lead negotiator for Orange East Education Association (OEEA) for twelve years and served as president for eight. He also served on the Vermont-NEA Board of Directors for ten years. In that capacity he chaired the Human & Civil Rights Committee for six years and served on the executive committee for two. He currently acts as the executive director for OEEA. Lance has served on the Fairlee selectboard since the summer of 2021 and is currently the chair. Lance is also a writer and musician. He released his first solo album on January 1, 2024.

Cheryl Scarzello has been a school business official for the last 15 years and has been the Director of Finance for the Slate Valley Unified Union School District for the last 8.  She has served on many Vermont Association of School Business Officials (VASBO) committees and as President in 2016.  In addition to being certified by VASBO, Cheryl has also achieved the designation as a Certified Administrator of School Finance and Operations from the Association of School Business Officials International.  Cheryl graduated from Lehigh University and moved to Vermont in 1985.   She and her husband have lived in Proctor for 25 years where Cheryl also served on the school board.  When not skiing down Vermont’s mountains in the winter, Cheryl enjoys hiking up them in the warmer months with family and friends.