Annual Meeting 2026

Sybelle Ibaressongo, Resident Member—Renter, First Term was born in the Republic of Congo and moved to Vermont in 2010, graduated from Champlain College in 2017 with Bachelor of Accountancy and a Master of Science in 2018 with a certificate in HRM. She has been a CHT resident since 2019 and joined the Rental Resident Advisory Committee in 2024. She works as a business manager at the UVM Bookstore. She is all about diversity and inclusion and is eager to learn and challenge herself. Being part of the board will help her give back to the community that she enjoys being part of. She loves traveling with her daughter whenever they can. She believes everyone should be treated with respect as we live in a world with a lot going on and the little bit of love we have to spread speaks a thousand words. Sybelle is a people person, a team player, a devoted and independent single mother, and a caring daughter to her own mother.

Lisa Lord, Resident Member—Co-op Member, Second Term grew up in New Hampshire and dreamed of moving to Vermont. Now a Burlington resident for 18 years, Lisa is the Director of Workforce Development for Recovery Vermont and the Vermont Association for Mental Health and Addiction Recovery, a non-profit organization that celebrates recovery through training, advocacy, and innovation. Through her work, she is inspired daily by examples of the power and possibilities of recovery, and by how transferrable the tools for recovery are to all other aspects of life and work. She serves as an ambassador for Champlain College’s Single Parents Program, and is one of the original members of the Bright Street Co-op where she lives with her two teenage children.

Rachel Jolly, Public Member, First Term leads the work of the Burlington Community Justice Center, using restorative practices to foster healing, accountability, and repair for people impacted by and responsible for harm, conflict and crime. She brings over 25 years of experience working in education and the non-profit sector and has a deep interest in fostering personal and community development. Prior to coming to the City, she worked with incarcerated women and those transitioning out of incarceration into employment, and in the field of environmental education. She has served on the boards of City Market and VT Adult Learning and enjoys tutoring students of VAL who are pursuing American citizenship. She holds a BS in Environmental Studies from UVM and a MEd in Environmental Education from Rhodes University in South Africa and has a deep love for key lime pie. 

Helen Head, Public Member, Third Term has focused on affordable housing issues for many years – in legal aid, shared housing, and the legislature. From 2003-2019, Helen represented Chittenden 7-3 in the Vermont House and became chair of the committee on General, Housing and Military Affairs in 2007. She now serves as co-coordinator of Small Potatoes, an interfaith food initiative, and is a volunteer for both hospice and a prisoner/community reintegration program. Helen has served on many non-profit boards and is active in Burlington Friends Meeting (Quakers). She grew up in Griffin, Georgia and has a BA from the University of NH and an MPA from UVM. Helen and her husband, Tom Mercurio, have two grown children and live in South Burlington.