Slow Money formalizes Vermont-style investment

by Janice St. Onge
January 25, 2015
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Ruah Swennerfelt lives in Charlotte with her husband, Louis Cox. The retired couple have inherited some money — and they want to make thoughtful decisions about how to invest it.

The couple attended a meeting last fall in Montpelier that was an inaugural event for a Vermont network of Slow Money, a national nonprofit organization founded in 2008 that encourages investments in local food systems. The financial payoffs might be slower and the returns smaller than those gained by more traditional investments, but investors benefit by putting their money to use in ways that are meaningful to them and their neighbors, advocates say.

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Janice St. Onge

Janice St. Onge is President of the Flexible Capital Fund, L3C (“Flex Fund”), an impact-focused, CDFI fund, providing flexible risk capital (revenue based financing, subordinated debt and equity) to Vermont’s food system, forestry and clean technology businesses. As President, Janice manages all facets of the Flex Fund’s operations, including raising capital, deal flow, due diligence, and portfolio / financial management. Janice brings economic and business development, as well as financial expertise to the organization, having served in the technology, financial services, higher education and state government sectors during her 25+ year career. Previously, Janice served as Director of the Vermont Business Center (now the Center for Leadership & Innovation) at the University of Vermont and was the Technology Business Development Director for Vermont’s Department of Economic Development. She received the 2001 National Tibbetts Award in recognition for her outreach work with the Small Business Innovation Research program in Vermont. As Assistant Vice President at Peoples Bank, she originated and managed a $21 million commercial loan portfolio. Janice is a graduate of the University of Utah with a B.A. in Marketing and is an alumnus of the Snelling Center for Government’s Vermont Leadership Institute. Janice is a 2018-19 Fellow of the RSF Social Finance’s Just Economy Institute. She is a founding member of the Vermont Women’s Investors Network, and Slow Money Vermont and serves on the Vermont Small Business Development Center Advisory Board. A Stowe, Vermont resident, Janice was co-founder of the Stowe Energy and Climate Action Network and is a former International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup Freestyle Skiing Judge.