Trustees

Adam Silver

Executive Director, Co-Founder

Adam is an educator and arts administrator as well as the chief publicist for the Asian Cultural Center of Vermont. With working knowledge of Chinese, French, Spanish and Hindi, he was a Watson Fellow in India, Nepal and China. He is a scholar of Asian art, architecture and literature with degrees in Art History and Education. His main interests are of cross cultural studies at the intersection of art, philosophy, psychology and world religions.

Asad Akhlaqi

Board Trustee

Asad works as a technician in school IT departments. He is originally from Afghanistan and now lives in Brattleboro. He attended Putney School and then went to Champlain College to get his bachelors degree in Computer Science. He has traveled to Pakistan, India, United Arab Emirates, Germany and the United States. He speaks Dari/Farsi, Pashto, English and a little Arabic and Urdu.

Cai Xi Silver

Artistic Director, Co-Founder

Cai is a painter, t’ai chi master, chef, and instructor of Chinese language and art at The Putney School. She was a fellow at the Vermont Studio Center in 2010, and the 2010-2011 recipient of an Arts Endowment Grant from the Vermont Community Foundation. She received her MFA in Visual Arts from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has been exhibited at the C.X Silver Gallery as well as the Brattleboro Museum.

Carl Crook

Board Trustee

Carl is a resident of Putney, Vermont, lived and worked in China for many decades, and is a student of Asian studies. He is engaged in research and business ventures in China, and has travelled extensively in Asia. He is Interested in promoting understanding and cultural exchange between Vermont and China.

Marie Procter

Board Secretary

Marie has graduate degrees in Psychology and Education. She attended the School for International Training and has been an elementary school teacher and directed an early childhood center. She has been a trustee of the Arts Council of Windham County for more than 20 years, President of the Council for 19, and served as Secretary for Baha’i administrative bodies for over 40 years. Marie has traveled to a number of International Baha’i Conferences through the years and have been on Pilgrimage to the Baha’i World Centre in Haifa, Israel.

Marni Rosner

Board Trustee

Marni is a semi-retired high school teacher and Putney, VT resident who first visited China as a teenager in 1971. She has lived, taught, raised a family, and travelled extensively in China and SE Asia in the four subsequent decades. She served on the Board of Trustees of the Jane Goodall Institute - China and brings her experience in promoting cultural and educational exchanges to the ACCVT.

Michelle Mahin

Board President

Michelle is the business and operations manager of Green Dragon Botanicals offering herbal medicine and Lyme disease protocols. “My mother is from Taiwan, my father of Scottish and Irish descent.” Born in Southern California, she came to Brattleboro, VT in 1997. “I wish to steep my four children in the beauty and richness of Asian culture. I am enchanted by the study and wisdom of Eastern healing arts, oral tradition, ancient symbols and music.”

Norma Willingham

Board Vice President

Norma came to her interest in Asia when her daughter, Grace was adopted from China in 1996. Norma was part of a group that sponsored the public Autumn Moon Festival and Lunar New Year celebrations starting in 1998. These celebrations are now under the auspices of ACCVT. She is pleased to be part of an organization that is promoting a deeper understanding of all of Asia, not just China, and feels exposure to diversity and inclusion is important for all people. She is an associate professor of education at Landmark College.