Matt Cota was elected to a two year term on the South Burlington City Council on March 2, 2021. Matt and his wife Sarah, an elementary school teacher, both grew up in southern Vermont. Matt holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from California State University Northridge and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Communication from the George Washington University. Matt serves on several non-profit boards, is a small business advocate in the statehouse, and operates a school for heat techs and plumbers in Vermont. Matt is also the founding director of the Split the Ticket Fund, a non-profit that provides free heating fuel to low income Vermonters.
Matt is a frequent guest speaker on the emergence of biofuels in home heating and a contributing author of “Bioenergy” published by Academic Press. In 2012, Matt received a Vermont Environmental Excellence Award from Governor Peter Shumlin for promoting clean and renewable heating fuel. Matt was named “Financial Services Champion of the Year” in 2009 by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Volunteer Organizations and Professional Experience
Former Chair, South Burlington Development Review Board
Board Member, Cider Mill Homeowners Association
Member, South Burlington Business Association (SBBA)
Member, South Burlington Land Trust (SBLT)
Director, Vermont Fuel Training Center (VFTC), a school for heating technicians
Director, Vermont Fuel Dealers Association (VFDA), a 501c-6 non-profit trade organization
Director, Split the Ticket Fund, a 501c-3 non-profit heating assistance charity
Treasurer, Vermont Society of Association Executives (VSAE) a 501c-3 non-profit
Former Secretary, Plainfield Planning Commission
Former Teacher, Crane Country Day School, Santa Barbara, CA
Former Bureau Chief, KSBY-TV, Santa Barbara, CA
Former Reporter, WPTZ-TV, Colchester, VT
Education
Masters in Public Policy, California State University Northridge (CSUN)
Political Communications degree, George Washington University (GWU)
Other Stuff
Seventh generation Vermonter, father of two high school students and one St. Bernard puppy. Avid hiker, snowboarder, and non-fiction reader.