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.