Alumni Lives

A Good Sport

The first time Joe Williams '99 saw Michael Jordan play basketball, he chose his career path. Problem was, the 8-year-old's Philadelphia neighborhood was too dangerous for him to spend much time on the courts. He would eventually get his game, though, and embark on a professional journey that would take him around the world.

The springboard for that adventure was Williams' time as a Champlain College student in the years when the College's basketball team competed fiercely in Division 1 of the National Junior College Athletic Association. "Joe was without doubt the hardest working player I have ever coached," says former Champlain Coach Bob Tipson, praising Williams as a player with "unlimited energy" who "could change a game with his enthusiasm and determination." After hanging up his Beavers jersey, and earning his associate's degree in Liberal Studies, Williams played basketball for several international teams, living in such regions as the chic French Riviera and rural South American locales short on running water. "The best part about my job is meeting people from all over the world and seeing the world at the same time," he says. Along the way, he has mastered French and Spanish.

This past season, he captained the Vermont Frost Heaves, generating a fan base of at least a dozen Champlainers who remember the man whose good character had impressed them as much off the court as on. "Joe connects with people immediately, in a refreshingly honest and genuine way," says Becky Peterson, one of Joe's former academic advisors and the College's current director of registration and records/ registrar. "He brings a crackle of energy and excitement into any room he enters. He is also one of the funniest storytellers I know...I have met many students in my 21 years at Champlain, and Joe is, by far, one of the most memorable."

For Williams, too, fond Champlain memories are easy to conjure. "Everyone I'm still close to at the College has been a stepping stone in my life," he says. "This school and staff don't get the credit for what they do. It's friends for life." He recalls Coach Tipson as having an especially profound influence on him and his teammates. "He wanted us to study hard and to be better people," Williams says. The player responded well to Tipson's guidance, earning academic honors while also distinguishing himself as a team leader.

That team ethic is still very much a part of Williams' game plan. "He doesn't just want to succeed," says Champlain College Assistant Vice President Katie Hawley. "He wants everyone around him to succeed as well."

For his own part, Williams is happy to have pursued his dream career, particularly given his long-shot start in a rough neighborhood. His former coach may know Williams' secret to success: "He has earned all of his success by being a good person," Tipson says, "and deserves only good things to happen to him."

-Daphne Walker

Match Maker

Nicole Leclerc '87 is a single person's best friend-and has been for a while. The owner of Compatibles, a matchmaking service based in Vermont, she understands that today's singles need a safe, private, personalized way to meet their match. She herself became single in 2001, and became a Compatibles client shortly thereafter, when the company was owned by Fran Greenberg. "It was the best way to meet people in my situation," she says.

Leclerc's situation, just a few years later, would entail looking for a better career match. After graduating from Champlain College with an associate's degree in Management, Leclerc worked at several different marketing jobs-at Starr Farm Nursing Center, which led to an executive assistant's position with the Vermont State Nurses Association, and later positions at R.J. Peters Associates and SymQuest. Despite her success, she wasn't feeling fulfilled professionally. "It had always been my dream to own my own business and run my own business," she says. "I had an epiphany. I had to start looking for a business [to run as my own]. The first business I thought of was Compatibles." Leclerc proposed the idea to Greenberg, who was getting ready to retire, and they struck a deal.

Now at the helm of her own thriving company, Leclerc credits Champlain College with preparing her to take the plunge. "Those two years were dear to me, and they set me up for what I'm doing now," she says. "Management classes helped the most-[they taught me] key points for what to do and what not to do with people in business."

According to Leclerc, Compatibles' success owes much to its personal touch, in contrast to many online dating sites. Clients can provide feedback after each date with a new match so that Leclerc can provide the best service. She puts her current clientele at around 400 singles, with wedding bells ringing for clients every six months or so.

Marilyn Morin and Stephen Roberts are among those who credit Leclerc and Compatibles for getting them to the altar. "I was about to give up entirely on the dating scene," Morin says. But she gave it one last shot, signing up with Compatibles. Leclerc developed a profile for Morin-a staple of the Compatibles service-that resulted in Morin meeting Roberts. "When you meet Nicole, she sees you differently than you see yourself," Morin says. "She's better at picking out someone for you than you are for yourself."

Naturally, Leclerc finds bringing people together fulfilling. She is also thrilled to have found her perfect match as a business owner. "When you have a dream, and you finally realize it, it's amazing," she says.

-Carolyn Fox '09

Calculated Risks

Captain Jonathan Wainer '05 was first on the scene at the Saputo Cheese Factory fire in Hinesburg, Vermont, on September 29, 2008. When the pager announced the fire, he could see the flames from his house. "We had trained for fires at this site, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine a fire of this magnitude," he recalls. The chemical fire destroyed the firefighters' equipment, burned into the next morning, closed village streets, and prompted the evacuation of a nearby neighborhood. When the smoke cleared, the company closed the factory for good. A total loss.

For Wainer, who had been on the Hinesburg Volunteer Fire Department for 10 years-even before he began studying Accounting at Champlain College-the blaze was a personal close call. When a fire truck's pressure relief valve mechanism malfunctioned, the hose he had been holding jolted him onto the pavement from three stories up. "Essentially, every bone in my right hand was pulverized and had to be reconstructed with metal plates and screws," he says. "My right knee was shattered into a million pieces."

Three and a half months later, Wainer returned to his job as a senior associate in audit and risk management at KPMG, where he has been employed since receiving his bachelor's degree from Champlain College. "I'm an active person and don't like things to hold me back," he says. "It was difficult to be away from my clients."
According to Wainer, despite the dangers inherent in firefighting, KPMG is supportive of his service to the community. At 25, he is the department's youngest captain. "[My employers] know that if I am late to work or have to leave early, it is because I am helping someone," he says. "We respond to all emergencies, from medical and car accidents to fires and more." Wainer says he can't wait to get back to firefighting and has already, with assistance, climbed 100 feet up a ladder truck. "I'm the type of person who always looks at the positive in a situation, that the glass is half full rather than half empty," he says. "It could have been a heck of a lot worse. I just have some broken bones that will heal."

A third-generation Hinesburg resident, Wainer says that a spirit of service is in his blood. His grandfather, Louis J. Wainer, was Hinesburg's first doctor, making house calls and working into old age. His father, Bradley Wainer '67, is a retired banker now serving as assistant fire chief in the village.

Although he loves his work as an accountant, Wainer says that he enjoys the opportunity that firefighting offers to challenge "the stereotypical image of the boring accountant." And then there's the rush of responding to a call: "The adrenaline is pumping, you are breathing hard, and you are moving at about 110 percent," he says.

-DW