Brian Minier

Early Life

Brian Minier was born in Omaha, Nebraska and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Shady Side Academy High School (1990), he attended Haverford College, outside of Philadelphia. While at Haverford, which is a small Quaker College, Brian developed an appreciation for the importance of community input and the attempt to reach consensus. Even more importantly, during his freshman year he met his future wife, Kat Scollins, a native Vermonter who grew up in South Burlington.

After earning a bachelor's degree in psychology (1994), Brian took an intensive summer immersion program in Russian at Bryn Mawr College and followed Kat to Saint Petersburg, Russia. After trips to Russia in 1995/6 and 1998, Brian and Kat spent two years living in the Old North End of Burlington. Following another intensive Russian summer immersion program, this time at Middlebury College, they relocated to Madison, Wisconsin for graduate school.

Family

It was during their time in Madison that Brian and Kat got married and had their two children. Also during this time, Brian earned two master’s degrees, in Russian literature and area studies, from The University of Wisconsin (2004 & 2005). Shortly thereafter, Kat earned her PhD and had the incredible fortune to land a job at UVM. After quickly packing up the family, they moved back to South Burlington, where they lived for more than a year with Kat's parents in her childhood home. After two years as a stay-at-home father, Brian returned to work and has spent the last ten years working as the administrative assistant for the University of Vermont Department of German and Russian, where Kat also works as a professor of Russian language and literature.

Community Involvement

As his children became less dependent, Brian was eager to deepen his connection to the community. The first opportunity that presented itself was coaching in the Greater Burlington Girls' Soccer League, where his youngest was a player. Just as his child was getting close to aging out of the league, an opportunity to run for election to the South Burlington School Board appeared. Brian learned a great deal while serving on the board, but perhaps the most important thing was a hearkening back to the importance of consensus. The five board members strove to reach agreement whenever possible, and nearly always succeeded. Brian served a three-year term on the board, which ended this past March.

Just as his school board tenure was coming to a close, the chance to run for state representative materialized. This next step seems like a natural progression, widening the circle of people whose interests are being represented and the stage on which this is done. Brian's skill at assimilating information, communicating clearly, and striving for consensus— nurtured at Haverford, honed in graduate school, and deepened on the school board—will serve him well should he be elected to represent South Burlington's residents in Montpelier.