BVA Names Cassandra Miller as First Full-time Director

MORRIS—Butternut Valley Alliance has appointed Otsego County native Cassandra Miller as its first full-time executive director since the community-led nonprofit’s founding in 2008.

BVA connects people to place through community, conservation, and creativity—focusing on four key pillars: economic development, environmental stewardship, arts promotion, and education.

A group of engaged volunteers, BVA works to enhance quality of life in the Butternut Valley—an area of western Otsego County along the Butternut Creek Watershed connecting rural towns, hamlets, and villages from its headwaters near Basswood Pond in Burlington south to its confluence with the Unadilla River near Mount Upton. The main community hubs in the region are the villages of Morris and Gilbertsville.

Recent BVA initiatives include recruiting Sidney Federal Credit Union to open a full-service branch in Morris to prevent a banking desert after Community Bank NA’s closure in 2024, and leading NY Forward grant applications that may bring a total of $9 million in revitalization funding to Morris and Gilbertsville.

The organization also advances conservation projects that protect the Butternut Creek Watershed and fosters community through events such as the Summer Harvest Festival and Gravel Grinder, On the Trail of Art, the Friendsgiving Fundraiser, and the Fun Creek Float. It also offers educational programs on the environment, history, and culture of the Butternut Valley; organizes volunteer trail and creek clean-ups throughout the year; and sponsors the annual Visionary Scholar Award for high-school seniors living in the Butternut Valley.

“BVA has done such important and impactful work in the region, and I’m thrilled to join as the first full-time executive director to help usher in its next chapter,” Miller said. “With everything happening in the world today, ensuring our local communities are vibrant and welcoming is more important than ever. BVA is so special because it’s a true alliance—focused on collaboration and connection to support the region’s environment, arts, culture, and sustainable economic future. I grew up in Otsego County and moved back as an adult because I love this community so much. I’m very excited to work with the passionate people of the Butternut Valley.”

In her new role, Miller will lead BVA’s strategic planning and oversee marketing and communications, development, and community partnerships while supporting BVA’s active volunteer board of directors and its membership base.

In addition to leading the application for “Butternut Valley Forward” NY Forward grants to enhance the downtown business districts of Morris and Gilbertsville, the organization’s recent activities included hosting the 2025 Friendsgiving Fundraiser and Annual Meeting at Gilbert Lake State Park’s Briggs Pavilion.

BVA collaborates with a range of partner organizations, including the Otsego County Conservation Association, Otsego Land Trust, Otsego 2000, Otsego County Soil and Water Conservation District, CADE, Upper Susquehanna Coalition for Clean Water, and the Mohawk Valley Economic Development District.

“The board is thrilled to welcome Cassandra as BVA’s first full-time executive director,” said Ed Lentz, chair of the BVA board. “Her enthusiasm for our community, strong background in communications, and deep experience working with nonprofit organizations make her the ideal person to lead BVA into this next chapter of growth and impact.”

Miller’s background includes leadership roles in the arts, media, and community development. Locally, she has served as executive director of the Catskill Symphony Orchestra; director of marketing and communications at Munson in Utica (formerly Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute); marketing manager of the Iroquois Museum; lecturer in communication studies at SUNY Oneonta; and community editor at “The Daily Star.” She also founded “The Scene,” the paper’s weekly arts and entertainment publication, and now runs Culture Rally Communications, a New York State Certified Women-Owned Business providing marketing and public relations services to arts, culture, and nonprofit organizations. For the past two years, Miller has published “Townie,” a weekly newsletter highlighting local events and stories, and serves on the City of Oneonta Public Arts Commission.

Miller will hold office hours at Five Kids Bakehouse in Gilbertsville on Tuesdays from 9-11 a.m. and at The Gatehouse in Morris on Thursdays from 9-11 a.m. to meet residents and learn more about their ideas and priorities for the Butternut Valley.

For more information about BVA, visit butternutvalleyalliance.org or e-mail info@butternutvalleyalliance.org.