Vermont lottery chief leaving for out-of-state job

By Erin Mansfield, VTDigger.org
The executive director of the Vermont Lottery will leave his post Oct. 14 to take a job in Chicago. Greg Smith has been running the Vermont Lottery, a state agency headquartered in Berlin, since the summer of 2014. The agency announced his resignation Sept. 27.
Under Smith’s tenure, lottery ticket sales and profits grew almost 20 percent, according to a news release, putting $26 million in the Vermont education fund in fiscal year 2016. “It makes me sad to think about leaving, but I do not want to pass up this other offer,” Smith said in the news release. “I hope my successor is able to reach the same satisfaction that I did in this job.”
His spouse, Megan Smith, has been the commissioner of tourism and marketing since the beginning of Gov. Peter Shumlin’s tenure in 2011. Megan Smith said she plans to keep her job through January before moving to Chicago.
“I have a daughter that lives there, and I’m from the Midwest, and I was planning to start a consulting business, so I will just start it out there,” she said. “The thought of leaving Vermont is so hard, but I know we’ll be coming back,” she said.
Greg Smith’s salary was $98,426 in fiscal year 2016. Megan Smith’s salary was $91,707.

Photo courtesy of Vt. Lottery
Greg Smith