Leadership Team

ARIS Solutions, designated a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, was founded in 1996 to answer a crucial need: a Vermont state budget reduction had threatened to cut critical services for Vermont individuals with disabilities. In response, ARIS’s founders—Bill Ashe and Cheryl Thrall, both of whom were executive directors of Vermont-based social services organizations—moved to pool their business offices and resources in order to absorb the budget cuts and salvage the funds necessary to ensure that these critical human services would continue. Thus, ARIS Solutions was founded.

Over the years, the scope of ARIS Solutions’ role in aiding Vermont individuals with disabilities has evolved considerably. Initially, ARIS served as the business office for both Lincoln Street Inc. and Upper Valley Services, the two social services organizations that ARIS’s founders had combined. With bookkeepers, accountants, billing specialists and payroll staff, ARIS was—and is—uniquely qualified to help manage a wide array of disabled individuals’ financial needs.

Today, nearly 30 years since its founding, ARIS Solutions’ role in helping the state serve its disabled population continues to expand. What began as a skeleton staff of four dedicated individuals has grown to include a team of 70. And what had its origins in an emergency meeting to protect the services of Vermont people in need has blossomed into a vital organization that every year helps and supports thousands.