Allison Hooper is co-founder of Vermont Butter and Cheese Company.  Before starting that business in 1984 with Bob Reese, she was a dairy products quality technician with the Vermont Department of Agriculture.  She began her career as a cheesemaking apprentice in Brittany and Haute Alps while studying in France.  Ms. Hooper has served on Boards of Directors for the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, a state initiative fostering economic development in environmental technology, agriculture and forestry as well as the Vermont Fresh Network, an organization which promotes local, sustainable food distribution through farmer to chef partnerships.   Allison and her partner, Bob Reese, were awarded Vermont Small Business Persons of the Year in 1996.  She has worked for Land O Lakes International Development to revitalize domestic cheesemaking in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.  She is the Founding- President of the Vermont Cheese Council and was President of the American Cheese Society from 2007 through 2009 Allison and her husband Don live on a farm in Brookfield, Vermont, with their three sons, Miles, Sam, and Jay.