Misha Golfman joined Mad River Path as its new executive director on April 17, 2023. He replaces outgoing director Ross Saxton and the two spent a week working together prior to Saxton’s exit, bringing Golfman fully up to speed.
Before joining the path, Golfman served as co-founder and executive director of Kroka Expeditions in Marlow, New Hampshire, for 28 years. Together, with his life and business partner Lynne Boudreau, he raised four children on a nature-connected homestead and guided over 100 wilderness expeditions in remote areas of the world. For many years, Golfman led Vermont Semester students the length of the state on skis following the Catamount Trail, passing through, and falling in love with, the Mad River Valley.
“I ended up in Kroka because I hated sitting on my butt in school. I always believed that education doesn’t happen indoors. I believe the best education is the one that happens outside in the real world, in community, in nature. The goals are not traditional educational goals but to have students be members of community, to learn to teach people how to work together, how to cooperate, how to see the needs of others before you see your own needs,” he recalled.
POLITICAL REFUGEE
He is a political refugee from Leningrad who came to the United States in 1989 and ended up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire thanks to a refugee volunteer, a teacher, who was from New Hampshire. She invited him to come see the area and he fell in love with the mountains and has spent the time since then living on either side of the Connecticut River in Vermont and New Hampshire.
He and Boudreau transitioned from founders of Kroka Expeditions to consultants and they found themselves able to travel and volunteer (including a stint on the Ukrainian border). But they needed to actually get physically away from the school to avoid being drawn into day-to-day operations, etc.
They were familiar with The Valley through their work with Kroka Expeditions and were looking for their next adventure.
“The last of our four children started college and we were free to do anything we want. We considered all kinds of things and we decided we want to stay in Vermont and that we want to work on something that’s very tangible, something that contributes to the community in a very tangible way. So this [the path] seemed like an amazing project because it is essential for the community and it’s essential for other communities. It’s very tangible,” he said.
They also had a few requirements when looking for a new community.
ADVENTURE ENTHUSIASTS
“We’re also outdoor adventure enthusiasts naturally, and some of our requirements for life are mountain bike trails, and a river that runs some months of the year, being able to skin up the mountain and all within five minutes from home. And all of those requirements for life essentials are met in this place here.
He believes that a footpath connecting communities and designed in harmony with nature serves as a powerful tool for social transformation and is excited to contribute his skills and experience to the expansion and completion of the Mad River Path.
He is interested in revisiting places along a fully completed path from Warren to Moretown where negotiations over access led to an impasse.
Golfman and Boudreau will be moving to The Valley from Londonderry. Boudreau will be joining a farm team at Lareau Farm and American Flatbread in Waitsfield. Boudreau is from Massachusetts and managed the Kroka Farm for many years. Golfman said she’s really excited to be working versus managing a farm!
Golfman has a degree in mechanical engineering from the former Soviet Union and a degree in health and physical education from Plymouth State University as well as a public school teaching certification. He has a master’s degree from Antioch which is where he realized there are better ways of teaching people than in the class room.
Golfman and Boudreau have four sons ranging in age from 36 to a sophomore in college.
To reach Golfman, email him at
