Pride Center of Vermont executive director Kim Fountain will step down in September after five years on the job.

Fountain, the subject of a recent profile in Seven Days, announced in an email Tuesday that she’s taken a new job as chief operating officer at the Center on Halsted in Chicago.

According to its website, the center is the “Midwest’s most comprehensive community center” serving LGBTQ people.

In Vermont, many credit the 48-year-old Fountain with revitalizing the Pride Center, which was struggling financially at the time of her arrival. In recent months, after several tragic local and national events involving LGBTQ people, Fountain became a de facto spokesperson for the community.

The Pride Center is actively searching for a replacement for Fountain, whose last day will be September 11 — the date of Burlington’s annual Pride Parade. 

“From my first interview through to this letter, I have felt supported and lovingly challenged, always in the context of concern and excitement for our community,” Fountain wrote in her farewell. “I am comforted in knowing that I am leaving the Center in good hands because it is right where it has always been — with you.”