ACCOUNTING
Pawel Wilczynski of Andover, Mass., has joined Maine-based accounting firm Baker Newman Noyes in the newly created role of cybersecurity manager, a position that the firm says will complement its existing service offerings within its Information Systems and Risk Assurance practice. Wilczynski has over two decades of IT experience, and most recently worked at a Massachusetts-based insurance company, where he focused on cybersecurity, compliance readiness, risk assessment, vulnerability assessment, penetration testing and internal auditing.
GOVERNMENT
Jennifer Dickinson, the Nashua Police Department’s victim/witness advocate who serves victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, has been named the winner of the Sandra Matheson Award, presented annually since 2013 by the Attorney General’s Office. Dickinson is involved in Nashua domestic violence cases, from the initial arrest to negotiations, trials and sentencing. This year, she also worked with prosecutors to develop new guidelines for prosecuting Nashua domestic violence cases.
The River Valley Club, a 9,000-square-foot health fitness facility and child care facility in Lebanon, has received a $7.5 million loan for facility improvements from the NH Business Finance Authority. The loan, made in partnership with Ledyard National Bank, will be used to expand and modernize the facilities so the day care can add space for another 60 children. For more information about BFA programs and resources, visit NHBFA.com.
James Vara, chief legal counsel of the NH Liquor Commission, has been named its chief operating officer and director of the Division of Administration. He has held the chief legal counsel position since 2019 and has been working in state government since 2005, including as the state’s “drug czar” under Governors Hassan and Sununu and as chief of staff at the NH Department of Justice.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is awarding a $5.4 million grant to the City of Manchester to help protect families with small children from the dangers of lead-based paint exposure. The funding, announced by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Congressman Chris Pappas, consists of $4.7 million through the Lead Hazard Reduction Grant program intended to maximize the number of children under the age of 6 protected from lead poisoning plus an additional $700,000 in Healthy Homes Supplemental funding to help identify and address other housing hazards that affect occupant health. The Bedford Department of Public Works has received full accreditation from the American Public Works Association. Accreditation formally verifies and recognizes that the agency is in full compliance with the recommended management practices set forth in APWA’s public works management practices manual.
BUSINESS SERVICES
Dave Clough has joined Business Transition Strategies as a sales associate, with a focus of helping to transition ownership of private companies in the lower mid-market. He started mPower Advisors in 2004 and has advised almost 100 companies, is an entrepreneur himself and is currently serving as chair of the board of a 100-person mechanical contractor.
BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS
Ellen Groh, executive director of the Concord Coalition to End Homelessness, has been named the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce’s 2022 Citizen of the Year. She will be recognized at the chamber’s 103rd Annual Meeting and Citizen of the Year Award event on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord.
The Women’s Rural Entrepreneurial Network (WREN) has received four different grants from three state organizations for the 2022-23 fiscal year: The NH Women’s Foundation has awarded it a grant of $2,500 for the Women’s Work Initiative; The NH State Council on the Arts awarded WREN the second of three installments of $11,000 from its Public Value Partnership Grant funds, and $3,223 from American Rescue Plan Funds; and the NH Community Development Finance Authority has awarded WREN $78,000 in Community Development Block Grant Microenterprise grants.
The NH Hospital Association has earned a Power of Associations Gold Award from the American Society of Association Executives for its Covid-19 Response and Recovery initiative. The initiative included establishing an incident command on behalf of member hospitals, launching a Covid-19 Response & Recovery team that remains in place today, and transforming staff resources to prioritize the needs of member hospitals and New Hampshire residents.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Citizens Financial Group has named Michelle Hecht as its head of corporate affairs, overseeing public affairs, corporate philanthropy, community engagement and volunteerism initiatives that support the company’s growth strategy.
She succeeds Barbara Cottam, who is leaving Citizens to take on a new role at the U.S. Department of Commerce as a senior advisor.
Richard Palermo has joined Bar Harbor Bank & Trust as vice president and mortgage loan originator. He has more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, including 12 years focused on residential lending. Most recently, he worked for Wells Fargo as senior credit manager before transitioning to the role of home mortgage consultant.
NONPROFITS
Community Toolbox of Portsmouth has become a program of Southeast New Hampshire Habitat for Humanity. Both organizations seek to provide housing resources and assistance to families in need, and in recent years, said Marcie Bergan, executive director of SENH Habitat, the mission has grown to include assistance for veterans and for seniors aging in place.
Keller Williams Metro, Manchester, will hold its 16th annual KW Charity Auction from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25 at the Derryfield Country Club in Manchester.
The event will feature live and silent auctions, raffles and door prizes, refreshments and music. Money raised will support several local charities, including Big Brothers-Big Sisters of New Hampshire; Boys & Girls Club of Manchester; Girls At Work; Granite United Way; ROCA Kidz Club; SEE Science Center; and Waypoint New Hampshire.
New Hampshire Audubon has presented its 2022 Tudor Richards Award to Sarah Thorne of Holderness, in recognition of her nearly four decades of work on behalf of the landscape, people and wildlife, including as land protection specialist at the Society for the Protection of NH Forests, executive director of the Trust for NH Lands and a high school biology teacher at Prospect Mountain High School in Alton. In addition, the organization has presented its Goodhue-Elkins Award to Rob Woodward of Laconia, for contributions to knowledge of New Hampshire birds as a leader of hundreds of local field trips and creator of “citizen science” projects. And the John Thalheimer Volunteer Award has been presented to Wendy Chatel of Wolfeboro, a key volunteer on a project to upload 190,000 historical bird sightings into an online publicly accessible database called eBird.
She also is volunteer photo editor for the New Hampshire Bird Records publication.
Diane Fitzpatrick, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Manchester, has received the Professional Association Executive of the Year for the Northeast Region of Boys & Girls Clubs. The honor is awarded to a professional who has shown significant leadership within their own organization, state, region and nationally. In addition to Fitzpatrick’s honor, Harry Malone of the Manchester club’s board of directors received the Heart of the Region Award for being an outstanding board volunteer.
Wood & Clay, a Gilford company that specializes in custom home construction and renovations, has purchased another $25,000 in New Hampshire business tax credits to support redevelopment of the Gale School in Belmont. Last year, the company purchased $50,000 in credits. The project seeks to transform the historic schoolhouse into a community facility that will include a new program center for Lakes Region Community Services.
CONSTRUCTION
North Branch Construction, Concord, recently completed the Dartmouth Graduate Student Housing Project at 401 Mt. Support Rd. in Lebanon. The project, which includes four four-story apartment buildings with a total of 309 apartments, was developed by Michaels Student Living LLC of Camden, N.J., which owns and manages the community with a long-term ground lease from Dartmouth. JSA Inc. of Portsmouth was the architectural design firm and Vanasse Hangen Brustlin of Bedford provided civil and landscape engineering services. North Branch also recently completed construction of the SIG Sauer Experience Center in Epping, a two-story, 40,500-square-foot facility that includes a 6,000-square-foot retail showroom, indoor shooting ranges and a high-tech interactive museum offering educational experiences. Design-build services were provided by North Branch and Cowan Goudreau Architects, also of Concord.
LAW
The law firm of McLane Middleton has announced the hiring of attorneys Laura J. Raymond and Eleanor M. Walker. Raymond is an associate in the Litigation Department, where she represents clients in a variety of civil, commercial, employment and probate matters. Walker joins the firm as an associate in the Corporate Department, where she advises business clients on transactional matters related to contract drafting, corporate governance and mergers and acquisitions.
Daniel Granfield has joined Sulloway & Hollis as an associate. Based in the firm’s Concord office, he will work with a broad base of clients, including businesses, public entities, nonprofit organizations, and individuals in business, regulatory and litigation matters.
Attorney James R. Haug Jr. has been named director of the northern New England law firm Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC. Haug, who joined DRM in 2011, has spent his career managing lawyers’ malpractice claims and the defense of major claims and litigation. He also serves as general counsel to the firm, advising DRM on risk management and professional ethics issues.
HEALTHCARE
Lamprey Health Care has received five Community Health Quality Recognition awards from the Health Resources and Services Administration, which recognizes health centers that have earned CHQR badges annually. The badges recognize health centers that have made notable quality improvement achievements in the areas of access, quality, healthy equity, health information technology, and Covid-19 public health emergency response.
The Richards Group, Concord, has announced a partnership with SmartConnect, a Medicare guidance and enrollment resource. The service, which is available to Medicareeligible adults throughout Vermont and New Hampshire, is designed for Medicare-eligible adults and their family members who may be working or retiring and may not have explored the benefits of Medicare coverage in its entirety. SmartConnect provides individual consultations to help clients better understand what Medicare offers, including Parts A, B, and Prescription Drug Plans, as well as Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage plans.
REAL ESTATE
U-Haul Moving and Storage has completed expansion of one of its Nashua locations, adding 600 self-storage rooms, the company announced. The selfstorage rooms at the 476 Amherst St. facility feature individual alarms and climatecontrol options. The 7.2-acre property now features a two-story, 76,000-square-foot building with a retail showroom, a warehouse for U-Box portable storage containers and a drive-in bay for professional hitch installation, according to the company.
An entity of Manchester-based Kelley Family Properties has sold 6 Loudon Rd., a 65,520-square-foot office building in Concord, to Sarnia Seacoast LLC for $10.5 million. The Kelley entity, JP Irving LLC, acquired the property in 2019 for $5.6 million. Ethan Cole of North Atlantic Commercial Real Estate Investments LLC represented the buyer in the transaction and worked directly with the sellers.
Homeowners in Foothills Estates MHP, Campton, recently purchased their 94-unit manufactured-home park, making it New Hampshire’s 145th resident-owned community (ROC). Using training and technical assistance from the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund’s ROC-NH team, homeowners organized and formed Two Rivers Mobile Home Community Cooperative in early May. The cooperative negotiated with the park’s owner, Mike Burnham, reached a $4 million purchase price, and finalized the deal on Aug. 31 with a mortgage from the Community Loan Fund.
Janet Nickerson of Badger Peabody & Smith Realty has earned the C2EX (Commitment to Excellence) endorsement from the National Association of Realtors.
The program includes measuring proficiency in 11 aspects of professionalism, ranging from customer service to use of technology. Nickerson is managing broker in the firm’s Berlin office.
TECHNOLOGY
Position Imaging Inc., Stratham, a developer of package logistics and asset tracking technology, has announced that its Smart Package Room has processed over 1 million packages since its first deployment in 2019. The so-called smart shelf technology is being used in multifamily and student housing communities, and offers secure access to tenants’ packages.
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