Celebration gathering in Concord was primed for speed networking

Mike Cote, editor of NH Business Review, secures an autograph from Nathan Saller, president and CEO of Bellwether Community Credit Union and a 2024 New Hampshire 200 honoree, at the Grappone Conference Center on April 11. (Photo by Jodi Andruskevich)

The first thing I did with my copy of “New Hampshire 200” after I brought it home from the office was to drill a hole through it.

Now it had a utility function similar to the “Old Farmer’s Almanac,” the 232-year-old annual produced by our parent company, Yankee Publishing Inc.

But I had no plans to nail my book to the wall of a barn or outhouse, having neither. I had more sophisticated plans for NH Business Review’s commemorative collection of 200 of the Granite State’s most influential business leaders.

I wanted to wear it around my neck. Suspended from a lanyard usually reserved for a nametag, the book was my calling card for the evening at our New Hampshire 200 celebration April 11 at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord.

We hosted more than 700 people that night, including members of the 2024 New Hampshire 200 and alumni from the first two editions in 2020 and 2022. My plan was simple: Hunt down as many of the new honorees as I could and ask them to sign my book. The goal was twofold: I would create a souvenir of my first go-around of this signature event, and force myself to mix with as many people as I could during the evening.

While my count might seem a bit low — I stalled at 37 signatures — the gambit led to an enjoyable evening connecting with business and nonprofit leaders, including many I had never met in person before.

Most honorees simply signed their name, but even their autographs told a story. Some scrawled their names in the margins in tiny script. Others used a John Hancock flourish, leaving big, bold letters that stretched across their quarter-page bios.

Several added a “thank you” next to their signature. A few included personal notes and, one, a smiley face.

As the crowd began filtering out at the end of the night, I spotted someone whose signature I absolutely had to add to my collection. It was time to make amends with Jeff Eisenberg, president and CEO of EVR Advertising in Manchester.

The photo included with Eisenberg’s biography in “New Hampshire 200” was actually someone other than Eisenberg. I explained the mistake — which two of my colleagues discovered in time to correct our slideshow that night — and handed Eisenberg my book for him to sign. I had already crossed out the incorrect photo with an “X.”

Eisenberg could not have handled it better. He laughed with genuine amusement, signing my book as “The real Jeff Eisenberg.”

Thanks, Jeff! We also need to apologize to Marc Eichenberger, whose photo appeared with Eisenberg’s bio.

Eichenberger’s photo also appears — correctly — with his biography as chief business development and innovation officer at the University of New Hampshire.

You can read Jeff Eisenberg’s bio — and see what he really looks like — on page 31, the debut of an ongoing feature that will republish selected bios of the 2024 New Hampshire 200 from various industries. You can read the complete book at nhbr.com and also order a copy of the printed book there.

You’ll have to drill your own hole.