College Advisory Board

The UNH Manchester Advisory Board advises Dean Michael Decelle and the college community on matters surrounding UNH Manchester's programs and outreach, working to increase the college’s visibility.

 

 

Bradford Cook

 

Brad Cook is President of the UNH Alumni Association and head of Sheehan Phinney’s Estate Planning and Probate, Government Relations and Not-for-Profit, Charitable and Religious Institutions Practice Groups. He is a past President of the firm and has practiced with Sheehan Phinney since 1973. A UNH alumnus, Cook has received several awards including Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year Award, Easter Seals New Hampshire’s Eugene M. Van Loan III Leadership Award and UNH Alumni Meritorious Service Award. In 2012 he was the National Easter Seals’ Volunteer of the Year and was named a “Political and Nonprofit Maestro” in Business NH Magazine's 2012 Influencer Index. Cook currently serves as Chair of the Warren B. Rudman Center Campaign and as secretary of the Bishop’s Charitable Assistance Fund, Camp Fatima and Camp Bernadette of the Diocese of Manchester. A graduate of the first class of both Leadership Manchester and Leadership New Hampshire, Cook is a member of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Manchester Steering Committee. Cook is also a member of both the Steering Committee of the New Hampshire Forum on the Future and the Board of Directors of Canterbury Shaker Village; Assistant Secretary of Easter Seals Connecticut; and a member and Chair of the N.H. Ballot Law Commission.

Ron Covey

 

Ron became the eighth Chief Executive Officer of St. Mary’s Bank in the credit union’s 100+-year history in December 2008. St. Mary's Bank is the nation’s first credit union, founded in 1908 and headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire. The cooperative credit union now serves over 130,000 consumers and business members and has over $1.3 billion in assets.

Prior to joining St. Mary’s, Ron was Executive Vice President and Director of the Commercial Banking Division of Ocean Bank (now People’s United). Ron began his career in financial services in 1978, and he has held various positions over the last 43 years.

Ron currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Cooperative Credit Union Association; the Board of Trustees, Palace Theatre Trust; the Advisory Board, Daniel Webster Council of the Boy Scouts of America; Trustee, Manchester Boys & Girls Club; Board of Directors, America’s Credit Union Museum Foundation. Ron is past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New Hampshire Institute of Art, past Chairman of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and past Chairman of the Bishop’s Charitable Assistance Fund.

Ron is an Eagle Scout and a graduate of the Leadership New Hampshire and Leadership Greater Manchester programs. He was listed as one of NH Business Review’s New Hampshire 200 Influential Business Leaders in 2020, and he received the Daniel Webster Council Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen of the Year Award in 2015.

Ron received a master’s degree in finance from Southern New Hampshire University and a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the University of New Hampshire.

Liz Gray

 

Liz Gray joined the NH SBDC as State Director in July of 2018. Each year, 3,000 small businesses in approximately 200 New Hampshire communities benefit from the advising and educational programs offered by the NH SBDC.  SBDC’s team of certified business advisors delivers highly individualized, confidential advising at no charge to enterprises across New Hampshire, from the towns along the Connecticut River to the Seacoast to the North Country and every point in between. Since 1984 the NH SBDC has advised or trained more than 106,000 New Hampshire entrepreneurs, helping them to start over 2,100 businesses. 

Liz leads a team of 18 dedicated professionals that serve the Granite State and work in collaboration with federal, state, and local government agencies, business sector partners and clients. As an outreach program of the University of New Hampshire’s Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics, NH SBDC is a principal/significant/critical driver of the University’s Embrace New Hampshire pillar and mission to support the state’s business community.

Prior to joining the NH SBDC, Liz served as director of entrepreneurship at the N.H. Business Finance Authority. She established Live Free and Start, an initiative to make New Hampshire an even better place for innovative companies to be able to start, grow and succeed. She held the position of economic development business services manager at the N.H. Department of Resources and Economic Development and has extensive experience within the political community of New Hampshire. Additionally, she worked for more than 10 years in various capacities in the offices of governors Shaheen, Lynch and Hassan, and as a legislative aide in the N.H. State Senate. 

Liz serves on the UNH Manchester Advisory Board, and on the boards of directors of the UNH Alumni Association, and the NH Tech Alliance, Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). Gray also co-chairs the UNH Peter T. Paul College’s Business in Practice Advisory Board.

Liz has a Master’s in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Conservation and International Affairs from the University of New Hampshire.

Pam Hall

 

Pam Hall is the former long-time CEO and Board Chair of Normandeau Associates, Inc., a nationally recognized, science-based environmental consulting firm founded in 1970 and headquartered in Bedford, NH. Pam was the company's CEO for 32 years (until 2020) and served on the Company’s Board of Directors from 2000-2020, and its Chair from 2015-2020. She was instrumental in leading the effort to develop Normandeau from a small regional firm to a highly regarded, 100% employee-owned firm (ESOP) doing business throughout the United States and internationally. Before becoming President in 1988, Pam held several other positions in the company including Senior Vice President, Vice President, and Operations Manager. She has over 50 years of experience in business and is a recognized business leader. Pam has also served on many non-profit boards, including in numerous leadership positions. In addition to serving on the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Manchester Advisory Board, she also serves on the NH EPSCoR Research and Industry Council; the Boston-based EBC Advisory Council; and the Southeast Land Trust (SELT) Board of Directors. Past boards include the Business and Industry Association (BIA), Executive Board; the Volunteer NH Board of Directors, NH’s State Commission for volunteerism, where she served for nine years (4 years as Chair and 4 years as Vice-Chair); and the Environmental Business Council of New England, where she was a Director from 1995-2020 and Treasurer from 1997-2019. 

Michael Jurnak

 

A former volunteer fire-fighter, Mike is the Principal-in-Charge of BerryDunn's Manchester Office, focusing exclusively on commercial companies, including manufacturing and high-technology businesses, an area he specialized in while working with PWC in Boston.  Mike provides financial reporting, merger and acquisition structuring, internal controls and systems development, and strategic planning services for clients throughout New England.

Prior to joining BerryDunn, Mike managed the auditing and accounting practice of the Manchester, NH office of a local accounting firm. This was preceded by five years as Director of Finance for a public company with global reach that specialized in renewable energy and high technology. 

Mike is on the board of NH Business for Social Responsibility, Business and Industry Association (BIA), and the New England Chapter of the ESOP Association.  He has also been involved with various nonprofits in the community including the Bedford Youth Lacrosse Association and Granite United Way.

Matt Kfoury

 

Matt Kfoury was previously president and CEO of Central Paper Products Co. Inc., a family-owned business for nearly 70 years.  In 2017, Matt negotiated a deal with Imperial Dade which is now the parent company. Imperial Dade, a company with more than $1 billion in annual revenues, acquired Central Paper, which distributes paper, plastic, janitorial and office products in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine.  Matt currently serves as COO of Imperial Dade NE Division.

Matt has been involved with various community organizations throughout the years including the UNH Alumni Association, chairman of Granite United Way’s  2016 Annual Campaign, Trustee of Neighborworks Southern NH, and Board Member of Catholic Medical Center, Manchester Chamber of Commerce, The Moore Center and the Manchester Historic Association.

Matt earned his BA in English at the University of New Hampshire.

Heather Lavoie

 

Heather Lavoie serves as a founder, president and CEO of Geneia, a health care analytics and data science organization.

During her 30+ year tenure in healthcare, Heather has led start-ups, health plans and provider organizations, directing initiatives on strategy, transparency, diversification, product innovation, operations and analytics. Previous to Geneia, Heather co-founded and served as Vice President of Product Development, Delivery and Engineering for Choicelinx Corporation, through its successful exit to CIGNA Health Care. During her tenure, she co-authored an adverse selection actuarial model with Milliman USA. Heather sits on the Board of Granite United Way, the NH Business and Industry Association and the NH Tech Alliance.

Paul Mailhot

 

Paul is the Chief Operation Officer at ARMI | BioFabUSA. Prior to joining ARMI | BioFabUSA  Paul was Vice President of Sales at Global Rescue LLC in Lebanon, NH. Additionally, Paul was part of the Dyn leadership team where he was responsible for Business Operations and later, Americas Sales. Dyn was acquired by Oracle in 2017. Paul spent 19 years in various leadership positions at Autodesk, Inc., including Sales, Sales Management, Academic Programs, Learning & Training and Business Development.

Paul has spent many years serving the New Hampshire business community by serving on a number of boards including the New Hampshire Tech Alliance, AlphaLoft, and Live Free and Start.

Stephanie McLaughlin

 

Bringing a background in journalism to marketing, Stephanie McLaughlin merges creativity with clarity to develop marketing programs that have an impact on her clients’ bottom line. Stephanie is the principal of Savoir Faire Marketing/Communications, a marketing agency in Manchester, NH. As the leader of an exceptionally talented and dynamic team, Stephanie elicits excellence from her team in order to produce remarkable results for her clients. Stephanie’s superpower is uncovering a company’s “soul” and then developing stories about that soul that resonate with the audiences most responsible for the company’s success. She strives to help you Make Your Marketing Matter.

Selma Naccach Hoff

 

Selma Naccach-Hoff is Chair Emerita of the English Department at Manchester High School Central, where she taught for more than 40 years. A Phi Beta Kappa summa cum laude graduate of UNH, and having earned a graduate degree from Boston College, with distinction, she was part of the UNH Manchester STEM Discovery Lab Work Group. On the state level, she has served as a board member of New Hampshire Humanities, is a founding member of Reaching Higher New Hampshire, and is past chair of the New Hampshire Classical Association. Active in many community boards, she serves as President of the Manchester Historic Association Board of Directors and is also the past chair of the Elliot Health System Board of Directors and the VNA of Manchester and Southern New Hampshire Board of Trustees, in addition to the Norwin S. and Elizabeth N. Bean Foundation Board.

Jennifer Higgins

 

Jennifer Higgins Pitre has over 20 years of experience in all aspects of fundraising. She is currently the Vice President of Philanthropy at Catholic Medical Center, a nonprofit acute-care hospital and regional health system, serving more than 180,000 patients each year, based in Manchester, New Hampshire.

As Vice President of Philanthropy at Granite United Way, New Hampshire’s largest United Way, Jennifer oversaw fundraising for an $8.5 million annual campaign and also led the major giving and gift planning programs.

Jennifer also served as Senior Associate Director of Major Gifts at the University of New Hampshire Foundation in Durham and in her spare time, worked as an Instructor at the University of New Hampshire, where she earned her BA in Communication and her MBA from UNH’s School of Business and Economics. 

Jennifer served two terms on the UNH Alumni Association Board of Directors and she currently serves as a Legislative Liaison for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.

Heather Ramsay

 

Heather Ramsey, a partner with Sojourn Partners, is a Certified Professional Coach through the International Coach Federation (ICF). She received her B.S. in Business Management at Northeastern University and her Masters in Mental Health Counseling at Argosy University. She utilizes her broad international business experience integrating multiple cultures and focusing on leadership development, team building, communication skills, and conflict resolution. Throughout her career, Ramsey has cultivated and worked with professionals in the U.S., Egypt, Switzerland, the U.K., Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Germany and Australia. Some of her consulting and coaching clients have included Nike, Embassy of Denmark in Cairo, Microsoft as well as nonprofits, law firms, international manufacturing, healthcare, software, retail and small businesses.

Kathryn (Kate) Skouteris

 

Kate Skouteris joined Harvard Pilgrim Health Care in 2021 as New Hampshire Vice President, where she leads the organization’s strategy, sales, provider network and overall operations for the New Hampshire market. 

Throughout her career, Kate has served in numerous leadership roles working with and for health care leaders in the area. Prior to joining Harvard Pilgrim, Kate worked as an attorney specialized in serving the needs of health care, insurance and financial industry clients. She also served in executive leadership roles at Southern New Hampshire Health System, most recently as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer, where she was responsible for legal services, driving operational efficiencies and administrative operations across the organization. Her early career also includes practicing law in Boston followed by public service in roles at the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration, first as General Counsel then as Assistant Commissioner.

A New Hampshire native, Kate holds a B.A. degree from the University of New Hampshire and a J.D. degree from Suffolk University Law School.  She currently resides in Bedford with her husband and two daughters

Virginia Theo-Steelman

 

Virginia Theo-Steelman is a practicing psychologist and a life-long resident of Manchester. Devoted to higher education, she also serves as a board member on UNH Alumni Association. Theo-Steelman is a double alumna of UNH and has served the UNH Community in several capacities. She was a Trustee of the University System of New Hampshire and she has been on the Dean’s Leadership Council of the UNH College of Health and Human Services. She has also been a Trustee of the Manchester City Library and of Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum.

Emeritus Members:
Kevin Clougherty
Jaye Gibson Duffy ’71
Joe Lovejoy
Frank Wells
Gail Wolek '95