10 Most Powerful People in NH : Then and Now

In 1991, Business NH Magazine debuted its annual list of the 10 Most Powerful People in NH, which morphed into the Influencer Index in 2012. To compile the lists, we reach out to those in the know and asked one question: Whom do you turn to when you need to get things done? The answers have not changed as much as you might think.

 Consider these statistics:

 •  44 people have made the list 2 times

•  19 people have made the list 3 times

•  6 people have made the list 4 times

•  2 people have made the list 5 times

•  2 people have made the list 7 times

•  2 people have made the list 9 times

•  5 people have made the list 10 times or more

 So who made the top 10 for most appearances on the list?

 •  Former U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg (18)

•  Joseph McQuaid, publisher of the Union Leader  (17)

•  U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (13)

•  Richard Flynn, former commissioner of the NH Department of Safety (12)

•  Former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu (10)

•  Former Gov. Craig Benson (9)

•  Edward Dupont, president of The Dupont Group (9)

•  Christopher Gallagher, Of Counsel at Gallagher Callahan and Gartrell (7)

•  Former Gov. John Lynch (7)

•  Gary Long, former COO of Public Service of NH (5)

 • U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (5)

 And what of the 10 Most Powerful from the 1991 list? Many are still influential, with two in the same position they held then. Here they are.

Thomas D. Rath

Then: Founding partner of Rath, Young, Pignatelli & Oyer

Now: Founding partner Rath, Young & Pignatelli, PC

Notable Achievements: Chairman of the election campaigns of former U.S. Senators Warren Rudman and Judd Gregg; senior national adviser to the presidential campaigns of Howard Baker, Robert Dole, Lamar Alexander, Mitt Romney and George W. Bush.

Edward C. Dupont Jr.

Then:  State Senate president (Republican); founder and owner of Strafford Fuels Inc., a distributor of petroleum products and services in Rochester.

Now: President of The Dupont Group, a lobbying firm in Concord he founded in 1983 after serving five terms in the NH Senate.

Notable achievements: As NH Senate president, he led the effort to reform the state Business Profits Tax to include tax credits for jobs creation and capital investments. Dupont also served four terms as chair of the University System of NH board of trustees.

Judd A. Gregg

Then: Governor of NH (Republican)

Now: Co-chairs both Campaign to Fix The Debt, a nonprofit focused on the national debt, and Nuclear Matters, a group in support of nuclear power.

Notable achievements:  As senator, he co-authored the 2008 federal government bailout of Wall Street; served as U.S. Representative (1981-1989), NH governor (1989-1993) and U.S. Senator (1993-2011).

S. Robert Levine & Craig R. Benson

Then: Co-founders of Cabletron Systems in Rochester, a communications company with 1,000 employees in 1991. Cabletron has since dissolved.

Now: Benson is founder of the Golf Club of New England, a private course in Stratham, and has a private office in Portsmouth. Levine created the Levine Family Charitable Foundation, which donated $515,375 to charity in 2012, the latest filing available.

Notable achievements: Benson served one term as NH governor from 2003-2004. Levine and Benson were named Inc. Magazine’s Entrepreneurs of the Year in 1990 for Cabletron’s success.

Christopher C. Gallagher

Then: Founding partner of Gallagher, Callahan and Gartrell PC, a Concord law firm, where he worked as a lobbyist.

Now: Of Counsel at Gallagher Callahan and Gartrell PC; lobbyist in Washington D.C., senior policy director for New Venture Advisors, a consultant firm focused on intellectual property issues.

Notable achievements:  Appointed by President Bill Clinton to two terms as director and vice chair of the Corporation for National Service (AmeriCorps); Part of team that worked for patent changes that resulted in the 2011 America Invents Act, patent reform legislation that aims to help entrepreneurs bring inventions to market earlier.

Joseph W. McQuaid

Then: Editor in chief of the Union Leader

Now: Publisher of the NH Union Leader

Notable achievements: For years it was said that the road to the White House, at least for Republicans, ran through the NH Union Leader during NH’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary.

John F. Swope

Then: President of Chubb LifeAmerica, an insurance firm

Now: Retired, philanthropist

Notable Achievements:

Active in the community effort to refurbish the Capitol Center for the Arts, which helped revitalize Concord’s South Main Street; served as president and CEO of Public Broadcasting Service (1999-2000); in 2014 offered $25,000 challenge matching grant to the United Way in Merrimack County.

F. William Marshall Jr.

Then: Chairman, president and CEO of Bank of Ireland First Holdings Inc., known then as First NH. That bank no longer exists.

Now: Retired in Chebeague Island, Maine

Notable Achievements:

Has more than 35 years of experience in commercial banking, including serving as president and CEO of SIS Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Springfield Institution for Savings and Glastonbury (Conn.) Bank and Trust, which merged with Bank North Financial Group. He chaired the Worcester Polytechnic Institute board of trustees from 2003 to 2005.

In Memoriam – Warren B. Rudman

Then: U.S. Senator (Republican) Died in 2012

Notable Achievements: Helped lead a federal panel that warned of a terrorist strike against the United States only months before the 9/11 attacks; co-authored the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings deficit reduction law in 1985 that set rules to reduce the federal deficit. 

Henry M. Powers Jr.

Then: Chair of Pease Development Authority; chairman of Sprague Energy – Died in 2008

Notable Achievements:  Received the 2006 Business & Industry Association of NH’s Lifetime Achievement Award; first chairman of Pease Development Authority; first chair and founder of United Way NH.