Each day, we profile one member of our 2012 Influencer Index.
When the state finds a leadership role in need of a strong leader, Bonnie Newman's phone rings. She describes her career as eclectic; astounding might be a more apt description.
Let's start with politics. Newman has served as chief of staff for then Congressman Judd Gregg and in the administrations of President George H.W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan. When Sen. Gregg was named as President Barack Obama's nominee for commerce secretary, Gov. John Lynch picked Newman as his replacement (Gregg ended up withdrawing his nomination). She has also served on a number of government council and advisory boards.
In the private sector, she serves on many boards, including Gilbane Building Company and Exeter Trust Company. She is a former director of Markem Corporation in Keene and Public Service of NH, among others. Her service on nonprofit boards includes the NH Charitable Foundation, The Society for the Protection of NH Forests, Strawbery Banke Museum and NH Public Television.
She is passionate about supporting educational institutions. Newman has served as interim president of the University of NH, interim dean of the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at UNH, executive dean at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and is a board member for the Lumina Foundation, which aims to increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025. She currently serves as interim chancellor of the Community College System for NH and will step down when the new chancellor, Ross Gittell, starts on Feb. 2. Nobody is better connected, says one leader who nominated her. Simply one of the most effective and fair leaders of the past 30 years, says another.
It is her dedication to higher education, and her respect for her late mentor, former Gov. Walter Peterson, who had also served as interim chancellor of the community college system, that led her to once again come out of retirement. I flunked retirement several times, she muses. In the 21st century, we need a skilled workforce that is able to compete in a highly competitive global economy and we will not get there without the benefit of higher education, she says. In this presidential primary season, I am routinely frustrated to hear candidates talk about job creation and never mention the importance of education. While Newman will give retirement another shot, it probably won't last. You never know what the next phone call will bring, she says.