Business NH Magazine Announces 2024 Business Leader, Nonprofit Leader and Businesses of the Year

Business NH Magazine and the NH Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives are announcing the winners of the 2024 Business Leader, Nonprofit Leader and Businesses of the Year Awards. Winners are featured in the May issue of Business NH Magazine due out in early May.

Marcus Weeks, president of Meredith Village Savings Bank (MVSB) in Meredith, was named the 2024 Business Leader of the Year. Weeks joined Meredith Village Savings Bank (MVSB) at 16, working as a student teller through a program at his school, Moultonborough Academy. Twenty- nine years later he leads the growing bank. Weeks is leading the construction of two new bank branches in Exeter and in North Conway which will open in 2024. A lifelong resident of the Lakes Region, Weeks spent his career giving back to a region he loves. He currently serves as vice chair of the board of directors of the Lakes Region Visiting Nurse Association, as a board member of Geneva Point Center, as a member of the executive committee of Boys & Girls Club of Central NH, as a board member and member of the governance committee for Spaulding Academy & Family Services, and serves on the NH Bankers Association’s Legislative Affairs Committee.

Sandy Pelletier, president and CEO of Gateways Community Services in Nashua, was named the 2024 Nonprofit Leader of the Year. She is only the second person to earn this award. Pelletier has dedicated her career to helping people with developmental disabilities live fulfilling lives in their communities. She has played a pivotal role in shaping NH's service system for individuals with developmental disabilities. Gateways Community Services serves nearly 3,000 individuals annually. Pelletier’s determination to find community partners to deliver new and better ways to serve Gateway’s clients, and attract workers to meet growing needs continues today. Gateways has joined forces with the city of Nashua and NeighborWorks Southern NH to address the housing shortage for individuals with developmental disabilities. They are collaborating on demolishing a Gateways-owned property in need of extensive renovations and reconstruct it as an eight-to-10-unit apartment building. It will not only provide affordable housing for people with developmental disabilities, but it will also provide housing for employees who will live on site and provide support services. (Gateways Community Services  will also receive a $5,000 unrestricted grant from the NH Charitable Foundation.)

Businesses in eight industry categories are also being announced. These eight companies and organizations were chosen because of their leadership in their industries, their commitment to their communities, and their involvement with their local chambers of commerce.

The 2024 winners are:

• BlueLion, a NH HR consulting firm that launched in 2018 and has grown to 16 employees, receives the Business of the Year award for Business Services.  

• CORE Methods in Gilford, which works with school districts to serve kids with behavioral challenges, receives this year's Business of the Year award in the Education sector.
  
  
• Easterseals NH, based in Manchester—which provides services and programs for early intervention, autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, behavioral health, physical disabilities and support and programs for seniors, veterans, and individuals with substance use disorder—is the 2024 Nonprofit of the Year. (Easterseals NH will also receive a $5,000 unrestricted grant in honor of Walter J. Dunfey from the NH Charitable Foundation.)

• HealthFirst Family Care Center, a private nonprofit primary care provider in Laconia that has been providing affordable healthcare to rural communities in the Lakes Region since 1996, has been named the winner in the Health Care category.

• Mainstay Technologies, an IT services firm with about 100 employees in offices in Manchester and Laconia, is the winner in the Manufacturing/Technology category.

• Mascoma Bank, a 125-year-old mutual bank based in Lebanon with more than 400 employees, is the winner in the Financial Services category. 

• Monadnock Food Co-op in Keene, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2023 and has grown to about 140 employees, receives this year's Business of the Year award in the Retail/Wholesale category.
  
  
• Outdoor Pride Landscape and Snow Management, a family-owned business in Manchester with 140 full-time employees, is the award winner in the Construction category.
  
  

A Panel of Excellence comprised of executives from last year’s winning companies selected the winners based on the applicant’s financial health, industry leadership, letters of recommendation from chamber executives and business leaders, and community involvement.

Join us in person to celebrate these great organizations and leaders at the Business and Business Leader of the Year Awards Luncheon on May 23 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Downtown Manchester Hotel. Click here to register for the event. The event is sponsored by Bank of NH, the NH Charitable Foundation, Anthem, Eversource, and Northeast Delta Dental.