Business NH Magazine and the NH Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives are announcing the winners of the 2026 Business Leader, Nonprofit Leaders and Business of the Year Awards. Winners are featured in the May issue of Business NH Magazine.
Since 1991, Business NH Magazine and the NH Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives have recognized businesses and business leaders who demonstrate exemplary leadership in their industries and communities regardless of what is going on in the economy. The 2026 winners—which include eight Business of the Year winners, a Nonprofit of the Year, as well as one Business Leader of the Year and two Nonprofit Leaders of the Year— join a distinguished list of businesses and leaders who strive for and achieve excellence, and who make giving back to their communities a priority.
This year’s Business Leader of the Year, Mark Aquilino, is the second-generation to lead his family business, Outdoor Pride, taking the reins as president and CEO 11 years ago from his parents who founded the company in 1988. He not only began growing the company but growing the culture and benefits to attract and retain workers long-term.
This also marks the fourth year Business NH Magazine has named a Nonprofit Leader of the Year and the first year a duo is honored. This year’s winners are Sue Durkin and Gregory White, co-CEOs of Lamprey Health Care. In 2023, Lamprey launched its new co-CEO leadership model and today White and Durkin guide the largest Federally Qualified Health Center in NH. And it has yielded impressive results for this expansive and complex 55-year-old health system that serves more than 40 communities.
This is the seventh year that the NH Charitable Foundation has partnered with Business NH Magazine to award a $5,000 unrestricted grant in honor of Walter J. Dunfey to the Nonprofit of the Year winner. This year’s winner is the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Manchester, a Manchester-based nonprofit that is celebrating 120 years of providing a safe, supportive environment where young people can learn, grow, and build essential life skills outside of school hours.
Eight businesses in various industry categories are also being announced. These eight 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 2026 winners are:
• McLane Middleton, a Manchester-based company founded in 1919 which has established itself as a cornerstone of NH’s legal and business community receives the Business of the Year award for Business Services.
• Community College System of NH, headquartered in Concord, serves as a critical link between education and the state’s workforce needs. With 800 faculty and staff and 700 adjunct faculty across seven colleges statewide, CCSNH offers accessible, affordable pathways to careers and continued education. This year, they are the recipient of the Business of the Year Award for Education.
• Fulcrum Associates, an Amherst-based construction management firm which has worked on projects for industries as diverse as academic and life sciences to residential, retail, industrial and more is the winner in the Construction, Engineering, Real Estate category.
• Bank of NH, which has evolved from a small 19th-century savings institution into one of the state’s largest independent financial organizations with 258 employees and 21 offices across NH and one loan production office in Maine, is the winner in the Financial Services category.
• Dartmouth Health, NH’s largest health care system and largest private employer with more than 16,000 employees (13,800 in NH) continues to evolve to meet the health care needs of its patients and has been named the winner in the Health Care category.
• Goodwin Family Management has grown over the past 27 years into a multifaceted platform that blends hospitality, recruiting, investment, and philanthropy under one umbrella. It serves as a holding and management entity for its two primary businesses, Goodwin Recruiting and The Friendly toast. It has been named the winner in the Hospitality/Tourism category.
• Mikros Technologies, which initially introduced breakthrough liquid cooling technologies for NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Space Station electronics, now finds there is an increased demand for the company’s thermal management technology and custom liquid cooling solutions, fueled by the AI boom. Mikros Technologies is this year’s winner in the Manufacturing/Technology category.
• Port City Pretzels, which produces seasoned hard pretzels and is sold in more than 5,000 retail locations nationwide, is building a workplace grounded in inclusion and opportunity with more than 70% of its workforce comprised of individuals with disabilities. This Portsmouth-based organization receives this year’s Business of the Year award in the Retail/Wholesale 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.
Business NH Magazine will celebrate these great organizations and leaders at the Business and Business Leader of the Year Awards Luncheon on June 5 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Downtown Manchester Hotel. Visit BusinessNHMagazine.com to register for the event. The event is sponsored by the Bank of NH, NH Charitable Foundation, Eversource, Northeast Delta Dental, CGI Business Solutions and Gallagher Insurance.