As Business NH Magazine wraps up its 40th anniversary celebration year, we thought it only fitting to celebrate the accomplishments of NH’s business community. As you will see, many companies, nonprofits and NH institutions celebrated milestone anniversaries this year.
We scoured the internet, press releases and more for the information about those celebrating a special anniversary in 2024. (If we missed you, we apologize). We chose one organization from each milestone era to profile. You can find links to their stories at the end of this article.
Business NH Magazine has spent the past 40 years analyzing the trends shaping NH’s business community while celebrating its accomplishments. The magazine debuted with a November/December 1983 issue, but 1984 was the first full year of publishing, which is what we choose to commemorate.
Founding Publisher Dennis R. Jolicoeur sold the magazine five years later to B.J. Eckardt and Michael Atkins, who established parent company Laurentian Business Publishing in 1989 and grew the magazine over the next 14 years. Eckardt established many of the magazine’s most well-known elements, including the Business of the Year Competition (started with the NH Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives in the depths of the recessions of the early 90s to remind people there was still much to celebrate), the Best Companies to Work For Competition and the Made in NH Expo.
Businessman Sean Mahoney bought the magazine in 2003, changing the name of the parent company to Millyard Communications and hired industry veteran Heidi Copeland as his associate publisher. Copeland, in turn, bought the company in 2011, leading it for over a decade and guiding the company through the pandemic. During Copeland’s tenure, the company added the popular lists of the NH’s Top Family-Owned Businesses and Top Women-Led Businesses as well as a networking event to celebrate the companies on all our lists—The Ultimate Biz(NH) Bash. She also launched a second consumer show to highlight New England products—The Made in New England Expo, which has now morphed into the Very Merry Holiday Gift Festival under the current owners.
That leads us to, well, us. Copeland sold the company in 2022 to three partners who formed Granite Media Group (though one partner departed after the first year for personal reasons). The company is now led by Executive Editor Matt Mowry, who has been with the magazine for 24 years and is its longest serving editor, and Christine Carignan, who has been with the magazine for 18 years and previously served as the creative director. In two years, Granite Media Group has grown revenue, circulation, added a new guide and event aimed at startups (Launch 603) and brought back the Ultimate Biz(NH) Bash after it was put on hiatus during the pandemic.
We look forward to celebrating many more milestone anniversaries and we applaud the many organizations that celebrated big anniversaries in 2024.
20th Anniversary: NH Fisher Cats
25th Anniversary: DeStefano & Associates
30th Anniversary: Marguerite's Place