Grace Preston Named NH Global Businesswoman of the Year

Grace Preston is a true global citizen having traveled to about 70 countries and all 7 continents both personally and professionally as an international sales and business development executive, helping technology and manufacturing companies expand markets overseas.

Since April 2022, she has served as internal sales manager for Geophysical Survey Systems (GSSI), a commercial manufacturer of ground penetrating radar in Nashua. In less than two years, Preston helped GSSI further international markets by forging new partnerships while deepening existing ones. Her ability to identify and develop untapped and underserved markets, particularly in South America, has been instrumental in diversifying GSSI’s global portfolio.

It is for those reasons that the World Affairs Council of NH named Preston as its 2023 NH Global Businesswoman of the Year Award recipient.

Preston, who in 2019 was awarded New England Exporter of the Year by the SBA, says her love of travel and international affairs was sparked in her childhood. She is a first-generation American, her parents having immigrated to the United States from Lebanon.

“I had one foot in American culture and one foot in Arabic culture,” she says. “My dad used to travel all the time [for work] when I was a kid,” bringing her back gifts from around the world. At college, she studied political science with a focus on international relations with the intention of becoming a lawyer but when she graduated, Preston decided law was not for her.

She sought out companies doing business globally and began a career helping manufacturers and tech companies expand their global market, including Metrobility, Secure Care Products, Lenova Software and Optim LLC. At GSSI, she identifies new international markets and develops relationships with representatives in those countries to market and distribute its products. GSSI’s ground-penetrating radar is used worldwide for mapping underground utilities and to inspect concrete, she says, although its uses range from archeology to mining and transportation applications.

GSSI does business on all seven continents and is breaking into emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Brazil and Africa, where large infrastructure investments are being made. “You have to be in it for the long game. You have to be patient,” she says. “It’s a lot of partnership building.”