The Buzz Online

In the spotlight: Northway Bank has named Deanna Hanley branch manager of its West Ossipee location and Robert Fischer as AVP, senior branch manager of its Portsmouth location. Hanley brings over 21 years of banking expertise and customer development to her new position at Northway Bank. Fischer brings a career of banking expertise, leadership, and professional networking to his position.

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Merchants Fleet Management hire three sales executives; Steve Merkel, Jake Brunner, and Jessica Bruning have joined the newly formed Southeast region. The team will work under the direction of the three regional vice presidents who joined Merchants in September, industry veterans Bill Stueber, Dusty Cummins, and Mike Combs.

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Optisure Risk Partners hired Beth Needham as insurance operations manager and best practices leader. Over the past 20 years, Needham has worked at both the carrier level and agency level holding positions which included claims manager, sales manager, account executive, marketing manager and chief operating officer.

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Northeast Credit Union appointed Kelly McGrath as the new senior VP/chief lending officer. In this position, McGrath administers and oversees the credit union’s entire loan portfolio, including consumer, mortgage, and business loans. McGrath has more than 16 years of industry experience.

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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded grants of $78,704 to the Manchester Housing & Redevelopment Authority and $128,471 to the NH Housing Finance Authority to provide homeless veterans with vouchers to access affordable housing as well as housing support from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The grants were announced by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH and Maggie Hassan, D-NH and Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter NH-01.

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Stay Work Play New Hampshire hired Sarah Davis as the organization’s event coordinator and promoted of Beth San Soucie to communications and outreach manager. Davis will provide leadership in the planning, coordination, and evaluation of Stay Work Play events and San Soucie, a three-year veteran of Stay Work Play, will be responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of all of the organization’s marketing strategies and communications.

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The NH Division of Forests and Lands and The Conservation Fund completed a multi-year effort to secure a 24,000-acre landscape of working forestland in Coos County near the Appalachian National Scenic Trail in the Mahoosuc Mountains. The private-public partnership recently acquired a working forest conservation easement on 14,987 acres owned and managed by private landowners using funding from the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program, through the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, and both state and private funding, and together with another easement on an adjacent 8,700 acres surrounding Success Pond ensures the forest will be sustainably managed for the production of responsibly harvested timber and will be open for public outdoor recreation into the future.

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The Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce Leadership Awards are presented each year to local individuals and businesses that demonstrate a commitment to improving the quality of life in the Upper Valley.

• Sara Kobylenski, executive director of the Upper Valley Haven will receive the Chamber Leadership Award which recognizes an individual(s) in the community that has demonstrated exemplary contributions to the Upper Valley through civic outreach.
• The Business Innovator of the Year is Hypertherm, which has become a powerful leader in the Upper Valley on issues relating to substance misuse disorders.
• The Small Business Innovator of the Year recipient is Northern Stage, which has expanded its programming to include six full productions annually and numerous educational and outreach programs.
• Carol Dunne, artistic director of Northern Stage will receive the Innovator of the Year Award.

The recipients will be recognized at the Leadership Awards & Monte Carlo Gala on Thursday, November 1st at the Hanover Inn.