NAMES AND FACES - September 2007

Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) has announced that Mary-Jo Boisvert has been named the company's new director of communications. Boisvert will be responsible for PSNH's internal and external communications, including media relations, advertising, corporate community relations, and issues management.

Prior to her new position, Boisvert was PSNH's communications and public affairs manager, a position she has held since 1991. During that time, she had been instrumental in developing, executing, and evolving a strategic communications approach that has successfully repositioned PSNH in the marketplace. Boisvert brings substantial experience to the director position, as well as a proven track-record for strategic, results focused communications.

Boisvert earned a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of New Hampshire. She resides in Manchester, with her husband, Tim, and daughter, Maggie.

The First National Bank of Ipswich (FNBI) in Portsmouth is pleased to announce the recent appointment of Leanne Spees to the newly created position of vice president and regional manager.

Spees is based in FNBI's office at 77 Hanover St. in Portsmouth. She will focus on creating and nurturing relationships with individuals and small- and medium-sized businesses throughout the Greater Portsmouth and Seacoast region, extending into southern Maine.

In recent years, Spees served as vice president of Commercial Lending for Ocean National Bank in Portsmouth. Prior to that, and for nearly a dozen years, she was a managing director in international corporate finance for BankBoston and FleetBoston Financial.

She resides in Rye with her husband and two sons.

She is a member of the Portsmouth Rotary Club, as well as a current board member and treasurer of Art-Speak, the city of Portsmouth's cultural commission. Additionally, Spees is a member of the Seacoast Young Team, which is a bicycle team that participates in fund-raising efforts. Spees is a three-time cancer survivor who "wanted to do whatever I could to help others. Joining the Seacoast Young Team has given me a chance to do that."

The First National Bank of Ipswich is a federally chartered bank and a subsidiary of First Ipswich Bancorp. Incorporated in 1892, FNBI is a full-service commercial bank, serving communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The Bank operates eight branches from Boston to Portsmouth, N.H.

Mad*Pow of Portsmouth, a thought leader in the user experience discipline, announced recently that it has added several industry leading clients to its roster, added six new employees, and has moved into larger space in the heart of downtown Portsmouth.

Mad*Pow's new clients in 2007 include, IDEXX, SheZoom, McKesson, The Hartford, VoiceThread, US Directory Assistance, and Get Solo.

In addition to recently adding Brad Honeyman, business strategist for Mad*Pow, Michael Hawley, user experience director, and Michael Woodard production designer/developer, the company has hired Buck Beaudoin as creative director, Jennifer Giroux as user experience designer, and Sarah Bloomer as a business strategy consultant.

Mad*Pow employs its proprietary user-centered and business-aligned methodology to deliver positive customer experiences for software, hardware, rich Internet applications, Web sites, internal systems, and interactive and printed marketing materials.

For more information, contact Josh Corringham at 603.387.8307 or solutions@madpow.net.

The Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce has named Marie Aichele as its new membership director.

A University of New Hampshire graduate who left a career as a medical lab technology in 1999 to pursue a career in business, Aichele comes to the chamber with an extensive background in medical software, advertising and promotional marketing product sales, and customer service with companies such as AT&T Technical Services, iWorx, and CB Sciences. Her interests, outside of work, include TaeKwonDo, horseback riding, tailoring and creative writing.

Aichele lives in Dover with her husband, Laurence, and four cats. She will be responsible for building membership and member retention, scheduling Business Open Houses and ribbon cuttings, and as staff liaison to the Ambassador Committee. Aichele can be reached at 742-2218 or marie@dovernh.org.

The Richie McFarland Children's Center has announced the addition of six new board members.

The board members are Jenny Clark, vice president of e-commerce, Cambridge Savings Bank; Laura Gowing, program manager, Exeter Historical Society; Lee Learson, consultant, Creative Pathways Associates; Ed O'Brien former residential program director, St. Ann's Home in Methuen, Mass.; Susan O'Brien, former pupil personnel administrator, Andover Public Schools; and Laura Rubin, pediatric neuropsychologist, Portsmouth Neuropsychology Center.

The goal of RMCC is to help young children reach their full developmental potential and to support their families through that process. The agency provides therapies to young children with developmental delays and disabilities, as well as a variety of parenting and support programs for all families. The center is located on Sandy Point Road in Stratham. For more information, visit www.richiemcfarland.org.

Lenny Carlson

Automotive technician Lenny Carlson has joined the team at Gary Blake Motorcars in Exeter.

Carlson is a Seacoast native and auto mechanic who spent three years in the Navy as a jet mechanic after his graduation from Epping High School. He has been in the field of auto mechanics for 26 years.

He has worked at area dealerships and had his own engine shop for four years, REP Motors in Greenland. Carlson is an ASE certified master technician.

Servicing all kinds of automobiles including Saabs, Volvos, Mercedes and Land Rovers, Gary Blake Motorcars can be reached at 603-772-8233 or at www.garyblakemotorcars.com.

Realtor Carol Clark of Tate & Foss in Rye was recently awarded her Graduate Realtor Institute (GRI) designation after completing 96 hours of classroom instruction dealing with the residential real estate industry.

Realtor Phyllis Mathouser of RE/MAX Performance in Exeter was recently awarded her Graduate Realtor Institute (GRI) designation after completing 96 hours of classroom instruction dealing with the residential real estate industry.

The Realtor Institute has been in existence more than 25 years and has graduated thousands of Realtors, including 44 members of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors in 2006.