NAMES AND FACES - December 2007

Tom Whalen, with Marianne Quinn, Fran Koerschner and Pat Whalen.

York, Maine, residents Fran Koerschner and Marianne Quinn were recognized as Citizens of the Year for 2008 during the recent Harvestfest celebration in York. Newly retired, Fran and Marianne were directors of the York Community Food Pantry for more than eight years. As volunteers themselves, they managed a volunteer staff of more than 40 people, to service those in need of food throughout the greater York area.

The Citizen of the Year is an award that was established by the Greater York Region Chamber of Commerce in 1994.

The New Hampshire Society of CPAs has recognized William Child, CPA, of Rye, for being awarded his certification to practice public accounting in the state of New Hampshire. A recognition ceremony took place last month at the New England Center on the University of New Hampshire Campus.

Richard O. Hanson, CPA, chairman of the Board of Accountancy and Joel C. Olbricht, CPA, president of the New Hampshire Society of Certified Public Accountants, moderated the event.

Matthew B. Cox was recently selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2008 in the field of personal injury litigation. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more 25,000 leading attorneys cast almost two million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their specialties, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor.

At its annual meeting on Oct. 4, Families First Health and Support Center elected officers and three new members to the Board of Directors, appointed two Advisory Board members, and honored its first director emeritus and its 2007 Volunteer of the Year.

Previous board chairman Dan Schwarz, an attorney with Flygare, Schwarz and Closson in Exeter, was re-elected to his position, as were Vice President Faith Harrington of AG Edwards & Sons and Treasurer John Freear, a professor emeritus at the University of New Hampshire. Jack Jamison, a board member since 2006, was elected board secretary, replacing Susan Hudson Glick.

The new members elected to three-year terms were BB Bayerle, a Reiki practitioner; Kristen Hanley, vice president and portfolio manager at US Trust/Bank of America Private Wealth Management; and Tom Newbold, who does residential restoration and general carpentry. They join Nancy Littlefield, Kathleen MacLeod, Linda Panori, Donna Ryan, Linda Sanborn and Kim Yacobucci on the board.

Glick, a philanthropy consultant whose board term ended after six years, is one of the new Advisory Board members. The other is Ruth Mott, an executive coach who served as the agency's first board chairman in the mid-1980s, when it was known as the Portsmouth Prenatal Clinic.

Portsmouth Regional Hospital Chief Financial Officer Richard Senger was appointed "director emeritus" in recognition of his 20 years of service on the board and his work in building strong ties between Families First and the hospital. He will continue serving on Families First's Finance Committee.

Volunteer Denise Mahoney received the 2007 Volunteer of the Year Award for her leadership and many hours of work in the Family Exchange, a free store at Families First.

Northeast Credit Union (NECU) recently welcomed the following employees to its team:

Douglas Sites, assistant vice president, lending. Sites brings more than 15 years' experience to NECU in the areas of consumer lending, credit and lending operations. He joins NECU from his previous position of senior loan officer at both Bank of America and TD Banknorth.

Kurt Rosenwald, mortgage specialist. Kurt has a strong background in mortgage origination and is responsible for helping NECU's members find a home-financing solution. Rosenwald joins NECU from his previous employers, Fairfield Mortgage and Mortgage Partners Inc..

Lori Hults, sales and service manager, Northwood branch. Hults joins NECU with more than 10 years' experience in financial services. She will be managing operations at the Northwood branch (scheduled to open December 2007), and will be an active member in this community. Hults joins NECU from her previous position of branch manager, Federal Savings Bank, Portsmouth.

Lenya Hicks, financial operations manager. Hicks joins NECU to manage back office financial operations such as ACH, ATM, share draft, VISA transactions and wire transfers. Hicks comes to NECU from her previous position as accounting manager at Washington Mutual Card Services.

Richard (Rick) Wallis, senior vice president/senior loan officer at Piscataqua Savings Bank in Portsmouth, has been appointed by the governor and Executive Council to serve on the N.H. Real Estate Appraisers Board.

Roman Dow, Sue Suter and Peter Kavalauskas.

One of the seven members of this board is chosen from the state's banking community. Wallis has been with Piscataqua Savings Bank for 25 years. The bank is the only state-chartered mutual savings bank in the Seacoast and one of the few remaining in New Hampshire.

This year, the United Way of the Greater Seacoast's staff honored Ramona Dow for her outstanding and significant achievement by awarding her with United Way of the Greater Seacoast's Volunteer of the Year award. The United Way's Sue Suter presented the award during a surprise ceremony at a campaign meeting at Northeast Credit Union, where Dow serves as vice president, marketing and strategic initiatives.

Dow serves as a volunteer for United Way of the Greater Seacoast in several capacities, including board of directors, co-chairman for strategic planning team, chairman of the Community Building Committee, member of the Community Response Fund Review Committee, and co-chairman on the Asset Building Coalition alongside United Way staff.

Home Health VNA of Lawrence, Mass., is pleased to announce the certification of Barbara Botto, RN, CRNI. Botto recently completed nine intensive months of study to achieve her status as certified registered nurse in infusion. Botto has been with the agency for six years, and serves on its intravenous therapy team as an infusion nurse therapist. Botto lives in Hampton.

Barbara Botto.

Waddell & Reed announces that Tim Dabrieo has joined the firm as a financial adviser in the southern New Hampshire area.

Before joining Waddell & Reed, Dabrieo, 32, was a store manager with Toys R Us, where he had worked for nine years.

As a personal financial adviser, Dabrieo will help develop customized financial plans, recommend investment strategies, and counsel clients throughout the area. His expertise in financial counseling and planning makes him an ideal fit as an adviser, according to Waddell & Reed executives.

Coastal Truck and Auto Body Inc. welcomes the return of veteran truck-body repair estimator John Bourque, to assume a senior managerial position as customer service manager in a move that furthers customer satisfaction goals.

Located in Portsmouth, Coastal Truck is one of New England's most trusted and comprehensive truck-body repair service operations. The company began in 1972 as a sole entrepreneurial proprietorship.

Coastal Truck and Auto was founded in 1972 by Robert Lebel and provides premium full-service and customized body repair and restoration for trucks, trailers, RVs, transit buses, vocational vehicles and associated heavy equipment.

Lisa Corbin-Walker, an associate broker with RE/MAX Coast To Coast Properties Inc., recently earned real estate's premier national Residential Construction Certification. This intense training covered architectural design and planning, blueprint reading, topography, building site design, evaluating quality construction, materials, methods, construction terminology and new construction scheduling. Completion of the RCCT training directly benefits Corbin-Walker's clients in all aspects of buying and selling existing and newly constructed homes.

New Heights, the out-of-school program for adolescents, recently announced the addition of three new members to its Advisory Board. They are Dwight Davis, David Gerasin and Michael Middleton. Davis, former NBA star with the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, has been a tireless volunteer for New Heights, lending both his name and expertise to the program's hugely successful "Swing By The Sea" golf tournaments. Gerasin is returning to the Advisory Board after a brief hiatus. He is a financial adviser at Merrill Lynch and graduate of the University of Denver and Holderness School. Middleton is an associate professor of education at the University of New Hampshire who specializes in educational psychology. His research focuses on motivation in early adolescents. New Heights - Adventures for Teens was founded in 1987 and is the Seacoast's largest, most comprehensive out-of-school program for young people between the ages of 11 and 18. For more information, visit www.newheightsonline.org or call (603) 422-8235.