About the Series
Coffee & Conversations is a discussion series jointly organized by the Carsey School of Public Policy, the State of NH Bureau of Education and Training, and the NH Association of Certified Public Managers to engage public service professionals in learning, problem solving, and collaboration. We’ll provide the coffee, you provide the conversation!
Upcoming Coffee & Conversations!
Coffee & Conversations will return this fall - stay tuned!
June 9, 2021: The Past, Present, and Future of NH’s Mental Health System: Challenges and Opportunities
The Carsey School of Public Policy hosted Ken Norton, LICSW, Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, New Hampshire (NAMI NH). Ken joined us to discuss the history of the mental health system in New Hampshire, mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the possible future of mental health care within the Granite State.
Ken Norton, LICSW, serves as Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, New Hampshire (NAMI NH).
Ken led development of NAMI NH's Connect Suicide Prevention program, which serves as a national best practice in suicide prevention, intervention and postvention and has provided training across the U.S., in over 25 tribal nations, and in 5 countries. He has participated on numerous commissions and workgroups in NH and nationally and has served as a subject matter expert for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Department of Defense, and the Veterans Administration and presented nationally and internationally on subjects related to mental illness, suicide and media/messaging.
Ken has worked in community mental health, served as a licensed foster parent, and has lived experience as a family member with mental illness, addiction and suicide.
The Past, Present, and Future of NH’s Mental Health System: Challenges and Opportunities
April 14, 2021: Enhancing Your Career Through LinkedIn
The Carsey School of Public Policy hosted Dr. Mercedes Hunt and Dr. Kathy DesRoches from Granite State College's Business, Management & Finance program to discuss ways in which professionals can best take advantage of all the features and tools that LinkedIn offers. LinkedIn is the most popular social media platform for professionals in the world.
Mercedes Hunt is the Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Business Management and Finance Programs at Granite State College.
Mercedes is a passionate educator; her position enables her to teach, provide keynote speeches, develop new courses, and build curriculum. She has spent the last five years studying and teaching others about the many benefits of using LinkedIn. Mercedes is also the Founder of Map & Compass Consulting LLC, a consulting company that helps public assembly venues to implement sustainability strategies through stakeholder engagement. Mercedes is on the leadership team for the Sustainable Event Alliance and a member of the Faculty Committee of the International Association of Venue Managers. She earned her doctorate degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism from the University of Utah.
Kathy DesRoches is the Program Director of and faculty member in the Master’s degree in Leadership program at Granite State College.
Kathy is the chair of the graduate curriculum committee and her interest is in open educational resources. She has collaborated with other faculty to create five books and is collaborating with her students to contribute to one of the books. Kathy holds a master’s degree from the University of New Hampshire and a Doctorate in Education from Plymouth State University. In her spare time, she is the founding member of the nonprofit NHVegFest, chair of the Planning Board in her town, and sits on the economic development committee.
Enhancing Your Career Through LinkedIn
Feb. 10, 2021: The Choose Love Movement – Transforming N.H.’s System of Care for Children's Behavioral Health
The Carsey School of Public Policy hosted Shannon Desilets, the Governor-appointed director of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement for New Hampshire. We were also joined by Scarlett Lewis, founder of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement, to talk about children's behavioral health, social emotional learning for youth and adults, and how to build coalitions to tackle the challenges that lie at the root of so many policy debates.
Shannon Desilets serves as the Governor-appointed director of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement for New Hampshire. In this role, she travels the state promoting and increasing awareness of the Choose Love social and emotional enrichment program and works with schools, parents/caregivers, community businesses and organizations, police departments, and many other organizations. She is responsible for growing the outreach of the Choose Love Program even further for the safety and well-being of NH’s citizens, measuring the implementation of the program, and serving to increase connections between people and agencies across the state.
Scarlett Lewis is the mother of Jesse Lewis who was killed in his first grade classroom during the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012 along with 19 classmates and 6 teachers and administrators in one of the worst school shootings in US history. She founded of The Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation in honor of Jesse and to spread a message he left on their kitchen chalkboard shortly before he died, Nurturing Healing Love, the formula for choosing love, and to promote social and emotional education in schools as well as a consistent message of compassion in our communities. Scarlett is the recipient of the International Forgiveness Award, the Live Your Legacy Award and the Common Ground Award for her advocacy work for peace and forgiveness. When she became a parent for the first time, Scarlett wrote and published a children’s book, Rose’s Foal.
Choose Love – Transforming NH’s System of Care for Children's Behavioral Health
Jan. 13, 2021: How to Be an Antiracist Public Institution
Dr. Nadine Petty, UNH Chief Diversity Officer and Associate Vice President for Community, Equity and Diversity, joined us to discuss her team's initial steps toward establishing a more open, equitable and inclusive community at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Petty joined UNH in August of 2020. You can watch the recording and find resources from the presentation below!
Dr. Nadine Petty earned both a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Arts in Teaching Secondary English Education from the University of Rochester. She completed her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Organizational Development with an emphasis in Postsecondary Education from the University of Louisville while serving there as Director of TRIO Student Support Services.
Having spent her early formative years in Jamaica, Dr. Petty comes to New Hampshire and to UNH with an international lens. Dr. Petty has over twenty years of experience in educational settings, including fourteen years in higher education. For the majority of her personal life and professional career, she has devoted herself to a wide-range of diversity and social justice causes and endeavors which include teaching cultural ethnography in college classrooms, serving on and leading various diversity-related committees and boards, creating and strengthening services for individuals with marginalized identities, and providing numerous interactive diversity and social justice workshops and trainings to students, colleagues, and community members.
Prior to arriving at UNH, Dr. Petty served as Executive Director of the Center for Diversity and Enrichment at the University of Iowa, where she led a large team of staff dedicated to the success of students with marginalized identities. Although she has been immersed in diversity, equity, and inclusion work for many years, Dr. Petty believes she has only begun to scratch the surface of available knowledge and research, viewing herself as a lifelong learner and devotee of diversity and social justice issues.
How to Be an Antiracist Public Institution
Dec. 9, 2020: Lessons from the New Hampshire Commission to Study School Funding
The legislatively created NH Commission to Study School Funding released its final report on December 1, 2020. On December 9, 2020, we were joined by Commission members to discuss the report's findings and possible paths forward for greater student and taxpayer equity in the Granite State. Our speakers and presenters included Rep. David Luneau, Dr. Corinne Cascadden, Rep. Mel Myler, Bruce Mallory, and Jordan Hensley. You can watch the recording and find resources from the presentation below!
Lessons from the New Hampshire Commission to Study School Funding
Nov. 18, 2020: Matt Wilhelm
New Hampshire State Rep. Matt Wilhelm, chair of NH's Service Year Workforce Commission, joined us to discuss the Commission’s final report and recommendations aimed at attracting and retaining more service-driven and community-minded young people for an affordable college degree or credential and meaningful career in the Granite State. Matt is a 2016 graduate of the Master of Public Administration program at the Carsey School. He was joined by Gretchen Stallings, Executive Director of Volunteer NH, and Dan Bromberg, Director of Academic Programming at Carsey, in his talk about public service. Watch the recording below!
Serve, Learn & Earn: Expanding Workforce Pathways in NH
Oct. 14, 2020: Tom O'Donovan
Thomas O'Donovan serves as Director of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Service's Water Division. Director O'Donovan discussed the drought impacting the state of New Hampshire, as well as methods of measurement and analysis used by his division and the recent history of drought in New Hampshire.
Watch a recording of the discussion below and learn more about this serious environmental issue impacting New Hampshire in 2020.
Coffee & Conversations: New Hampshire's Drought
Sept. 16, 2020: Discussion with Dennis Martino and Carolyn Russell
Our September 2020 Coffee & Conversations featured Dennis Martino, a former Director of the New Hampshire Bureau of Education and Training, and Carolyn Russell, Senior Operational Analyst with the State of New Hampshire, discussing strategic planning in times of uncertainty. Municipal employees with long histories of leading organizations through potentially turbulent, Dennis and Carolyn offered their insight on best practices for strategic planning.
Coffee & Conversations: Strategic Planning in Times of Uncertainty
About the Speakers
Dennis is the former Director of the NH Bureau of Education and Training. He has taught leadership courses at the graduate level at several colleges. Prior to his current academic work, he had twenty-one years’ experience in Labor Relations as a union advocate and contract negotiator. Dennis has acted as a workplace mediator with both small and large agencies.
Carolyn Russell is a Senior Operational Analyst with the State of New Hampshire and has worked as a planner and project manager in state government for over 20 years. Carolyn has led numerous strategic planning exercises for various types of state programs and organizations, including the state’s commissioners group. This past summer, Carolyn facilitated a remote, online strategic planning exercise for a new State Commission.
June 10, 2020: Panel Discussion with Elizabeth Dragon, Troy Brown & Naomi Bolton
For our June Coffee & Conversations, we were joined by three municipal leaders to discuss how their communities and municipal service providers have adjusted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Elizabeth Dragon, City Manager of Keene, NH; Troy Brown, Town Administrator of Litchfield, NH; and Naomi Bolton, Town Administrator of Weare, NH, talked about how COVID-19 affected how they serve their citizens and examined how this pandemic has possibly changed how they’ll do business after quarantine ends.
Watch a recording of the webinar online and hear from each of them as they discuss COVID-19’s impact on everything from multimillion-dollar municipal budgets to the day-to-day operations at their trash and recycling centers.
About the Panelists
Elizabeth A. Dragon serves the City of Keene in the role of City Manager. Appointed City Manager for the City of Keene September 25, 2017; she has served in local government since 1998. Prior to her arrival at the City of Keene, Elizabeth served as City Manager for the City of Franklin for nine years where she was instrumental in various economic re-development initiatives in the downtown. In Franklin, she also performed a lead role in the community’s substance misuse prevention initiative. Prior to her arrival in Franklin, Ms. Dragon gained a great deal of diverse experience managing the communities of Bristol and Plymouth.
Elizabeth has a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and before transitioning to management she worked in the field of finance. Later she completed the NH Division of Personnel’s Certified Public Manager two year Program. Elizabeth is also a credentialed manager through the International City Manager Association (ICMA) and recently completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Troy Brown was appointed as the Litchfield Town Administrator in September 2015. He currently manages the day-to-day operations of municipal government and the town’s $7-million-dollar annual budget. Troy has more than 25 years of municipal experience working in the towns of Limestone, ME; Londonderry, NH; Pembroke, NH; and Hollis, NH. Troy has worked on Brownfield Environmental clean-up sites; developed Tax Increment Financing districts; and coordinated construction of town office buildings, fire stations and athletic complexes.
Troy is a graduate of the University of Maine. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and is actively seeking to become a Certified Public Manager through the NH Bureau of Education.
Naomi Bolton serves as Town Administrator for Weare, NH. She began working in municipal government in 1995. Her first position was as a part-time Planning and Zoning Clerk; shortly thereafter, she became a full-time DPW Administrator. Over the years, she has cross-trained and worked in nearly every department at her municipal offices. In 2009, the Town Board appointed her Administrator with the caveat that she pursue more education.
Naomi attended Primex’s Supervisor Academy and graduated in 2010 from New Hampshire’s CPS program, followed by the New Hampshire CPM program in 2011. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Granite State College in 2014 and graduated from the University of New Hampshire Manchester with a Master of Public Administration in 2016.
In her free time, Naomi enjoys spending time with family; riding motorcycles, ATVs, and snowmobiles; and visiting Northern New Hampshire and Maine. She has been married for 35 years, has two grown sons, a daughter-in-law, and a three-year-old granddaughter with another one on the way. Upon retiring, she plans to “enjoy life and travel.”
May 13, 2020: Will Stewart
Stay Work Play Executive Director Will Stewart shared what his organization learned during its Policy & Pints series, in which he and his team spoke with young people across nine NH regions this past fall and winter to discuss issues that most impact their lives and where they live. Will also discussed how Stay Work Play addressed these issues and how other organizations, companies, municipalities, and individuals can help make New Hampshire a more attractive place for young people.
Will was named the Executive Director of Stay Work Play New Hampshire in September 2017. He is responsible for the overall management of Stay Work Play and oversees the development, growth, and implementation of the organization’s mission, programs, and budget. Stewart also serves as the organization’s key spokesperson and as an advocate for the attraction and retention of younger workers in New Hampshire. Actively involved in community efforts, Will also serves as the Ward 2 Alderman on the City of Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
Did you miss May's talk with Will Stewart? You can watch his entire discussion and Q&A online.
Downloadable resources from Will's talk:
April 8, 2020: Sarah Wrightsman
Sarah Wrightsman '17G serves as executive director of the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast, a non-profit whose mission is to ensure that local and statewide policies are favorable to the development of financially feasible workforce housing in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and southern Maine. She joined us to speak about workforce housing and housing issues in New Hampshire and about statewide advocacy organizations and resources.
Did you miss April's talk? You can watch Sarah's entire discussion and Q&A online.
Downloadable resources from Sarah's talk:
March 11, 2020: Rick Perrin
Rick Perrin, a supervisory partnership specialist with the United States Census Bureau, spoke about the history of the Census, the goals of the 2020 Census, and how it will operate in New Hampshire. The 2020 Decennial Census will mark his third tenure with the Census Bureau with similar duties in 2010 and as a Field Supervisor for The American Housing Survey in 2017.
Did you miss March's talk? You can watch the entire talk with Rick Perrin online.
Feb. 12, 2020: Moira O’Neill
Moira O’Neill, Ph.D., heads one of New Hampshire’s newest state agencies, the Office of the Child Advocate, which focuses on reforming the state’s child welfare system. During her talk, she’ll talk about the mission and role of this agency and the importance of independent oversight of government agencies as a means towards more transparency and accountability in the delivery of quality state services.
The Office of the Child Advocate was established in 2018 as part of an aggressive commitment to reform New Hampshire’s child welfare system. The agency is an independent and impartial state office established to oversee the NH Division for Children, Youth and Families.
Did you miss February's talk? You can watch the entire talk and Q&A with Dr. Moira O'Neill online.
Jan. 7, 2020: Chuck Bagley
Chuck Bagley, Director of Staff Engagement at New Hampshire Hospital, joined us to discuss different methods of teaching and learning within today's workplaces. Bagley has taught a variety of topics to a wide range of learners, from college undergraduate and graduate learners to incarcerated and refugee learners, and he’s created numerous faculty and trainer development programs. During his talk, he will discuss trends in formal workplace learning in the U.S. and strategies that aim to enhance formal learning with social, experiential, and informal learning.
Dec. 11, 2019: James Dean, Jr.
James W. (“Jim”) Dean Jr. discussed how the nation’s public universities must rethink their efforts to better serve the public through teaching, research, and engagement, and how the University of New Hampshire was doing exactly that to better serve the state and the region.
Dean became the 20th president of the University of New Hampshire in June 2018. Since joining UNH, he has met with hundreds of members of the university community, alumni and donors, New Hampshire business leaders, state lawmakers, and state residents to discuss UNH’s challenges and opportunities.
Did you miss December's talk? You can watch the entire talk and Q&A with President James Dean online.
Nov. 13, 2019: Kirsten Howard
Kirsten Howard, a Resilience Coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services' Coastal Program, presented some of the latest local scientific projections for sea-level rise and changes in storms and precipitation due to climate change and examined how a changing seacoast impacts policy decisions and change.
Did you miss November's talk? You can watch the entire talk and Q&A with Kirsten Howard online.
Oct. 9, 2019: Andrew Smith
Dr. Andrew Smith, Director of the UNH Survey Center, discussed some of the issues facing election polling today and provided a brief history of how new technology and polling practices shaped the election process. He also delved into the New Hampshire primary and who generally votes during the first-in-the-nation primary.
Did you miss October's talk? You can watch the entire talk and Q&A with Dr. Smith online.
NH Bureau of Education and Training
The State of New Hampshire provides a unique program of continuing professional development through the Bureau of Education and Training (BET). The Bureau offers a variety of training programs – including in LEAN process improvement and management and Certified Public Supervisor/Manager credentialing – to all public employees of New Hampshire.
NH Certified Public Managers
The Certified Public Manager® program is a nationally accredited comprehensive management development program specifically for managers in federal, state, and local government. The program’s primary goal is to improve the performance of public sector managers and the organizational performance of state, local, and federal government. In New Hampshire, the program is divided into two levels: Level I (called the Certified Public Supervisor program) and Level II, which results in CPM status being awarded.