New businesses

Avery Osgood has opened the Sundaez Ice Cream Bar at 50 West Pleasant St. in Claremont. Osgood is also one of the operators of The Cruisin’ Cow, a family-owned ice cream truck. More information: sundaezicecreambar.com.

Trivium Life Services has opened an Outpatient Practice for Integrative Mental Health at 85 Mechanic St., C3-5, in Lebanon. More information: triviumlifeservices.org/integrativementalhealth.

Business and nonprofit expansions

The Fourth Place, a gaming space owned by Ian C. Struckhoff at 3 Lebanon St. in Hanover, has expanded its after-school youth programming to include multiple after-school Dungeons and Dragons clubs and a Magic League. Struckhoff is also starting a Summer Day Camp this June. More information: thefourthplaceforgeeks.com.

River Valley Club, located at 33 Morgan Drive in Lebanon, and FitKids Childcare, located at 14 Lafayette St. in Lebanon, have expanded. The year-long renovation includes five new pools, double the number of racket sports courts and three new FitKids classrooms. More information: rivervalleyclub.com and rvcfitkids.com.

Plymouth State University in Plymouth, N.H., has started an “RN to BSN” program. It is open to students who already have an associate degree in nursing, as well as a registered nurse license. The program, which will start with the fall 2024 semester, includes remote and in-person classes. More information: plymouth.edu.

Business promotions, hirings and retirements

Claremont Savings Bank has promoted three of its employees to new executive senior and management positions: Carol Vivian, chief customer experience officer; Jim Lynch, chief lending officer; and Chrissy Fratzel, senior vice president of human resources and corporate training.

Other employees were also promoted: Dawn Churchill, vice president, bank risk officer; Tausha Shute, vice president of retail banking; Ann Dewey, assistant vice president, retail innovation officer; Marissa Brunelle, corporate trainer; Shanna Emanuel, retail business systems analyst; Brian Baril, security administrator; Maria Horne, assistant branch manager at the bank’s main office in Claremont; Kelsi Nelson, assistant branch manager at the bank’s Charlestown location; Jerica Tyrrell, assistant vice president at the bank’s Springfield, Vt., location; and Andrea Brown, assistant branch manager at the bank’s West Lebanon location.

Jake Donovan has been named a partner at Legacy Mortgage, a brokerage firm in Hanover. Donovan was hired in 2020 as a loan analyst, then added the title of loan officer before being promoted to loan originator.

Orian Welling is the new chief of the Research and Engineering Division of the U.S. Army Engineer and Research Development Center’s (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover. Welling was hired as research mechanical engineer with CRREL’s Force Projection and Sustainment Branch’s (FPSB) Mobility Team in 2020 and in 2022 was promoted to branch chief.

The following employees have joined Health Care and Rehabilitation Services, which has offices in Hartford, Springfield, Vt., and Windsor: Christopher Hackett, behavioral interventionalist, Hartford; Madalyn McAllister, case manager, Springfield, Alison L. Brokenshire, DSP employment, Springfield; and Britny Hill, office generalist, Springfield.

Norwich Technologiesres, which is the White River Junction-based parent company of Norwich Solar, Norwich EV and RunTime Solar, has announced the following employee title changes and promotions: Charlie Van Winkle, previously vice president of operations, is switching to the general manager role; Brendan Malley, is now the chief commercial officer; Luke Cady has been promoted from director of business operations to vice president of business operations; Robert Boylan has been promoted from senior project manager to director of project management; and Dan Kinney, previously general manager of RunTime Solar is now the quality assurance and safety manager under the Norwich Solar company brand.

Kyrstin Kibbey has been hired as the Newport Golf Club’s assistant golf professional. Kibbey, known as K.K., graduated from Newport Middle High School in 2017 and is working on becoming a PGA Certified Professional.

Lynn Rodeschin will retire from Sugar River Bank in Newport this May after 44 years. Rodeschin started working for the bank as a teller in 1979 and was promoted through the ranks until retiring as vice president/head of operations. Michelle Duford, who currently serves as assistant vice president/operations has been promoted to vice president/operations and e-banking.

Nonprofit organization leadership changes

Alden Smith is the new executive director of the Vermont Institute of Natural Science. Prior to joining the Quechee-based nonporfit organization, Smith was employed as the director of the Mountain School of Milton Academy in Vershire, according to a news release. He replaced Charles (Charlie) F. Rattigan, who was VINS executive director since 2014.

Sarah Maguire is the new leader of the TLC Family Resource Center, a Claremont-based nonprofit organization that supports children and families through a variety of programs, including support groups and services for those in recovery from substance misuse. Maguire replaces Stephanie Slayton, who left TLC – which also has a location in Lebanon – last fall to become executive director of The Family Place in Norwich.

New London Hospital’s chief medical officer Dr. Lauren A. Geddes Wirth is the new interim CEO. She replaces Tom Manion, who left the hospital to become chief operating officer of Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Manion replaced Jeff O’Brien, who retired last October.

Nonprofit organization board appointments

Andrew Smith and Courtney Porter have joined West Central Behavioral Health Center’s board of directors. Porter, of Claremont, is employed as a social worker for the Claremont school system, according to a news release from the nonprofit organization which has offices in Claremont, Lebanon and Newport. Smith is a faculty member at both the Department of Psychiatry at Dartmouth Health and Geisel School of Medicine.

Jim Nicola, former artistic director of New York Theatre Workshop, has joined JAG Productions’ board of directors. The White River Junction-based nonprofit organization which “serves as an Artistic Sanctuary for Black Creatives in the American Theatre,” according to its mission statement, hosts productions throughout the Upper Valley.

M. Elyse Allan, retired president and CEO of General Electric Canada Company, Inc., Marcus P. Coe, associate professor and residency director in the department of orthopaedic surgery at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, and Jonathan B. Thyng, medical director of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinics Nashua, were appointed to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Board of Trustees.

Awards and other honors

Hopkins Center for the Arts executive director Mary Lou Aleskie received the International Society for the Performing Arts’ 2024 Patrick Hayes Award for transformative leadership.

Press Ganey, a health care company focused on patient satisfaction surveys, recognized the following Dartmouth Health providers with national awards of excellence: Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital’s emergency department and New London Hospital Express Care, Guardian of Excellence Award for Patient Experience; Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center, Guardian of Excellence Award for Employee Experience; and Dartmouth Cancer Center, Pinnacle of Excellence Award.

Dr. Lee M. Kaplan, of Center for Digestive Health at Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, earned the Thomas A. Wadden Award for Distinguished Mentorship from the Obesity Society, and Dr. Richard I. Rothstein, also of the Center for Digestive Health, was named a Master of the American College of Gastroenterology.

Advance Transit, a Wilder-based nonprofit public transit organization, was named the 2023 Community Business of the Year by the Hartford Area Chamber of Commerce.

The following Bar Harbor Bank & Trust Upper Valley employees earned the bank’s Brand Behavior Award: Elizabeth Hardt, personal banker, Hanover branch, Communication Award; Shania Adams, human resources operations specialist, Newport branch, Positivity Award; and Jessica Hooper, assistant vice president human resources business partner, Newport branch, Teamwork Award.

Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire CEO Johanna L. Beliveau has been selected as a fellow for the Health Management Academy’s Academy GE Fellows Program, a two-year program “designed to prepare the next generation of health system executives from leading health systems like Dartmouth Health,” according to a news release.

The following Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center employees achieved employment milestones at the Windsor-based nonprofit organization: Roger Parent, 40 years; Crikett French, 35 years; Bonnie Paquette, 35 years; Cheryl Beaulieu, 25 years; Jamie Lockwood, 25 years; Catherine Lather, 20 years; Leesa Taft, 20 years; Wendy Marsh, 15 years; Lorissa Segal, 15 years; Emily Weld, 15 years; Margaret Worth, 15 years; Amy Caldwell, 10 years; Clare Drebitko, 10 years; Sarah Kendall, 10 years; Michael Lane, 10 years; Michael Martin, 10 years; Felicia McGuire, 10 years; Stephanie McHugh, 10 years; Elizabeth Sheehan, 10 years; and Janet Stryker, 10 years.

The following Dartmouth Health chief executive officers were honored by hospital magazine Becker’s Hospital Review as “110 rural hospital and health system CEOs to know for 2024”: Dr. Joseph L. Perras, CEO and president of Cheshire Medical Center; Dr. Susan E. Mooney, CEO and president of Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital; and Thomas A. Dee, CEO and president of Southwestern Vermont Health Care.

Susan Borchert and Betsy Harrison, owners of Counseling Associates of New London, were named New Hampshire Small Business Persons of the Year as part of the 2024 New Hampshire Small Business Week awards by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Lebanon-based Hypertherm Associates was inducted into the New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility’s “Measure What Matters Hall of Fame” for its “innovative approaches and consistent determination to address challenges.”

The following Upper Valley businesses were selected as finalists for the New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility’s Sustainability Awards: Casella Waste Management (locations in Lebanon and Newport); Co-op Food Stores (locations in Hanover and Lebanon); and Mascoma Bank (locations in Charlestown, Claremont, Canaan, Enfield, Hanover, Lebanon, Lyme, New London and West Lebanon).

Dartmouth Health Children’s section chief of pediatric dermatology Dr. Julianne A. Mann earned the American Academy of Dermatology’s Innovations in Quality Improvement Award.

Nonprofit grants and donations

The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and the Couch Family Foundation have committed two years of funding to Dartmouth Health and New Hampshire Legal Assistance’s medical-legal partnership program, which was started in 2021. It is open to families who have children age 5 and under or are expecting a child. “This program help address complex health and social needs, like ensuring emergency access to insurance benefits, preventing employment and education discrimination, and securing housing and preventing unwarranted and illegal evictions,” according to a news release from Dartmouth Health.

Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire employees donated more than 100 books, along $200 in book gift cards, and distributed them to more than 100 families enrolled in the White River Junction-based nonprofit organization’s maternal and child health program.

Bar Harbor Bank & Trust employees donated more than $21,000 to eight nonprofit organizations in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont including PathWays of the River Valley in Claremont, YMCA Camp Coniston in Croydon and the White River Land Collaborative in White River Junction.

Dartmouth Health and Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine researchers have received a $5 million grant to start a Learning Health System Embedded Scientist Training and Research (LHS E-STaR) Center. The funding is being provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. The new center — which will be led by Anna Tosteson and Eugene Nelson, of the The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at Geisel, and Tina Foster, of the Value Institute at Dartmouth Health — will train nine scientists over the next five years.

Dartmouth Health has received around $3.1 million in federal funding. Around $1.3 million will go toward department of psychiatry to fund a licensed independent clinical social worker training program and $400,000 will go to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for a childcare workforce program that will be administered by the Early Care & Education Association of the Upper Valley. Additional money will go toward Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Nashua to expand the clinic’s diabetes care program ($650,000) and Cheshire Medical Center to purchase robotic technology for the physical therapy program ($750,000).

Events

The 25th Women Who Make A Difference Luncheon will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, at Colby-Sawyer College’s Wheeler Hall in New London. The event serves as a fundraiser for Lake Sunapee Region VNA & Hospice, a New London-based nonprofit organization. Joan Ecker, owner of Fat Hat Clothing in Quechee, will be the guest speaker. Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased by contacting Cathy Raymond at 603-526-4077, ext. 231 or craymond@lakesunapeevna.org. More information: lakesunapeevna.org.

The sixth Equine Industry Summit, sponsored by the Vermont Horse Council, will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 27, at Green Mountain Horse Association in South Woodstock. The keynote speaker will be Olympic Gold Medalist Denny Emerson of Tamarack Hill Farm in South Strafford. Ticket prices vary and more information can be found at vthorsecouncil.org/summit.

Information for this column was compiled using news releases emailed to Valley News staff. To have business or nonprofit organization news included in the next edition of Enterprise, email biznotes@vnews.com prior to June 21.