Dry Run Judges 2008

Todd Black ’87, President, Usource

Todd Black is responsible for Usource’s strategic direction and overall profit and loss performance. Usource is a wholly owned subsidiary of Unitil Corporation, providing energy procurement, brokering and consulting solutions to the deregulated natural gas and electricity marketplace. Prior to joining Usource, Black was vice president of sales and marketing for Unitil Corporation. Previously, Black was vice president, services delivery of EnergyUSA, a non-regulated affiliate of Bay State Gas Company, where he was responsible for field sales, partnering programs, call center operations, propane sales, and operations, as well as energy related products and services. Black graduated from the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics with a BS in business administration. He received his MBA from Southern New Hampshire University, and subsequently attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business’s Executive Program for Growing Companies.

Joseph E. “Jeb” Bradley

Jeb Bradley was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for the New Hampshire’s 1st congressional district from 2003 to 2007. He served on the Armed Services, Budget, Veterans’ Affairs and Small Business committees. In 1981, Bradley opened an organic grocery called Evergrain Natural Foods. He and his wife sold the natural foods store in 1997. Most recently, he managed real estate. An avid rock climber, Bradley has ascended all of New Hampshire’s 48 4,000-foot peaks and is a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Four Thousand Footer Club. Bradley attended Tufts University, graduating in 1974 with a BA in sociology.

Mary Caulfield ’89, Founder, Adelie School of Protocol

Mary Caulfield graduated from the Whittemore School of Business and Economics in 1989 with a concentration in finance. After graduating, she joined Wentworth by the Sea Resort as a junior accountant, soon becoming accounting manager and then controller of the Wentworth by the Sea Golf Course in 1994. Currently, she combines motherhood with her passion for entrepreneurship having co-founded a manners business, Adelie School of Protocol. As a certified etiquette instructor, Caulfield develops and teaches social manners and table etiquette to children and teens. Caulfield was co-recipient of the Paul J. Holloway Award in 1989 for her business plan for a bike touring company.

Warren Daniel, Seacoast Director, New Hampshire Small Business Development Center (SBDC)

Warren Daniel has taught business courses at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics and the UNH Department of Continuing Education. His areas of expertise include working with restaurants and financial analysis. Daniel owned and operated a chain of restaurants for twenty-three years. This experience enabled him to create the “Restaurant Initiative” for the SBDC, a statewide program that counsels New Hampshire restaurants. The program won Business Assistance Outstanding Project of the Year from the National Association of Management and Technical Assistance Centers in 2002. Daniel received his BS in accounting from Queens College in 1976, and his MBA from Plymouth State University in 2005.

Anthony DiCroce ’71, Managing Partner and CEO, DICOMM Ventures

Anthony DiCroce is managing partner and chief operating officer of DICOMM Ventures, a private equity partnership he co-founded with Charles DiCroce. The partnership has owned or invested in various wireless, software, and technology companies throughout its history. In the 1980’s, the principals founded Omni Communications, which grew into a large regional radio-paging company that became an industry leader. The company was sold to Southwestern Bell in 1989. DICOMM Ventures was also an early investor in the cellular telephone industry, owning partnership interests and operating companies in markets throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York State.

DICOMM is also a majority investor in VacTech Systems, which is the sole worldwide licensee for VAPIS, a vacuum-pressure impregnation technique that uses a specialized engineering process to inject fluids into solid material.

DiCroce holds a BA from UNH in English. He lives in Manchester, MA with his family.

Erik Dodier ’92, Cofounder, PixelMEDIA

Erik Dodier co-founded PixelMEDIA in 1994. Since that time, PixelMEDIA has evolved from a two-person multimedia company operated from Dodier’s apartment, to a full-service integrated Web strategy and application development company now employing more than fifty people. As president and chief executive officer, he is responsible for the day-to-day finances and administration of the company. Dodier’s primary focus is on managing the business development groups and performing all outside sales functions to PixelMEDIA's perspective clients. Dodier provides senior level strategy and consultation services to the company's vast client base, while targeting his expertise to meet their specific business objectives. Prior to founding PixelMEDIA, he worked at Cabletron Systems for four years in business development. Dodier holds a BS in business administration from the University of New Hampshire.

Cris Goodman ’91, Executive Vice President, Facility Supplies, Corporate Express US, Inc., New England Division

Cris Goodman is a graduate of the Whittemore School of Business and Economics where he earned a BS in business administration. Goodman began his career with Portsmouth Paper, a family-owned and operated business that was sold to Corporate Express in 2007. He is now executive vice president of Facility Supplies for Corporate Express New England Region. Goodman and his family live in Greenland, NH.

Todd Govoni ’92, President/Owner Breaking New Grounds

Todd Govoni is a graduate of the Whittemore School of Business and Economics where he earned a BS in business administration. Govoni began his career with Profound, Inc. in software sales in 1992. In 1997, Govoni opened Breaking New Grounds, a coffee roaster & espresso bar, which he still owns and operates. He and his family live in Dover, N.H.

Steve Hackley, Senior Vice President, Northern New England Region, Comcast

Steve Hackley serves as the senior vice president of Comcast’s northern New England region. In this role, he is the top executive responsible for operations, network development, and customer service for more than 700,000 Comcast customers in 350 communities in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and northern Massachusetts.

Hackley has more than 18 years of experience in management, sales, technology and customer care with Comcast and its predecessor companies, including AT&T Broadband and MediaOne, as well as Fidelity Investments and Allmerica Financial. Prior to joining Comcast in 2002 as vice president for the New England North area, Hackley served as vice president of Customer Care Operations for AT&T Broadband’s Atlanta region.

Hackley earned a BS in economics from the University of Rochester and an MBA from the Boston College School of Management.

Christine Hennessey Henderson ’94

Christine Henderson holds a BS in economics from the Whittemore School of Business and Economics. She was the 1993 recipient of the Holloway Business Plan Competition award. In 1989, while attending the University of New Hampshire, Henderson opened her first business, a coffee house and ice cream store known as “the Licker Store”. In 1994, she opened a second retail business, “the Red Onion”. Both businesses were located in Durham. Henderson currently resides in Madbury with her family. For the past several years, she has worked as an independent business consultant for various business start-ups. She serves on the board of directors of the Mill Pond Center for the Arts. Currently, she is working on a mixed-use development plan in the downtown Durham central business district.

Shawn Joyce, ’98G

Shawn Joyce joined Chuck’s Restaurants in the early 1980s as a cook and waiter and helped to transform the concept into Tio Juan’s Mexican Restaurant and Watering Hole, which later became Margarita’s Restaurant. In 2001, after several years as CFO, Joyce became president and CEO of the company overseeing continued growth including expansion into Massachusetts. In January 2008, Joyce turned over the reigns to Bob Hoffmeister, a veteran restaurateur from Applebee’s and 99 Restaurants. He remains on the board.

Jay McSharry ’90, Proprietor, Dunaway Restaurant, Jumpin’ Jays, Dos Amigos Burritos

Jay McSharry has worked in restaurants since the age of 14 when he first bused tables and washed dishes to earn extra cash. As a college student at the University of New Hampshire, he worked at the Oyster River Fish Market and then as manager at Benjamin’s in Durham.Graduating from UNH with a BA in communication, he identified Portsmouth as a perfect opportunity for growth as a restaurant destination, choosing to open his first establishment in 2000, Jumpin’ Jay’s Fish Café. Radici, an Italian bistro, followed, leading a succession of restaurant openings that included Dos Amigos Burritos, the Red Door Martini Bar, Little Louie’s Fish House, Dover Soul and another Dos Amigos in Dover in 2005. McSharry is a board member of Share Our Strength Seacoast, a local hunger relief organization that raises funds to fight poverty in his community and around the world. He calls Portsmouth, NH home.

Leslie H. Nicoll, Principal and Owner of Maine Desk, LLC

Leslie Nicoll, PhD, MBA, RN, BC has more than 30 years experience in nursing and healthcare and has worked in clinical practice, research, and academia. Prior to founding Maine Desk, she worked as a senior research associate at the Muskie School of Public Service, and as an associate research professor, College of Nursing and Health Professions, University of Southern Maine. She has been the editor-in-chief of CIN, (Computers, Informatics, and Nursing) since 1995 and The Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing since 2001. Nicoll is the author of more than 70 published professional articles, book chapters, and books, including The Nurse’s Guide to the Internet. She was the founding editor of Perspectives on Nursing Theory, the fourth edition of which has recently been published. Most recently, in 2007, she was a co-author of Contemporary Medical Surgical Nursing. Nicoll is also a popular speaker at conferences and conventions and has spoken to regional, national, and international audiences.

W. Francis Peters ’99, Consultant, Meketa Investment Group

W. Francis Peters is in his fourth year at Meketa Investment Group. He holds a BS in business administration from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Peters serves as the lead consultant on various defined benefit, health & welfare, and insurance funds. His consulting work includes investment policy design and asset allocation modeling, in addition to analysis of manager and fund performance. Peters is a member of the firm’s Real Estate Investment Committee. Prior to joining Meketa Investment Group, Peters was a client account manager at ING Financial Advisers, where he worked with public employees of the state of Massachusetts for four years. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, and is a member of Chartered Financial Analyst Institute and the Boston Security Analysts Society.

Bruce Sommer, Managing Director, Bluestem Ventures

Along with a group of dedicated business leaders and active investors in Springfield, Illinois, Bruce Sommer founded Bluestem Ventures, where he currently serves as managing director. Sommer grew up and has worked in Springfield’s business community most of his life and continues to serve on the boards of start-up and mature businesses in the area. He received his BS in public accounting from Illinois Wesleyan University and his MBA from the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire.

In addition to his position with Bluestem Ventures, Sommer is an adjunct faculty member at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics. He has lectured in both the graduate and undergraduate programs in a variety of subjects, including private equity/venture capital, entrepreneurship, management information systems, and quantitative business analysis. Sommer’s research, instruction and outreach within the entrepreneurial business community have helped the program and university earn its current ranking among the country’s “Top Ten Entrepreneurial Campuses” by The Princeton Review and Forbes magazine.

Sommer has founded three companies and is currently managing director of EMME Consulting, LLC, which specializes in providing new venture analyses for private equity investors and works with emerging entrepreneurs seeking start-up financing. Additionally, he is founder of the Hill-Hanover Group, LLC, a private investment firm, and founder and managing director of a private investment fund that promotes social change through responsible investing.