University of New Hampshire President Elizabeth Chilton was among a group of UNH faculty and staff members named to the 2025 New Hampshire 200 list, released earlier this month by NH Business Review (NHBR).
Chilton is joined on the list by Nagaraj Bukkapatnam, Deborah Fournier, Liz Gray, Cyndee Gruden, Jenna Matheny, John Roth, Matt Simon and Fiona Wilson. The “list of leaders for the 2025 edition is a unique group of people who have made their mark on New Hampshire’s economy, business climate and the state as a whole,” according to NHBR.
Honorees will be recognized at the third New Hampshire 200 reception May 6, 2025, at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord.
“I am tremendously honored to share this recognition with so many incredible leaders from our UNH community,” says Chilton. “It’s a testament to the exceptional talent and character present throughout our faculty and staff, and it’s also a wonderful illustration of the impact our commitment to strengthening New Hampshire has on the state.”
Chilton became the 21st president of UNH on July 1, 2024, after serving as the chancellor of Washington State University’s Pullman campus. UNH celebrated Chilton’s official inauguration Nov. 15.
Bukkapatnam is the director of UNH’s Center for Business Analytics, housed in the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics. The center was established in 2021 and aims to “bring together the knowledge and expertise of professors, students and industry professionals in data analytics and business intelligence.”
Fournier is the director of health law and policy at UNH’s Institute for Health Policy and Practice, an applied research institute located within the College of Health and Human Services. She has served at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) and is a former Medicaid director for New Hampshire.
Gray is the director of the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center (NHSBDC), which is housed within UNH's Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics. The center works with 3,000 small businesses in approximately 200 New Hampshire communities each year, all of which benefit from the advising and educational programs offered by the NHSBDC.
Gruden was named interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at UNH in October. She had been serving as the dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, a role she began in January of 2021. Gruden is a UNH alum who completed undergraduate (’91) and graduate (’93) degrees in civil engineering.
Matheny is the director of technology transfer at UNHInnovation (UNHI), which protects, promotes, and manages UNH's innovations, supports start-up companies based on UNH’s intellectual property, and develops new opportunities for university and industry collaboration.
Roth is the director of UNH's John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center. The Olson Center is a shared infrastructure facility where companies can use equipment at an hourly rate, saving smaller businesses the cost of purchasing expensive machinery themselves. It is also a valuable resource for students, who are introduced to innovative manufacturing technologies in an environment that allows visualization of manufacturing concepts to complement the skills learned in traditional classroom settings.
Simon is the executive director of the UNH Biotechnology Innovation Center (BIC) at UNH Manchester. The BIC provides wet lab space outfitted with common equipment as well as support to meet the needs of companies in industries like biotechnology, medical technology, biopharmaceutical, regenerative manufacturing and more.
Wilson is the chief sustainability officer at UNH and the executive director of the university’s Sustainability Institute, the first university-wide sustainability initiative of its kind in the country that celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2023. Wilson has helped guide sustainability efforts that earned UNH STARS Platinum status, the highest available rating for sustainability from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story failed to include mention of Liz Gray and John Roth among the honorees on the New Hampshire 200 list. The story has been updated to include their recognition, as well.
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