Nonprofit Incubator

Mentors

GoodWork mentors are current or former nonprofit executives who share their knowledge and experience, provide support, and assist participants as they network and build social capital. GoodWork Mentors are selected by the GoodWork leadership team and are matched with incubator participants based on participants’ areas of needed growth, field of work, and personality fit. Mentors aid in the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, organizational support, inclusion in networking events and shared information about professional development opportunities.

Genevieve Aichele

Executive Director NH Theatre Project

Genevieve Aichele

Executive Director | NH Theatre Project

Genevieve Aichele is the founder and former Executive Director of New Hampshire Theatre Project. She has been working in the nonprofit field for over 40 years and currently teaches Nonprofit Management at the UNH Theatre Department; she has also taught Community Leadership programs at UNH and Great Bay Community College. Genevieve is a consultant with The Woodland Group and has coached numerous private clients in public speaking and facilitation. Areas of expertise include: Strategic Storytelling & Public Speaking; Practical Fundraising for Nonprofits; Grantwriting Basics; Collaboration & Leveraging Strategic Partnerships; and Understanding the Structure & Legalities of Nonprofit Organizations (for new executive staff and board members). She is also able to address some of the specific funding challenges that arts-related nonprofits face compared to social service organizations.

Robin Comstock

Economic Development Manager City of Somersworth, NH

Robin Comstock

Economic Development Manager | City of Somersworth, NH

A three generation San Diegan, Robin Comstock holds a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from San Diego State University. After college graduation, Comstock was hired as an International Flight Attendant, domiciled in Boston. Eleven years later, Comstock left that position in search of ways to become involved and engaged in the seacoast community as a contributing activist. She hoped that involvement would lead her into leadership roles for important social, economic, and cultural activities that would have long term favorable impact upon the people and seacoast community that she now calls home.

Robin’s journey took her to the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce at a time when the city was in transition from moving from an old and tired seaport community that was focused on the navy, fishing, and the arts – into the city it is today. As a result Comstock’s career includes:

Executive Director, the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce
President and CEO, the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce
President and CEO, the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
Executive Director, the Seacoast Workforce Housing Coalition
Economic Development Manager, Somersworth New Hampshire

Renee Couture

Past Executive Director Fair Tide, Krempels Brain Injury Center

Renee Couture

Past Executive Director | Fair Tide, Krempels Brain Injury Center

Renee Couture is the Executive Director of Pope Memorial Humane Society, bringing decades of leadership experience in the nonprofit sector. She served as the Executive Director of the David Krempels Brain Injury Center for 15 years and Fair Tide for 4 years. Renée is experienced in working with nonprofit founders and founding boards, board development, strengthening business operations, and program development and evaluation. Her career reflects a deep commitment to fostering organizational growth and impactful community service.

Jill Eldredge

Executive Director Moose Mountain Regional Greenways

Jill Eldredge

Executive Director | Moose Mountain Regional Greenways

Jill Eldredge, Ed.M., comes to the position of Executive Director of Moose Mountains Regional Greenways with seven years of non-profit leadership experience and a background in non-traditional forms of education such as farm-based, agricultural and outdoor education experience. More recently, Jill has honed her skills as a grant writer and fundraiser, having secured more than $500,000 in grant and foundation gifts during her three year tenure as Director of Programs with Seacoast Eat Local. These efforts included the organization’s first Federal grant award as part of the Farmers’ Market Promotion Program and the creation of the Seacoast Area Mobile Market (SAMM) Program. Jill is excited about connecting with new and familiar faces in the MMRG service region; furthering the organization’s mission to conserve beloved local lands; both engaging and educating the local community in their love of the outdoors; and using her expertise in organizational development of small sized non-profits in support of the board and staff of MMRG. Jill lives on Mendum’s Pond in Barrington with her husband, John, and her rescue beagle and constant companion, Ruby.

Beth Falconer

Executive Director 3S Artspace

Beth Falconer

Executive Director | 3S Artspace

Beth Falconer bio coming soon.

Katie Grazier

Co-Founder/COO Portsmouth Music and Arts Center

Katie Grazier

Co-Founder/COO | Portsmouth Music and Arts Center

Katie Grazier co-founded PMAC – Portsmouth Music and Arts Center – alongside Russ Grazier and Wendell Purrington in 2002 after a varied background working in corporate and non-profit sectors. Katie currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer for PMAC and enjoys her ‘behind the scenes’ role in making sure that PMAC runs smoothly. Katie has been recipient of multiple awards for management and customer service excellence, including PPMtv’s Inspiration Award in 2016. Katie’s strengths are in practicing sustainable time management techniques (and yes – a prioritized task list is so important for any leader’s success!), developing and maintaining a healthy work culture, creating and maintaining policies for the workplace and facilitating excellent customer service experiences. Katie is eager to work with new founders to show them how to add these important elements to their new organization’s infrastructure.

Russ Grazier

Co-Founder/CEO Portsmouth Music and Art Center

Russ Grazier

Co-Founder/CEO | Portsmouth Music and Art Center

Russ Grazier is CEO and Co-Founder of Portsmouth Music and Arts Center (PMAC). He oversees a faculty and staff of 45 and works side-by-side with his Development Director to raise significant funds every year. He has participated or led the strategic planning process for several organizations and is well-versed in many areas of nonprofit fundraising including major gifts, annual appeals, social media and online giving, corporate sponsorships, capital campaigns, and grant writing.

Janice Hastings

Consultant Marketing, Fund Development

Janice Hastings

Consultant | Marketing, Fund Development

Janice Hastings currently works as an independent contractor with non-profits and as Marketing Director at New Hampshire Theatre Project. Her non-profit career (no pun intended) spans 30 years in New Hampshire and nationally with arts, education, disability, and afterschool organizations. Over the years, she has held positions as a direct service provider, program director, development director, executive director, and marketing director. She is able provide consultation/advice around organizational development, short and long term planning, mapping and reporting progress against benchmarks, basic fundraising and grant writing, board development, communicating with board and committees, and basic marketing strategies.

Mary Ellen Jackson

Principal Mary Ellen Jackson Consulting

Mary Ellen Jackson

Principal | Mary Ellen Jackson Consulting

Mary Ellen is an experienced nonprofit executive director and board member. She has served as CEO of three nonprofit organizations over a 30-year career. From 2015-2015 she directed the NH Center for Nonprofits, leading a significant revitalization of the organization into a nationally recognized center for nonprofit leadership and advocacy. Her expertise lies in fundraising, governance, grant strategy and nonprofit executive coaching and taking a nonprofit to scale. She has a passion for helping nonprofit leaders develop their boards and a culture of philanthropy across the organization.

Rochelle Jewell

Executive Director Yoga In Action

Rochelle Jewell

Executive Director | Yoga In Action

Rochelle Jewell is the founder and Executive Director of Yoga in Action. She is an International Association of Yoga Therapists certified yoga therapist and a Kripalu Certified Yoga teacher and personal trainer with 20 years of experience serving others through yoga. She is dedicated to sharing yoga with individuals of all abilities, including survivors of trauma and those who have been diagnosed with a variety of disabilities. Rochelle Jewell is also the author/co-creator of the ChildLight Yoga and Mindfulness for Children and Teens with Special Needs Training, the CLY Trauma Informed Yoga for Children Workshop and the founder of My OmAbilities Yoga. Rochelle was a 2016 Fellow with the NH LEND Program, which included 300 hours of graduate level, interdisciplinary, leadership training in developmental disabilities. Rochelle is dedicated to making yoga accessible to all and to supporting the growth of yoga service in our community and beyond.

Rachel Rouillard

State Director, NH The Nature Conservatory

Rachel Rouillard

State Director, NH | The Nature Conservatory

Rachel Rouillard id the NH State Director for The Nature Conservatory. She has been a Director for governmental, non-profit and academic organizations for 20 years, and previously served as the Director of the University of New Hampshire – Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership. With specific experience in structuring and launching complex initiatives, Rachel can help public-facing organizations of any size to build transparent, credible processes for decision-making and communicate those decisions to maximize partnerships and leverage additional funding for priority work/projects. If your organization has a public policy focus, and needs to interact with federal and/or state decision-makers to affect specific change, she can help you design a campaign to direct your efforts. Rachel’s approach to work is driven by the belief and practice that transparency, flexibility, and partnership yields the best results over the long-term.

Peggy Small-Porter

Development Coordinator Waypoint at The Richie McFarland Center

Peggy Small-Porter

Development Coordinator | Waypoint at The Richie McFarland Center

Peggy Small-Porter began her career working as a pediatric occupational therapist in a number of clinical settings and non-profit organizations in Maine. She returned to my home state of New Hampshire to work at Richie McFarland Children’s Center first as an OT, then moving into the position of program coordinator in 1987 and Executive Director in 1997. Peggy came up through the ranks and her expertise lies in building a healthy culture and collaborative work environment for staff and board in order to effectively deliver on their mission.

Martha Stone

Retired Executive Director Cross Roads House

Martha Stone

Retired Executive Director | Cross Roads House

Martha Stone is the former Executive Director of Cross Roads House where she was responsible for overseeing shelter operations, programming, marketing, fundraising, and financial management of the non-profit organization. Martha joined the staff of Cross Roads House, a 100+ bed homeless shelter, in 2004 as the Development Director and was promoted to Executive Director in 2013. In her role as the Development Director, she oversaw and executed a successful $5 million capital campaign to design and construct a new shelter facility. As the largest shelter in the Seacoast region, Cross Roads House provides emergency and transitional shelter and services for individual adults and families. She worked closely with her board of directors to provide services to this vulnerable population and also enjoys advocacy work for homeless and housing-related issues. Martha is pleased to have the opportunity to share her experience and knowledge with others to help them learn how to fund and achieve their mission.

Deanna Strand

Executive Director Dover Adult Learning Center of Strafford County

Deanna Strand

Executive Director | Dover Adult Learning Center of Strafford County

Deanna Strand is the executive director of a unique non-profit organization embedded in the Dover School district. This unique hybrid model provides a solid financial foundation, long term sustainability, and is an exemplar of private-public partnership. She supervises a professional staff of 40, 100 volunteers and a budget of over a million dollars. Deanna is seen as an innovator in adult education programming, and DALC is a professional development leader and first adopter of best practices in the adult education field. Having been involved in three strategic plans, a marketing strategic plan, and a major paradigm shift in adult education, she has broad experience in organizational development. Her strengths include meeting facilitation, strategic planning, partnership development, volunteer coordination, and leadership coaching.

Astrid Wielens

Office Manager Moose Mountains Regional Greenways

Astrid Wielens

Office Manager | Moose Mountains Regional Greenways

Astrid Wielens founded Zebra Crossings in 2009 after a 14-year career with the American Youth Foundation. She can relate to the journey of founding a nonprofit and has learned that it is not about knowing the answers, but about asking the right questions. As a community networker, she has found a variety of resources to help her find solutions to challenges and seek opportunities. She has facilitated a strategic planning process for three organizations. She has experience as a board and committee member, including board chair, for a variety of organizations.