For Immediate Release                                             Contact: Amy Bourgault

March 1, 2006                                                                         603-271-0709

Concord, NH…..The NH Community Technical Colleges Foundation Board of Directors recently elected Claudette Mahar as Chairperson of the Board and Nury Marquez as Vice-Chairperson.

Claudette Mahar serves as Vice-President of Hospital Services at St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua, New Hampshire.  She received the Citizen of the Year Award from the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce in 2005, is a past recipient of the Greater Nashua Charitable Foundation’s Humanitarian Award and was named as one of NH Edition’s “Powerful Women in NH.”  Her community service includes serving on the Board of Governors of the NH Forum on Higher Education, Chairperson of the Greater Nashua Dental Connection, Inc., serving on the Governor’s Advisory Panel for Cancer and Chronic Disease, and the NH Hospital Association. She lives in Amherst.

Nury Marquez serves as the Corporate Community Relations Manager at Public Service Company of New Hampshire.  Before joining Public Service, Márquez was Director of the Manchester School-to-Careers Partnership. She is immediate Past Chairperson of the New Hampshire Public Television Board of Governors and a Commissioner of the Manchester Police Department. Her community service honors include the General Federation of Women’s Clubs New Hampshire Junior Woman of Achievement Award, the Granite State Award for Exemplary Service to the State of New Hampshire, and Citizens Bank’s “Not Your Typical Citizen” for Outstanding Community Service Award.  She was named one of New Hampshire Leaders for the 21st Century by New Hampshire Business Magazine. She lives in Manchester.

The New Hampshire Community Technical Colleges Foundation was incorporated in 2000 as a non-profit 501-C-3 corporation.  The organization is overseen by the Board of Directors.   The primary purpose of the Foundation is to promote the mission of the New Hampshire Community Technical Colleges by providing  the highest standards of academic and technical scholarships throughout the system, making higher education more accessible to people living in New Hampshire.