NH Tech Alliance Announces New Board Members

Press release from NHTA:

Aug. 2, 2022

The New Hampshire Tech Alliance (Alliance) has announced the appointment of four new members to its Board of Directors. Katie Destramp, Shannon Herrmann, Rajesh Nair and Dr. Barbara Jobst were elected by the membership after a voting process that followed the member meeting in May. The Alliance board also appointed Marlana Trombley of Orbit Group and Heather Lavoie of Illume Advisors to the Board of Directors Executive Committee following a vote on June 21. Trombley will serve as Secretary and Lavoie will step into the Vice Chair role.

The Alliance’s board chair, Gary Sloper of Macronet Services shared his excitement to welcome these new board members who bring such a diverse set of Tech backgrounds and skills to the Alliance. Sloper noted that “the NH Tech Alliance membership represents more than 40,000 employees who can take advantage of Alliance programs regularly here in New Hampshire and they lean on strong individuals like those recently elected here. We have seen an influx of Alliance members employed remotely with some of the largest companies in the world and it’s our responsibility as an organization to continue to build a foundational board to support them and our existing base.”

“We’re confident that with the talent and vision of these individuals we can continue to strengthen and evolve New Hampshire’s high tech ecosystem.”

“In addition to directing the long term vision and strategy for the organization, Alliance board members also serve in leadership roles for the committees of volunteers that drive our programming” said Julie Demers, executive director of the Alliance. “The nominations process is exhaustive, and the committee works diligently to ensure that incoming board members not only fill skill gaps, but can also offer unique perspectives,” nothing that “this year we thought it was incredibly important to have a voice representing the growing number of technology leaders that work remotely for global tech companies, but call New Hampshire home.”

Katie Destramp is a Senior Manager, Cloud Engineering at Fastly, a San-Francisco based technology company that uses security and scale to create a faster, more powerful internet. Destramp is an engineering leader who got her start right here in New Hampshire. Before graduating from SNHU with a degree in Computer Science, Destramp used education and internship opportunities to get a head start on her career. Destramp is a technology enthusiast and spends her spare time involved in organizations that empower students in STEM, through organizations like AnitaB.org and Diversify Thinking.

Shannon Herrmann, a Senior Recruiting Manager, Alexander Technology Group, has dedicated a significant amount of time and energy to the NH Tech Community, specifically focusing on Women in Technology & STEM careers. Herrmann most recently co-founded Women in Sales NH; a sales focused networking group for local women in the sales profession. Additionally, her involvement in the NH Cloud User Group and NH Tech Alliance Tech Women | Tech Girls has significantly impacted and advanced her career in the field.

Dr. Barbara Jobst currently serves as Chair, Department of Neurology and Neurocritical Care at Dartmouth Health. Jobst is also co-director of the Dartmouth Health Epilepsy Center in Lebanon and the section chief for adult neurology and vice chair of the Neurology Department. She is also the Louis and Ruth Frank Endowed Professor of Neurosciences at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Jobst is a clinician-investigator who applies advanced technology to benefit patients and has trained many students, residents, fellows and junior faculty in using technology to advance medicine. Her work has included improving memory with deep brain stimulation as well as developing and implementing a cognitive-behavioral program for memory problems in epilepsy.

Rajesh Nair is the founder Encube Labs. Nair has been an engineer, designer, entrepreneur, and educator. His current mission with EnCube Labs is to use this experience to nurture future innovators and entrepreneurs from youth in remote and underserved communities by transforming them and, in turn, their communities. Rajesh served as a Professor of Practice in Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Asia School of Business, started by MIT-Sloan in Kuala Lumpur. He has founded numerous companies focusing on various fields such as thermal engineering, data center energy optimization, air flow sensing for environmental management & instruments as well as consumer products.

This press release was produced by NHTA. The views expressed here are the author's own.