NHDES Recognizes 2023 Employee of the Year

NHDES presented its internal annual awards in December. The 2023 Employee of the Year Award went to Coastal Habitat Coordinator Kevin Lucey and the David S. Chase Award for Extraordinary Achievements in Science Award went to Mike Unger. 

The Employee of the Year Award highlights the outstanding work performed by NHDES staff throughout the year. This year we have seen numerous examples of staff members going the extra mile in performing their jobs. The criteria for the Employee of the Year Award are: significant impact or innovation within NHDES or the State; initiative and leadership; improved efficiency; and improved interagency cooperation.  

Kevin Lucey, New Hampshire's subject matter expert for tidal culverts, dam removals and salt marsh restoration, was named the agency’s employee of the year. During this past year, Kevin has produced at the highest technical and administrative efficiency, taking on complex and controversial projects like dam removals; leading new efforts such as the salt marsh assessment, monitoring and restoration project; and writing several successful competitive grant proposals. His key accomplishments include: 

• Ghost writing for a successful City of Dover fish passage application. 
• Developing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration CZM Capacity funding workplan. 
• Coordinating a successful $3 million grant proposal with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation to upgrade three tidal crossings. 
• Coordinating the use of ARPA funds to complete the assessment of all of the coastal watershed's freshwater culverts. 
• Leading efforts to prioritize and restore Hampton's salt marshes. 

Specifically, Kevin coordinated a successful application for $2 million in grant funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation that will support implementation of three high-priority salt marsh projects to restore tidal wetlands, primarily through salt marsh ditch remediation and runnels, as well as other interventions to enhance plant communities and habitat for saltmarsh sparrow and other at-risk species. 

Kevin’s level of coordination, collaboration, communication and success are unmatched, and his efforts are making an impression on a national scale. At a national conference in Washington, D.C., in November, NOAA Administrator Dr. Rick Spinrad, used his “recent amazing meeting in Rye, NH” as a national example of how resilience projects can bring together all members of the public sector to work together to adapt to climate change. He described this meeting, attended by NHDES, NHDOT, local elected officials, state representatives, nongovernmental organizations, and the project’s engineers and municipal employees, as a prime example of the interest and ability of public entities to work together, all in the same direction, to work toward climate resilience and environmental improvement. 

2023 David S. Chase Memorial Award  

This prestigious award is presented to a deserving NHDES scientist who possesses the special skills and dedication necessary to continue the pursuit of scientific discovery at the agency. This award is named in honor of the late Dr. David S. Chase, who served as the Radon Program Manager at NHDES and the Department of Health and Human Services for 16 years.  His devotion to his work made a significant impact on our understanding of radon, and how the public can mitigate the risks associated with this compound. After Dr. Chase’s passing, this award was established to recognize other NHDES employees who have made important accomplishments in the field of science.  

Mike Unger is being recognized for the outstanding engineering and scientific contributions he has made as the lead to extend water from Manchester to the Massachusetts border to solve water quality and quantity issues as part of phase I of the Southern New Hampshire Regional Water Supply project. This work has required complex scientific planning and engineering studies that assess and address water quality compatibility among the different water systems and aligning the hydraulics of the multiple water systems. 

Once phase 1 of the project was constructed, Mike organized and coordinated the regional water suppliers from Manchester to Salem to Plaistow to establish a regional monitoring program to ensure disinfection residuals were maintained in the vastly expanded system at the same time ensuring disinfection by-products remained at unharmful levels. Mike has continued his work in southern New Hampshire by developing preliminary engineering concepts and initial cost estimates that have seeded the funding and development of significant improvements in the regional management of water resources in southern New Hampshire. 

Mike has also led an overarching study that focuses on current and future water supply and demand for southern New Hampshire and is the backbone for southern New Hampshire water supply that fuses numerous technical documents from over ten water systems and communities together to develop regional solutions for contaminated private wells and small community water systems. 

New Hampshire has significantly benefited from Mike’s scientific and engineering expertise during these transcending times for drinking water in New Hampshire. In addition to these accomplishments, Mike has exemplarily completed his routine engineering reviews and inspections in the Drinking Water and Groundwater Bureau, as well as to commit his time to important climate change and environmental justice initiatives for the bureau and the agency as a whole. 

Longevity awards 

During the awards, staff who reached milestone years of service with NHDES and the State of New Hampshire. We have 35 employees who reached an anniversary this past year. They are the following (*all at NHDES): 

50 Years 

*Rene Pelletier 

45 Years 

Susan Carlson 

40 Years 

*Nancy Baillargeon 

35 YEARS 

*Craig Wright  

Andrew Stout  

*Holly Green  

*Judy Small  

*Melanie Wheelock  

30 YEARS 

*Wayne Ives 

*Bill Hall 

Deborah Loiselle  

25 YEARS 

*Craig Thoroughgood 

*Robert Stockman  

*Timothy Prospert  

*Teresa Ptak  

*Debra McDonnell  

*Thomas Livingston  

*Linda Magoon  

*Daniel Mattaini  

*Rebecca Ohler  

20 YEARS 

*Tim Wilson  

*Alan Kjellander  

*Gary Grant 

*Joshua Whipple 

15 YEARS 

*Thomas Guertin 

*Emily Nichols  

*Sharon McMillin  

*James Tilley  

10 YEARS 

*Kathleen Bourret 

*Claude Planchet 

*Jeremy Slayton 

*Gardner Warr  

*Kelsey Vaughn  

*Melanie Cofrin  

*Kala Day