Announcements: January 2010 Archives

Date:        01/13/10 (Wednesday)

Time:       5:30pm   Buffet Dinner ($14)
                6:30pm   Meeting

Place:      Shanghai Restaurant
                331 South Main Street
                Laconia, NH
                (603) 524-4100
                (see map below)

Agenda:

John Stephen

Former NH DHHS Secretary

John Stephen is a Partner at Lucas Group Partners and works in the firm's Government practice. In addition to experience consulting with state agencies, John provides the benefit of heading a state agency through a period of major change.

Prior to joining the Lucas Group, John served from 2003 to 2007 as Commissioner of New Hampshire's largest Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and was in charge of a $1.8 billion dollar annual budget. During his tenure, John led the Department through a period of major innovation, including improving Medicaid operations and engaging families on assistance in work activities. He developed and implemented GraniteCare, a nationally recognized Medicaid reform program that focused Medicaid on prevention, wellness and rebalancing long term care. John initiated disease management and care coordination programs that transitioned New Hampshire Medicaid away from treating the sick to keeping people healthy. Through John's efforts, Medicaid long term care home and community placements increased 23%, replacing more expensive nursing home placements, which dropped 11%. Moreover, during each of the four years John was Commissioner, New Hampshire ranked first nationally in the Kids Count survey. During that same period, the enrollment of low income, uninsured children into the State's Medicaid and SCHIP program increased by 7500. John led efforts to transform welfare in New Hampshire, reducing the rolls by 20% and dramatically increasing work participation rates by bringing accountability to TANF.

In the area of job placement, job training and workforce development, John led efforts to transform the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program to one that has received national recognition for a 72% improvement in engagement of TANF recipients in job participation and placement. John brought a number of efficiencies to the TANF program and re-engineered the Department's efforts at the district offices and one-stop work centers to successfully focus on helping individuals find sustainable employment. John also led efforts to change the culture of TANF to make participation in work program orientation a condition of eligibility, help individuals return to the workforce promptly, and establish innovative job training programs and other employer-based incentives so as to increase employment opportunities. 

John also increased cooperation and collaboration between HHS and other state and federal agencies. Prior to heading the $1.8 billion annual budget at HHS, John served as Assistant Commissioner of Safety, where he served as the state's first Homeland Security Coordinator. John organized New Hampshire to be the first in the US to conduct a statewide Avian Flu pandemic planning exercise, testing all aspects of its emergency management response.

John was a prosecutor for 10 years, taking him from the county level to an Assistant Attorney General. In the process, he prosecuted crimes from misdemeanors up through homicide cases. A respected author, he has written or co-authored eight books on various legal matters.

John holds a JD from the Detroit College of Law and Michigan State University (1987) and a B.S. in Administration from the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire (1984).

Also joining us is Jim Forsythe:

Jim Forsythe

A business entrepreneur focused on fixing our economy.

Jim’s entrepreneurial career began in 2003 when he became part owner of a small, successful aerospace company, Cobalt Solutions, LLC.  As Director of Research, Jim brokered deals with clients at home and overseas, and performed cutting edge research for numerous agencies and companies.  The company’s software product, which uses computational fluid dynamics to compute airflow over aircraft, is heavily used in the defense industry.  As an entrepreneur, Jim’s experiences with government regulation, the tax code, and big bureaucracy have reinforced his belief in the urgent need to reform and downsize government.

Jim Forsythe’s diverse experiences in military, business, and academics have instilled in him a deep love of this country, a fierce passion to defend and renew the principles for which it stands, and the leadership and knowledge to get it done.  After leaving the active duty Air Force in 2003, he and his wife, Sue, chose to live and raise their children here in New Hampshire, not only to be near family, but also to embrace the independent spirit of the most free state in the country.

The foundation for Jim’s love of country and freedom were laid at Virginia’s Episcopal High School, from which he graduated in 1986.  While at Episcopal, Jim learned to speak Russian and traveled to the Soviet Union twice, where his firsthand experience of the oppression of the people by their government instilled a deep conviction in the value of freedom that the United States has treasured since our revolution.

In keeping with his deeply held patriotism, Jim next decided to serve in the military while attending college.  He attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY on an Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corp (AFROTC) scholarship, earning his B.S. in Applied and Engineering Physics and a Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering within four and a half years.  Jim served as the detachment commander his senior year and was accepted to the highly selective Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program.

Jim and Sue were first assigned to Wichita Falls, TX, where Jim attended pilot training, and Sue became a civil engineer.  Jim was surrounded by classmates and instructors from Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Canada, and the United States.  After graduation, he received an assignment to fly KC-135s and wound up refueling his European classmates serving in support of operations in Bosnia.

In between combat support sorties, Jim began work on a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Wichita State University.  The U.S. Air Force Academy offered him a professorship, which he began in 1998.  He completed his Ph.D. in 2000 while teaching full time and flying for a flight test engineering course and a low level navigation course while at the Academy.  Based on superb teaching and research skills, he advanced to an Associate Professor position in record time. He also earned the Air Force Award in Science and Engineering, and the Frank J. Seiler award for research for his ground-breaking computational fluid dynamics research predicting aircraft stability and performance.

In 2003, after twelve years of active duty service, Jim accepted an Air Force Reserve research position with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and was also appointed as an adjunct professor at Arizona State University.

With his wife and kids, Kate and Connor, Jim currently lives in Strafford, NH, where he chairs the Strafford town GOP, the Strafford Taxpayer’s Coalition and was the Cub Master of the town’s Cub Scout pack.  The Forsythes have also been active in the school choice community:  Sue assisted in the formation of a private scholarship foundation in Colorado, while Jim co-founded a school choice advocacy group in New Hampshire.  Jim currently serves as the Chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus in NH, and the NH Republican Liberty PAC, supporting pro-liberty candidates for the NH House.

In addition to Mr. Stephen and Mr. Forsythe, a "closed to the public" portion of the meeting will be concerned with activities in 2010.  Please mark off this coming Wednesday to attend!

The Laconia City Republicans are holding their first organizational meeting for the 2010 elections. The group will assemble on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 6:30pm; at the Laconia Library. Candidates are needed for various positions. A large range of expertise is essential, so all residents are invited to become involved.