Meet the Seacoast's 10 to Watch young professionals for 2021
From an outstanding field of Seacoast-area young professionals, a panel of judges from Stay Work Play New Hampshire has selected 2021's 10 to Watch winners.
The eighth annual 10 to Watch young professionals contest is presented by Seacoast Media Group with lead sponsors Bank of America and Eversource Energy.
The 10 to Watch contest each year honors young professionals who make positive contributions to social and economic development in the Seacoast. The contest provides great exposure for all who enter.
Each of the 10 winners will receive $250 to donate to their favorite local charity.
Megan Corsetti
Age: 31
Hometown: Portsmouth
Occupation: Infection prevention coordinator, Portsmouth Regional Hospital
Find Corsetti on LinkedIn.
Nomination narrative: Megan Corsetti plays an active role in preventing hospital-spread infection, decreasing risk factors for those involved in hospital care/management.
She also has participated in New Hampshire Special Olympics with local athletes and has participated in the Penguin Plunge. She has plans to ultimately run for city council to help the city that she loves.
She frequently contributes to clothing drives, food drives, toy drives, and donates to local fundraisers for families in need.
As a young professional, Megan has climbed the ranks from staff nurse at Portsmouth Regional Hospital, to nurse clinical lead at Appledore Family Medicine, to practice manager at Appledore Family Medicine, to infection prevention coordinator at Portsmouth Regional Hospital.
She is a healthcare hero, and has been integral to helping those in need, who had suffered from diseases and injuries, some life-threatening, including COVID-19.
Keirstan Field
Age: 26
Hometown: Portsmouth
Occupation: Project manager at Petersen Engineering Inc., Portsmouth
Find Field on LinkedIn.
Nomination narrative: Keirstan is involved in the Portsmouth Rotary and in several professional associations that support women and young professionals in engineering, including the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association and New England Women in Energy and Environment.
She has contributed to Petersen Engineering's systems and processes in countless ways – developing interviewing questions for potential employees, attending career fairs and recruiting and interviewing potential new hires; developing an onboarding process for new employees, developing a list of skills that electrical and mechanical designers need to master to be eligible for promotion, and researching training opportunities to help them do so.
After repeatedly taking on tasks on top of her heavy mechanical design production load, in November 2020 Keirstan was rewarded with a promotion – from mechanical designer to design manager, and another promotion, to project manager and team leader in April 2021. She now manages six direct reports.
Keirstan has a unique ability to articulate her professional goals and share the challenges she faces with upper management in a professional manner that sheds light on generational differences in the workforce and helps create a more inclusive and welcoming culture. She possesses strong emotional intelligence and an ability to relate well to employees at all stages in their careers, as well as external stakeholders.
Justin Jarvis
Age: 38
Occupation: Vice president and portfolio manager, UBS, Portsmouth
Hometown: Stratham
Find Jarvis on LinkedIn.
Nomination narrative: Justin is currently vice president of the board of directors of Gather (formerly known as Seacoast Food Pantry). He has been involved with Gather since 2017 and served as the treasurer for the past three years. Justin looks forward to becoming the president in the next two years.
Previously Justin has served meals with the Salvation Army and was the youngest Deacon on the Board of Rye Congregational Church.
Justin is a vice president and portfolio manager at UBS Financial Services in Portsmouth. He works with local families and businesses supporting their investment and financial planning needs. Justin was one of 7% from his training class to successfully graduate from Merrill Lynch’s rigorous adviser development program.
Justin also served in the Army Reserve for nine years where he was awarded multiple citations for performance.
Briana Marshall
Age: 38
Occupation: Brightspot Consultants, Founding Partner & Grant Writer, Portsmouth, NH
Hometown: Kittery, Maine
Find Marshall on LinkedIn.
Nomination narrative: In 2018, Briana Marshall started Brightspot Consultants with two other amazing women. Based out of Portsmouth, the business helps nonprofits with strategy and fundraising.
As the firm’s grant writer, Briana is currently working with Seacoast Family Promise, My Breast Cancer Support, On Belay, Arts In Reach, Triangle Club, and The Dance Hall. She is deeply committed to making grant support accessible to organizations with limited resources, and each year donates more than 60 pro-bono hours to nonprofits. Brightspot offers free monthly community calls for volunteers and professionals in the nonprofit sector.
Briana is a board member for Hospice Help Foundation (HHF). Based in Portsmouth, HHF provides financial support for hospice patients and their families who have dire financial need in order to increase their quality of life. Prior to joining the board, she served on HHF’s “Day of the Dead” (fundraiser) committee.
She is a member of the Seacoast Rotary Club, having served for eight years. She has served on the board for five years, the Club’s Turkey Trot Road Race Committee, the Grants Committee, and served as President for one year. That same year, she was given the Club’s Paul Harris Fellow Award.
She was on the founding committees (as a volunteer) for both the Veterans Martial Arts Training (V-MAT) Cornhole Tournament and the Rett’s Roost Superhero 5K — both fundraisers continue today.
James Mulhern
Age: 34
Hometown: Portsmouth
Occupation: Attorney, Mulhern & Scott, Portsmouth
Find Mulhern on LinkedIn.
Nomination narrative: James graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2020. During law school, he served as an executive editor of the Harvard Law Review and was the recipient of the Sears Prize, which is granted to the top two students (from a class of approximately 600) each year.
He won awards as an exceptional student in trusts and estates, taxation, corporate taxation, torts, evidence, and legal research and writing, and he received a grade of “honors” in every course in which he enrolled at Harvard. He was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics and was offered a Climenko Fellowship, a position that involves teaching the foundational course in lawyering skills to Harvard Law School students.
James began working at Mulhern & Scott during law school. He assists the firm in legal research and analysis, document drafting, client counseling, and financial modeling for sophisticated estate planning. James has a particular interest in trusts and estates, tax, and appellate litigation. He is licensed to practice law in New Hampshire.
Prior to law school, James worked in consulting in Boston and technology in New York City and Silicon Valley. James graduated from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University and holds a master's degree in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics.
James grew up in Portsmouth and enjoys playing golf and spending time with his dog, Hugo. He has written over 20 crossword puzzles for the New York Times.
Josie Pinto
Age: 25
Hometown: Dover
Occupation: Executive director, Reproductive Freedom Fund of New Hampshire, Dover
Find Pinto on LinkedIn.
Nomination narrative: Josie Pinto has been doing transformative work, providing free access to abortion for hundreds of individuals in New Hampshire.
Josie operates a small board of seven members and volunteers, giving out tens of thousands of dollars to patients in need since the abortion fund went active in February 2021.
She is a fierce advocate in the Seacoast, fighting for reproductive rights, voting rights, affordable housing and BIPOC & LGTBQIA+ rights. She has been directly involved in educating community members about what’s happening in their communities and has provided community members with clothing, materials, and adequate care.
She has a unique ability to find different ways to understand people and provide direct help to people through the power of organizing and having care and compassion. She is the founder and executive director of the Reproductive Freedom Fund of New Hampshire and was the political movement director for the New Hampshire Youth Movement.
Reproductive Freedom Fund of New Hampshire is the only abortion fund operating in New Hampshire. As political movement director, she led and created political initiatives for the organizing, helping significantly grow the social and political power and membership.
Josie is a student at the Dartmouth Institute of Health Policy & Clinical Practice, pursuing her master's degree in public health. She's also trained as a full-spectrum doula.
Meg Raiano
Age: 33
Hometown: York, Maine
Occupation: Managing director of reCreative + Co., York, Maine
Find Raiano on LinkedIn.
Nomination narrative: Since moving to York two years ago, Meg has done all she can to help the community, from joining York EcoHomes for a short time, to becoming a part of the Friends of York Dog Park where she designed and built a website to help gather donations to make the York Dog Park a reality.
Recently, Meg has begun working pro-bono with York's Climate Action Plan to help put together a program to present it to the public.
She built reCreative from the ground up almost seven years ago, and has worked with large, well known clients, like Harley-Davidson and Peloton, but also with the small clients that are near and dear to the company's heart. ReCreative works primarily with 501(c)(3) nonprofits that are helping to make the world and their communities better.
Shannon Rogers
Age: 40
Hometown: Durham
Occupation: Associate Extension Professor/State Specialist of Nature-Based Economic Development, University of New Hampshire, Durham
Find Rogers on LinkedIn.
Nomination narrative: Connecting nature, community and economy is
Shannon's personal and professional passion. As a faculty member working in Cooperative Extension, which is the outreach arm of the University of New Hampshire, Shannon has the privilege of serving communities across the state through training, economic analysis and decision making support related to sustainable economic development.
During the pandemic, the organization increased its support to communities throughout New Hampshire by offering more remote and hybrid trainings and educational programs. It also began to research the impacts of the pandemic on the state’s economy, with a particular focus on how residents and visitors were using and benefiting from nature. Additionally, Shannon teaches at the undergraduate level and mentors many interns who serve New Hampshire with applied research and trainings.
Outside of work, she is active in the Oyster River Community as a youth athletic coach for track and soccer. She also co-founded the Destination Imagination program at the Moharimet School in Madbury. Destination Imagination is a creative problem solving program for youth that helps foster team work through year-long STEAM challenges.
Additionally, she is a founding board member and executive committee member of the Granite Outdoor Alliance. Granite Outdoor is a new non-profit working to bring together public and private interests working in the outdoor economy space across New Hampshire.
Spike Trueworthy
Age: 38
Hometown: Portsmouth
Occupation: Managing director, investments, financial adviser, Wells Fargo, Portsmouth
Find Trueworthy on LinkedIn.
Nomination narrative: Spike seeks to make a positive contribution to the Seacoast community. What is near and dear to his heart is supporting the community through programs that directly allocate services and/or funds to children.
Spike is an active board member for the Children's Museum of New Hampshire in Dover. His contributions have helped to support the organization's financial well-being and he has supported many initiatives that bring excitement to children on the Seacoast. Spike sponsors Marina's Miles 5k on an annual basis. He recently started to engage with Make a Wish organization and has donated to Make a Wish on the Seacoast.
Spike and his family created Pat's Peeps, which is a group of people that come together to run/walk the Seacoast Cancer 5k. His family was affected by cancer and on an annual basis they raise money for the center and do an annual holiday fundraiser that aims to bring joy to families battling cancer.
Spike joined Wells Fargo Advisors as of May 2021 after spending 15 years with Ameriprise Financial Services. Spike began his career as a financial adviser in 2006 and became a private wealth adviser in 2016. Admired for his goal-based planning and relationship development skills, Spike is a trusted financial expert with superior client satisfaction history.
Spike attended Boston University where he received a B.S. in mechanical engineering and is considered to be a life-long learner. Spike’s areas of expertise include investment management, charitable giving, retirement planning, estate planning, and planning strategies in support of higher education. Spike personalizes the experience for each client to ensure that their investment strategy aligns with their goals, values, and passions.
Clifton West, Jr.
Age: 29
Hometown: Barrington
Occupation: Software developer, Lincoln Financial Group, Dover
Find West on LinkedIn.
Nomination narrative: Since becoming known in the area as co-founder and executive director of nonprofit Black Lives Matter Seacoast, Clifton has been a welcome catalyst for a culture change. He has encouraged citizens all across the region to adopt new ways of thinking in terms of racial inequities, unequal systems, and mutual aid for communities of color. Even as a new father to an infant son, Clifton is seen weekly at community events all over the Seacoast representing BLM - from music and food festivals, to marches against injustice, to events put on by local high schoolers. Not only is he committed to change, but he is also a cheerleader for all those in the area working for change.
Clifton is the exact type of person who needs to be recognized as a positive force for good in this community. The Seacoast needs him, and more people like him.
Clifton currently works as a software developer in Dover where he acts as tech lead on a correspondence team supporting new business requests, company initiatives, and contributing to the growth of team members personally and professionally. He architects, builds and manages various Java/Spring Boot/React/NodeJS applications.
His other full-time job is serving as executive director for Black Lives Matter Seacoast. Some of these accomplishments include providing rent relief and mutual aid to struggling Black families during COVID, gathering school supplies for Black children around the Seacoast, getting multiple Seacoast municipalities to agree to a list of demands for change (including cultural competency/anti-bias training, reviews of school curricula, investment in mental health, and more).
And for the second year in a row, his organization hosted a "Black Gala" event in Stratham, celebrating the achievements of Black people living in the Seacoast. Clifton and his organization were instrumental in some of the Seacoast action following George Floyd's murder, and have also created a youth chapter for youth of color across the Seacoast to have a gathering space.
Past winner profile: Crystal Paradis on making connections and friends across industries and regions
Past winner profile: Allison Potter on the importance of building name recognition
Past winner profile: Amanda Woods advises young professionals to get involved
Past winner profile: Jonathan Day on the networking value of community volunteering
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: 2021 Seacoast 10 to Watch young professionals: Meet the winners
