The Public Affairs Manager job description is new but a similar position (County Relations Manager) was held by Dan Reidy until his retirement last fall. We believe by teaming up with UNH Communications and Public Affairs (CPA), Extension’s relationship with state and county government will be enhanced. For this reason, Lauren will be supervised by Tom Cronin, Director of Government Relations with UNH CPA. Lauren will be spending much of her time out in the state working with Extension staff and volunteers to increase awareness and engagement in the counties and to build relationships with county elected officials (many of whom also serve in the state legislature). When she is not out crisscrossing New Hampshire, Lauren's desk will be on campus at the New England Center in the G50 suite.
Over the past two years, Lauren has been a vital part of the UNH Alumni Relations team and has led the efforts around engaging UNH alumni across the country. In this role, Lauren transformed UNH’s approach to engagement by focusing on the impact of storytelling and empowering alumni with the skills they can offer to UNH. Lauren brought many innovative ideas to Alumni Relations including Write A Wildcat, Wildcat Connectors, Wildcat Communities and Wildcat Leadership Council. The Alumni Relations team will miss her but wish her well as she makes this transition that allows her to focus on two of her passions: promoting UNH and engaging with public officials and public policy.
Lauren is a UNH Class of 2013 alumnus and was one of the cofounders of the UNH Trash 2 Treasure Program (among other leadership activities) during her time as an undergrad. We are extremely excited for Lauren to join Extension and CPA as we continue to "Embrace New Hampshire” and strengthen our presence across the state. Please join us in congratulating Lauren on this new role! She can be reached at lauren.banker@unh.edu .
