Meet the Team

Christopher Way
Business Services Manager
Cell: 603-419-9164

Chris Way is the Business Services Manager for the Business Resource Center.  Formerly with the Department of Environmental Services, Chris managed several technical, grants, and market development programs in the solid waste and wastewater sectors; serving small businesses and creating public private partnerships. In keeping with his expertise in the areas of electronics asset recovery and construction debris, Chris also served as President of the Northeast Recycling Council, a thirteen state coalition dedicated to sustaining business programs utilizing recyclables as feedstocks for manufacturing processes. In his early years, Chris began his career as a marine biologist, worked in aquaculture ventures and laboratory management. Chris has earned his MBA from Plymouth State College and is also a member of the first graduating class for the NH Certified Management Program.

Business Resource Specialists

Ricia Velasco

Ricia Velasco, Business Resource Specialist with the State of New Hampshire's Business Resource Center, assists businesses and communities in the Greater Nashua and Greater Peterborough areas with economic development issues. Prior to joining the Business Resource Center in 1996, Ricia spent eight years at New Hampshire Employment Security doing statistical analytical work. At the University of New Hampshire, Ricia earned her Master and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics, with a specialty in Labor Studies. Ricia enjoys gardening, contra-dancing, and voluntary work on her church finance committee.

James Robb

After 12 years in California and Virginia working for Reynolds Metals Recycling, James moved to NH in 2000 taking the Recycling Market Development Specialist position as part of the now-defunct Governor's Recycling Program. In 2003, he became a regional resource specialist working with businesses in Cheshire and Sullivan Counties. James lives in Greenfield, NH with his wife Asta, a textile artist, and is an avid year-round tennis player, ice hockey player and volunteer at the Peterborough Players summer theater. James is currently learning Italian and to play the piano. James has a daughter in Virginia (pediatric intensive care nurse) and another daughter in New York City (music producer). In other incarnations, James has worked as an elementary school teacher, tennis instructor, business college administrator and care provider at a retirement community.

Deborah Avery

Deborah Avery is assigned to Belknap and Merrimack counties and also serves as BRC's in-house insurance specialist. She joined the Business Resource Center in 2000 after more than two decades in the insurance industry, first with Aetna Life and Casualty in corporate marketing sales and account administration for group insurance and pension plans, and then in sales with Healthsource and CIGNA. A board member of the Capital Region Development Council (CRDC) and New Hampshire Economic Development Association (NHEDA), she is a graduate of Mills College in Oakland, California.

 

Benoit Lamontagne

As North Country Regional Resource Specialist, Beno plans and implements development strategies which build economic opportunity for the North Country business community. He works hand in hand with companies on issues ranging from permitting and site selection to energy efficiency and diversification while also providing strategic counsel to local community and economic development officials.
Beno, a Town of Colebrook selectman and owner of Lazerworks Radio Shack, is a member of the Community Development Finance Authority Board of Directors as well as past president of the Coos Economic Development Corporation. In addition, he was a founding board member of the Colebrook Merchants Association’s Main Street Program and was formerly President of the Colebrook Economic Development Corporation.

Kristi Hartley