Board of Directors
sean Mcintyre, President
Sean McIntyre joined our board in October of 2021 and took on the President role in February of 2023. Sean is Vice President, Regional Relationship Manager for Bar Harbor Bank & Trust. In this role he is responsible for developing relationships with business owners and real estate investors in the Upper Valley and matching them with the best solutions to meet their financial needs. Sean lives in West Fairlee, VT, where he serves as Town Moderator and is on the town’s Planning Commission. He is also on the Board of Junction Arts & Media.
Stephanie Carolan, treasurer
Stephanie Carolan is a CPA Senior Accountant at A.M. Peisch, in West Lebanon, NH. She specializes in non-profit accounting and auditing. Stephanie enjoys spending her free time with her family, hiking, biking, and paddle boarding.
brian clancy, secretary
Brian Clancy joined our board in September of 2021 and became Secretary January 2022. He is the office administrator at First Congregational Church of Lebanon, which annually supports Upper Valley Habitat’s work and affordable housing more generally. A proud native of Philadelphia, Brian has a Ph.D. in art and architectural history and deeply values the balance between historic preservation and the context of current needs. He is also an active tenor and sings with a number of choral groups. Brian lives in Lebanon with his two daughters.
JEFF ACKER
Jeff Acker joined the board in 2024. He is the Founder and President of two well-known Upper Valley home improvement businesses - HP Roofing and RestorEAZE. Jeff and his wife Lara live in Hanover, NH. They are the proud parents of five adult children. In addition to professional and family responsibilities, Jeff's passion is coaching soccer, and he has served as the Girls Soccer Coach at Hartford (VT) High School since 2006.
Jim Barry
Jim joined the board in spring of 2024. He is a retired building contractor living in Etna, NH. He founded and ran Brown/Barry Carpentry from 1995 until 2022. Hobbies include any type of outdoor recreation, trail building and traveling with his wife Tamara. Jim coached high school basketball in the upper valley for twenty years. He has two grown children and two toddler grandchildren Jim tries to get to one build day a week.
katie Colleran
Katie Colleran has a long history of serving in volunteer roles within her communities. She has spent a great deal of time on Habitat Builds as well as serving as an Associate Board member and project leader for Boston Cares, a project leader for Activate Good in Raleigh, NC and a project leader for Hands On Portland (OR). She currently works at Dartmouth College. In her spare time, she loves to get outside and travel.
kevin davis
Kevin Davis joined our board in October of 2023. He is the Vice President of Sales at Norwich Technologies Inc., a leading renewable energy development and construction firm. In his professional role he works with business owners, municipalities, and a variety of non-profit organizations to develop and finance large-scale solar projects. Kevin is a proud veteran of the United States Marine Corps, and he earned his BS in Business Management from Western Governors University after his tour of duty. He lives in Grantham, NH with his wife Amy. They have two adult children, Kayla and Cody, who are working their way through grad school and law school, respectively.
Ellen Hender
Ellen Hender joined the Upper Valley Habitat for Humanity board in June 2022. Ellen is a Program Manager at Vital Communities working on housing and transportation in the Upper Valley. She is a Licensed Master Social Worker with nearly ten years of experience working with individuals, children, and families experiencing homelessness, most of those at Upper Valley Haven.
She lives in White River Junction with her spouse, two children, and two cats.
RICK HIGGERSON
Rick graduated from The University of Vermont (BA), Vermont College of Norwich University (MFA), The Cordon Bleu Cooking School, and The National Outdoor Leadership School, and is an alumnus of Camp Lanakila on Lake Morey. His professional experiences range from publishing journalism, poetry, and feature writing to trading foreign currency in Hong Kong. In the 1990’s, Rick helped to build the gourmet food retailing brand Dean and Deluca. For the last 29 years, Rick and his wife Phyllis have made the Upper Valley their home where, as a licensed real estate broker, he has successfully worked on over 500 closed transactions and $340 million in Vermont and New Hampshire property sales. When not directing the success of Higgerson Team Real Estate, Rick enjoys being with his family, alpine skiing, playing and listening to music, making art, riding Onewheels, and hiking the Boston Lot.
Doug Staiger
Doug Staiger has lived in Hanover since 1998 with his wife, Beth, and four (now adult) children. He loves watching his new grandson and XC skiing in his spare time. He is a professor of economics at Dartmouth, a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and co-founder of ArborMetrix, a healthcare analytics company. His research focuses on education and healthcare. Doug joined the board in January 2022.
Tuck Board Fellows
COLE STEIGER
Cole Steiger joined the Upper Valley Habitat for Humanity board in September 2024.
Cole is a second year student at the Tuck School of Business. Prior to Tuck, he spent several years as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company in Boston. This summer he worked in impact investing at the New Orleans BioFund.
Cole is a lifelong New Englander, having grown up in Brookline, Mass. and gotten his BA in English Literature from Amherst College.