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.
RICK HIGGERSON, Vice President
Rick holds degrees from the University of Vermont and Vermont College, and trained at the Cordon Bleu Cooking School. His early career included work in journalism, poetry, and currency trading in Hong Kong. For more than 30 years, he’s been a trusted and widely respected real estate broker in the Upper Valley, known for his deep market knowledge and steady, thoughtful approach. Outside of work, he enjoys skiing with his family, making art, playing guitar, and hiking with his dog, Ivo.
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.
Jim Barry
Jim joined the board in spring of 2024. Jim 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.
Scott Young
As Mascoma Bank’s Chief Retail Banking Officer, Scott Young oversees the Retail Branch Network, Treasury Business Banking, Customer Contact Center, and Deposit Operations. Throughout his career he has participated in supporting non-profits that help people reach their goals of housing, workforce, and achieving economic growth. Scott has been a New Hampshire resident for 30+ years where he enjoys spending time with his wife cooking, hiking/snowshoeing and finding new road trips. He also has three adult kids that like to sign him up for half-marathons which he does every chance he gets. Scott joined the UVHfH board in 2025.
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.
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.
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
Derek Colaizzo
Derek is an MD–MBA candidate at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and Tuck School of Business (Class of 2026), originally from Cranbury, New Jersey. A Princeton graduate in the history of science, Derek is pursuing a career in anesthesiology with interests in medical education, perioperative systems, and innovation. Outside of academics, he is a lifelong musician—primarily a jazz saxophonist but also a guitarist and bassist—and enjoys cooking, exploring local food and wine, snowboarding in the winter, and finding new swimming holes in the summer.
Derek is excited to contribute to Upper Valley Habitat for Humanity as part of his commitment to service and community leadership. He was drawn to Habitat because of its mission to address housing as a fundamental determinant of health, stability, and opportunity. For him, volunteering represents a way to translate the values he holds in medicine—empathy, teamwork, and problem-solving—into the community, ensuring families have the security of a safe home and the foundation to thrive.