Our Power Pitcher He’s played for the St. Louis Cardinals since 2003, but was born in Exeter, and people here consider him one of their own. “There’s just not a nicer person than Chris Carpenter,” says auto dealer Jon Xiggoros, the general sales manager of Bonneville and Son in Manchester. Mr. X is a big fan of the Trinity High…
Inventor of It Dean Kamen, 55, could have practically trademarked the word “It” when that was the media’s code word for his revolutionary balancing scooter, the Segway, which was still under wraps and the subject of intense speculation. But by that time, his mind was already off to other inventions to benefit the world, like a machine that could bring…
Setting the Table for the Seacoast Five years and four restaurants after he opened Portsmouth’s Jumpin’ Jay’s Fish Café, Jay McSharry, 39, is a major player in the hot Seacoast food scene, with restaurants that run from Mexican mod to Asian Fusion, local farm-to-table fare to creative Italian. Throw in a few hopping martini and hip music bars with Dover…
It Couple It couple Sy Montgomery and Howard Mansfield are putting tiny Hancock, New Hampshire, on the map. Globe-trotting naturalist Sy has taken a break from her adventures to charm the world with the story of her pet, Christopher Hogwood, aka “The Good, Good Pig.” Her next book takes her back to the wilds, studying the Tree Kangaroos of the…
The Borealis Aurora Meet Jesse Devitte, someone who can fuel your flights of entrepreneurial fancy. “We provide the complementary skills that make it happen,” says Devitte, 50, who manages the Borealis venture capital fund out of Hanover and Concord. “Like recruiting people,” says Devitte, who helps entrepreneurs get past the chief cook-and-bottle-washer stage and get others working with and for…
Making History by the Book JerriAnne Boggis had been aware of African-American writer Harriet Wilson; the writer’s novel “Our Nig” has been on her “to read” list for a while. But when Boggis learned that Wilson lived and wrote in her own town of Milford, she was determined to spread the word: “Wilson is known as the first black woman…
Physician of Policy Frank McDougall, 56, knows the corridors of power. He has regular Washington sit-downs with the likes of Karl Rove and Jim Jeffords. Always straddling party lines, he has worked as Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s secretary of economic development and on Judd Gregg’s finance committee. And he knows the corridors of hospitals as well. As VP of government…
Bringing the War Back Home The idea came to her in the middle of the night. Why not give soldiers video cameras to take into battle in Iraq? That way, the soldiers could tell their story right from their humvees and tanks, and people back home could get a truer picture of war. Deborah Scranton, 44, a documentary film maker…
Woman with a Plan The fastest growing ethnic group in the state, and the country, is the Latin American population, which is actually composed of a dozen or so sub-groups, each with a strong sense of identity. But as newcomers to the Northeast, and, in many cases, to America, they are more vulnerable to economic tides. When one major employer…
Entrepreneur of Edge “If I stay with one thing I get bored very easily,” says Jon Thomas, 40, owner of Alternative Sun/Spider-Bite Piercing and Tattoo in Manchester. Well, that explains how what started as a tanning and piercing salon evolved to offer tattooing, a full-service hair salon and extensive retail offerings. Oh, you can also rent the Spider-Bite limo or…
