NHPA 2016 Election Ballot

* 2. Sara Carbonneau
Sara Carbonneau is the Planning & Community Development Director in Swanzey and has worked for the town for over 18 years.  Sara holds a Master's degree in Resource Management and Administration from Antioch New England University.  She is an active member of NHPA's Legislative Policy Committee and currently serves as the NH Legislative Liaison for NHPA.  Sara has been a member of the Executive Committee for three years, serving two years as the secretary of the association.  She has also served on the conference organizing committees for NHPA and NNECAPA conferences.  Carbonneau feels strongly that NHPA has an important role in advocating and promoting planning in NH.

Mark Connors
Mark is a New Hampshire native who has worked on both the municipal and regional planning levels as well as in the research field. He worked under HUD Sustainable Community grants at both the University of Utah and the Nashua Regional Planning Commission. He currently serves as the Town of Bedford's Assistant Planning Director. Prior to becoming a planner, Mark worked in the journalism field and believes the newsletter editor position provides an ideal merger of his interests. Mark is an avid Halloween dresser-upper person and is currently attempting to renovate his very old house in Dover.

Donna Benton
Donna Benton is the Assistant City Planner for Dover, NH where she staffs the Planning Board and Community Trail Advisory Committee, is responsible for plan review, amending regulations, grant and other project management including the TAP funded Community Trail expansion, among other projects and tasks. She is on the Board of Directors for COAST regional bus and is a Station Representative for the Amtrak Downeaster under the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority. Before coming back to Dover, Donna worked for the Town of Merrimack for two years as the Assistant Planner. 

She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s of Science in Tourism Planning and Development with minors in Community and Environmental Planning, and Environmental Resource Economics from the University of New Hampshire. She was a founding member of the UNH Planning Student Organization at UNH. She then went on to get her Master’s in Public Administration also from UNH.

Donna has been on the NHPA Executive Committee as the Public Information Officer for over two years, and has enjoyed serving on numerous NHPA and NNECAPA conference and annual meeting organizing committees.

Sarah Marchant
Sarah Marchant, AICP joined the City of Nashua in June 2014 as the Director of Community Development. In this position, she is responsible for the budget and leadership of the Community Development Division which consists of five departments, including Building Safety, Code Enforcement, Planning and Zoning, Waterways, Transportation, Urban Programs, and various commissions, boards and programs.  Prior to Nashua she served in Amherst, and Milford, NH.

Sarah has served as President of the Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association (NNECAPA) representing NH, VT and ME since 2015, after serving as the NNECAPA Legislative Liaison for one year. She has served on the Executive Committee of the New Hampshire Planners Association (NHPA) since 2008 and serves on the Nashua Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. She holds a BA from the University of New Hampshire and an MA from the University of Connecticut.