Barbara Couch

Trustee

During Barbara’s 35-year career with Hypertherm, Inc. she was responsible, as VP of Human Resources, for developing the nationally award-winning associate development and wellbeing programs leading to recognition as one of the best places to work in the United States and in NH. Barbara was the company’s first VP of Corporate Social Responsibility and Founder and President of Hypertherm HOPE Foundation. Barbara served on Hypertherm’s Board of Directors and chaired its Corporate Culture and Social Responsibility Committee.

Barbara is active on many state and local boards. Recently, she served on the Board of Trustees with Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, the Board of Advisors for the Geisel School of Medicine and Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the NH Charitable Foundation. Barbara is past chair of the NH Charitable Foundation and of NH Public Radio.

Barbara’s community engagement has been recognized with accolades including Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce’s first Community Leadership Award (2009), Vital Communities’ Women Leadership Award (2013), Community College System of NH’s Walter J. Peterson Award (2014), Granite State College Leadership Award (2015), Volunteer NH’s NH Pillar Award (2015), Keene State College’s Outstanding Woman in NH Award (2017), NH Committee for the Arts’ Outstanding NH Leader in the Arts Award (2018), NH Workplace Learning Leadership Award (2018), named a Top 200 Leaders in NH by the NH Business Review Magazine and NH Business Industry Association (2019), and Headrest’s Community Leadership Award (2021). Additionally, Barbara and her husband, Richard, received the NH Business Industry Association Lifetime Achievement Award (2015) and the Lilla McLane Bradley Award from West Central Behavioral Health (2016).