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New Futures

Staff

John F. Bunker, ScD, MHS
President

Dr. Bunker serves as President for New Futures and has over 25 years of experience in the alcohol, drug problem and addiction field. After serving as a VISTA and Peace Corps Volunteer, he worked in comprehensive community-based prevention and treatment agencies, academic institutions and managed care organizations. Dr. Bunker held faculty appointments at the University of Texas and George Mason University.

He has also provided healthcare consultation to a variety of clients, including the World Health Organization, AT&T, Bell Atlantic, Exxon and Levi Strauss. Immediately prior to joining New Futures, Dr. Bunker was Vice President of Health Risk Management for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Hampshire.

John lives in Stratham with his wife and two sons. He received his Masters of Health Science and Doctor of Science from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health. He served on the New England Institute on Addictions Studies Board of Directors, the New Hampshire Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Commission, and the New Hampshire Public Health Association Board of Directors.

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Noreen M. Cremin
Office Manager

Noreen joined the staff at New Futures in August 2001 as the Program Support Associate, providing valuable assistance to the Community Leadership Initiative and other programmatic functions for the organization. In her current role, Noreen provides computer technology assistance and support to New Futures’ programmatic functions.

Noreen’s educational and employment background is in Psychology and Education. Noreen attended UNH and worked with developmentally disabled adults. Prior to joining New Futures, Noreen spent over six years at Casey Family Services in Concord. When not working, Noreen can be found trying to keep up with her daughter. Noreen enjoys being back on the seacoast and the cultural and educational atmosphere it offers her and her daughter. If she won the lottery, Noreen would continue working for New Futures and maintain two houses-- one for work and one for play.

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Joe Diament
Director, Adolescent Treatment Initiative

Joe Diament joined New Futures staff in April, 2004 as Director of the Adolescent Treatment Initiative. His involvement with New Futures dates back to the organization’s birth at the NH Charitable Foundation and the original Advisory Board that guided its growth and development.

Most recently Joe was Chief Executive of New Hampshire’s juvenile justice agency. Prior to assuming this role he was C.E.O. of Odyssey House, Inc. of Hampton, New Hampshire. His previous stint in state service was as Director of the New Hampshire Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Executive Assistant to the Governor for Children and Youth.

Joe holds a Masters of Regional Planning and a B.S. in Community Development from Penn State University. He successfully completed his course work and passed the qualifying examinations for a doctoral degree at Brandeis University's Heller School for the Advanced Study of Social Policy. Joe recalls that his professional focus on substance abuse problems and youth development began in the late 60s when he founded a substance abuse crisis intervention program for students as an undergraduate at Penn State. Joe has spent all of his professional life working with and for troubled young people whom he sees as being “at promise.”

Among the lesser known trivia about Joe are the facts that he served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, his family immigrated to the US when he was eleven, and he’s fluent in four languages. Although neither golfs, Joe met his wife Patti on a golf course in 1970. They live in Newfields, New Hampshire and have two adult daughters Alli and Julia.

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Maria Gagnon, MSW, LICSW
Assistant Director of the Adolescent Treatment Initiative

Maria joined New Futures in June 2005 as the Assistant Director of the Adolescent Treatment Initiative. Prior to New Futures, Maria served as the Project Director for Reclaiming Futures in Concord, a $1 million dollar initiative of the New Hampshire District Court funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Reclaiming Futures seeks to connect courts and communities more effectively to meet the needs of teens caught in the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime. Prior to working at Reclaiming Futures, Maria served The Youth Council as a clinical social worker, specializing in treating adolescents struggling with trauma and substance abuse issues.

Maria lives in Brookline with her husband Carl, their daughter Nicole and their two dogs. In her free time she likes to be outdoors and enjoys kayaking, yoga and skiing. She likes to read good novels and hang out with friends and family. If she won the lottery, she would buy a small house in Kanab, Utah and volunteer her time at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary during the cold winter months. The rest of the year she would continue to work in New Hampshire to ensure teens in our state get the help they need, when they need it.

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Linda L. King, MS
Manager, Community Leadership Initiative

Linda is the Manager of New Futures Community Leadership Initiative. Prior to joining New Futures in October 1998, Linda spent a decade working with the (former) New Hampshire Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. While at the Bureau Linda represented New Hampshire on the National Prevention Network (NPN), an association of state prevention coordinators, and served on its Executive Committee.

Linda received her undergraduate degree from the University of New Hampshire and her Master's Degree in Community Psychology with a specialty in addictions from Springfield College School of Human Services. Linda has thirty years experience in the human service field in New Hampshire. She began her career as a probation officer for the Goffstown District Court, New Hampshire, where she developed one of the first juvenile diversion programs in the state. Linda currently serves on the board of the HUB Family Resource Center in Dover, a non-profit committed to supporting children and families in the Strafford County area.

Linda is a proud and loving aunt to Isabella in Moscow (yes, Russia!), Conor and Hunter in California, Alexander and Emma in Vermont, and Maximillian in Manchester, and, as such, considers herself ‘well traveled’. A fan of resiliency research, she adheres to the mantra of developmental psychologist and theorist, Uri Bronfenbrenner, who says, "Every child needs somebody absolutely crazy about him! "

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Tricia Lucas
Policy Director

Tricia Lucas comes to New Futures after fourteen years at the Department of Health and Human Services where she has served in a number of legal and administrative positions and developed expertise in program areas related to children's services, mental health and health care. In addition she managed the department's legislative work for four years and supervised the state budget process for the Division for Juvenile Justice Services for four years. She is a graduate of the College of Wooster and Harvard Law School and came to public service after a stint in private practice as a corporate attorney. She was the recipient of the 2004 Caroline Gross Fellowship to attend the Senior Executives in Public Service Program at the Kennedy School of Government. She was an original member of the Belknap County Juvenile Justice Initiative, which ultimately became the Belknap County Citizens' Council, and served for six years on the board of trustees of The Derryfield School in Manchester, the last three years as board chair. Currently she is a member of the New Hampshire Citizens Commission for the State Courts, the City of Manchester Youth Services Advisory Board and Leadership NH board of trustees.

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Aviva Grasso, MPH
State Strategy Project Coordinator

Aviva Grasso joined New Futures in March 2006 as the coordinator of the State Strategy for Reducing Underage Alcohol Problems. She comes to New Futures after several years of providing support to community coalitions funded by the NH Department of Health and Human Services’ Tobacco Prevention and Control Program. Aviva started her public health career as a maternal and child health extension agent with the United States Peace Corps in Cameroon.

Aviva earned her Masters in Public Health specializing in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Denise Francoeur
Administrative Assistant

Denise joined the New Futures team in February 2008 as the Administrative Assistant. She joined New Futures in an effort to assist in safeguarding children. Children’s issues are important to her because of some important children in her life-she has two step-grandchildren, Kyle and Caitlin; one grandson, Dominic; another grandchild due in September; a niece, Kristin; and a nephew, Jake.

Denise resides in Kingston with her husband, Gary, and her two cats. Cooking, eating out, travel, photography, fair-weather skiing and hiking are the activities she enjoys.

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