NH’s TOP Women-Led Businesses & Nonprofits

For the past seven years, Business NH Magazine has shined a light on women leaders in NH to demonstrate the economic influence of this sector of the economy. The inaugural list had 50 companies with at least $1 million in revenue. This year the list includes 91 businesses. Together, these companies generated $5.5 billion in revenue in 2017 (an 8 percent increase from 2016) and employ more than 4,300 people in NH. Most of them are also growing: 71 percent increased revenue between 2015 and 2017. The majority of the companies, 61 percent, are family-owned businesses.

The dominant sectors on the list are construction and related services (15 percent), tourism and hospitality (10 percent), manufacturing (8 percent), finance/insurance (6 percent), car sales (5 percent), and real estate and related services (5 percent).

As for the women leading these companies, 74 percent have been in their current position for 10 or more years, 36 percent have been in their position for 20 or more years, and 24 percent have been in their position for less than 10 years. More than half-58 percent-are the founders of their companies, and 79 percent have controlling ownership. Seven percent of the companies on the list generate revenue of more than $100 million.

This year we have also included a list of the Top 25 Women-Led Nonprofits in the state as determined by their gross receipts reported on 990 forms on Guidestar. org. Of these nonprofits, 40 percent are in the health care field (including the largest health care system in the state), 28 percent provide educational services, 12 percent are retirement communities or provide services to the elderly, 8 percent support people with disabilities, with the remaining providing immigrant, financial or antipoverty services. About 16 percent generate gross receipts of more than $100 million. Together, the 25 nonprofits generated gross receipts of $2.5 billion and employ 20,964 workers.

We are also profiling six intriguing leaders from this year's lists-four business leaders and two nonprofit leaders-who are chosen for the fast growth of their organization, the influence they wield or the significant achievements of their companies.

"Intriguing" aptly describes all six of our featured leaders. Congratulations to all of the women-led businesses and nonprofits on the lists.

Business NH Magazine will be honoring the Top Women-Led Businesses and Nonprofits, as well as the Top FamilyOwned Businesses, Top Veteran-Owned Businesses, Top 100 Private Companies, and the 10 Companies to Watch at the Ultimate Biz NH Bash on Oct. 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord. To register, visit eventsnh.com.