The New Hampshire High Tech Council (NHHTC) announced today that it is launching a new business education program, Tech Leaders, to provide leadership training to the top technical staff at the State’s leading technology companies. The Council will partner with the Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) School of Business in presenting the novel business program and regularly bring in educators from other institutions and companies to provide a well-rounded program.
Tech Leaders will provide basic training in essential business disciplines for engineers and technical personnel who are or will be taking on more management responsibility; being asked to collaborate more with their peers in other departments; or moving into management and general business positions within their companies.
“Through continuous discussion with NHHTC member companies, we’ve identified a gap in available training targeted at engineering and technical professionals who require additional development of core business skills related to finance, marketing, and sales to succeed in their growing job roles,” said Council Chair Tom Daly. “Tech Leaders is an opportunity for New Hampshire businesses to enroll top technical and engineering staff into an intense training program specifically designed to broaden the expertise of the typical knowledge worker.”
“The program focuses on cross discipline skill development enabling collaboration across all company departments and functions,” Daly continued, “to ensure that those who develop products are able to understand the requirements of the marketplace, to understand the customer through the sales process, and to ensure effective reporting to the company’s finance functions. This type of skill development broadens the scope of knowledge of company operations, enabling greater big-picture thinking, and hopefully, better decision making at all layers, driving company growth.”
Bill Gillett, dean of the SNHU School of Business, added, “Our faculty is committed to emphasizing applications of theory and knowledge in the real world, with teaching as our first priority. When the Council approached us about helping with Tech Leaders, it is a natural and logical extension for us. We are able to leverage our teaching strengths in the classroom and apply them to help local businesses and the State’s economy.”
Tech Leaders classes will include established and emerging leaders that have professional technology-oriented responsibilities within their company or organization. Applications will be accepted for the 2011-2012 Tech Leaders Program beginning Monday October 3, 2011 and ending Monday October 31, 2011.
The NHHTC Tech Leaders Program will run from December 2011 through June 2012. The Program begins with an evening Reception in December 2011. The program includes five all-day sessions which will take place on weekdays at SNHU in Manchester from January through June 2012. The program days will run from 8 AM – 5 PM. Links to more information and the registration form will be available on both the NHHTC and SNHU web sites within the next week. In the interim, they can be requested by e-mailing info@NHHTC.org. The cost of the five-month program is only $1,200 for individuals employed by NHHTC member companies and $1,500 for non-members.
This seminar is a must for any business that currently exports defense-related goods or plans to do so in the future as it will be a comprehensive review of export licensing considerations for weapons and other defense-related products. Export compliance officers, freight forwarders, international sales and marketing staffs, international customer service, engineers and technicians, and purchasing and supply management are encouraged to attend as it’s not always obvious what items and technical data fall under ITAR.
In 2010, a total of approximately 2,200 New Hampshire businesses exported nearly $4 billion in 2010. With new regulations and, it’s critical that businesses that are currently exporting or that plan to do so in the near future know their obligations under these acts. Failure to obtain a license, if one is needed, for either the production or the destination of the product can result in both civil and criminal penalties—and, as an exporter, it is the responsibility of the business to determine if a license is needed.