ROCHESTER, NH -
After 18 years as Executive Director of Strafford Regional Planning Commission (SRPC), Cynthia Copeland, AICP, will conclude her decades-long public service career and retire at the end of March.
Under Cynthia's leadership, SRPC experienced incredible growth and was restructured to ensure quality services and products to meet the needs of its region's residents, municipalities, partner organizations, and stakeholders. Cynthia helped form the Strafford Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) in 2007, and guided the process that led to SRPC's designation as an Economic Development District (EDD) in 2015.
One of the most notable projects SRPC undertook during Cynthia's tenure was the statewide Granite State Future project. This three-year, multimillion dollar planning project enabled all nine regional planning commissions in the state to update their regional master plans, and produce a comprehensive "Statewide Snapshot." The effort won the 2015 Plan of the Year award from the Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association (NNECAPA).
In addition to working on this and countless other projects, Cynthia lent her time and expertise to many boards and committees. She was for 17 years a member of the COAST board of directors and an active member of the NH Association of Regional Planning Commissions for 18 years.
In 2010, Cynthia joined the board of the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program. From 2000 to 2010, she played a very important role in establishing the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast.
In announcing her retirement, Cynthia emphasized the importance of personal relationships in both her private and professional lives. "In the last six months my career has come to a juncture that holds several choices, and I am selecting the one labeled 'family and friends,'" Cynthia said. "It will be memories of 'planned progress'-the slogan of my hometown in upstate New York-that will resonate with me as well as the wonderful colleagues, partners, officials and clients I have had the pleasure to work with over the years. Not only agencies and programs created, facilities built, lands developed and conserved, rivers cleaned up, landfills filled up, services and jobs created, but most importantly, people carrying out their beliefs about what makes our communities and lives better."
SRPC Secretary/Treasurer Thomas Crosby thanked Cynthia for all her hard work over the years and expressed his faith in the continued success of the organization, which is prepared for the future thanks to her leadership.
"I have enjoyed my time spent working with you over the last 18 years and 6 months," Cynthia told the SRPC staff. "The Strafford region is a great place to live and work-as is the state of New Hampshire-and I will continue to make the Strafford region my home."
