Position Summary:

The Chief Legal, Regulatory, and Compliance Officer serves as the organization's executive lead for legal affairs, government relations, regulatory strategy, public policy, and compliance across both New Hampshire Electric Cooperative and NH Broadband. Reporting to the President & CEO and serving as a member of the senior leadership team, this position provides practical legal guidance and strategic counsel to executive leadership while helping advance organizational goals, protect the organization's interests, and ensure alignment with evolving legal, regulatory, legislative, and policy environments.

This role manages legal matters and outside counsel, provides executive oversight of compliance and policy matters, and supports the organization's day-to-day legal needs across both the electric cooperative and broadband business. A significant portion of the role is expected to focus on contract review and negotiation, easements, rights-of-way, land use and access issues, data privacy, cybersecurity, and related risk management, while also supporting government relations, regulatory strategy, and stakeholder engagement as needed.

The successful candidate will be a trusted advisor, effective advocate, and strategic executive who combines legal expertise, policy insight, regulatory judgment, and a member- and subscriber-focused perspective to advance the organization's mission and strengthen relationships with policymakers, regulators, industry organizations, community partners, and the communities served by NHEC and NH Broadband

Responsibilities and Essential Functions:
Legal Leadership

• Serve as the senior internal legal executive for the organization and provide practical legal counsel to the President & CEO and executive leadership team for both NHEC and NH Broadband.
• Advise on federal, state, and local laws affecting electric utility and broadband operations, including energy, telecommunications, broadband deployment, environmental, employment, procurement, contract, compliance, cooperative utility, and subsidiary business matters.
• Engage, coordinate, and oversee external legal counsel and specialized subject matter experts as necessary to provide legal guidance and support organizational objectives.
• Draft, review, negotiate, and manage contracts, agreements, policies, and other legal documents, including vendor agreements, construction contracts, service agreements, procurement documents, confidentiality agreements, software and technology contracts, and other business-critical agreements.
• Provide legal review and practical guidance on easements, rights-of-way, property access, landowner agreements, pole attachments, permitting, encroachments, title matters, and other real estate or infrastructure access issues affecting electric and broadband operations.
• Provide legal support for NH Broadband matters, including grant and funding obligations, customer and subscriber terms, franchise or municipal agreements, and other broadband-specific business requirements.
• Manage litigation, claims, disputes, and outside legal counsel, while coordinating appropriately with Board-retained legal counsel when matters involve governance or Board responsibilities.
• Support executive leadership in governance, compliance, and policy matters.
• Ensure legal review and guidance supports compliance with applicable legal, regulatory, and ethical requirements.
• Identify legal and business risks and recommend practical mitigation strategies in coordination with the appropriate executive owner.
• Serve as a management liaison to the Cooperative's Board-retained General Counsel, providing timely information regarding significant organizational developments, legal matters, regulatory proceedings, compliance issues, and strategic initiatives requiring legal awareness or coordination.

Government Relations & Regulatory Affairs

• Support the Cooperative's government relations and public policy work as part of a broader role that also includes legal, contract, easement, compliance, data privacy, and cybersecurity responsibilities.
• Develop and help execute legislative, regulatory, and advocacy strategies that advance member, subscriber, electric, broadband, and organizational interests.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with elected officials, regulators, state agencies, trade associations, and industry stakeholders.
• Monitor legislative and regulatory developments impacting the electric utility, broadband, telecommunications, grant funding, and public infrastructure sectors and assess organizational implications.
• Represent the Cooperative, as needed, in regulatory proceedings, legislative hearings, industry forums, and stakeholder meetings.
• Collaborate with senior leadership on policy positions, regulatory filings, legislative initiatives, external messaging, and stakeholder engagement.
• Support NH Broadband's interactions with state and federal agencies, municipalities, community partners, and funding entities on matters involving broadband expansion, compliance, grant programs, and public policy.

Compliance and Policy Oversight

• Provide executive oversight of compliance programs and related policies across NHEC and NH Broadband.
• Monitor legal and regulatory compliance obligations for electric and broadband operations and work with business units to promote adherence to applicable requirements.
• Promote a culture of ethical conduct, accountability, transparency, and organizational integrity.
• Advise leadership on emerging compliance issues and recommend appropriate mitigation strategies.
• Support development, review, and implementation of organizational policies that reduce risk, improve consistency, and support effective operations.
• Collaborate with executive leadership to identify, assess, monitor, and mitigate enterprise risks affecting NHEC, NH Broadband, and shared organizational operations.

Data Privacy, Records & Information Governance

• Serve as executive sponsor for data privacy governance, records management, and information-handling practices across NHEC and NH Broadband.
• Identify applicable federal, state, and industry-specific privacy, records retention, data protection, broadband subscriber data, and critical infrastructure information requirements affecting organizational operations.
• Lead or oversee privacy impact assessments for new programs, systems, technologies, broadband services, and member- or subscriber-facing initiatives.
• Provide legal guidance on privacy and data protection requirements in contracts, vendor relationships, technology platforms, broadband services, employee systems, and member or subscriber data practices, including review of data security, confidentiality, liability, indemnification, insurance, and incident response obligations.
• Oversee legal review of artificial intelligence, cloud services, member and subscriber data use, third-party data sharing, broadband network information, and other emerging data governance matters.
• Develop, review, and maintain privacy, records retention, data governance, and information management policies in coordination with appropriate business owners.
• Coordinate legal assessment of potential data incidents and breach notification obligations when required.

Cybersecurity, Data Incident & Crisis Response

• Serve as a standing member of the organization's Cyber Incident Response Team and provide executive legal counsel during cybersecurity incidents, data breaches, broadband network incidents, and other significant technology-related events.
• Advise executive leadership and incident response teams regarding legal privilege, risk exposure, evidence preservation, and applicable legal requirements.
• Assess and coordinate compliance with applicable breach notification, regulatory reporting, and disclosure obligations.
• Coordinate with external General Counsel, counsel provided through the organization's cyber insurance coverage, outside breach counsel, forensic experts, cyber insurance resources, and other specialized advisors as appropriate.
• Coordinate legal interactions with law enforcement agencies, regulators, and governmental authorities.
• Evaluate potential litigation, enforcement, contractual, and reputational risks arising from cybersecurity incidents and recommend appropriate mitigation strategies.
• Support executive leadership in developing and reviewing member, employee, Board, media, regulatory, and stakeholder communications related to significant cyber, privacy, or data incidents.

Leadership & Strategic Planning

• Serve as a member of the senior leadership team and contribute to strategy and decision-making for both the electric cooperative and broadband business.
• Provide executive leadership and oversight of Government Relations while leading high-performing teams responsible for legal affairs, regulatory strategy, compliance, and related initiatives.
• Support the President & CEO in developing and advancing long-term strategic priorities.
• Lead strategic initiatives and cross-functional projects assigned by the CEO that advance organizational goals.
• Serve as an executive representative of NHEC and NH Broadband with members, subscribers, government officials, regulators, industry organizations, community leaders, and key stakeholders.
• Foster a culture of integrity, innovation, accountability, collaboration, and member focus.
• Manage departmental budgets, work plans, resources, and performance expectations effectively.

Other duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Required Education and Experience:

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from an accredited law school.
• Active bar membership in good standing with a state bar of the United States. Admission to the New Hampshire Bar is required within twelve (12) months of hire and must be maintained throughout employment.
• Minimum of 7 years of progressive legal experience.
• Demonstrated experience with regulatory affairs, government relations, and public policy advocacy.
• Experience advising senior executives on complex legal, regulatory, legislative, compliance, and business issues.
• Experience managing outside counsel, contracts, easements, rights-of-way, disputes, data privacy, cybersecurity, and legal risk.
• Leadership experience overseeing teams, projects, and cross-functional initiatives.

Preferred Education and Experience:

• Legal experience in the utility, energy, broadband, telecommunications, regulatory, government, compliance, or public policy sectors.
• Experience with electric cooperative, municipal utility, public power, broadband provider, telecommunications, or other member/customer-focused infrastructure organizations.
• Experience representing or supporting organizations before regulatory agencies, legislative bodies, or public policy forums, without government relations being the exclusive focus of the role.
• Familiarity with energy efficiency programs, NH Saves or similarly regulated programs.
• Knowledge of federal and state energy programs, grant opportunities, and utility funding mechanisms.
• Familiarity with broadband deployment, grant compliance, telecommunications policy, public funding programs, rights-of-way, pole attachments, permitting, and municipal or community broadband partnerships
• Experience with technology agreements, vendor risk provisions, data privacy obligations, cybersecurity matters, and complex commercial transactions.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong knowledge of utility regulation, broadband and telecommunications policy, energy policy, public utility law, compliance, and cooperative business principles.
• Understanding of legislative and regulatory processes, particularly in New Hampshire or comparable state environments.
• Exceptional contract review, negotiation, communication, writing, and relationship-building skills.
• Strategic thinker with strong business, legal, regulatory, and political acumen.
• Ability to analyze complex issues, distill legal and policy concepts, and develop practical recommendations.
• Ability to manage high-volume legal work involving contracts, easements, rights-of-way, data privacy, cybersecurity, compliance, and operational risk.
• Strong presentation and public speaking abilities.
• Commitment to exceptional member and subscriber service, community engagement, and the Cooperative model.

All NHEC Staff:

• Embody NHEC core values and encourage others to do so as well.
• Emergency Restoration
• Assistance with restoration efforts is required of all employees.
• Employees will be assigned functions to support storm restoration and for some employees that may be different from their normal duties.
• Such assistance may require working nights, weekends and holidays which may involve considerable extra hours.
• In order to meet this working condition, all employees are required to provide a personal phone number where they may be reached after hours. This number will only be used for internal purposes.
• Safety
• Safety shall be an integral part of every employee's job and includes being proactively aware of potential hazards not only to themselves but also their co-workers and general public.
• Safety is at the forefront of everything we do at NHEC, therefore becoming ingrained within our culture. NHEC is committed to the safety of our employee's, members, and general public.
• Professional Development
• Take proactive steps towards personal and professional growth, seeking out opportunities for skill enhancement and staying abreast of industry trends.

Working Conditions:

Normal office conditions, occasional overtime may be required. Positions eligible for a hybrid work schedule will be dependent upon management approval & workload, however on-site office work in the Plymouth, NH area will be require