William R. Petersen, CRDE, CHE
Board Chair & Founding Partner
Granite State Ambassadors, Inc.
en2000@comcast.net

William (Bill) Petersen is the former Dean and Associate Professor of the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Management at Southern New Hampshire University (1995-2006). A Certified Rooms Division Executive and Certified Hospitality Educator, he holds a Bachelors Degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management from New Hampshire College and a Masters Degree in Management from Cambridge College. He has more than twenty years of lodging industry and higher education management and consulting experience. Currently studying at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, he is seeking ordination with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Community service includes board membership on the Southern N.H. (now Manchester Area) Convention & Visitors Bureau, N.H. Technical Institute Advisory Board, State of New Hampshire Travel and Tourism Advisory Board (chair 2004-2005), Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Tourism Committee, N.H. Philharmonic Orchestra, and as a founder of the award winning Granite State Ambassadors, Inc. Petersen was recognized by Yankee Magazine with a Community Barn Raiser Award in 2003 and the Granite Pineapple Tourism Industry Leader Award in 2004 for his service to New Hampshire. He and his wife reside in Bedford.