Opechee Inn & Spa receives UNH family business honor

LACONIA — Lake Opechee Inn and Spa was named Family Business of the Year by the University of New Hampshire Center for Family Business at the center's annual award dinner.

The hospitality business was chosen based on business success, multigenerational involvement of family members in the business, involvement with and support of UNH and contributions to community and industry innovative business practices.

Lake Opechee Inn and Spa in Laconia is owned and managed by the DuPont and Boissoneau families. In 1998 the family purchased the lakeside complex that now houses the luxury inn, spa and restaurant.

The Boissoneau family businesses began in 1976 when Raymond Boissoneau and his father, Russell, started with $1,000 and a handful of employees in a rented space in the old barracks of the Manchester Airport. Their first business, Electropac Co. Inc., manufactured printed circuit boards and over the next 20 years grew to five locations in three countries, with more than 400 employees and annual sales of $55 million.

Today, Boissoneau's daughter and son-in-law, Michelle and Bob DuPont, manage the hospitality side of the family business with family members spanning three generations now working in the business.

The Boissoneau family became members of the Family Business Center in 1999 and has grown its skills by participating in several leadership and management training classes.

"We have not only enjoyed being a part of the center, but it has been our compass," said Michelle DuPont. "The people involved—from the university to the members and sponsors—have helped and supported us to navigate our way to continued success in business, and as a family, while we grow and add new generations to the family business."