NHEX keeps New Hampshire's talent home

For years, Ethan Keslar drove south to Dover, Portsmouth, and Concord to find the networking and mentorship that did not exist closer to home. In 2025, he stopped driving and started building. His answer is the New Hampshire Entrepreneurship Exchange, a Lakes Region peer network founded on the belief that the region can keep its talent home rather than watch it leave for opportunity elsewhere.

“North of Rochester, there was really nothing to help business owners,” Keslar, director of new business development at Keslar Insurance, said. “We can address that by creating a space that supports young professionals who are building their careers right here.”

Keslar knows the terrain firsthand. A University of New Hampshire entrepreneurship graduate, he ran a water company and a firearms company before joining his family's insurance agency, where he now practices intrapreneurship — building a new venture from within an established company rather than founding one from scratch.

“Everyone says they want to work for themselves,” Kelsar said. “They do not always realize that you become the one responsible for making it grow. It is not as easy as some people like to think.”

NHEX is built to carry some of that weight collectively. Only one member per industry may join — a “single-seat” model designed to build trust and keep business within the group.

“By having one person, one seat, one industry, it keeps the referrals within the group,” Keslar said. “It also means you understand each person's business, so you can send the perfect person to them, knowing they will receive the perfect care.”

Members meet twice monthly to solve real problems together. When a member who manages marinas needed help with service contracts, the group brought in an attorney who specializes in contract law to walk everyone through the process — one of six to eight expert sessions NHEX aims to host each year.

“We identify an issue, break it down as a group, and solve it together,” Keslar said. “Collaboration is not just helpful, it is essential.”

The model is working. NHEX has grown from six to 10 members and is now recruiting an accountant and an event planner to round out its roster. In 2026, the group plans to host six community events, partner with three to four local nonprofits, and collaborate with Stay Work Play on a Lakes Region event. NHEX is also working to register as a 501(c)(6) organization and to launch a digital speaker series.

Keslar rejected the notion that his generation lacks drive, noting tradespeople in the group who work from seven in the morning until seven at night.

“Our generation works with proficiency and purpose,” Kelsar said. “We make thoughtful, data-informed decisions about how to focus our time. What many of us need is not motivation but practice — the confidence to sell, to communicate, and to walk into a room of two hundred people.”

His ambitions reach beyond the Lakes Region.

“Long term, our vision goes beyond our current group,” Kelsar said. “We are exploring ways to bring this model to communities that may not have the resources or population to build something like this on their own.”

For more information, visit nhex603.com or contact Keslar at ethan@keslarinsurance.com.