Concord chamber honors McKerley

Forrest McKerley, longtime former president and administrator of McKerley Health Care Centers and McKerley Management Services and founder of Secure Care Products, has been named the 2005 Citizen of the Year by the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce.

McKerley, who was born and raised in the Penacook/Boscawen area, was honored last night at the chamber’s annual meeting and Citizen of the Year presentation at the Grappone Conference Center.

For nearly 30 years, McKerley served as both administrator and president of the business founded by his family and grew it into a chain of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. In 1988, took over as chairman and CEO of Secure Care Products, which is based in Concord.

His civic and business affiliations are extensive and include serving as past president of the New Hampshire Nursing Home Association; a member of the Health Care Financial Management Association, American Health Care Association, New Hampshire Health Insurance Fund Advisory Council, and New Hampshire Joint Underwriting Association; 1981 delegate to the White House Conference on Aging; director of the New Hampshire Art Association; trustee of the New England Health Care Assembly, and a member of the boards of the Arthritis Foundation, Horizon Bank and Shaker Village.

In addition, McKerley has been a longtime supporter of his alma mater, the University of New Hampshire, including funding the Forrest D. McKerley Endowed Chair in Health Economics at the University of New Hampshire, a joint appointment in UNH’s School of Health and Human Services and the Whittemore School of Business and Economics. – NHBR STAFF