Rich Ashooh worked for six years on the staff of former New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman.
Now the longtime executive for defense contractor BAE Systems will lead the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership and Public Policy, the center at UNH Law named in honor of his former boss.
It’s an interim appointment, so Ashooh says he plans to focus on the center’s short-term academic and fundraising needs. “This is a chance to solve some problems without having to tackle what should be a very deliberative and thoughtful process, [to] make the transition to a longer-term leader an easier one," Ashooh said.
Ashooh, who also ran in the Republican primary for the state's 1st Congressional District in 2010, said he would leave BAE Systems to take the Rudman Center position.
The Center’s last director, former State Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick, resigned in March, claiming the university hadn’t provided enough support.
UNH denied that charge; today it also announced it would expand its ongoing series of public policy events.