(Courtesy photo) Lisa Lamphere, Coordinator of the New Hampshire Victims’ Compensation Program and Address Confidentiality Program, has been elected president of The National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards.

CONCORD — Attorney General John Formella said Wednesday he is “proud to announce” that Lisa Lamphere, coordinator of the state’s Victims Compensation and Address Confidentiality programs, has been elected president of the National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards (NACVCB) in Washington, DC.

Formella said that Lamphere’s peers from Crime Victim Compensation programs across the country elected her to the post at the boards’ national conference in Alexandria, Virginia.

“While I was proud to learn Lisa’s news, I was in no way surprised,” Formella said. “She is a true leader in her field, and absolutely devoted to helping crime victims. “When her peers across the U.S. have victim compensation questions, Lisa is the person they reach out to for guidance,” he added.

Founded in 1977, the NACVCB promotes an exchange of information and ideas through a nationwide network of victim compensation programs. The Association advances better methods for serving crime victims through various training and technical assistance activities, helping its members establish sound administrative practices, achieve fiscal stability, and engage in effective outreach, communication and advocacy.

“Recovering from violence or abuse is difficult enough without having to worry about how to pay for the cost of medical care or counseling,” Lamphere said. “By connecting with peers across the country through NACVCB, we’ve been able to share and develop best practices. These connections ultimately improve the New Hampshire Victims’ Compensation Program, along with similar programs across the United States, and thus enhance services to crime victims nationwide.”

According to Formella, Lamphere first came to the Attorney General’s office as a Notre Dame College intern.

Eventually, after beginning her career at Manchester’s McLane Middleton law firm, Lisa opted to return to the AG’s Office for a career in public service. She would go on to spend 14 years as a paralegal in the Consumer Protection and Civil Bureaus.

During that time, Formella said, Lisa developed a passion for working with crime victims, which ultimately drew her to victim services and her current coordinator role, a post she has held for a dozen years now.

Lisa is also a member of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect and the New Hampshire Sexual Assault and Nurse Advisory Board.

“The New Hampshire Victims’ Compensation Program provides substantial financial assistance to crime victims and their families, and while no amount of money can erase the trauma and grief victims suffer, this aid can be crucial in the aftermath of crime,” Lamphere said.

“By paying for care that helps restore victims’ physical and mental health, and by replacing lost income for victims who cannot work, the compensation program is assisting victims and their families in direct ways.”

Victims’ Compensation can pay for a wide variety of expenses and losses related to criminal injury, sexual assault or homicide. This program assists with medical care, mental health treatment, funerals, lost wages, security systems, travel costs to receive treatment, moving expenses, reimbursement for clothing or bedding held as evidence by police in a sexual assault and removal of identifying tattoos or markings of human trafficking.

According to Formella, the Victims’ Compensation Program paid $152,760 in crime-related expenses to New Hampshire victims between Jan. 1 and March 31.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.