Alumni & Friends
We love to brag about our alumni doing awesome things! Meet some SNHU/NHC graduates, and learn about their unique pathways to achieving career success and becoming active members of their communities.
By Mars Girolimon ’21 ’23G
Double Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) alumnus and current SNHU staff member Scott Cloutier '11 '12G recently accomplished a first for New Hampshire. In April 2025, Cloutier and a team of local volunteers opened Manchester True Collaborative, the state’s only LGBTQIA+community center.
To celebrate this milestone and mark Pride Month this year, Cloutier shared his path toward opening and running Manchester True Collaborative and what’s next for the organization.
Cloutier got his start on campus at SNHU, earning a bachelor's in a three-year honors program. He said the community at SNHU is part of why he decided to attend the school in the first place.
"I remember doing my first campus tour back in 2008, and it was the first college tour that I had done where I actually felt fully connected. And I met a couple other tour guides that were also in the queer community," he said "That really just made me feel right at home."
In addition to the people he connected with, Cloutier said his degree in business offered a solid foundation to prepare for both his work in marketing and in the nonprofit space. The program was competency-based, which he said ensured he had the skills to succeed.
"We didn't actually have to sit in a public speaking class, for example, but we used public speaking in all of our courses," he said. "And so, I think that really put me ahead of the game of a lot of others."
According to Cloutier, developing those critical competencies enabled him not only to lead the conversation but also to understand all aspects of the business world. "(It) allowed me to really step outside of the normal day-to-day taking classes and focus in on the strategic kind of positions of business and really that sort of high-level planning side of things that I think we don't always see in every single business school," he said.
A year after earning his bachelor’s, Cloutier went on to earn a master’s in marketing from SNHU, advancing his knowledge even further.
Cloutier said he's achieved his goals by building a successful career. He's been in tech and marketing for the last 12 years and joined SNHU about four years ago. Now, he works on the Digital Performance Marketing Team as a senior marketing solution architect, helping to manage marketing automation systems.
"I think the best part for me is that I've always been a pretty technical person," he said. "But being a technical person, you also have to have conversations with people within the business. So being able to have both of those sides of things in the business conversation and the technical side has been a super successful part of my role."
That human element has always been central for Cloutier. He also noted that his position at SNHU lets him do something he enjoys while engaging in a culture that emphasizes inclusivity and creating a welcoming environment for the community.
"I think the most beautiful part of my job is that I get to do both things that I love," he said.
This emphasis on inclusivity is a through line for him outside of the office, as well. Recently, he was a speaker at the 3rd annual TEDxSNHU event in February, giving a talk about why inclusive spaces matter. And, of course, he's put that idea into action by starting Manchester True Collaborative.
Cloutier said his experiences as both an SNHU graduate and staff member helped prepare him for this new endeavor. "My time at SNHU has been just incredible," he said. "It really has helped prepare me for not just my career but also managing a nonprofit and kind of stepping into a more visionary role and a leadership position."
Cloutier and his volunteer team were involved with the LGBTQIA+ community in Manchester, New Hampshire well before launching the organization, originally running Manchester’s Pride Festival.
“Last year, we were given the opportunity to get a pretty sizable anonymous donation that allowed us to look kind of more visionary and say, hey, the community needs something more than just having a once-a-year Pride Festival,” he said.
So, they got to work, and on April 6, 2025, Manchester True Collaborative opened its doors.
“Together as a team, I've got 12 board members that work with me as well, all volunteers too,” he said. “And we just put our heads together and through blood, sweat and tears decided that, hey, let's take some of this funding and put it into an actual center.”
The organization is volunteer-run and offers a variety of events and connections for members of Manchester's LGBTQIA+ community. Cloutier said New Hampshire has a lot of resources for LGBTQIA+ people, but many don’t know how or where to access them. Connecting people to resources is one of the main goals of Manchester True Collaborative, according to Cloutier.
“That was really what our focus was, to create an organization that would help not only bring the queer community together and have events, but also to figure out ways to collaborate and connect with all those other organizations and people and companies that help the queer community in the city,” he said.
“The Pride Festival here in Manchester is happening June 28,” Cloutier said. “That'll be the second annual Pride Parade that we have in downtown Manchester.”
Last year, over 3,000 people attended the celebrations, according to Cloutier. "I'm sure this year will be even larger,” he said.
In addition to the Pride Month festivities, Manchester True Collaborative hosts a range of different events throughout the year.
Some of the events you might find include:
To Cloutier, it truly is a collaboration. “It's not just a word in the title of our organization,” he said. “It is really about finding the right people to help us with things and not reinventing the wheel.”
As the center grows, he said they plan to collaborate with more organizations and keep expanding their offerings.
"We are in search of grant funding right now so that we can get, hopefully, some part-time folks in there and continue to just open this LGBTQ+ center as much as possible,” he said.
Learn more about Manchester True Collaborative. Watch Cloutier's full interview below.
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