Assistant Safety Commissioner Steven Lavoie receives 2026 Caroline and Martin Gross Fellowship

As one of two assistant commissioners at the Department of Safety, one of New Hampshire’s largest agencies, Steven Lavoie helps lead and support public safety services including State Police enforcement of criminal and motor vehicle laws, 911 dispatch operations that connect the public with emergency responders, training and certification for firefighters and EMS providers — even ensuring shorter lines at the Division of Motor Vehicles.

Lavoie’s leadership model is to build collaborations that help all seven of the department’s divisions be more efficient and effective in keeping New Hampshire safe. This summer, he will have the opportunity to bolster his leadership skills by sharing experiences and learning from public servants from around the world.

Lavoie has been named the 2026 recipient of the Caroline and Martin Gross Fellowship, a program of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. Through the fellowship, he will attend the international, three-week Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in June.

The fellowship, in its 32^nd year, was established in memory of the late New Hampshire House Majority Leader Caroline Gross and the late Concord Mayor Martin Gross. The Foundation awards the fellowship annually to an extraordinary elected or appointed official in state or local government who demonstrates leadership ability and the highest standards of performance in public service.

Lavoie called it “an incredible honor” that will help him learn new methods of providing leadership and support for budget management, strategic planning, data management and analysis, project management, information technology, legal issues, contracts, cybersecurity and coordination with other agencies.

When these tasks are performed effectively, he said, state troopers, DMV employees, 911 telecommunicators and other Department of Safety employees can focus on serving the public, not on administrative burdens.

Lavoie has been assistant commissioner since April 2023, following seven years as the Department of Safety’s director of the Division of Administration. As a leader, he relies on bringing as many people as possible together to help remove obstacles that can hinder providing services.

He calls it “relentless collaboration.”

“That’s something I’ve learned from Commissioner (Robert) Quinn — we always want to be collaborating to achieve the best results,” he said. “Even when collaboration may slow things down, we’re going to choose to do so. That’s the way to get things done right, and that’s how we make sure we don’t miss anything.”

Lavoie cited two examples where such collaboration has helped the Department of Safety better serve the public.

One was streamlining the process in which New Hampshire’s Executive Council approves Department of Safety grant awards so that grant money can be passed on to local police departments more rapidly for tasks such as purchasing new equipment or assigning additional enforcement patrols.

Another was shortening lines and wait times at DMV offices around the state by implementing a fully appointment-based system.

“This is something that we’ve been talking about for years,” Lavoie said.

With a limited number of DMV employees handling 400,000 visits per year at 14 locations, lines were long and employees were often kept at their posts on overtime, with little advance notice.

A team thoroughly analyzed staffing and the flow of customers through the offices and, collectively, developed a plan that has shortened lines, improved employee morale and improved service, he said.

“It’s always a team approach,” Lavoie said. “It’s always getting as many people to the table as we can, to get different perspectives, and to make sure that we’ve thought of everything. That’s critical to success.”

Lavoie intends to build on his collaborative leadership approach at the Kennedy School by hearing how other government leaders operate and how they handle challenges when someone doesn’t necessarily want to collaborate. He’s also excited about learning formal frameworks to enhance the leadership model he has adopted through his own experiences and observations of successful and not-as-successful leadership practices.

“My goal is to take what I learn not only from the classes themselves, but the people that are in them, and determine how this can apply at the Department of Safety and in state government as a whole and strengthen our relationships with local communities,” he said.