Paul Hodes

Paul Hodes since graduating from Dartmouth College in 1972 and Boston College Law School in 1978, Hodes has been rewarded with significant achievements in law, politics, business and the Arts. He began his legal career in 1978 As an Assistant Attorney General in the criminal justice division of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office and continued his service as the Special Prosecutor for the State of New Hampshire where he led the successful prosecution of the largest white-collar fraud scheme up to that date in the State’s History. He is now Of Counsel to the firm of Shaheen & Gordon.

Hodes was elected as a United States Representative from New Hampshire’s second district in 2006. He was chosen by his colleagues as President of the historic 2006 freshman class. As a member of Congress, Hodes served on the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. With a deep interest in green energy, He served as Vice-Chair of the Secure Energy and Environment Coalition. Hodes was the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate from New Hampshire in 2010.

In his time in Congress, Hodes successfully passed new laws and provisions in health insurance, economic development, small business, veterans’ services, and financial services. His signature accomplishment included creation of the Northern Border Economic Development commission, a federal-state partnership that continues to fund economic development in the North Country of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. He introduced legislation which expanded depreciation rules to help small businesses invest and expand. And he helped to craft a series of reforms to induce greater investment in green building and the creation of financial instruments that support renewable energy investment.

Hodes was also the first member of Congress from an early primary state to endorse then-Senator Obama for President and served as a National Co-Chairman of his 2008 campaign, appearing frequently in national media outlets representing the campaign.  He subsequently appeared as a guest on national cable news, including MSNBC, CNBC, NECN and on Bloomberg business news helping to describe and explain changing regulations in the financial sector.

Throughout his career, Hodes has devoted substantial time to community service, the not-for-profit sector and advancing the arts. As Chairman of the Board of the Capitol Center for the Arts from 1990-1996, Hodes helped to lead the Concord community’s efforts to create a premiere, award-winning performing arts institution that now serves as an important economic engine for the city. In recognition of his arts and entertainment background and congressional service, in 2012, President Obama appointed Hodes to the National Council on The Arts which oversees the National Endowment for the Arts.

As an entrepreneur in business, prior to his role as a founder of Shanti Energy, Hodes formed his first business, a Hi-Fi retail operation while in College and worked as a securities analyst. He later founded and ran a theater festival in Vermont, financed and produced film documentaries, created the Economic Innovation Institute, a progressive think tank, and founded an independent film festival streaming start-up. He has been the managing member of Music Recording and Publishing companies. His label, Big Round Music, LLC, distributes music worldwide.

He is married to the singer, composer and conductor, Peggo Horstmann Hodes. They have two children; Max, Director of Operations for the California Jazz Conservatory, a rock musician and audio engineer living in Oakland, California and Ariana, a singer-songwriter, regenerative agriculture advocate, photographer, actress and model who now calls Nashville, Tennessee home