After 27 years at Keene State College, Vice President for Finance and Planning Jay Kahn is retiring and pursuing a potential career as a city councilor for Keene.
“I’m running for city council because I’m at an interesting point of change in my life. I’ll be retiring from my position after twenty-seven years as Vice President for Finance and Planning. That’s been a great experience and I wouldn’t change it for anything, but I’ve also reached a point in my career after forty-three years in higher education that I want to do some different things,” Kahn said.
Kahn said that 20 years ago he was approached by then Mayor Pat Russell to fill an empty city councilor position but was unable to accept becuase of conflicts with his position at the college. Since he is retiring in January it will coincide with the change in city positions making it the perfect time to run.
“It occurred to me that there was no better time for me to commit myself to community service as a councilor than right now,” Kahn said. As the chairman for Cheshire Medical Center, the chamber of commerce, economic development coordinator, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and a variety of public and private partnerships Kahn said he wants to bring that experience to the city along with his financial expertise.
“We have to do new things, better things without adding additional costs, I’ll be one of fifteen councilors but I think I can add an important voice and perspective to shaping the city council,” Kahn said. KSC Professor of Economics Patrick Dolenc worked with Kahn while teaching an honors class last fall where Kahn was a frequent guest and contributor. Dolenc said that previously the only interactions he had with Kahn were in a faculty and administrator setting.
Kendall Pope / Managing Executive Editor
Dolenc said while teaching the class together he got to Kahn in the role of a colleague instead of administrator.
“One of things that I’ve discovered about Jay over the years is that he is absolutely passionate about the community about the college community and the college in the context of the larger community,” Dolenc said.
Dolenc continued, “Somebody like that would be a wonderful addition to the city council.”
While Dolenc encourages Kahn’ s pursuit for city council he said that city’s gain would be a loss for KSC.“I’m sure that we [the college] will continue on in some capacity without Jay on campus but we also lose a lot of institutional memory and some of his very special wisdom when he goes on,” Dolenc said.
KSC senior Connor Turmelle agreed that Kahn’s presence on campus will be missed. As the events coordinator for Social Activities Council and a second year orientation leader, Turmelle and Kahn have crossed paths quite a few times over the years.
“I worked with Jay more in the orientation spot where we focused more on preparing students to get ready for college and help their transition. He was serving as the interim president my first year and so I felt a real bond to him. He really wants the best for students. He’s even come to some of our student organization things and he just wants us all to be like one big community,” Turmelle said.
He continued, “I think he has a very upbeat personality; the guy never seems down. I recently got to talk to him at the Angela Davis event and he definitely seems very up-to-date and he knows his facts. He’s definitely a guy who takes people’s inputs and doesn’t just put them on the sideburner. He would actually implement them.”When asked about his campaign strategies, Kahn said he tries to make things local and make connections and listen to people.
“Politics is about building trust and confidence and that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I try to have those discussions and convey how important I think this timing is and my commitment to give it the time needed to be effective,” Kahn said.
The timing Kahn is referring to is the fact that 2016 is a year full of leadership change at the local, state and national level.
“We’re at a very interesting point in our community’s future to shape a vision that we can communicate to incoming leaders and form a progressive agenda to address issues of importance to this community,” Kahn said.
Kahn said he encourages students to get involved with local politics and be a part of the future of the community.
“I think we’ve seen that over the last year the student voice in our community is an important one and there is room for students to use their voice to be more visible with the communities interests. If there are ways that I can help promote that I will,” Kahn said.
Kendall can be contacted at kpope@kscequinox.com