About Us

Key Consultants

Steve Wood

Steve Wood is President and CEO of Work Opportunities Unlimited, Inc. and Leddy Group. He joined the company as Vice President of Planning and Chief Financial Officer in 1996, and was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer in 2000. As Chief Executive Officer, Steve is responsible for management oversight of both Leddy Group and Work Opportunities Unlimited, and has direct responsibility for administrative operations in Dover, New Hampshire.

During Steve’s tenure the Company has grown to a core team of 200 employees providing employment services in 250 communities in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Florida. It has a "Strategic Map" that guides its operations and which includes a mission statement, core values, and Vision 2015. It has leadership development and management training programs. It runs a popular new employee orientation program and has developed an on-line training curriculum. It is an "outcome-based" company where each employee is measured by the outcomes they achieve for their customers. Annually it serves over 3,000 people.

In his earlier career, Steve spent seventeen years in the banking industry in Maine and New Hampshire. He began his career as a Branch Manager, and advanced to Commercial Loan Officer, Assistant Vice President and Senior Vice President and Senior Commercial Loan Officer. In addition to his commercial lending experience, he served in senior positions on banks’ Loan, Personnel, Safety, Community Reinvestment Act, and Asset-Liability Committees. He also taught courses for the American Institute of Banking.

For the five years prior to joining Work Opportunities Unlimited-Leddy Group, Steve launched and grew a consulting practice serving a wide range of businesses in Northern New England. His practice specialized in strategic planning, implementation, and tracking; managing organizational change; human resource development; safety management; and financial management, which included cash flow, debt and bank negotiations, and cost accounting.

Steve has been a member of the Adjunct Faculty team at Southern New Hampshire University since 1994. He teaches Organizational Leadership in the Graduate School and Strategic Management, Organizational Leadership, Managing Organizational Change, Entrepreneurship, Small Business Management, and Finance at the undergraduate level. He teaches primarily at the Portsmouth Campus, where he was recognized recently as Teacher of the Year.

He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maine in 1975, where he was a member of the Senior Skull Society, and his Masters in Business Administration from Northeastern University in 1987. He also graduated from the Williams School of Banking. Steve has been involved in dozens of community and charitable organizations.

Susannah Chance

Susannah Chance is Vice President of Human Resources of Work Opportunities Unlimited, Inc. and Leddy Group. She joined the company as a Resource Specialist in the Laconia Leddy Group office and was promoted to Regional Vice President of the Dover, NH Leddy Group market, before being promoted to her current position. As Vice President of Human Resources Susannah is responsible for overseeing the human resource function for both Leddy Group and Work Opportunities Unlimited, including legal compliance for the company’s operations in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Florida. She also leads and delivers the Company’s management and supervisory training programs.

In addition to her responsibilities to the company, Susannah also provides consulting and training services to businesses and organizations throughout New England. While serving a wide variety of industries, ranging from banks to sales organizations to motorcycle dealerships to heavy industry; she also has served towns and municipalities. The breadth of her services include supervisory training, harassment training and investigations, compliance reviews, employee handbook preparation and updates, climate surveys, salary surveys, and assistance with the management of workers’ compensation claims.

Susannah began her career during graduate school as the Program Coordinator of a small biotechnology firm that provided scientific training at locations throughout the United States and Europe. Upon moving to New England, she began her career with Work Opportunities Unlimited and Leddy Group.

She received her undergraduate degree from Iowa State University in 1989 and her Masters in Business Administration Iowa State in 1992. Susannah has also earned Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification from the HR Certification Institute of the Society for Human Resource Management.

Susannah is currently the Vice Chair of the New Hampshire Business & Industry Association’s Human Resources Committee and is a member of the NH Workers’ Compensation Classification and Rating Appeals Board. She is also an adjunct faculty member of the University of New Hampshire’s Division of Continuing Education and teaches day seminars on Interviewing and Orienting and Training Employees.

Susannah is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the New Hampshire Humane Society.

Fran Lefavour

Fran Lefavour has been in the Human Resources field for over 20 years and has been involved with a number of state and regional organizations including the NH Workers' Compensation Appeals board. Fran also served as Vice Chair of the Business & Industry Association Human Resources Committee and Chair of the BIA Worker's Compensation Subcommittee.