Jeanne Dietsch

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Jeanne Dietsch
Member of the New Hampshire Senate from the 9th district
In office December 6, 2018 – December 2, 2020
Preceded by	Andy Sanborn
Succeeded by	Denise Ricciardi
Personal details
Born	(1952-04-16) April 16, 1952 (age 69) Kenton, Ohio, US
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Bill Kennedy
Children	2
Alma mater	Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Profession	Former tech entrepreneur, economic development

Jeanne Dietsch (born April 16, 1952) served as a Democratic member of the New Hampshire Senate, representing the 9th district from 2018 to 2020.

Early life, education, and career[]

Jeanne Dietsch grew up in Marion, Ohio, with her parents and three brothers.^{[citation needed]}

Dietsch attended Western Michigan University, where she graduated with a B.S. in 1974. She moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and married Bill Kennedy in the same year. The couple have two children, Eva and Ethan.^[1]

Dietsch co-founded ActivMedia Robotics in 1995, and served as its Chief Executive Officer until the company was sold in 2010 to Adept Technology.^[2][3] The company is now owned by Omron Automation.^[4] Dietsch, along with Patrick Joseph McGovern, also served as the president of TALMIS, a market research firm which studied the use of computers in homes and schools..^[5]

PatrolBot watches MobileRobots founder Jeanne Dietsch

Dietsch published an e-commerce market report, "Who's Succeeding on the Internet and How", months after the Internet opened to the public for commerce.^{[citation needed]}

Dietsch served on the board of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Industrial Activities committee^[6]

Government service[]

Dietsch was a member of a local planning board in Peterborough, NH.^[7] Dietsch unsuccessfully ran for State Senate in New Hampshire in 2016, losing in the primary to Lee Nyquist.

In 2018, Dietsch won 54% of votes in the Democratic primary. She later won the general election against Republican Dan Hynes, 14,037 to 12,776.^[8] Dietsch served as Vice Chair of the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee and Chair of the Commission on the Environmental and Health Impacts of Perfluorinated Chemicals.^[9] She is also a member of the Ways and Means Committee, the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules and the Business Finance Authority.^{[citation needed]}

Positions[]

Dietsch has been a proponent of an income tax. In 2019, Dietsch was the sponsor for a last minute amendment, to an unrelated bill dealing with using cell phones while driving, which would have added a 6.2% payroll tax on high wage earners.^[10][11]

In June of 2020, Dietsch was quoted on comments made at a House Education Committee Meeting while debating a bill on school choice, where she argued that only well-educated parents can make decisions on what is best for their child.^[12][13][14]

Dietsch's bill to establish Telecommunications Districts,^[15] in order to ease rural broadband expansion, became law in 2020.^[16]

References[]

External links[]

• Official NH Senate website
• Vote Smart
• Ballotpedia