About Sue
Senator Sue Prentiss is serving her second term for the New Hampshire Senate for District 5. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Sue moved to the Connecticut River Valley of New Hampshire in early 1992 and settled in Lebanon in 2004. With a passion for public service, Senator Prentiss quickly got involved in local issues. In 2009, Sue ran for Lebanon City Council where she served from 2009 to 2021. From 2017 to 2019, Prentiss also served as Mayor of Lebanon.
Outside of public service, Sue serves as the Executive Director of the American Trauma Society—an organization dedicated to the elimination of needless death and disability from injury. At the ATS, Sue works on the development and enhancement of trauma systems, regionalized systems of care, and provides support for survivors of trauma and their families.
She has more than twenty years of leadership experience in emergency medical services at the state, regional, and national levels. Prentiss previously served as New Hampshire’s first female Chief of EMS at the Department of Safety and the state’s Trauma System Coordinator. Sue continues to hold her Paramedic certification.
In the Senate, Sue sits on the Health and Human Services Committee and on the Senate Education Department for the second term. In her first term, she served in the Executive Departments and Administration committees. Senator Prentiss has been a champion for working families, public safety, and Emergency Medical Services. Senator Prentiss was appointed by Secretary Pete Buttigieg to the National Highway Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) National EMS Advisory Council (NEMSAC) in 2020. In 2022 Sue was appointed to the Ground Ambulance Patient Billing Committee at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This group was tasked with writing the recommendations for Congress on how to eliminate balance billing in Emergency Medical Services. Sue graduated from Saint Michael’s College, the University of Phoenix, Senior Executive in State and Local Government at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Leadership NH Class of 2014, and is a 2016 NH Hoffman-Haas Fellow.
Sue and her husband, Chris, live in West Lebanon. Their daughter, Phoebe, lives and works in Nashville, TN.
Awards & Achievements
American Ambulance Association, 2024
National EMS Advisory Council
(NEMSAC), 2020
Meritorious Service Award
City of Concord Fire Department, March 2013
Selected for the “Dedication”
2011 NH Statewide Patient Care Protocols
David J. Connor, MD, EMS Memorial Appreciation Award
EMS & Trauma System Achievement, October 2008
Hoffman-Hass Fellow
NH Center for Not-for-Profits, January 2016
Appointed to PEGASUS Steering Committee
Building evidence based guidelines for EMS, Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine, November 2013-current
President’s Award
North Country Public Safety Foundation, October 2010
Chief Medical Officer
Designated by the Center for Public Safety Excellence, July 2008 (one of the first eleven in country to receive as well as first female)
EMS Advocate of the Year Award
March 2023
Leadership NH Program
Nominated and admitted to Class of 2014
NH Fire “Academy Award”
NH Fire Standards and Training Commission, November 2012
Meritorious Service Medal
NH Fire and EMS Committee of Merit, October 2010