UNH Today

Tom Moulton ‘77, an accomplished entrepreneur with more than 40 years of experience in successfully founding, leading, and growing companies has been named the University of New Hampshire’s Paul J. Holloway Entrepreneur of the Year.

He will be recognized at this year’s Paul J. Holloway Prize Competition, UNH’s premier business plan competition that celebrates student entrepreneurs and innovators. All are welcome to attend the event, which will be live streamed Thursday, May 13, beginning at 1 p.m. Register to attend and receive viewing details at: https://paulcollege.unh.edu/holloway-competition/guest-rsvp.

Moulton is presently the CEO and president of the Sleepnet Corporation, based in Hampton, N.H. Sleepnet is the designer and manufacturer of masks used for sleep disordered breathing and other ventilation needs. Using his patented AIRgel™ technology, the comfortable masks manufactured by Sleepnet help thousands of people around the world.

More recently, Sleepnet developed an N95 respirator mask using the AIRgel™ technology, which was intended for use in the construction market. With the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, Sleepnet’s reusable envo mask® has protected hundreds of thousands of front-line workers across the globe. The company has expanded its manufacturing capacity in Hampton and has grown exponentially over the past year.

Moulton also is the president of De Niro Construction, a building contractor he founded in 1987 that provides commercial and residential construction services to customers throughout northern New England. The company’s services include design-build, development, construction management and general contracting. He used his expertise in this arena to rebuild his UNH fraternity, Sigma Beta, from the ground up in 2010.

An active real estate investor, Moulton owns several commercial, residential, and mixed-use properties in southern New Hampshire. He was one of the founding partners of Planet Fitness, using his expertise in construction and real estate to develop and open the first four PF gyms. He also serves as a director of the Northway Bank, headquartered in Berlin, N.H., and serving the Granite State.

Upon graduation from UNH in 1977 with a degree in business administration, Mouton started his career working for the Fairview Machine Company, a family business founded in 1962 to provide contract precision manufacturing and assembly services to industry and government agencies. During this time, he served as the president of the Boston Chapter of the National Tool and Machining Association (NTMA) and as national committee chairman of various committees of the NTMA. After 10 years at Fairview Machine Company, ultimately serving as its president, he branched out to start a variety of businesses on his own.

Moulton is a passionate philanthropist and active community advocate. He loves to play and coach hockey and was the assistant coach of the 2002 Gold Medal U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey team. He also is a board member of the NH Legends of Hockey. He has served on the board of the UNH CEO Forum at the Paul College and hired and mentored many younger UNH alums.

Moulton lives in Rye, N.H., with his wife Dana and has two daughters, Rachel, and Cassie, a son-in-law, Michael, and a grandson, Charlie.