Dartmouth Health Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel
John P. Kacavas, JD, serves as the chief legal advisor to senior leadership and the Boards of Trustees of Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Dartmouth Health. He has full accountability for, and oversight of, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Office of General Counsel, Office of Risk Management, and Office of Claims Management. He partners closely with the Office of Strategy around government affairs activities, to support our relationships with the States of New Hampshire and Vermont, and with our Congressional delegation on the federal level. He also serves as the Secretary of D-H's captive insurance company.
Kacavas rejoined Dartmouth Health in 2024 following a year in private practice in Manchester, NH. Prior to joining D-H in April 2015, Kacavas was the United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire, having been appointed by President Barack Obama in August 2009. As U.S. Attorney, he was responsible for all federal criminal prosecutions, civil and regulatory litigation, and federal law enforcement initiatives in the State of New Hampshire. In addition to serving on several national policy-making committees during his tenure, he was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to serve as a commissioner on the National Commission on Forensic Science.
Kacavas began his legal career at a private law firm in his hometown of Manchester, New Hampshire, following his admission to the New Hampshire Bar in 1990. He began his career in public service in 1993, when he became a prosecutor with the NH Attorney General's Office. From 1993 to 1999, he served as an Assistant Attorney General, Senior Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the homicide unit. Kacavas then joined the U.S. Department of Justice as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division in Washington, DC, from 1999 to 2000. Kacavas spent the next nine years in private practice, having founded the firm of Kacavas Ramsdell & Howard in Manchester, NH, before becoming U.S. Attorney.
In 1996, Kacavas was awarded the first annual Robert E. Kirby Award by the New Hampshire Bar Foundation. Selected by a panel of federal and state court judges, the award recognizes an attorney, 35 years old or younger, who exemplifies skilled advocacy, civility and perspective in the practice of law. Kacavas is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the NH Business and Industry Association, and he serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Friends of New Hampshire Drug Courts. He also serves on the NH Bar Association's Public Protection Fund Committee. In 2020 and 2021, he was recognized by the NH Business Review as one of New Hampshire's most influential business leaders.
Kacavas received a JD from Boston College Law School in Boston, Massachusetts; a Master in Arts in International Affairs from the American University School of International Service in Washington DC; and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from St. Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont.
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