DiLorenzo Hits 'Silver Spoon Shaheen' As Questions Persist About Her ARMI Work

By Leonard Robinson, NH Journal

In her federally required financial disclosure, Stefany Shaheen says she was the “Chief Strategy Officer” for New Hampshire businessman Dean Kamen’s Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI).

According to its federal tax filings, ARMI reported paying Stefany Shaheen more than $921,000 from 2018 through 2024.

On ARMI’s LinkedIn page, the company has a photo of Shaheen and a message, dated June 2023, declaring “Congratulations to Stefany Shaheen, Chief Strategy Officer of Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute, on being sworn into the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, & Nutrition!”

But go to Shaheen’s LinkedIn page today, and you won’t find any mention of her time at ARMI. It’s not even listed under “Experience,” where previous employment is typically posted.

Why? Perhaps it’s because of reporting about tens of millions of dollars in grants supported by Shaheen’s mother, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and funneled to ARMI. Or perhaps it’s because Kamen has been outed as a close associate of convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein during the time Stefany Shaheen was his Chief Strategy Officer.

For Anthony DiLorenzo, Shaheen’s GOP opponent in the NH-01 race, the real issue is resumes. He believes his experience as a college dropout who’s created multi-million businesses with more than 1,000 employees gives him the leadership and know-how to be an effective member of Congress.

As for his opponent, on Thursday DiLorenzo’s campaign released a new ad mocking “Silver Spoon Shaheen” as “everything that’s wrong with Washington.

“She’s never had to work for anything. From that absurd, 44-million-dollar grant her mom arranged, to running for Congress on her last name alone.”

DiLorenzo’s ad comes in response to an attack from Shaheen and her Democratic allies accusing him of failing to fully disclose his wealth and business interests in required federal filings. They also announced plans to file a complain with federal election officials over loans DiLorenzo received from a car dealership he founded, around the time he lent money to his campaign, which they claim constituted prohibited corporate campaign contributions.

DiLorenzo punched right back, hitting Shaheen on the nepo baby allegation.

“Anthony DiLorenzo has never run away from his business success. Nor has he run away from the fact that he set up trusts in New Hampshire to protect his businesses, his family that he loves beyond measure, and charitable causes he cares about,” said campaign spokesman Luke Wilt.

“Unlike Stefany Shaheen, whose company received a highly unethical $44 million grant from the federal government after ‘persistent advocacy’ from her mother. That money was from the U.S. taxpayer and directly paid Stefany’s salary.”

While there is no evidence that the grant money Sen. Shaheen advocated for went directly to pay her daughter for the work at ARMI, the public record is clear: The elder Shaheen worked hard to get Kamen the cash, and Kamen paid her daughter well.

During a July 2023 visit to Manchester, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo highlighted a $44 million federal award to the city’s biofabrication initiative. NHPR reported that Raimondo gave Sen. Shaheen a shoutout for her role in getting funding to ARMI.

“Long story short, we were overwhelmed with interest. We had hundreds of applicants, and you guys rose to the top,” said Raimondo. She added, jokingly, that she “heard a lot from Sen. Shaheen, so maybe that had something to do with it? But we will leave that aside.”

At the same event, the senator was asked whether advocating for the project while her daughter received compensation presented a potential conflict.

“She’s being paid by ARMI, not by the government,” Sen. Shaheen replied.

Critics of the Shaheen-ARMI-Shaheen funding pipeline ask what Stefany Shaheen actually did for Kamen’s company that was worth a six-figure annual payment.

Shaheen addressed the funding issue in an April interview with The Dartmouth.

“I was never paid with federal funding. I raised philanthropic money to support specific research projects,” she said.

Asked which projects, however, she declined to respond.

And ARMI’s own books show very little private money raised from any sources.

In 2024, the institute reported $41.5 million in revenue, and $38.8 million of it, about 93 percent, came from government grants. All other sources came to roughly $1.2 million. That includes every foundation, corporate, and individual gift, not just any money Shaheen may have raised.

Because the public record does not include a documented accounting of Stefany Shaheen’s fundraising results or records tracing the funding source of her compensation, those gaps leave questions about her work unresolved: What funding did she secure? Which projects benefited? What money paid her consulting fees? What considerations led Kamen to hire her?

And why was ARMI “disappeared” from her LinkedIn page? Was it related to the release of the so-called Epstein Files and news about Kamen’s relationship with Epstein going public?

The ARMI questions predate her congressional campaign.

A November 2023 investigation by NHPR and APM Reports documented the financial relationships between ARMI and Kamen’s private businesses. It reported that at least $34 million in project funding was flowing to businesses he controlled through grants, rent and building improvements.

Nonprofit governance experts raised concerns about transparency and Kamen’s overlapping roles. ARMI disputed parts of the investigation, defended its practices and said its rents were at or below market rates. It also said federal agencies selected a significant portion of the grants that ARMI administered to Kamen’s DEKA.

Meanwhile, DiLorenzo is highlighting his career as a self-made businessman.

“I’ve built everything from scratch, created over 1,000 jobs, and have given back to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and support our veterans for over 30 years,” DiLorenzo said Thursday.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.