Campaign Steering Committee

Mary G. “Midge” DeSimone ’76 
A past member of Salem State University’s Board of Trustees and Alumni Association Board of Directors, Mary G. DeSimone received her bachelor’s degree in English and is a former certified public accountant and financial analyst whose career included positions with Coopers & Lybrand, a subsidiary of Mellon Bank, and a high-tech start-up north of Boston. In the past she has served as a member of the Salem State Board of Overseers, the Planning Committee for the Salem State Wine Auction and the co-chairperson of the Parents Committee of the Salem State Day Care Center, as well as a member of the board of trustees of the Crime and Justice Foundation, and the Advisory Committee on School Renovation and Construction for the town of Swampscott.

Kim D. Gassett-Schiller ’83, ’18H
A current member of the Salem State University Foundation Board, Kim D. Gassett-Schiller graduated from Salem State University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in business administration. During her undergraduate years she was a tutor for the then-Learning Center, now the Center for Academic Excellence, and was a member of the hockey cheerleading squad. Kim began her commitment to Salem State University in 1983, on the day of her graduation with a donation of $1. In 2008, Kim and her husband Philip endowed the Gassett-Schiller Chair in Accounting and Finance in the Bertolon School of Business. The Gassett Fitness Center, which opened in the Fall of 2013, is named in honor of Kim’s parents, Harold E. and Marilyn J. Gassett. In 2018, she was a Salem State Commencement speaker and received an honorary degree during the ceremony. Kim also co-chaired the university’s first comprehensive campaign, 10,000 Reasons, and served on the Campaign Steering Committee. In 2021, Kim and Philip made a record-breaking gift to the university, with a significant portion establishing the Viking Completion Grant Endowment. She believes in supporting Salem State to provide the opportunity for others to succeed, and she hopes that by supporting Salem State, she can encourage others to give as well.

Nicole E. Goggin ’14, ’17G
Nicole graduated from the Bertolon School of Business in 2014 with a business administration degree and received her Master of Business Administration from the university in 2017. She comes from a long line of Viking alumni, with her mom and uncles all members of the Salem State community. She is a Principal Implementation Manager at Payscale, where she supports and manages the day-to-day tasks of clients as well as onboarding new clients to the platform. Outside of the alumni association, Nicole is a mentor in the College Access Program (CAP) of the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) and treasurer for the local Wicked Running Club. She is also a loyal leadership donor of the Sullivan Society. As a co-chair of the campaign, Nicole looks forward to providing her perspective as a young, diverse alumna.

Donna M. Katzman '78, '98G is a former member of the Salem State University Foundation Board and a double Viking, having received her elementary education degree in 1978 and master’s degree in early childhood education in 1998. She is an education management professional and has been a teacher at St. Clement High School, Sacred Heart School and St. Mary's Immaculate Conception in Lawrence, Mass. She also serves on the board of East Boston Central Catholic School and is a grantor of The Miriam Fund, in partnership with Combined Jewish Philanthropies,  which is composed of women who award grants to expand opportunities for women and girls. She and her husband Elliot are both campaign co-chairs who met as classmates at Chelsea High School. In addition to their involvement and enthusiasm for Salem State, the Katzmans also continue to be involved in their hometown, with longstanding ties to Chelsea Jewish Lifecare. In 2019, the Marblehead couple were honored with the renaming of the Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home to The Katzman Family Center for Living.

Elliot M. Katzman '78 is a former member of Salem State University’s Board of Trustees who earned his business administration degree in 1978. He currently serves on the BSB Advisory Board, which is made up of local business and nonprofit leaders. Elliot has more than 35 years of experience as a venture investor, founder and executive, having built some of New England’s most successful technology companies. He currently sits on the board of the Bobby Nichols foundation which supports at-risk and abused youth, and was a past trustee of St. John’s prep.  He and his wife Donna are both campaign co-chairs who met as classmates at Chelsea High School. In addition to their involvement and enthusiasm for Salem State, the Katzmans also continue to be involved in their hometown, with longstanding ties to Chelsea Jewish Lifecare. In 2019, the Marblehead couple were honored with the renaming of the Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home to The Katzman Family Center for Living.

Elisa Castillo, PhD currently serves as the associate dean of students for wellness at Salem State University and will assume the role of assistant vice president for Hispanic Serving Institution and Minority Serving Institution initiatives in July 2023.  Elisa works across the university to ensure the safety, wellbeing and overall development of students through prevention programs, advocacy and treatment and consultation with faculty and staff. She oversees the counseling and health services office, the DOJ OVW grant-funded Prevention Education Advocacy and Response (PEAR) program and the student wellness case managers. Elisa co-led the campus pandemic response during the COVID crisis and continues to provide public health guidance to the university. Elisa also co-chairs the campus’ Care and Concern Team and is leading efforts for Salem State’s emerging Hispanic Serving Institution status . Elisa joined Salem State in 2005, and in the past has served as the director of counseling and health services, assistant director and training director for counseling, psychologist and adjunct faculty member. She is a licensed psychologist in Massachusetts and a loyal supporter of crowdfunding projects that enable students’ service trips to Puerto Rico. Elisa earned her BA in psychology from the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez and her PhD in counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. She is currently serving as the president of the board of HAWC.

Jake J. Cotter '12 currently serves on the Salem State University Alumni Association Board. He received his chemistry degree from Salem State in 2012 and went on to co-found Prospective Research, Inc. in 2015 with fellow Salem State graduate Dakota Hamil ’12. Jake served as the president and COO of the company, which develops disease management solutions for the aquaculture industry. Most recently, he serves as a global vertical marketing manager for ZwitterCo based in Woburn, Mass. As a member of the campaign steering committee, Jake encourages young alumni like him to give back to their alma mater.

Annalisa C. Di Palma is currently the chair of the Salem State University Foundation, Inc. board and owner of bREAL Health & Fitness Coaching. She is a certified health coach, fitness trainer and running coach with a specific focus in plant-based nutrition and global food systems. Annalisa began her career at Internet technology start-up companies, and for nearly a decade she held a variety of roles in public relations, analyst relations and corporate marketing. Annalisa is as passionate about her philanthropic endeavors as she is about her fitness and wellness work. She has served in volunteer leadership roles with organizations like The Food Project, UNICEF and Girls, Inc., of Lynn (past board president), and brings extensive experience in board governance, fundraising and strategic planning to the non-profit sector. She received her BA from Boston College and her M.B.A. from Northeastern University.  Annalisa and her husband Dino are both members of the campaign steering committee and have been loyal friends of Salem State University for many years. In honor of Annalisa’s mother, Carol A. Ouellette, a 1960 and 1966G graduate of Salem State, the couple created the Ouelette-Di Palma Family Internship Scholarship to benefit students in paid internships. 

Dino Di Palma  is currently a Managing Partner at TrueNorth Advisory. Previously he served as BroadSoft’s chief revenue officer responsible for the company’s entire global sales and business development efforts.  Broadsoft was acquired by Cisco.  He left to become president of the Americas & Strategic Accounts at Avaya, which specializes in cloud communications and workstream collaboration tools. Previously, he was CEO of Emissary and CEO of edge network supplier Benu Networks and Chief Operating Officer (founding team member)  of  Acme Packet which was acquired by Oracle.   Dino is also a member of G20 Ventures, which provides early traction capital for east coast enterprise startups, and is board chair of one of the G20 portfolio companies Emissary.   Dino received his BA from McGill University & a Masters in Business & Public Administration.  Dino and his wife Annalisa are both members of the campaign steering committee and have been loyal friends of Salem State University for many years. In honor of Annalisa’s mother, Carol A. Ouellette, a 1960 and 1966G graduate of Salem State, the couple created the Ouelette-Di Palma Family Internship Scholarship to benefit students in paid internships.  Currently, he serves on the BSB Advisory Board for the Bertolon School of Business.

Ryan Fisher, PhD is a professor of biology at Salem State University. He revels in teaching both majors and non-majors biology students from the freshmen level all the way up to the senior level. Courses include the First Year Seminar, Invertebrate Zoology and the Biology Seminar. Ryan is passionate about drawing in the non-major biology student to the exciting world of biology and improving the undergraduate experience in this discipline both within Salem State and across public higher education in Massachusetts. He is a marine biologist whose research interests are the microscopic animals (the ‘meiobenthos’) that live in marine sediments. He has been chair of the biology department (2013-2019), is the chair of the Darwin Festival Committee and  is an active member of the Earth Day Committee. In addition to his work at Salem State, Ryan enjoys the outdoors, sports and spending time with his family.

Arthur T. Gerald, Jr. '12H is a retired Salem State staff member, serving as associate dean of students and director of minority affairs during his 38 years at the university. He currently serves as the pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, Mass. He began his career at Salem State in 1972 as an advisor to the African American Student Association, becoming director of minority affairs in 1973. His desire to create a more diverse and multicultural campus resulted in grant-funded programs that included Alternatives for Individual Development (AID) and the TRIO programs (Upward Bound, McNair and student support services), bringing in over $30 million in funds in support of student success. In 1980, he was named the associate dean of academic affairs, and prior to retiring in 2009, he and his wife Henrietta ’75 endowed the Arthur T. Gerald, Jr. Scholarship Fund to continue his work of helping students of diverse backgrounds attend, succeed and realize their dreams at Salem State. He received an honorary degree from Salem State in 2012 and was given the university’s MLK Award in 2010.

Bernard M. “Bernie” Gordon '85H has often been called the father of modern analog-to-digital conversion for his many contributions to the communication and medical instrumentation technologies. He holds over 100 U.S. patents and many more worldwide related to breakthrough technologies, including instant imaging CT scanning and digital Doppler radar. He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in electrical engineering from MIT and has numerous honorary doctorates, including one from Salem State University in 1985. Bernie has a deep interest in education, and in 1984 created the Gordon Institute, a graduate-level program for career engineers. At Salem State, he and his wife Sophia have been loyal donors. The Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts is named after her. He previously served on the Campaign Steering Committee for Salem State’s first comprehensive campaign, 10,000 Reasons. He is now the chairman of the board of Photo Diagnostic Systems, Inc., and is the founder and former chairman of the Analogic Corp. He has also served on the boards of Tufts University and the Lahey Clinic.

Kathleen A. “Kathy” Murphy '75, PhD is a past member of the Salem State University Board of Trustees and past member of the Salem State University Foundation, Inc. She is a retired executive and owner of Chi Solutions, a clinical laboratory consulting and management firm focused on delivering revenue growth, cost savings and optimized operations for hospitals, health systems and hospital-owned independent laboratories. Kathy is the author of The Profit Machine in the Hospital Basement: Turning Your Lab Into an Economic Engine and a noted speaker in the medical laboratory field. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Salem State in 1975 and went on to get her master’s degree and doctorate degree in microbiology and immunology at the University of North Dakota. At Salem State, Kathy has established the Dr. Kathy Murphy ’75 Biology Strategic Endowment and Dr. Kathy Murphy ’76 Scholarship Fund to support biology students at Salem State, as well as innovation funds for the biology department.

John C. Pastore, Jr. ’94, CRPC graduated from Salem State University in 1994 with a degree in business; in his time at Salem State he served as both Student Government President, Student Member of the Board of Trustees. After graduation he stayed connected to his alma mater as former chair of the Salem State University Foundation, Inc., Board and past presidents of the Salem State Alumni Association Board and Bertolon School of Business Advisory Board. In 2005, he was a guest speaker at the Agganis Business Speaker Forum. A private wealth manager with over 20 years of industry experience, John specializes in working with high-net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals and business owners. John was listed in Boston Magazine as a Five Star Wealth Manager from 2014-Present. He is a founding member of Integrated Financial Partners (Integrated) and developed the company’s industry-recognized Alliance Program, a dynamic co-source model that partners financial advisors with CPAs & Attorneys. He currently serves as senior vice president and private wealth manager and fiduciary, in which he oversees a highly successful Wealth Management Practice.

Philip M. “Phil” Ricciardiello ’19H Dedicated Salem State advocates, Dr. Philip “Phil” Ricciardiello and his wife, Dr. Joanne ’68, received honorary degrees from the university  in 2019. Creating the largest active alumni group outside of Salem, the Ricciardiellos have hosted alumni and friends of southwest Florida for over a decade and are proud leadership donors in the Crosby and Sullivan Societies. The O’Keefe Sports Complex is named in tribute to Joanne’s late father, and the Ricciardiello Atrium, located inside the O’Keefe, is named in honor of Joanne and Phil. Phil, a Salem native, retired after a successful career in business, most recently as chairman and owner of O’Keefe Chevrolet in Ipswich, Mass. He has been a resident of Naples, Fla. for 25 years.

Cindy Vincent, PhD is an associate professor in the department of media and communication at Salem State University. Her academic interests include civic and participatory media, equitable community engagement, community relations and media literacy. Cindy’s research investigates the utilization of civic media to facilitate self-empowerment, agency and civic engagement within historically marginalized populations. She also examines the use of dissent in democratic participation for negotiation of political power and social change. She is a founding steering member of the New England Equity and Engagement Consortium and associate editor for the Journal of Communication Technology. She also serves as the Salem State University faculty fellow for the Honors Program and the co-advisor of the Salem State University chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America.