Mr. Blais joined the Board of Trustees in September of 2010 and was reappointed to a second five-year term in November of 2015.

He is a product of public higher education receiving both his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Framingham State College. He has held various positions throughout Worcester County including Assistant Town Manager of Arlington, a Member of the Board of Selectmen for the Town of Auburn, for the city of Worcester he served as Deputy Development Officer, the Acting Chief Development Officer and the Director of Economic Development. Mr. Blais is presently the President and CEO of Worcester Business Development Corporation.

He was recently elected Chair of the Board of Trustees and will serve as an Ex-Officio voting member of all sub-committees.

Aleta M. Fazzone is Director, Community & Customer Management, for National Grid based in Worcester, Massachusetts. In her position, Ms. Fazzone oversees customer and community relationships throughout her jurisdiction in central western Massachusetts.

Prior to joining National Grid in 1998, she was employed by GE’s Transmission & Distribution Systems Sales Business where she held a variety of sales and marketing management positions focusing on the electric utility industry. She also has utility experience with both the Pacific Gas & Electric Company based in San Francisco, California, and the Pennsylvania Power Company, now part of First Energy.

Ms. Fazzone earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and completed the Utility Executive Course at the University of Idaho. A native of Castle, Pennsylvania, she has lived in central Massachusetts for more than 15 years.

She is a graduate of the Leadership Worcester Program and serves on several local boards including the Worcester Research Bureau, the Worcester Business Development Corporation and MassEcon. She is also involved with the Worcester Education Collaborative.

Ms. Fazzone was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2014 and serves on the Finance & Facilities Committee.

Ms. Hammond was appointed to the Board of Trustees in October of 2012. She was elected by the Alumni Association’s Advisory Board as their representative.

She earned her bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from Worcester State. As public educator, she served as a teacher, a Health Curriculum Coordinator, a Conflict Mediation Trainer and Program Coordinator, and Assistant Principal at Lake Street School and the Wire Village School in Spencer, Massachusetts.

She was elected Vice Chair of the Board, representative to the Foundation Board, and serves as Chair of the Human Resources Committee and the Planning and Development Committee.

Karen LaFond is an officer of the firm Fletcher Tilton and a member of the firm’s Transactional Group. She concentrates her practice in commercial lending and also practices in business, corporate law, and commercial real estate law. She earned a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School and a B.S. from the University of New Hampshire. She was named among the top Massachusetts lawyers by Boston Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine.  Karen is a resident of Worcester, Massachusetts, and was appointed to the Board of Trustees in November of 2015.

Ms. LaFond joined the WSU Board in November of 2015 and serves as the chair of the Academic and Student Development Committee and also sits on the Human Resources Committee.

Mr. Madaus is a Worcester resident and is a Partner in the law firm of Mirick O’Connell. A graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Suffolk University School of Law, he provides advice and counsel in various areas of municipal law, including public bidding and procurement.

He represents both public and private owners and currently serves as the co-chair of the Worcester County Bar Association’s Municipal Law Section.

Mr. Madaus has served as town counsel, special town counsel or deputy town counsel for four towns, two water districts and two school departments. He represented two Massachusetts public charter schools relative to significant school construction projects and represented a local college in obtaining zoning approvals and permits for the construction of a new residence hall and parking garage.

He is active in the community serving on the Massachusetts Bar and Court Admissions, the City Solicitors and Town Counsel Association, the American Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Worcester County Bar Association.

He was appointed in 2013 and serves as an elected representative to the Foundation Board, and a member of the Academic & Student Development Committee and the Finance & Facilities  Committee.

Mr. Madaus was recently elected Vice Chair of the Board and continues to serve as an elected representative to the Foundation Board, a member of the Academic & Student Development Committee and the Finance & Facilities Committee.

Dina Nichols is a graduate of Lesley University and is a full-time licensed Massachusetts real estate salesperson with Andrew Abu Realtors. She was a Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare Social Worker for over six years, after which she had a successful career in human resources for a Boston-based financial services company. Dina has had broad experience serving on many boards, currently serving on the Worcester Academy Board of Visitors and the Shrewsbury Development Corporation. In addition, Dina is a 15 -year elected town meeting member in her home town of Shrewsbury.

Ms. Nichols joined the WSU Board of Trustees in December of 2015 and serves on both the Human Resources Committee and the Finance and Facilities Committee.

Manuel Reyes-Ponce is entering his senior year at Worcester State University, majoring in business administration with a concentration in management.

A dedicated and enthusiastic student leader, he served as president of Third World Alliance for two years and is an event chair for the group this year. He is a peer mentor for the Office of Multicultural Affairs and a student representative on the Campus Climate Committee and the Bias Incident Response Team.

He also is a Class of 2020 Committee member and program coordinator for the WSU Young Men’s Group. Additionally, he will represent his fellow students on the WSU Board of Trustees during the 2019-2020 academic year.

Manny plans to continue his education at Worcester State through a 4+1 program offering a Master of Science in Management with a concentration in leadership.

Marina Taylor is Vice President for Commercial Lending for UniBank Savings in Whitinsville, Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Nassau Community College, Garden City, New York and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Dowling College in Oakdale, New York. Marina is a resident of Sutton, Massachusetts, and was appointed in November of 2015.

Ms. Taylor joined the WSU Board of Trustees in November of 2015 and serves on both the Human Resources Committee and the Finance and Facilities Committee.

Mr. Tuttle was appointed to the Board of Trustees in June of 2016.

He is a graduate of WSU earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. Presently, he is employed as the Superintendent/Special Sheriff at the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department in West Boylston, Massachusetts, previously serving as the Chief Deputy Sheriff, and has been employed there since 2011 to the present. He also served as the Executive Director of the Molly Bish Center & Government Relations at Anna Maria College; the State Director for Rural Development for the US Department of Agriculture in Amherst, MA; State Representative for the 5th Worcester District for the Massachusetts General Court from 1997-2001; and served from 1993 to 1996 as a Congressional Aide for the 3rd Congressional District of the United States House of Representatives. Mr. Tuttle also served from 2006 to 2016 as a Selectman for the town of Barre, serving on the finance committee as chair. A member of the United States Army eserves/Massachusetts Army National Guard, he served as an infantry medic and as a leader provided supervision and oversight of a six-person medical squad.