Staff

Gina M. Cappello, MBE
Vice Chancellor
617.287.5335
gina.cappello@umb.edu

Gina has served UMass Boston since 2006, supporting the advancement effort first as assistant vice chancellor for major gifts, then as associate vice chancellor and senior director of leadership and capital giving, and from September 2010 to January 2012 as interim vice chancellor.

During her time as interim vice chancellor, she and her team compiled an impressive record: in FY 2011, they organized more than 20 events, secured 410 visits, submitted 73 grant proposals, confirmed 5 new members of the Lampas planned giving society, and raised more than $4,500,000 in gifts and pledges, a figure more than twice its FY 2010 equivalent.

She earned her undergraduate degree in journalism from Northeastern University, and her graduate degree in business education from Southern New Hampshire University. Over the years, she has been active in Women in Development, the Planned Giving Group of New England, and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

John Feeley, UMass Amherst '94
Associate Vice Chancellor
University Advancement
617.287.4513
john.feeley@umb.edu

John brings to UMass Boston more than 15 years of fundraising management experience.  Most recently, John was the director of campaigns, major and planned giving at South Shore hospital where he helped successfully complete a $40 million capital campaign. 

Prior to his work in healthcare administration, John was the assistant vice president of institutional advancement at Dean College in Franklin, MA and held several director of development roles at Northeastern University during the university's $200 million capital campaign, the largest in its history.

John is a proud UMass-Amherst alumnus class of 1994 and holds a graduate certificate degree in non-profit management from Northeastern. John resides in Scituate with his wife and two children.
 

Elizabeth Freedman Doherty
Associate Vice Chancellor
Alumni Relations and the UMass Boston Fund
617.287.5339
elizabeth.doherty@umb.edu

Carolyn Flynn, MA, JD
Director of Gift Planning, UMass Foundation
877-775-1992 (toll free)
CFlynn@umassp.edu

Carolyn believes in UMass Boston’s mission of providing access to an affordable, first rate public education. More fundamentally, she thinks education is integral to solving world problems by creating forums for intellectual and cultural discourse. A member of the Massachusetts Bar, Carolyn has worked in private practice in the area of trusts and estates for many years. In addition, she served as director of planned giving at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, where she advised alumni on estate planning issues relevant to charitable giving and assisted with the management of the college’s planned giving assets. Carolyn received her J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law. She also holds an M.A. in public policy from the University of Chicago and studied comparative law and economics at Rijks Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands.

Carol Kelley
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Special Projects
Director of Development for the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD)
617.287.7597
carol.kelley@umb.edu

Carol returns to the UMass Boston campus where in 2005 she served as special assistant to the chancellor for external relations. She spent several years at the UMass president’s office as assistant vice president of public affairs and operations and later as associate vice president for university advancement and strategic communications working primarily in business and marketing operations, development and marketing support. Prior to joining the University of Massachusetts, Carol held positions in sales and marketing in the high tech industry and later worked in the transportation and construction sectors on business mitigation and in developing strategic partnerships between corporations and public agencies that were intended to establish a more inclusive workforce.

David Magnani, MEd, EdD, UMass Amherst, 72, '76
Assistant Vice Chancellor
Corporate and Foundation Relations
617.287.4514
david.magnani@umb.edu

 Dave Magnani feels privileged to bring his skills and commitment to the profoundly important mission of UMass Boston which offers access to excellence to its diverse student body. He came to UMass Boston with a broad and diverse background in fundraising and development.  His first grant was from UNESCO for a van to travel to remote villages as a teacher trainer in science while serving in Sierra Leone as a Peace Corps volunteer. He then raised money for building a community school in Ashland, MA.  Later he spent eight years raising funds for the Citizen Involvement Training Project at UMass Amherst as its director while also serving as an adjunct assistant professor of education. He later served with his spouse, Nanette, as Peace Corps staff while training science teachers in Kenya.

Dave spent the next 20 years raising funds for his own career as an elected official which included eight years in the Massachusetts House and twelve in the Massachusetts Senate where he chaired the education committee and the science and technology committees. During the last four years he again took on the key development role as founding executive director for the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, the statewide trade association for nonprofits. Dave holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Northeastern, master’s and doctoral degrees in education from UMass Amherst and an MPA, from Harvard.

Anne Kelly-Contini, MPA, UMass Amherst '77
Director of Development
College of Liberal Arts 
617.287.4512
anne.kellycontini@umb.edu

Anne began her college career as an English major at UMass Boston and came back in 2012 to apply her well-honed fundraising and diplomacy skills to the place she loves. Raised in the Mattapan neighborhood of Boston, Anne is reminded over and over again how the UMass Boston experience has guided her—and others—in the paths and directions that life takes. An advocate for the liberal arts, Anne concurs with former UN Ambassador Barbara M. White, "the basic purpose of a liberal arts education is to liberate the human being to exercise his or her potential to the fullest."

Anne’s diverse experience in advancement began in national politics (as fund-raising aide for Dukakis for President) and has spanned both non-profits and the private sector over the last two decades. As SVP of the American Cancer Society (MA), Anne was a key player in the capital campaign that raised $25 million and provided the impetus for the society’s AstraZeneca Hope Lodge Boston.

She also served as VP for Development at the VNA of Boston, a development consultant for Physicians for Human Rights, and a consultant to the Massachusetts Health Care Reform Coalition. She was a visiting fellow at the Center for Social Policy at UMass Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Politics and Global Studies from 2009-2011.

Kelly Westerhouse, MS
Director, UMass Boston Fund
617.287.5342
kelly.westerhouse@umb.edu

Kelly Westerhouse remembers well the moment when she realized the power — and promise — of her work at UMass Boston. While creating a video of scholarship recipients to share with alumni and friends at year-end, she recognized “the amazing tapestry of lives that the university influences.” The value of her contribution became clear to her when a donor who had viewed the video contacted the Vice Chancellor and said, “These are the types of people I want to support,” and subsequently made a gift of $25,000 to scholarships. Kelly’s passion for fundraising was cultivated through thirteen years at Harvard University, where she contributed to multiple advancement functions including the Harvard College and Graduate School Funds, development operations, stewardship, and events. She began her career at Continental Cablevision and holds an M.S. in communications management from Simmons College and a B.F.A. in creative writing from Emerson College.

Ellen Fleming
Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations
617.287.5327
ellen.fleming@umb.edu

When Ellen Fleming joined the University Advancement staff in 2007, it was a professional homecoming. She had developed her fundraising expertise at the University of Massachusetts Foundation in the mid-1990s. At the Foundation, the private entity which manages the endowment for the five-campus University of Massachusetts system, she worked in stewardship and communications, managed fundraising operations for special events, and produced the university’s first Night at the Pops at Symphony Hall in 2001. Most recently, she worked in healthcare advancement as development officer at Caritas Norwood Hospital. “I love working at UMass Boston,” Ellen says, “when our donors see the difference they can make in realizing our students’ aspirations and our faculty’s dreams, it's deeply rewarding.” Ellen has a bachelor of arts degree, cum laude, in American civilization from Middlebury College. Active in the community, she has volunteered with the Posse Foundation and the John F. Kennedy Library, and is a member of Women in Development of Greater Boston.

Nan Cormier, MA
Director, Advancement Communications
617-287-5326
nanette.cormier@umb.edu

"I've been to the 'mountaintop' of American higher education," having studied and worked at Ivy League institutions, but believes that "the public purposes of higher education are more remarkably served at institutions like UMass Boston," says Nan Cormier, who oversees communications and marketing for university advancement. She is the author of University Advancement's popular blog, Reaching Higher: Philanthropy Transforming a Public University.

Nan has worked in university fundraising and non-profit administration since 1985. In higher education, Nan has worked at Boston College, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Weston Jesuit School of Theology, an international graduate school. Beyond higher education, she contributed to advancing the Boston Museum of Science and Primary Source, an organization devoted to educating K – 12 teachers about world cultures. Nan had the formative experience of teaching urban first graders in Jersey City, NJ, in 1983, and has been devoted to strengthening educational opportunity ever since.

The daughter of a UMass Lowell (Lowell Tech) graduate, and a lifelong public community college educator, she received her A.B. in English from Smith College and a master’s degree in higher education administration from Boston College. She has also studied at Dartmouth College, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Salem State University. An avid swimmer, Nan relishes her daily laps in UMass Boston's gorgeous pool and is studying Spanish.

Tamara Belmonte, MS
Director of Development
College of Nursing and Health Sciences
617.287.5381
tamara.belmonte@umb.edu

Tamara Belmonte joined the UMass Boston Advancement Office as Director of Development for the College of Nursing and Health Science in June 2012.  Prior to arriving at UMass, Tamara spent four and a half years at Boston College where she served as an Associate Director of Special Gifts.  During her time at BC, Tamara focused on increasing leadership annual giving, particularly membership in the Gasson Society (annual gifts of $10,000+), in the greater New York City and Philadelphia regions. 

From 2005 through 2007, Tamara was the Development Officer at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children where she launched their young professionals group and helped implement a major gifts program.  She began her career in fundraising directly out of college at the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Boston Lyric Opera and in 1996 began focusing primarily in major gifts as Assistant Director of Development at Choate Rosemary Hall. Tamara has also spent time in the for-profit sector working at Fiduciary Trust Company while pursuing an advanced degree.

Tamara received her B.A. in French and history from Tufts University and holds a M.S. in Administrative Studies from Boston College.  She has been a member of the Junior League since 1996 and has recently served on the Program Committee of Women and Development of Greater Boston.

Paula Popeo, JD, UMass Amherst ‘74
Director of Development
College of Science and Mathematics
617.287.5334
paula.popeo@umb.edu

Paula oversees fundraising and alumni affairs for the College of Science and Mathematics having previously served in this role at the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and prior to that, Director of Stewardship. A graduate of UMass Amherst and Suffolk University Law School, Paula came to the UMass system as the first membership director for the launch of The University of Massachusetts Club. Paula began her career in law, and later worked in public affairs and events management at WCVB TV, the Peabody Essex Museum and the Canadian Consulate. “I love being part of UMass Boston at a time when we are “on the move.” With planned new campus infrastructure and increasing national recognition for academic excellence, I can’t think of a more exciting place to be.

Loren Van Allen, UMass Amherst '91
Director of Development
College of Management
617.287.5340
loren.vanallen@umb.edu

As an alumna of UMass, working at UMass Boston, the city’s only public university has special meaning for Loren Van Allen. She is "excited about the growth occurring at UMass Boston today and about the plans underway for the future.”  Van Allen began her development career in 1996 at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts where she managed annual giving for young alumni, the student and volunteer phonathon programs, and the senior class gift.  She spent nearly 5 years at Andover and participated in the largest comprehensive campaign ever embarked upon by a secondary school at the time. In 2000, Loren became associate director of annual giving at Brandeis University where she further developed and broadened her professional expertise, successfully building reunion giving committees and programs.

After two years at Brandeis, Loren moved to the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2002.  Spending over 9 years at the MIT Sloan School, she took on increasing fundraising responsibility for unrestricted gifts, first in the capacity as associate director of reunion giving, and later as Director of Annual and Reunion Giving. At MIT Sloan, Loren managed all aspects of the annual fund and has extensive experience in volunteer management, annual campaign planning, donor cultivation and personal solicitation. 

Casey Gavin MBA '12
Director for Alumni Relations
617.287.5344
casey.gavin@umb.edu

Casey Gavin joined University Advancement in 2009. A graduate of Saint Anselm College, she began her work in the nonprofit sector during her senior year through an internship at Easter Seals Society of New Hampshire.  Prior to UMass Boston, Casey served as special events coordinator at Carney Hospital in Dorchester and worked in event sales at F1 Boston. “I enjoy working in alumni relations because you see how UMass Boston transforms lives on a daily basis,” says Casey earned her M.B.A. in fundraising and nonprofit management at the College of Management.

Vanessa DiCarlo, MA '11
Director of Stewardship
617.287.5328
vanessa.dicarlo@umb.edu

Vanessa DiCarlo first joined the University of Massachusetts Boston family in 2008 as the Development Assistant to the UMass Boston Fund. Since that time, she has been associated with the Collaborative Institute for Oceans, Climate and Security, the Center for Governance and Sustainability, and the Conflict Resolution program. Through these endeavors, she began working with topics related to policy, climate change, environmental governance, and sustainability. After completing her Master of Arts in Conflict Resolution through the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies in June 2011, Vanessa rejoined University Advancement as the Director of Stewardship. Having worked and studied in the trenches of UMass Boston, Vanessa hopes to provide donors with a multidimensional understanding of how their generosity positively impacts the University. A native Californian, Vanessa received her Bachelor of Arts from Santa Clara University.

Steven Ward '93
Annual Giving Officer
University Advancement
617.287.5346
steven.ward@umb.edu

Looking for a “second chance” in life, Steve attended the Developmental Studies Program (DSP) in the summer of 1988 and  earned his Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude in Asian American Studies and Sociology in 1993. As a UMass Boston alumnus, Steve understands the sacrifices our students make to achieve their dream of a college education. Helping raise funds to support these students is very rewarding. “Each time I helped a donor establish an endowed scholarship, I felt a great sense of pride because I knew more students would have the same 'chances' I had,” he says, Steve has provided support to most areas of the advancement office during his tenure including the student phonathon, annual giving, alumni relations and major gifts.  “I enjoy learning how all the pieces fit together and how one area complements another,” says Ward. Away from the office, Steve chairs the board of his condominium association as well as Odaiko New England, a Japanese taiko drumming organization.