St. Thomas Aquinas College is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr. Dominic D’Adamo as Chair of the Board of Trustees, and new Vice Chairs Dr. Jack Kopnisky, Executive Chairman of Webster Financial Corporation, and Ms. Irene Pappas, President of BNY Mellon Retail Services and President of BNY Mellon Transfer Agency Inc., as well as the addition of three new Trustees elected to the Board of Trustees for a four-year term as of July 2023.

Mr. Dominic (Dom) D’Adamo previously served as the Board’s Vice Chair and is a retired Senior Financial Executive with broad-based experience in finance and accounting in the Financial Services, Risk Management & Insurance Broking, Managed Care, and Life Insurance Industries. Dominic served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army (Infantry), and during his tour in the Republic of South Korea was awarded the Imjin Scout Insignia for commendable participation in operational missions in and along the Korean DMZ.

Dominic holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Master of Business Administration in Finance and Investments from Baruch College.

“We are thrilled to announce Dom as our new Chair, who will work closely with Vice Chairs Dr. Jack Kopnisky and Ms. Irene Pappas, while welcoming three new members to our Board,” said St. Thomas Aquinas College President Ken Daly. “They each bring innovative new perspectives and a tireless commitment to a transformative education so that our students will flourish and thrive – igniting their passions to make a profound difference in the world.”

The new Trustees include: Ms. Natasha Deschene of National Grid, Mr. James (Jim) McCue formerly of Citibank, and Mr. William (Bill) Madden ‘81 of Veolia North America. 

Ms. Natasha Deschene 
Ms. Natasha Deschene is the Vice President of Electric Asset Management and Engineering for New York at National Grid. In that role she has responsibility for asset management, planning, and engineering for both the transmission and distribution system. Natasha has led various initiatives related to resiliency, capital efficiencies, and the clean energy transition on both the transmission and distribution system. She has been with National Grid for 13 years, previously serving as the Vice President of Electrical Systems Engineering and as the Director of Electric Transmission Engineering. 

Natasha has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she was a member of the women’s basketball team, an M.B.A. from Bentley University, a P.E. License in Massachusetts, and an Asset Management Certificate from the Institute of Asset Management. 

Mr. William (Bill) Madden ’81 
Mr. William (Bill) Madden is currently the Director of New York Communications and Government Affairs for Veolia North America (previously SUEZ Water). Previously, Bill was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Focus Media, Inc., President of Madden Communications & Marketing, and worked within corporate communications at KPMG. Prior to those roles, he was a Sports Editor and Managing Editor with The Journal News. Bill is a Board Member for Cornell Cooperative Extension, Board Member at Rockland Business Association, Vice Chair of Leadership Rockland, and Vice Chair of North Rockland High School Academy of Finance Advisory Board. 

William holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from St. Thomas Aquinas College.

Mr. James (Jim) McCue
Mr. James (Jim) McCue spent a 36-year career in various managing director leadership roles at Citibank, and most recently as the former Citi Shared Service Asia Pacific/Japan Head and Finance and Risk Shared Service Manila Head. Previously, Jim served as the Deputy Controller and Data Process and Infrastructure CCAR workstream, Deputy Controller and Head of Corporate And Regulatory Reporting, and Chief Administrative Officer at Nikko Citigroup Ltd.. 

Jim is a graduate of St. Francis College and currently resides in Manalapan, NJ.

The Board of Trustees has also announced that Mrs. Virginia Ripp ‘73 will continue to hold the position of Secretary and welcomes back Dr. James Mooney, former Chairman of Virgin Media Inc. after a planned one year leave. The Board of Trustees is also thankful for the service of our former Trustees who are leaving as of July 2023: Chair Peter Skae, Sr. Mary Murray, O.P., and Sr. Peggy Scarano, O.P. ‘70. Chair Skae recently announced the donation of the “Eye to the Sky” SKAE Astronomy Center on campus, which will include a state-of-the-art Telescope Observatory, as well as a classroom for astronomy and astrophysics programming. President Daly noted: “We are so grateful to Chair Skae for his dedicated leadership of the College and his incredible generosity and stewardship.”