Tech Foundry Announces New Slate of Board Members

SPRINGFIELD — Tech Foundry, the regional leader in IT workforce development and training, announced the appointment of 12 new members to its board of trustees. Hailing from a wide variety of professional backgrounds and including an alumnus of the organization’s 18‐week IT support training program, the new slate of directors represents the diversity of the communities served by Tech Foundry.

The organization welcomes Paul Nicholson (treasurer), Finance director at Wellfleet Insurance, and Briana Dawkins (clerk), associate attorney at Litchfield Cavo LLP in Simsbury, Conn. They join veteran officers Mike Walker (chair), retired financial-services professional at MassMutual Financial Group, and Delcie Bean (founder and immediate past chair), CEO of Paragus Strategic IT.

New directors include Jay Ash, CEO of Mass Competitive Partnership; Everton Chin, director of IT at Travelers; Damon DePaolo, director of Human Risk Management at MassMutual; Samalid Hogan, CEO and principal consultant at Greylock Management Consulting; Xiaolei Hua, first vice president at PeoplesBank; Cindy Knowles, Strategy & Change Management lead at MassMutual; George Timmons, president of Holyoke Community College; and Hector Toledo, commercial lender and vice president at New Valley Bank

Patrick Streck, president and founder of Estli Consulting, returns to Tech Foundry after serving on the original board of advisors from 2013 to 2021.

Salam (Sam) Zebian, Information Protection senior advisor at Cigna, graduated from Tech Foundry in 2017 and has been volunteering with the organization as a guest speaker since then.

They join veteran board members Greg Bialecki, principal at Redgate; Ann McFarland Burke, owner of Ann McFarland Burke Consultancy; Dawn Creighton, Community Outreach officer at Liberty Bank; and Dianne Fuller Doherty, one of the original founders of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts.

“It’s incredibly exciting and humbling to have such a diverse and impressive group of professionals leading Tech Foundry during this time of innovation and growth,” said Tricia Canavan, CEO of Tech Foundry. “We look forward to the board’s continued leadership as we celebrate 10 years of impact in Massachusetts, both on a small and large scale.

“Tech Foundry connects individuals to technical training for quality, living‐wage jobs, but we also support the very foundation of the Massachusetts economy,” she added. “We do this by filling critical employment gaps throughout the Commonwealth with diverse talent who have been historically marginalized from the IT field. Our expanded board will be critical in ensuring that our next 10 years of operations — and beyond — drive equitable workforce and economic-development goals throughout Massachusetts.”