Visiting Angels West Springfield Names Melissa Paciulli Interim Director
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Visiting Angels of West Springfield recently welcomed Melissa Paciulli as interim director. She brings a strong background in leadership, innovation, education, and technology, with a focus on AI integration. She has more than two decades of experience in business consulting and offers a combination of visionary leadership, technological understanding, operational expertise, and a deep commitment to improving lives through human and computer systems.
As a researcher, Paciulli has recently been working on developing technology to support older adults aging in place and navigate giving up their keys. She recently obtained a certification in national e-digital health strategies through the World Health Organization that focuses on developing systems using technology to support older drivers aging in place, using data to project support needs of older drivers.
She recently worked on research focused on assessing motor-cognitive interactions of older drivers aged 65-84 at the UMass Human Performance Lab. This work opened her eyes to the struggle of older adults in navigating giving up their keys. Her skills and passion for enhancing the lives of older adults brought her to Visiting Angels.
Paciulli is an accomplished executive who has dedicated her career to building inclusive systems to bring services and opportunities to diverse populations. As the founder of Paciulli Consulting, she advises businesses on strategy, organization, innovation, scaling, multi-channel marketing, data, and AI integration. She has taught courses and workshops on entrepreneurship, grant and proposal writing, commercialization and IP, and mentoring at UMass, Tufts, Holyoke Community College, and currently at the Urban College of Boston.
As a first-generation college graduate and current doctoral candidate of civil engineering at UMass Amherst, she has dedicated her research to improving human and computer systems: both roadway safety as well as learning technology for neurodivergent individuals and, now, older drivers. She is a lifelong interdisciplinary learner who spent her undergraduate years studying economics and math and went on to earn a master’s degree in civil engineering and is currently working towards her PhD.
During her tenure as interim director of Visiting Angels West Springfield, Paciulli manages day-to-day operations of the organization, while simultaneously working to improve operations. Her extensive background in leadership, research, and advocacy brings a new approach to Visiting Angels, one driven by data, mission, and a genuine care for the seniors the agency serves.