The Wagner College Board of Trustees held its annual election on May 18, electing officers and new members, re-electing current members to new terms, and saluting members who have completed their terms.
Four new trustees were elected to three-year terms:
- Gabriella Gaspar ’89
- Robert Scalzo ’01
- Jacqueline Whittenburg ’03
- Hayley Wolff
You will find their profiles below.
The board extended its thanks for the service of three retiring trustees:
- Marc Lebovitz ’91
- William Renshaw
- Maureen Robinson ’67 H’03
Marc Lebovitz and William Renshaw leave the board after serving for 12 years across four terms (2011-23). Maureen Robinson served for 24 years across eight terms (1998-2010, 2011-23).
The board re-elected its four officers:
- Jeffrey Forchelli ’66, chair
- Andrew Cortese ’72, vice chair
- Donna Mollica New ’68, secretary
- Mary Caracappa ’82, treasurer
Ten trustees were re-elected, beginning new three-year terms:
- Mary Caracappa ’82 (fourth term)
- Robert Comerford ’94 (first full term; served prev. partial term)
- Paul Egensteiner ’79 (second term)
- Jeffrey Forchelli ’66 (second contiguous term; prev. served, 2005-14)
- Graham Fox (third term)
- Jay Hartig ’67 (prev. partial term; also served 1983-92, 2001-07)
- Eric D. Houser (third term)
- Richard A. Morgan (fourth term)
- Donna Mollica New ’68 (second contiguous term; prev. served, 2003-12)
- Anita Sabatino ’69 (second term)
For a complete membership listing of the Wagner College Board of Trustees, please visit this link on our website.
Gabriella Lepore Gaspar ’89
Gabriella Lepore Gaspar is the director of property management for her family’s business, Magim Management, overseeing a portfolio of commercial and residential properties in New York City and across the United States. Her career path has been anything but linear. After graduating from Wagner College with a nursing degree in 1989, she worked at a medical acute unit at NYU Langone Health. By the mid-1990s, she had joined the family business, working with her father at Ferrara Foods & Confections, the importing wholesale division of her family’s Italian bakery business. Finally, in the late 1990s, after negotiating the sale of that part of the business, Gaspar switched gears to manage the famous Ferrara Bakery & Café.
Gabriella Lepore Gaspar met her husband, George Gaspar ’88, while studying at Wagner. The couple split their time between an apartment in Manhattan and their home in Hurley, New York. They have both been longtime members of the Touchdown Club. The Gaspars have two children: Isabella (age 25) is a Boston College graduate in her second year at Brooklyn Law School; and George Gregory (age 23), a recent graduate of Lafayette College, will enroll in the Nicolais School of Business’s graduate program this fall.
Gaspar is an active member of Snack: Specialty Needs Activity Center for Kids, a local nonprofit providing educational, experiential, therapeutic and work opportunities for adults and children on the autism spectrum.
Robert Scalzo ’01 M’03
Robert Scalzo is a double alumnus of Wagner College, earning his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2001 and his MBA in 2003. While attending Wagner, he was a member of the men’s golf team. Scalzo is a strong advocate of the Nicolais School of Business, where he has served on the Business Advisory Council and as a mentor in the Select professional development program. Since graduating, Scalzo has been working in the financial services industry; he is currently the head of operations at Epoch Investment Partners. His network extends beyond the finance world of Wall Street; he has a solid circle of contacts in TV media, major real estate firms and some notable Silicon Valley/Alley organizations. Scalzo also serves as an advisory board member and investor in a tech startup, Photosesh.
Robert Scalzo and his wife, Colleen, have been married for 13 years and have a 10-year-old daughter, Bianca.
The Scalzos are active members of Montclair Golf Club which, thanks to Robert Scalzo, now hosts the Wagner Golf Intercollegiate Invitational.
Jacqueline Williams Whittenburg ’03
A native of Raleigh, North Carolina, Jacqueline Whittenburg was educated in the Wake County (N.C.) public school system. She began her college education in 1980 at Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh before transferring to North Carolina State University in 1981, where she continued her biology studies with a chemistry minor. She earned her degree in the biological sciences from Wagner College in 2003.
Whittenburg has worked as a clinical trial regulatory associate and clinical research associate at several institutions, including the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Vector-Borne Disease Diagnostic Lab at N.C. State, the North Carolina Central University School of Graduate Studies and the Duke Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Research Program. She has also served as the director of development for Dress for Success Triangle N.C., whose mission is to empower women to achieve economic independence. Today, she is executive director of the Dereck Whittenburg Foundation, where she advocates for students working to earn a college degree.
Whittenburg previously served on the board of trustees at William Peace University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Jacqueline Whittenburg and her husband, Dereck, a member of the Wagner College Sports Hall of Fame, live in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Hayley Wolff
After 15 years of experience as an equity research analyst researching public companies, Hayley Wolff transitioned to her present role as a finance and accounting professional with a background in analyzing financial statements, budget and cash-flow forecasting, and investor relations, where she now has more than 25 years of experience.
She currently serves as a financial controller at Hedgeye Risk Management LLC, a rapidly growing investment research firm with over 70 employees. In this role, she runs all the accounting and finance functions, including project audits for various Connecticut state incentive programs, and is responsible for preparing and updating all internal and external financial models. Her work involves analyzing strategic initiatives, identifying and implementing efficiencies and cost-saving programs, managing all receivables and payables, and preparing year-end financial statements. She was named interim deputy director of research in September 2017, where she worked with sales and research on product development and outreach strategies. Hayley holds a master of business administration degree in finance from Columbia University and a bachelor of the arts degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Hayley is also an accomplished athlete. As a member of the United States Freestyle Ski Team, she won the titles of world and national mogul champion. She coached the youth freestyle program at Stratton Mountain, Vermont, for over 30 years and recently started officiating at regional freestyle competitions. Hayley currently resides in Stratton Mountain and has two grown daughters.
