Board of Directors

Richard J. Morello, President
Rick Morello is the President and volunteer Executive Director of Family Reach Foundation. The brother of Kristine, Rick manages the overall strategic direction of the organization and a number of day-to-day activities including marketing, financial and business development functions. In his full-time job, Rick serves on the management team of Proventys, a venture-backed company that develops software-based predictive diagnostics to support clinicians in oncology, cardiology and other areas. Prior to Proventys, Rick was the Vice President and Managing Director of the Strategic Initiatives Division of Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. He also served as CEO of Veraxa Health, a company founded by Joslin to develop and market a breakthrough retinal imaging device for detection and management of diabetic eye disease. Before joining Joslin, Rick was a partner in the strategy and healthcare practice at Mercer Management Consulting where he managed engagements with large pharmaceutical, healthcare and consumer products companies.

 

Rick received a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

 

Andrea Colangelo, Vice President and Secretary
Andrea Colangelo is a Family Founder and Board Director, serving in the roles of Vice President and Secretary. The mother of Christopher, Andrea and her husband James started the Christopher Colangelo Home Care Fund at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital after their son's death in 1981. The Home Care Fund, designed to help families largely with palliative care, was the earliest seed of the Family Reach Foundation. In her full-time career, Andrea serves as the District Supervisor for Special Education for the Perth Amboy Board of Education in New Jersey. She provides management and development of staff administering special education programs for grades seven through twelve. Andrea holds Masters degrees in Psychology and Administration Supervision. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Saturday Morning Family Program and resides in Union, NJ with her husband James.

Donna Cunningham, Treasurer
Donna Cunningham serves as Treasurer of Family Reach Foundation as a member of the Board of Directors. She has been an active advisor and volunteer for the foundation for several years. She has been involved with many fundraising events for Family Reach and her agency is a corporate sponsor for many of Family Reach's annual events.

Donna is president of ADP/Statewide Insurance Agencies, Inc. in Cedar Knolls, NJ. She also serves as a Vice President of the Professional Insurance Agents of NJ and serves on its Board of Directors. Donna serves on several insurance company/agent councils. She is past president of the Orange Chamber of Commerce, the Manton B. Metcalf Memorial Association, and the Orange Head Start Program. Donna resides in Florham Park, NJ.

Lucille Ditta
Lucille Ditta is a Board Director, serving in key roles including a member of the Fundraising and Family Case Review committees. Lucille has led several recent efforts to tap into new individual and business sponsors for the Foundation and helped achieve record fund raising results with a number of events. In her full-time career, Lucille serves as a Securities Trader with Wien Securities Corporation in Jersey City, NJ. She resides in Berkeley Heights, NJ with her husband Vincent.

John Priori
John Priori is a Board Director, serving in key roles including the Chair of the Programming and Events committee. John was instrumental in creating one of Family Reach's primary fundraising sources through the annual Friends of the Colangelo/Morello-Wiatrak Cancer Fund in 2000. The event is now called the "Oldies Night to Remember" Dinner-Dance and is the foundation's most successful single fundraising event. In his full-time career, John has spent 30 years in healthcare services. He is a licensed physical therapist and currently serves as the Manager of Acute, Sub-Acute and Long-term Care in Rehabilitation Services of St. Clare's Health System in New Jersey. John resides in Randolph, NJ with his wife Marilyn.

 

Wendy Spivak

Wendy Spivak is a Board Director, serving in key roles as a fundraising and development resource in the New England market. In her full-time career, Wendy is the principal and founder of The Castle Group. In this capacity, with more than two decades of experience, Wendy leads Castle’s events division to create substantial returns for clients through superior events management ranging from destination-based sales incentive programs to memorable philanthropic events and everything in between. In addition to the strategic management of the events division, Wendy’s responsibilities include overall agency operations and business development. Under her direction, the agency develops customized communications strategies, events and marketing communications programs that reach target markets and audiences across a variety of industries. She has designed and directed successful programs ranging from one-day events to year-long incentive programs attended by up to 10,000 attendees. She oversees the activities of such clients as Symantec Corporation, Microsoft, Computer Associates, HP, Biogen Idec, Shire Pharmaceuticals, PegaSystems, Genzyme, Fidelity Ventures, Boston Business Journal, Harvard Medical School, ISO New England, Software House International and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. Prior to co-founding The Castle Group, Wendy was a senior corporate communications executive at two successful healthcare companies, Prism Health Group and the Mediplex Group. She was also an associate producer for WNEV-TV in Boston.

 

Wendy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is a member of Meeting Planners International, the Society of Incentive and Travel Executives and The Commonwealth Institute. Wendy has been named one of Boston’s Top Ten Event Planners by Women’s Business Boston.