Class Notes: Fall 2025
1960s
Raymond L. Flynn ’63, ’84Hon., ’93Hon. of South Boston, Massachusetts, is the subject of a book, The Battle for Boston: How Mayor Ray Flynn and Community Organizers Fought Racism and Downtown Power Brokers. Flynn was mayor of Boston from 1984-1993 and is the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. The book, written by community activist Don Gillis and published by Fordham University Press, focuses on the values that drove Flynn to run for mayor and how his commitment to economic justice drove his approach to politics at home and abroad.
John Schumann ’69 of Corrales, New Mexico, was elected to the board of directors of The Rock at Noonday, a faith-based hub of services for Albuquerque’s homeless. The Rock provides more than 600 meals a day, offers counseling programs, provides laundry and shower services, and operates a post office, food bank, and clothes closet. It is in the process of building a day shelter for homeless women and their children. John is a proud alumni co-ambassador for the Class of 1969 and is a community leader in a number of nonprofit endeavors in New Mexico’s mid-Rio Grande Valley.
Richard Grace receives diocesan award
Richard Grace, Ph.D. ’62, ’17Hon., emeritus professor of history at PC, and his wife, Madeleine, received the Luminary Award from the Diocese of Fall River in recognition of their dedication, generosity, and service to the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Fall River and to the diocesan community.
The award was presented during the annual Lumen Christi Cathedral Gala held in June 2025 at White’s of Westport in Massachusetts. The event raised more than $350,000 to support restoration of the cathedral, which was built in the 1850s.
The Graces, who met while singing in the cathedral choir, and married at the cathedral in 1977. Mrs. Grace has been the cathedral’s organist for more than 40 years and is the choir director. Richard Grace sings in the choir and also wrote a history of the cathedral. Their daughters, Marianne Grace Aguiar ’02 and Elizabeth Grace Heath ’09, have been longtime choir members, and Elizabeth serves as cantor.
Kevin Phelan honored by Catholic Charities Boston
Kevin Phelan ’66, ’15Hon., emeritus trustee of Providence College and chair of Colliers Boston, was honored by Catholic Charities Boston at its annual gala at the Fairmount Copley Plaza in Boston in May 2025. The event raised more than $1.5 million.
Phelan was presented the John and Virginia Kaneb Justice and Compassion Award, which honors an individual who embodies the values of charity, compassion, and service to those in need. Catholic Charities Boston President and CEO Kelley Tuthill praised Phelan for his support and “for being a connector in a world that too often feels very divided.”
Phelan’s daughter, Carrie Leto, who attended with her sister and three of Phelan’s nine grandchildren, said her father is at his desk at Collier’s by 6 a.m. each day. When he gets involved in a cause, “he jumps in with both feet and is the first to get his hands dirty.”
Phelan thanked all those who guided him throughout his life. He also thanked Cardinal Séan O’Malley for allowing him to serve on the Archdiocese of Boston Finance Committee and newly appointed Boston Archbishop Richard Henning ’25Hon., former bishop of Providence and a former member of PC’s Board of Trustees.
1970s
Alan Lynch ’71 of Marion, Massachusetts, retired in June 2025 after 53 years of teaching in the Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Diocese of Fall River. In appreciation, Fall River Bishop Edgar DaCunha presented him the Al Makkay Sr. Award during the 28th annual Foundation to Advance Catholic Education Summer Gala on Cape Cod in August 2025. The award recognizes outstanding contributions by a teacher or staff member in the Catholic schools of Cape Cod.
Don Slovenkai ’78 of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, finished second in his age group at the USA Track and Field Mountain Running National Championships held in June 2025 at Mount Sunapee. The 8.2-mile route included a 3,400-foot elevation ascent and descent. Slovenkai has completed in more than 100 mountain races in the USATF New England circuit, including more than 30 Mount Washington Road Races. Don began running in 1974 while at PC, inspired by Irish runners Mick O’Shea ’77, ’89G and Olympian John Treacy ’78, ’80G.
Mary Pat Larkin Caputo ’79 of Madison, Connecticut, was awarded director emeritus status upon her retirement as director of marketing and publications from Southern Connecticut State University.
1980s
James L. O’Connor ’84 of Princeton, Massachusetts, is a partner to the business and litigation practice groups at Seder & Chandler. He is an experienced attorney whose practice spans complex civil litigation, appellate, bankruptcy, and business law matters. Prior to joining Seder & Chandler, he served as a partner at Nickless, Phillips & O’Connor in Fitchburg and previously as tax counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, handling complex tax and bankruptcy matters. Before his law career, O’Connor was a commercial loan officer and assistant vice president at Shawmut Bank N.A. and BayBank Middlesex.
Gene Carlino, J.D. ’85 of Lincoln, Rhode Island, a partner in Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O’Gara LLC, was named to the 2025 Rhode Island Super Lawyers list, a peer-reviewed rating platform that recognizes exceptional attorneys in each state. Carlino was recognized for excellence in estate and probate law. He is a past president of the Rhode Island National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estates Counsel. He has a J.D. from Boston University School of Law and an LL.M. from New York University School of Law. He is licensed to practice in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Florida, and before the U.S. Tax Court, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island and the South District of Florida.
Charlie O’Connell ’87 of San Francisco was appointed chief financial officer at Parkview Financial, an alternative investments firm specializing in commercial real estate credit in the United States. He oversees financial strategy, capital management, and long-term planning as part of the firm’s leadership team. He has more than 15 years of experience as a CFO for real estate investment and management companies. He studied political science at PC.
Karen Bradbury ’88 of Lincoln, Rhode Island, program administrator for the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources since 2022, was appointed to fill an open seat on the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission by Governor Dan McKee. Her nomination was confirmed by the state Senate. Bradbury has 20 years of experience working in state and federal government, including 14 years with U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. She studied political science at Providence College and has a master’s degree in labor and industrial relations from the University of Rhode Island.
1990s
Jason Perreault ’92 of Redondo Beach, California, began working as executive manager of the Los Angeles House of Ruth in January 2025. The domestic violence and homeless family shelter is located in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles.
Kevin C. Leahy ’93 of Durham, Connecticut, founding partner and CEO of Connecticut Wealth Management, LLC, was named to the 2025 Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Advisors list. The list honors top wealth advisors across the country who exemplify a commitment to excellence, integrity, and putting clients first.
Trish Connolly Tomlinson ’93 is director of the Perrot Memorial Library in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. Tomlinson has been a library leader in Massachusetts and Connecticut for more than 20 years, with her most recent post as director of the Plainville Public Library in Connecticut. She has an MLIS degree from Rutgers University. She has relocated to the Greenwich area with her family.
Lisa Tvenstrup ’96G of Johnston, Rhode Island, a teacher at Ponaganset High School in Glocester, received the 2026 Teaching Excellence Award from the National Education Association Rhode Island. The award recognizes her outstanding contributions to teaching and unwavering advocacy for public education. A teacher at Ponaganset for 40 years, Tvenstrup has inspired generations of students through history and social studies courses, including East Asian History, World Cultures, Psychology, Sociology, and Genocide. She will travel to Washington, D.C., in February 2026 to be recognized at the NEA Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Education Gala.
2000s
Danielle Sasson Thomas, Ed.D. ’00 of Tallahassee, Florida, joined Sunrise Consulting Group as a government affairs consultant specializing in education.
Michael DeCastro ’01 of Lausanne, Switzerland, celebrated his 10th anniversary of working for the International Olympic Committee and was promoted to senior manager for Olympic Games Operations, dedicated to the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. He now has worked on five Olympics from Rio 2016 to Paris 2024. He also had the honor of running the Olympic torch relay during the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. He will next work at the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, which will take place at sites across Lombardy and northeast Italy in February.
Rocco DiRico ’01 of Reading, Massachusetts, was promoted to associate vice president of government and community relations at Tufts University. Government and Community Relations is the university’s primary liaison for local businesses, community partners, and government officials.
Erron Maxey ’01 of Covington, Georgia, was inducted into the Trinity United Hall of Fame Class of 2025 during a ceremony at the United Pro Invitational in May 2025. After playing basketball for the Friars, Maxey competed internationally in Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America. From 2016-2018, he played for GIE Maile Matrix in the Universal Basketball Association. He is a branch manager for Wells Fargo in Oconee, Georgia.
Alyssa Neubecker Marton ’03, ’08G of Barrington, Rhode Island, is director of finance at The Wolf School in Rumford, an independent school for complex learners. She previously worked for six years as director of operations at Brown RISD Hillel, where she oversaw finance, human resources, building and security management, and logistics.
Eric Traugott ’05 of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, was a partner at ParkLexington Advisors, a data and analytics firm that was acquired in July 2025 by Wilshire Advisors LLC. Eric joined Wilshire as a managing director and continues to provide data and analytics to mutual fund companies, allowing them to lower their service provider expenses.
Maximilian Bennett ’06 of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, received the 2025 William C. O’Malley Prosecutor of the Year Award from the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, recognizing his outstanding achievement and commitment to public service. Bennett, a veteran of the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office since 2009, is chief of homicide and chief trial counsel. He oversees prosecution of the most serious and complex cases and is frequently called to crime scenes to collaborate with law enforcement at the earliest stages of homicide investigations. He has played a pivotal role in securing convictions in several high-profile cases. In accepting the award, he thanked his wife, Elizabeth Rubin Bennett ’07, for her support.
Andrew Guyton ’09 of Stratham, New Hampshire, has been recognized as a President’s Council Club qualifier by Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. It is the company’s highest annual honor, awarded to financial professionals who exemplify exceptional service and commitment to their clients. Andrew was also named to the Forbes 2025 Best-in-State list of Top Financial Security Professionals in New Hampshire. Through Forge Financial, which Guyton founded in 2022, he helps clients build financial confidence through comprehensive planning strategies that integrate protection, wealth accumulation, and overall financial coordination.
2010s
Steven Maalouf ’11 of Westerly, Rhode Island, an attorney with Casner & Edwards in Boston, was recognized by Best Lawyers in America 2026 in the area of family law. He has experience representing clients in all aspects of domestic relations, including divorce, guardianships, child support, alimony, custody, modification actions, paternity, restraining orders, domestic violence, and parental alienation. He also assists clients with issues relating to the Department of Children and Families. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America as a “One to Watch” and by Massachusetts Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star.” He is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School.
Carmine Perrotti, Ph.D. ’11 of Providence, an assistant professor of public and community services studies at PC, received the Early Career Award from the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement. The award honors individuals who make exemplary contributions through research on service-learning and community engagement, and whose work advances understanding and practice across multiple sectors. Perrotti was specifically recognized for his scholarship and leadership of the Neighborly Engagement Research Lab. He received the award during the association’s annual conference held in Durban, South Africa, in August 2025. He began teaching at PC in 2023 and was recently named faculty director of the Feinstein Institute for Public Service.
Chiara Deltito-Sharrott ’12 of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, is executive director of the Rhode Island League of Charter Public Schools, a Providence-based nonprofit charged with increasing opportunities and access to quality education for students throughout the state. Her goal is to advocate for better public policies while offering charter schools support to grow and develop. She began her work as a PC senior when she volunteered in an after-school program at a charter school as part of her public and community service studies major. She has worked in the Providence public schools and in the Rhode Island Department of Education and managed her own consulting firm, CDS Education Consulting.
Billy Burdier ’14, ’21G of Providence has been appointed principal of St. Patrick Academy in Providence, an accredited, college-preparatory high school established in 2009 by the Most Rev. James Ruggieri ’90, now bishop of Portland, Maine. The announcement was made by Rev. Joseph Brice ’13, pastor of St. Patrick Church. Burdier was born in the Caribbean and moved to the United States at age 7; he is the school’s first principal to speak both English and Spanish. He majored in philosophy at PC and studied for the priesthood at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. In addition to serving the liturgy with Pope Francis, he was capo of institutional and media relations at the Pontifical North American College, coordinating with networks such as EWTN, Catholic News Agency, Univision, and Telemundo. Burdier opted for a vocation to married life. He is a licensed practical nurse and has a master’s degree in education from PC.
Samantha Rodriguez Frimpong ’14 was promoted to national senior director of iMentor and Kwaku Frimpong ’14 accepted a new global marketing role at Meta, leading them to a cross country move from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Sean Palmer ’16 of Toulouse, France, received a double doctorate in philosophy from a joint cooperation between St. Patrick’s Pontifical University in Maynooth, Ireland, and the Institut Catholique de Toulouse, where he works as a professor of philosophy in a foreign language.
Robert Degre ’17 of Cranston, Rhode Island, marked his fifth anniversary with ADAC, an educational consulting firm based in Ogunquit, Maine. A portion of his work, and his personal passion, involves supporting the ADAC Advocacy Foundation. The nonprofit is dedicated to increasing access for private school students to federally funded special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. To date, Robby and his team have recovered $100 million in federal funding that is now being used to provide special education services to private school students with disabilities all around the country, including in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, and California.
William “Bill” Dumais III ’17 of Washington, D.C., was appointed associate director of government relations at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. He will lead federal advocacy efforts on behalf of the USCCB’s public policy priorities in the areas of international justice and peace and communications while also supporting initiatives related to pro-life activities.
Matt Merchant ’17 completed his residency in emergency medicine at Corewell Health Lakeland and moved to South Bend, Indiana, with his wife, Lauren, and daughter, Charlotte, to begin his career as an attending physician in the Memorial Hospital Emergency Department.
2020s
Christofer Casswell ’20 of St. Johns, Florida, spoke at the dedication of a monument to President Theodore Roosevelt at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6249 Suffolk County WWII and Military History Museum in Rocky Point, Long Island, New York. The black marble monument includes a portion of a speech on citizenship — known as the “Man in the Arena” speech — that Roosevelt gave in Paris in 1910. Casswell, a member of the ROTC Patriot Battalion at PC, was a captain in the U.S. Army, serving as an active air defense artillery officer in the Middle East, including Bahrain and Kuwait.
Francis Figueroa ’20, ’22G of Narragansett, Rhode Island, graduated with a juris doctor degree from Boston University School of Law in May 2025 and joined Ropes & Gray law firm in Boston.
Malik Washington ’21 of New Haven, Connecticut, began studies at Yale Law School this fall as a member of the Class of 2028. During his time at PC, he was senior class president and Pre-Law Society president and was a student worker in Concannon Fitness Center. He graduated magna cum laude, the first in his family to complete a college degree. After graduation, he worked as a legislative correspondent in the U.S. Senate, handling issues related to appropriations, telecommunications, transportation, and economic development. He was accepted into the Law Fellows Program of the University of California, Los Angeles, which guided helped him through the law school admission process. He credits Paul Herron, Ph.D., political science professor and pre-law advisor at PC, for inspiring him to consider law school, and thanks professor Matt Guardino, Ph.D., Rev. John Allard, O.P., and Rev. Thomas More Garrett, O.P., for their support and encouragement.
Angela Figueroa ’22 of Narragansett, Rhode Island, entered the University of Connecticut School of Medicine as a member of the Class of 2029.
Peter DiBiasi ’23 of Bedford, New York, a content associate at NBC Sports, earned a Sports Emmy for his work and contributions to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics in the category of Outstanding Live Special – Championship Event. Peter credits theatre professor David Cabral and English professor and department chair Margaret Reid with helping him create an individualized studies major in communication media at PC. He is the son of Peter DiBiasi ’85.
Andres Heredia ’23 of Washington, D.C., is the government relations and public policy senior assistant for the Association of American Universities. He formerly worked on Capitol Hill.
Matthew Salomons ’23 of North Easton, Massachusetts, who works for the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council, helped lead a delegation of college Knights to Rome for the Jubilee Pilgrimage for Young People. Matthew and his team enjoyed VIP seating for Pope Leo XIV’s general audience at St. Peter’s Square, supported the U.S. bishops with their pilgrim gathering at St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, celebrated Mass at the Clementine Chapel with Rev. Jon Kalisch, O.P., and joined Rev. Patrick Briscoe, O.P., former PC associate chaplain, and the friars of the Godsplaining Catholic Podcast in a tour of San Clemente Basilica. Matthew and his team also had the opportunity to venerate the remains of many saints, including Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Catherine of Siena.
Kassidy Howarth ’24, ’25G of North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, won the 2025 Nancy Murray Award of the Rhode Island Game Changer Challenge — a $3,000 prize presented during the Rhode Island Council on Problem Gambling Conference in May 2025. Howarth learned about the challenge during an MBA course with Patrick Kelly, Ph.D., the Ruane Endowed Professor of Accountancy at PC who researches problem gambling. A poster she created was judged to be the best of the competition. Kelly also was recognized at the conference for his research and contributions to the field.
